Is This A Good Setup For Guppies

[eaglesaquarium]

any other opinions? also think i should replace the fish or no ?

I believe the fish you have are plenty sufficient for the fish-in cycle. The bacteria need to be wet, so if you have to lower the water levels, I believe you can just pull the filter and have it sit in a bucket of tank water, and the bacteria will survive the amount of time it takes to complete the water change.

 

[This Old Spouse]

any other opinions? also think i should replace the fish or no ?

I believe the fish you have are plenty sufficient for the fish-in cycle. The bacteria need to be wet, so if you have to lower the water levels, I believe you can just pull the filter and have it sit in a bucket of tank water, and the bacteria will survive the amount of time it takes to complete the water change.

Why would you pull the filter to do a water change? With that tiny tank it'll take about 10 minutes to do a water change. Just turn the filter and heater off while you're doing it, then plug them back in when you're done.

any other opinions? also think i should replace the fish or no ?

At the risk of being redundant, NO.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

any other opinions? also think i should replace the fish or no ?

I believe the fish you have are plenty sufficient for the fish-in cycle. The bacteria need to be wet, so if you have to lower the water levels, I believe you can just pull the filter and have it sit in a bucket of tank water, and the bacteria will survive the amount of time it takes to complete the water change.

Why would you pull the filter to do a water change? With that tiny tank it'll take about 10 minutes to do a water change. Just turn the filter and heater off while you're doing it, then plug them back in when you're done.

any other opinions? also think i should replace the fish or no ?

At the risk of being redundant, NO.

Because I thought he was worried about it drying out. I don't think it is necessary, but if it gives piece of mind, then it very well may be worth it. I am a novice, as well as he is, so I am still trying to sort things out myself. For me, the most important thing in fishkeeping, even above ease of doing things is to be relaxed while going about business. If someone is all stressed out, they are not going to want to do the little things that are necessary, and then things can turn bad. I was looking at it from a perspective of piece of mind. I agree that it would take much longer to dry out and harm the bacteria, but sometimes people do things a little differently, because it makes them feel better about it. There is no need to pull the filter, but if it keeps the blood pressure down, then what would it hurt?

 

[This Old Spouse]

Well, it's much easier and less stressful to just leave the filter right where it is, not to mention you lessen the risk of damaging it or the media taking it out every time. IMHO it would raise my blood pressure to take all those extra steps every time I cleaned out one of my tanks. But if you're going for peace of mind and it makes you feel better to go through all those extra steps, then go for it. It would take a long time for the filter media to dry out. My main concern is for these poor fish.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Well, it's much easier and less stressful to just leave the filter right where it is, not to mention you lessen the risk of damaging it or the media taking it out every time. IMHO it would raise my blood pressure to take all those extra steps every time I cleaned out one of my tanks. But if you're going for peace of mind and it makes you feel better to go through all those extra steps, then go for it. It would take a long time for the filter media to dry out. My main concern is for these poor fish.

I agree, and it wouldn't make ME feel better. But, I was thinking of the OP. The drying out concern seemed to be an issue to them. Personally, I've never removed the filter when completing a water change, but it CAN be done. I agree, it isn't necessary.

 

[OldMan47]

Let's get down to the basics here. A problem with a tank not yet being cycled is easily solved by doing frequent large water changes. If I detect any water quality problems with my own tanks I always do a 90% or larger daily water change to set things right. When doing such a large change, temperature matching the new water becomes more important so I save some water to check against the new water using my hand. All new water is always treated with a dechlorinator before adding it to the tank. I use Prime because of its performance to cost relationship, but any brand name dechlorinator should work just fine.
Testing is a must do since only with testing will you truly know that you are dealing with water quality issues.

 

[thezodiac]

any other opinions? also think i should replace the fish or no ?

I believe the fish you have are plenty sufficient for the fish-in cycle. The bacteria need to be wet, so if you have to lower the water levels, I believe you can just pull the filter and have it sit in a bucket of tank water, and the bacteria will survive the amount of time it takes to complete the water change.

Why would you pull the filter to do a water change? With that tiny tank it'll take about 10 minutes to do a water change. Just turn the filter and heater off while you're doing it, then plug them back in when you're done.

any other opinions? also think i should replace the fish or no ?

At the risk of being redundant, NO.

Because I thought he was worried about it drying out. I don't think it is necessary, but if it gives piece of mind, then it very well may be worth it. I am a novice, as well as he is, so I am still trying to sort things out myself. For me, the most important thing in fishkeeping, even above ease of doing things is to be relaxed while going about business. If someone is all stressed out, they are not going to want to do the little things that are necessary, and then things can turn bad. I was looking at it from a perspective of piece of mind. I agree that it would take much longer to dry out and harm the bacteria, but sometimes people do things a little differently, because it makes them feel better about it. There is no need to pull the filter, but if it keeps the blood pressure down, then what would it hurt?

your correct i was worried about it drying out. but was also thinking it would be a major pain to move it every time lol

 

[thezodiac]

Let's get down to the basics here. A problem with a tank not yet being cycled is easily solved by doing frequent large water changes. If I detect any water quality problems with my own tanks I always do a 90% or larger daily water change to set things right. When doing such a large change, temperature matching the new water becomes more important so I save some water to check against the new water using my hand. All new water is always treated with a dechlorinator before adding it to the tank. I use Prime because of its performance to cost relationship, but any brand name dechlorinator should work just fine.
Testing is a must do since only with testing will you truly know that you are dealing with water quality issues.

thanks for this response, i have been using water dechlorinator, and i use a thermometric to check temps of the new/ old water so they are always within a degree or 2 of each other when changing.

yeah i currently dont have amonia test kits and what not, however im going by petco today.

question for you and all others:


should i have them replace my dead fish? (so the tank will be back to 4 guppies or keep it at 3 ?

also im pretty sure they will test your water if you bring it in with you ?

 

[This Old Spouse]

When I clean my tanks, I siphon and vac the water into a large bucket. Then I take out the filter media and rinse it in the water I just put in the bucket. I do this gently so as not to disturb it all that much, but enough to get the larger chunks off of it. Then I replace the media into the filter. Then I dump out the old water, fill up the bucket with clean water at the correct temp and with dechlorinator (I use Stress Coat that also removes ammonia) then pour the new water back in the tank over the filter to displace the water so it doesn't stir everything up. With my smaller tanks this all takes about 10 minutes. With my 55g it takes about half an hour because I have to cart the water back and forth in my little 5g bucket.

So this is about 10-15 minutes out of each day to keep your fish happy and alive. Not bad!

 

[thezodiac]

Well, it's much easier and less stressful to just leave the filter right where it is, not to mention you lessen the risk of damaging it or the media taking it out every time. IMHO it would raise my blood pressure to take all those extra steps every time I cleaned out one of my tanks. But if you're going for peace of mind and it makes you feel better to go through all those extra steps, then go for it. It would take a long time for the filter media to dry out. My main concern is for these poor fish.

yeah it would be a major pain to go through it like that, and hey im not that bad i just didnt properly cycle the tank. tons of people don't do anywhere near as much (heating filtration etc..) lol

When I clean my tanks, I siphon and vac the water into a large bucket. Then I take out the filter media and rinse it in the water I just put in the bucket. I do this gently so as not to disturb it all that much, but enough to get the larger chunks off of it. Then I replace the media into the filter. Then I dump out the old water, fill up the bucket with clean water at the correct temp and with dechlorinator (I use Stress Coat that also removes ammonia) then pour the new water back in the tank over the filter to displace the water so it doesn't stir everything up. With my smaller tanks this all takes about 10 minutes. With my 55g it takes about half an hour because I have to cart the water back and forth in my little 5g bucket.

So this is about 10-15 minutes out of each day to keep your fish happy and alive. Not bad!

nice sounds like a good process and very similar to mine except that im using straight dechlorinator and your using stress coat . guessing i should prob pick some up today and switch over ?
also ive heard you can purchase something thats essential "liquid cycling" ? (ether promotes or contains the beneficial bacteria>?)

 

[eaglesaquarium]

also ive heard you can purchase something thats essential "liquid cycling" ? (ether promotes or contains the beneficial bacteria>?)

There is a lot of skepticism regarding these products. See the Bacterial Additives Thread for some more information on these. Some people say they work, others disagree and say that they are a waste of money. Personally, I don't know which is true. I will be experimenting with "Safe Start" (formerly Biospira, from Tetra)soon to cycle a 10 gallon tank. Someone else is using "Turbo Start" (from Fritz Pets) in the middle of a fish-in cycle. The third product that has gotten a lot of good publicity, but nothing concrete yet to verify the results is Dr. Tim's "One and Only".



I wouldn't recommend "Cycle" as it claims that it needs to be continually added, which would indicate to me that it isn't really "cycling" anything, but just removing the ammonia through primarily chemical means.


Nothing has been determined about any of these products on here yet... But, if you were interested in using one of them, please post your results in that thread, and I will update the top post as the process goes on.

 

[This Old Spouse]

The reason I use Stress Coat+ is because it removes ammonia from tap water, which I have. Perhaps it helps with ammonia already in the water as well.

There have been lots and lots of discussion about the "bottled bacteria" here and the majority of experienced fish keepers agree that they mostly don't work. Your best bet is to find someone with an established tank who would be willing to donate some filter media to you. If you can, you will effectively cycle your tank in a matter of hours.

You could get a replacement fish, but please don't. It's not the fault of the LFS that it died. Just wait until your tank is nicely cycled before getting any more.
And I don't know who doesn't "do anywhere near as much" but they probably don't spend a lot of time on this forum

 

[thezodiac]

alright so today im gonna go into petco and get a water sample tested. (and so i can get w/e i need to correct the problem at hand)

anyways given that i get my tank properly cycled and such do u think i shoudl keep the tank at 3 guppies or increase it back to 4?

 

[OldMan47]

The simplest statement about replacing fish during a fish-in cycle is don't do it. Since most people in a fish-in cycle got there by accident, they almost always have too may fish for easy success. The ones that you lose will reduce the load to something easier to maintain. If you replace any fish, you have made your work as hard as it was before you lost them the first time. Waiting until the cycle is finished is a good idea before adding back any fish.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

You could get a replacement fish, but please don't. It's not the fault of the LFS that it died. Just wait until your tank is nicely cycled before getting any more.
And I don't know who doesn't "do anywhere near as much" but they probably don't spend a lot of time on this forum

That's a debatable point... Making a sale and telling people that they can just put the fish in immediately without properly preparing the tank, or teaching the person how to do a fish-in cycle just to ensure that they make a sale is akin to a puppy mill. It isn't about the welfare of the animals, but about making a sale.