Ligting For 26L Tank

[pongo]

Hello peeps. New to the freshwater tropical fish thing, googled 'tropical fish forums' and this was the top result so here i am  only started last week so some advice is needed. Set up the tank last week,although tank is 26L starter tank with the gravel and plastic plants it took 16L to fill. water been treated and all fine, filter and heater working good. got some fish in, Neons, Gold Tetras, Tiger Barbs and guppies and are all ok so far. Gravel on the bottom about 1" deep and some plastic weeds. But keep getting different advice about how long to leave the lighting on. Some say all the time, some say only at night and some say only during the day. some proper advice from people in the know would be very much appreciated. Thanks agian guys and look forward to your response

 

[fluttermoth]

Hey there, welcome to the forum, pongo (great name,btw

)

If you have live plants, you need between six and eight hours of light a day. As you have plastic plants, you really only want to put the lights on when you're there looking at the tank. Any more and you'll risk growing lots of algae. The fish themselves don't actually need artificial light at all; they do perfectly well with just the light from the room.

What's of more concern is that you have an awful lot of fish in a very small tank, and it's probably not what we called' cycled'; that means it doesn't have a colony of good bacteria living in the filter. The bacteria eat the ammonia produced by the fish and turn it into less toxic substances; first nitrite, which is also toxic, and then nitrate, which is only toxic at very high levels, and which we keep low with water changes, in a cycled tank.

You are going to (urgently) need test kits (liquid or tablet based ones, not the paper strip kind) for both ammonia and nitrite so you can monitor those and keep them low with water changes until the bacteria grow.

It's going to be bet, in the long term to rehome or return some of your fish; tiger barbs grow quite big, and will nip the tails of your guppies and a tank like yours is only going to be able to comfortably house three or four small fish.

 

[pongo]

Thanks for the advice. I bought the tank, size 40cmx25cmx25cm, from a reputable independent dealer that has been in the business for many years and he sold me the chemicals you put in to make the tap water safe for the fish called Tetra Aqua safe, and a cycle chemical called 'Nutrafin Cycle' to help start the good bateria in the filter because of the fish waste. said i had to put the Cycle bateria in at the sametime for 3 days which i done and the Aqua safe in when filling the tank which was done before putting fish in. 5 Guppies went in on saturday morning, and 3 Neons, 2 Gold Tetras and 2 Tiger Barbs went in sunday evening (yesterday) The Tiger Barms seem to be happy chaseing each other around and havent touched the other fish yet. All fish seem to be happy so did i do the right set up??. Thanks again. As for the name.... Dont ask

 

[fluttermoth]

Some of us (including me) have tried 'Cycle' and found it to be pretty much useless, I'm afraid; as is most advice from fish shops. Don't forget that they're there to make a profit and, unfortunately, if that means you spending money on medications for fish that are 'sick' (because the tank isn't cycled and the water quality is poor) or replacement fish (because the first ones have died) then that's actually good for the shop

I would do large daily water changes (and by 'large', I mean at least 75 or 80%) until you can get test kits.

 

[Ninjouzata]

I would definitely be picking up a liquid test kit asap.
 
Most of these cycling products do not work, unfortunately. If you havn't already, read the cycling article at the top of the page. It's for fishless cycling but will hopefully help you understand the process.
Here is a fish-in article as well: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/224306-fish-in-cycling/
 
This is a very small tank to be throwing so many fish into, some of which get a decent size, and require groups of 6+. The only ones that don't are the guppies.
I'd have to say the only fish that would be suitable in this tank are the guppies.
 
I'd return/re-home the others, and would actually return the guppies as well, so that you can do a proper fishless cycle.
 
I don't know anything on lighting, my apologies for not being able to help with that.
 
Sorry if it sounds rude at all, or disheartening, but we just want what is best for your fish. Almost everyone has made these same mistakes, so you're not alone in that.
 

to the forum by the way!