New Tank: Aqua One Aquamode 600

[eBenZo]

Hi guy! Great forum here!

I've purchased a new tank last Saturday, mentioned the the title Aqa One 600, along with a sponge background (which I need to stick), two fake plants, two fake rock objects (with crevices and arches), and white and blue gravel.

I have also attached an LCD thermometer which reads between 25 and 26 degrees Celsius.
I haven't got a heater...do I need one?
I am interested in buying the following types of fish, but not necessarily all of them:
-neon tetras
-platies
-guppies
-angel fish
-lionheads
How should I set up tank?
Coldwater or tropical or marine?

Since it is 65 litres, not very large, could someone advise me on the numbers I should keep?

Do I need a pH tester and a water hardness tester?

Also, I have filled the tank up with tap water and the wet/dry trickle filter has been running water through it since then. When should I add the water conditioner?

I have also noticed a subtle cloudiness to the water which is clear in the fluorescent lighting. The precipitate is very fine and whitish in colour. Is this natural and will the filter take care of this?

BTW, you don't have to answer everything!
THANK YOU!

 

[OldMan47]

Your tank temperature sounds fine for tropicals, it might be a bit warm for typical cold water fish. If that temperature is stable without a heater I would lean towards saying you don't need one. The next thing that will happen is the next poster will come on to point out that temperatures need to be stable and there are times that you need to raise temperature for medication. I will stick with the statement that you could probably get by without a heater if the temperature is stable. It will give you time and funds to get the things that you do need like a good testing kit and a good filter. Then before the weather moves into winter and the tank gets cold you could get that heater. I am not trying to say you never need a heater but for now if temperatures are stable there are other priorities.
If you have not done so, its time to treat the water to remove chlorine / chloramine. The test kit you need will test ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Its also helpful to be able to test pH. Hardness testing can wait even longer than the heater. Whatever it is, you probably won't keep fish at first where the hardness is a critical issue. The slight cloudiness may be no more than fine bubbles floating around in the water or dust being washed from your substrate. The tank is a little small for angels as they like a deep tank. The platies and guppies should be fine in small numbers of say 4 or 5 each once the tank has been cycled properly. If you have no already done so, read up on fishless cycling at the top of the newcomers forum. While cycling the tank you will have lots of time to look into the types of fish you might want to keep.

 

[eBenZo]

Thank you oldman!

Are the fish I am considering a purchase for classified as tropical?
Is the trickle filter sufficient for my needs?

 

[RedeyesUK]

I have also attached an LCD thermometer which reads between 25 and 26 degrees Celsius.
I haven't got a heater...do I need one?
Yes, if you're planning on a tropical setup. Not so much at the moment while the weather's warm, but you'll definately need to get one put in before you think about fish.

I am interested in buying the following types of fish, but not necessarily all of them:
-neon tetras
-platies
-guppies
-angel fish
-lionheads
How should I set up tank?
Coldwater or tropical or marine?
I'll leave the specifics for someone else to answer. Personally I'd go for a freshwater (tropical) setup - marine tanks can be expensive and complex - start simple! Also, before you add any fish, read up on fishless cycling (I'm sure there's a thread on here somewhere about it) - don't buy any fish until your tank is cycled!

Since it is 65 litres, not very large, could someone advise me on the numbers I should keep?
A very rough (and controversial) guide is the 'inch per gallon' rule. Basically, you can stock your tank up with 1 inch of fish per gallon of water. It's a lot more complex than that, but it's a good rule of thumb to start with.

Do I need a pH tester and a water hardness tester?
pH is a good idea, water hardness isn't quite so crucial at this point - but certainly you'll need test kits for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. The decent test kits will have all these, plus pH. Make sure you get a liquid (ie dropper) test kit, the paper strips are rubbish.

Also, I have filled the tank up with tap water and the wet/dry trickle filter has been running water through it since then. When should I add the water conditioner?
Ideally, when you added the water! I wouldn't worry too much for now, but it's best to put that in at the time you put the water in.

I have also noticed a subtle cloudiness to the water which is clear in the fluorescent lighting. The precipitate is very fine and whitish in colour. Is this natural and will the filter take care of this?This is probably one of two things: Firstly, it could be dust etc coming from the gravel - the filter will clear this up in a day or two. Secondly (not likely just yet), it could be a bacterial bloom - this is a good thing, as it means your tank has started cycling. Mt money's on the gravel, though.

BTW, you don't have to answer everything!
Oops!

 

[eBenZo]

Haha thank you too Redeye!

So I can purchase all-in-one test kits?

I'm not planning to buy any fish until the coming weekend, but when I do, should I add the conditioner to the water?

"This is probably one of two things: Firstly, it could be dust etc coming from the gravel - the filter will clear this up in a day or two. Secondly (not likely just yet), it could be a bacterial bloom - this is a good thing, as it means your tank has started cycling. Mt money's on the gravel, though."

Thanks! This is very reassuring. Someone said something about a bacterial bloom in another forum and I started to get frightened . Should I expect to see a bacterial bloom similar to this in the next few weeks?
What happens if I dunk my hand into the tank to rearrange some objects, which I have cleaned and rinsed which soap?

 

[OldMan47]

Most of the fish on your list are tropicals. I am assuming that when you say lionhead you are talking about a fancy goldfish and it is a "cold water" fish so it won't do well in the same conditions as the rest of those fish.

 

[eBenZo]

Most of the fish on your list are tropicals. I am assuming that when you say lionhead you are talking about a fancy goldfish and it is a "cold water" fish so it won't do well in the same conditions as the rest of those fish.

I think I mean orandas such as the ones here:

Thanks!

 

[RedeyesUK]

OK, a couple of points:

Soap is a no-no, it can kill fish. Don't use any sort of soap to clean your tank (except the outside) or anything in it, and make sure your hands are thoroughly rinsed of any soap before you put them in the tank.

Secondly, when did you fill the tank up? If you've only just filled it, it certainly won't be ready for fish for at least a couple of weeks yet - the ammonia from the waste they produce will harm them (trust me, I learnt this the hard way! ). Like I said, have a look at cycling, and follow the process. Your fish will thank you for it, when you do finally get them!

I'm sure this all sounds scary and confusing, but stick with the forum, there's a lot of good advice out there!

:EDIT: This thread should tell you everything you need to know about cycling your tank:

http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...shless-Cycling/

 

[eBenZo]

Don't worry haha, I didn't use soap to clean the interior or anything.
I just made sure my hands were clean of bacteria before I touched anything inside it, so I washed them with soap and rinsed them.

I filled the tank up last Saturday and the filter has been on since then. A couple of weeks?! The staff who sold it to me said one week! How long does it take to cycle, and how do I check its progress?

 

[OldMan47]

An oranda is a goldfish so it is a cold water fish and not a suitable tank mate for the rest. Putting any kind of soap in any quantity into a tank is a very bad idea. If you have used soap on anything, including your hands, it needs to be thoroughly rinsed off in preferably hot water so it doesn't get into the tank. Once you actually start to cycle the tank you may get a bacterial bloom. It is nothing to worry about.

 

[eBenZo]

Thank you for the useful link!
Wow, I had no idea there was so much preparation involved.

Should I add the water conditioner now?

 

[RedeyesUK]

Should I add the water conditioner now?

Go on then...

When you were sold the tank, did they tell you 'fill the tank and leave it for a week'? If so, I'm afraid to say that leaving it for a week without putting anything in it will do absolutely nothing, you might as well not bother. Unfortunately, a lot of fish shop employees know next to nothing about the stuff they're selling, and the advice they give can be awful at times (although there are a lot that really know their stuff).

Yes, there is a lot of preperation involved, but unless you have any problems in the future, it's a one off thing. Running your tank once all this is done should involve not much more than partial water changes (once a week or so) and cleaning the crud from the filter.

If you can get some water (ideally from the filter) from your fish shop to put in your tank, that should kick your bacteria colony off quite nicely, and help to speed up the cycling process.

 

[bordercollie05]

I've skimmed through and dont think anyone has mentioned this, but the standard rules for keeping angelfish are that the tank be at least 18" high. Also, since your tank is roughly 20 gallons, I think you could only have one, along with a couple other small fish. Otherwise the inch per gallon rule mentioned above should work okay for guppies,neons, etc.


Also, I'm not sure what lionheads are? Are these marine?



Good luck with your new tank!

Laura


Edit: When I say small fish, I mean smaller fish. Keep in mind that your angel could eat neons and any other fish small enough to fit in its mouth

 

[eBenZo]

I've skimmed through and dont think anyone has mentioned this, but the standard rules for keeping angelfish are that the tank be at least 18" high. Also, since your tank is roughly 20 gallons, I think you could only have one, along with a couple other small fish. Otherwise the inch per gallon rule mentioned above should work okay for guppies,neons, etc.


Also, I'm not sure what lionheads are? Are these marine?



Good luck with your new tank!

Laura


Edit: When I say small fish, I mean smaller fish. Keep in mind that your angel could eat neons and any other fish small enough to fit in its mouth

The tank is only 32 cm approx. 12 inches deep so would angelfish be a no-no?

Lionheads or orandas are those fancy goldfish, I posted an image above. I think they are coldwater.

Thanks!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

ok first things first, have a good read through all the pinned topics in the new to the hobby forum, we're happy to answer questions but you'll find helpful info on just about everything there so spend a bit of time reading up.

as others have mentioned the tank won't cycle in a week by itself, cycling is a process you need to be involved in for it to work properly. If you just go ahead and add fish after a week of leaving the tank you'll have a problems and there's a good chance some fish will die. Much easier to do a fishless cycle. There's two links in my sig you should read through, 'whats cycling' and 'fishless cycling'. Between them they should explain the process, what you need to do, how you measure completion and so on. Have a read and post back with any questions you have on them.

regarding the sort of tank you want to set up, you have two main areas of difference, the temp of the water and weather it has salt in it, you can set tanks up with any combination of the two.

So you can have cold fresh water (no heater and no salt added) - this is what the oranda's needs
or tropical fresh water (heater and no salt) - this is where all the other fish you have mentioned fit in
cold salt water (no heater and salt added) - this is a rare set up, not often done
tropical salt water (commonly called marine, heater and salt added - this is expensive and quite complicated

What people usually refer to as tropicals is tropical fresh water, that's what I recommend you go for. It's easy and there's a good variety of colourful hardy fish suitable for the size of tank you have. This does mean purchasing a heater, they aren't expensive, the tank temp may seem stable but I'll bet you haven't looked at it in the middle of the night, it'll drop off, also for colder months you'll need a heater. best to buy one at the start.

the tank you have is 65 litres this is about 17 US Gallons. The general guide to working out how many fish to have is 1" of fish per gallon of water. So you can have 17" of fish...... now there's exceptions to the rule and it has it's failings but it's just a guide. Obviously keeping 17 fish which are each 1" long would be suitable but keeping 1 fish 17" long wouldn't be suitable. The link in my sig 'guide to stocking' will help you with fish selection. The angels are a no go, they need a bigger tank.