Ktulu's First Aquarium

[Ktulu]

Hello TFF!

First off, I want to thank the TFF and everyone that contributes here. I've been reading lots of posts over the last few weeks and there is tons of good information here. I'm setting up a my first tank and this site has been an invaluable resource.

Actually this will be my second tank. My first tank was a 3-gallon Eclipse I set up for a goldfish my wife won at a local carnival in June. Mr. Grumpy Gills (my daughter named him) seems to be doing well even though he’s cycling his own little tank. It’s much better than the flower vase we had him in.

Here's Grumpy Gills in his little home...

The 65-gallon tank will be my first tank that’s planned, setup, and cycled before fish ever touch the water. I’m taking this all very slowly as I don’t see any reason to rush into things. The last month or so since Grumpy Gills peaked my interest in fish keeping have been spent visiting all the local fish stores and reading, lots of reading.

I picked up a few books and read them through. The Simple Guide to Fresh Water Aquariums by David E. Boruchowitz was an easy read and I think it’s the perfect primer for someone very new like me. I’ve read through a couple other books about plants, a tome on freshwater fish, and countless pages of posts and other information on the Internet. I’m here pretty much every day reading posts about all kinds of fish stuff. I think I'm getting to the information saturation point. Without making some mistakes and asking some questions I'm not sure how much father I can go.

If my hardware come in and I get it all set up I, should be starting a fishless cycle by the end of weekend. Any comments or suggestions anyone might have would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Mmm...65 gallon. My mother has that book, and it really is pretty good except a) I don't think it mentions fishless cycling, and b ) says you can keep an oscar in a tank that is too small.

As you may or may not know, gold fish do eventually grow to be quite large so you will have to decide what to do with him in the future, but for now that tank is much better than a vase and I'm sure he appreciates it.

Have any ideas on what you want to stock the tank with yet?

 

[Matty P]

Your goldfish tank looks great, very clean and I'm sure Mr Grumpy is a very happy little fish. A 65g tank is a good sized tank to start off with, because it is quite big the water parameters should be much easier to keep level. What are you planning to keep in your new tank?

Matt

 

[BigC]

Take things nice and slow, plan well.
If you planning to have live plants at some stage pay attention to you substrate now. I would fine gravel rather than sand for this. Place a layer of around 25mm of unwashed gravel mixed with loam or one of the preprepared gravel additives. Top this off with 35mm of washed fine gravel.
At least its in there from the start and you don't have to go about changing things when you decide you wish to grow plants.
Fish stocking is another great question we get on this forum. People ask questions about stocking but they already have a tank full of oddballs (as I would call it)
Do a little research on biotopes and try to pick fish that will work within this structure. (eg a South American stream)Try to fill all the water layers top, middle and bottom with compatable species with similar requirements. You will be aiming for a nice peaceful aquarium that is not only good to look at but also gives you a theraputic feel.
Last but by no means least do not buy fish on impulse, hard to do I know, better to walk away than be faced with disaster if things don't work out.
You are doing a lot of things right already by amassing as much knowledge as you possibly can via book, mags and internet. I wish you all the success with you latest venture
Regards
BigC

 

[Ktulu]

Mmm...65 gallon. My mother has that book, and it really is pretty good except a) I don't think it mentions fishless cycling, and b ) says you can keep an oscar in a tank that is too small.

As you may or may not know, gold fish do eventually grow to be quite large so you will have to decide what to do with him in the future, but for now that tank is much better than a vase and I'm sure he appreciates it.

Have any ideas on what you want to stock the tank with yet?

Yeah the book doesn't say anything about fishless cycling. It needs to be updated for sure.

The goldfish has been through a lot of... less than ideal situations. I kinda took it as a challenge to see if I could keep him/her alive. I'm curious to see how big he'll get.

I'd like to stick with fish that range in size (fully grown) from about 4" to 6". I've been looking at stuff like Giant Danios, BN Plecs, Pearl and Banded Gouramis, and I've been looking for a Cory that gets that big, but I'm not set on anything yet. I'd love to have a tank of Discus or other cichlids but being new to this whole thing I want to try and set myself up for success and stick with fish that are a bit hardier and easier to keep.

Your goldfish tank looks great, very clean and I'm sure Mr Grumpy is a very happy little fish. A 65g tank is a good sized tank to start off with, because it is quite big the water parameters should be much easier to keep level. What are you planning to keep in your new tank?

Matt

Thanks Matt. I've been doing very regular water changes and vacuuming to keep the ammonia and lately the nitrites as low as possible. He only gets fed one goldfish crisp a day to keep the waste down.

I've read that bigger tanks are easier to keep. I also figured that if I failed miserably the bigger tank would be something that I could sell vs. something that takes up space in the basement.

See my reply above but the stock is very much up in the air.

Take things nice and slow, plan well.
If you planning to have live plants at some stage pay attention to you substrate now. I would fine gravel rather than sand for this. Place a layer of around 25mm of unwashed gravel mixed with loam or one of the preprepared gravel additives. Top this off with 35mm of washed fine gravel.
At least its in there from the start and you don't have to go about changing things when you decide you wish to grow plants.
Fish stocking is another great question we get on this forum. People ask questions about stocking but they already have a tank full of oddballs (as I would call it)
Do a little research on biotopes and try to pick fish that will work within this structure. (eg a South American stream)Try to fill all the water layers top, middle and bottom with compatable species with similar requirements. You will be aiming for a nice peaceful aquarium that is not only good to look at but also gives you a theraputic feel.
Last but by no means least do not buy fish on impulse, hard to do I know, better to walk away than be faced with disaster if things don't work out.
You are doing a lot of things right already by amassing as much knowledge as you possibly can via book, mags and internet. I wish you all the success with you latest venture
Regards
BigC

Thanks BigC. That's very good advice. Everyone I've read or talked to that knows what they are talking about and doesn't have something to gain says very much the same things.

I have no plans for live plants for a while in this tank. I'm thinking that it adds too much complexity for me right now. I'm set on sand as a substrate and I bought a few bags last weekend.

 

[Ktulu]

I stopped on the way home from work last night and grabbed a bottle of ammonia. There were other bottles that foamed when I shook them. This one does not.

I'm a little concerned about what the "quality control agents" are but I think I'm good with this stuff.

When I got home there were a couple of boxes on the stoop with a bunch of goodies in them.

36" lamps apparently are longer than 36". I had to take it apart and cut it to get it to fit in the hood. I got it all mounted and it looks pretty good. I also had to raise the hood up a bit to clear the bio-wheel enclosures. I made spacers from 1/2" MDF and painted them black.

The lamp is really bright. It has a 96 watt bulb. I'm hoping that when the tank is full of water it wont be quite as bright. If it is, a change will be in order. This might be my first mistake.

 

[Ktulu]

I'm not sure if there are other brands of Tahitian Moon Sand but the stuff I got is expensive and nasty.

I spent two hours Sunday washing it in buckets in the backyard. After putting it in the tank it left a oily ring around the water line and the water is still cloudy almost two days later. It's clearing up but my filters are getting black splotches on them and the water surface has a film on it that sticks to anything you put in the water. I like the way it looks but I'm pretty unhappy with the mess. I'm not sure I'd use this stuff again.

Last night I put the "water polishing" filter in one of the canisters to see if that helps clean up the mess.

On the bright side I've started to cycle the tank. The ammonia I have tests out at 1ml/gallon = ~4-5ppm.

 

[GobyMaster]

Trust me, that is great sand. I have it in my 30 gallon now. What color did you get. I have a mixture of white and black. And don't worry, it'll stay cloudy for about a week, then it'll clear up. And about the film at the surface, just scoop out as much as you can, and perform a water change or two. My tank's been running for about a month now, and it's not cloudy and there's no film.

Like the goldfish!

GobyMaster

 

[Ktulu]

I'm using the black stuff. I love the way it looks. This morning there was a marked reduction in the film on the top of the water. There are still lots of very tiny bubbles that cloud the water a bit but the water is slowly clearing and seems to get better every day.

 

[Matty P]

Glad to hear that. Hope all goes well.

 

[Ktulu]

Since my fishless cycle is off and running I've been thinking about stocking. I tested my tap water and I'm wondering if it limits my choices in any way.

PH = 7.4
NH3 = 0
NO2 = 0
NO3 = 0
KH = 4 (71.6 ppm)
GH = 6 (107.4 ppm)

I found an online version of the water quality report the city sent me a while back. It has some interesting information.

 

[Ktulu]

Fishless cycle data

 Date		PH	 NH3	 NO2	 NO3	 Temp.	Notes 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 8/12/07	 NA	 ~5	  NA	  NA	  84.5°	Started fishless cycle. Added 65ml ammonia
 8/13/07	 8.0	~5	  0	   0	   84.4°
 8/14/07	 NA	 ~5	  NA	  NA	  84.0°
 8/15/07	 NA	 ~5	  NA	  NA	  84.5°
 8/16/07	 NA	 ~5	  NA	  NA	  84.4°
 8/17/07	 NA	 ~5	  NA	  NA	  84.0°
 8/18/07	 NA	 ~5	  NA	  NA	  84.4°
 8/19/07	 NA	 ~5	  NA	  NA	  84.7°	Drained ~75% water. Added rocks, fake plants,
 8/19/07	 8.4	~5	  NA	  NA	  82.4°	rocks, Mopani wood. Cleaned mess from sand.
 8/20/07	 NA	 ~5	  NA	  NA	  84.2°
 8/21/07	 NA	 ~5	  NA	  NA	  84.7°
 8/22/07	 7.8	~5	  NA	  NA	  84.3°
 8/23/07	 NA	 ~5	  NA	  NA	  84.5°
 8/24/07	 NA	 ~5	  NA	  NA	  84.3°
 8/25/07	 NA	 ~5	  NA	  NA	  84.0°
 8/26/07	 NA	 ~5	  NA	  NA	  84.0°
 8/27/07	 NA	 ~5	  NA	  NA	  84.3°
 8/28/07	 NA	 ~5	  NA	  NA	  84.7°	Added air stone for surface agitation
 8/29/07	 NA	 ~5	  NA	  NA	  84.2°
 8/30/07	 7.8	~5	  NA	  NA	  84.6°
 8/31/07	 NO DATA
 9/1/07	  NA	 ~5	  NA	  NA	  83.9°
 9/2/07	  NA	 ~5	  NA	  NA	  84.2°
 9/3/07	  7.8	~5	  NA	  NA	  84.6°
 9/4/07	  NA	 ~5	  NA	  NA	  84.2°
 9/5/07	  NA	 ~5	  NA	  NA	  84.4°
 9/6/07	  NA	 ~5	  NA	  NA	  84.7°
 9/7/07	  NA	 ~5	  NA	  NA	  84.7°
 9/8/07	  NA	 ~5	  NA	  NA	  84.1°
 9/9/07	 NO DATA
 9/10/07	 7.6	~5	  NA	  NA	  83.9°
 9/11/07	 NA	 ~5	  NA	  NA	  83.8°
 9/12/07	 NA	 ~5	  NA	  NA	  83.5°
 9/18/07	 NA	  0	  NA	  NA	  83.9°	Added ammonia
 9/18/07	 NA	 ~4	  NA	  NA	  83.9°
 9/19/07	 NA	 ~4	  NA	  NA	  83.5°

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Good luck with the cycling!

When you tested the pH of your tap water did you test it directly from the tap, or did you let it sit out overnight? The pH of tap water directly from the tap is usually a bit lower than normal due to higher CO2 content. When the CO2 gasses off the true pH becomes more apparent.

I think you should be good to go for a pretty broad range of fish. And of course if you have any questions about stocking options we'll be glad to help give advice.

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Your goldfish tank looks great, very clean and I'm sure Mr Grumpy is a very happy little fish.

Though you are trying to be a good goldfish owner, this isn't the right environment for a fish that can get to be well over 6 inches. I hate when people (no offense Matty) encourage members when it isn't a suitable tank for the species of fish they have. Instead I think we should all be polite, but explain to him why that won't work in the future. Look Ktulu, you are doing good, I bet that new tank is going good as well, it seems like you are doing the right stuff with it, but keep these in mind for your goldfish tank:

-Goldfish can get to be bigger then 6 inches long not allowing them to do so by keeping them in a small tank will result in the stunting of the fish (when they can't grow and die an early, miserable death)
-A full grown Goldfish should have a 20 gallon tank
-They are very messy, so I doubt that 3 gallon filter will help much
-I don't like doing fish cycles, and neither should you

Anyways, I just wanted to tell Ktulu this, and that should be that. No arguments (because thats not what I intended.) Lets just keep going with the new tank Ktulu, by no means am I trying to "attack" you are pick on you, I am only trying to give you a heads up, because it seems like you really want to give that goldfish a good life, and the stuff I pointed out above should help with that.

DL


I only skimmed through the other posts, so if this was already stated then sorry

 

[Ktulu]

Thanks for the heads up DL. While I realized that the fish might grow much larger, I had assumed I could keep it in the current tank until he gets a little bigger. I'm not sure this fish requires a much larger tank just yet.