New Tank, New Fish Keeper

[krittermom]

SO, I bit the bullet and got myself a tank. It's a 45 gallon (36x22x12). I got it second hand off craigslist, it came with a stand, filter, heater, hood and lights.

I filled it with water last night, and the easiest way for me was to fill it with the garden hose from the front of my house. So the water is COLD, as i live in Michigan and we are currently transitioning from fall to winter. Of couse the heater DOESN't work, but I'm not horribily upset because it looks like it wasn't a strong enough wattage for the tank size anyway (100w). Right? I'm reading conflicting info on this.

I plan on doing a fishless cycle, I'm getting ready right now to go grab a test kit. I got ammonia last night, but then discovered it had sufactant in it, so I need to search again. I'l also be grabbing a new heater (would 150 w be good?). I know the fact that I started with cold water will slow things down, but it really was the easiest choice for us, as the tank is not close to the kitchen and filling bucket after bucket of water didn't sound like much fun. I did put in a water dechloriner straight away. The girl who sold me the tank gave me the old filter cartridge, so I put that in there, but, it has been out of water for a bit, so I don't know if it'll do any good. She also gave me a bit of gravel from her estashblied tank to put in there, will that help at all?

The type of filter is a Marineland Emperor 280. My question about this is the extension for the intake part. Does it need to be all the way to the bottom of the tank?

I plan on community fish (guppies, mollys, danios tetras ect).

I'll be keeping track of things here, and would greatly appreciate some input.

Thanks!!

 

[Skins]

Hello,
You would be wanting a 200w heater, as for your intake you want it to be 7.5cm and really no higher than 15cm above your subtrate. Fingers crossed you will have some but proberly not much a&n bacs(ammonia/nitrite bacterias) in the subtrate your friend gave you. Put some flake in the aquarium, this will feed any bacteria you may have until you get your h/h ammonia. Ask your friend if they can spare you any of there filter media, this is because it is your filter that will be home to most of your bacterias.

hope this helps a little, skins.

 

[krittermom]

Ok, just tested the water:

Ph: 8.0! Whoa!
Everything else is 0, except ammonia is .25.

I did get some pure ammonia.

I got a 200w heater, but my problem is the water line on the heater is high up and if I attach the heater to the tank properly, the water does not reach the line What do I do??

The current water temp is 65.

 

[Skins]

Hello,
I have only ever used a heater that is completly submerged in the tanks water, If you have just bought it then i'm sure they would exchange it or you could wait for some one on here who might be able to give you some better advice.

Sorry this was not much help, Skins.

 

[OldMan47]

For your heater, you can figure a typical value of about 5 watts per gallon. That translates to a 200W to 250W heater for a 45 gallon tank in a typical tropical situation. With that said, if you have a fairly warm fish room, you could certainly get by with less heat while if you have the thing in an unheated porch, you had better double that number. The thumb rule is about having enough heat to hold a tank temperature about 15F above room temperature. Warmer or colder rooms obviously affect how much heat you will need.
The 280 is marginally big enough for that tank. I would try to add in enough of the extensions to get the bottom of the tube between 2 and 6 inches from the bottom of the tank but the exact measurement is really not critical.
Since you have just set up the tank, you would expect everything to be at zero except the ammonia. Ammonia can come from the breakdown of chloramine in your water so you may well see some right after you dechlorinate tap water. Until you have a cycled filter, that ammonia simply will not go away.
Your pH suggests that you will do better with the livebearers, the guppies and mollys, than you will with tetras. On average, high pH water is also quite high in minerals which means the tetras will not tolerate the water as well. Another option for water that is high in mineral content is many of the African cichlids. Unfortunately, many of those are quite aggressive and can grow fairly large.

 

[krittermom]

Ok, I took back the other heater and got a submerigable one. Much better.

I'm cool with sticking with livebearers. Only exception is my son wanted some glofish, but, I'm sure I can distract him with something else instead.

Now the hard part comes, the waiting. It's funny how much different advice I have gotten from various lfs this past week. Today I went to a very reputable one, and they gave me the closest thing that matched what I've read here So many LFS say fishless cycles are crap and don't work as well as fish cycles. I just smile and nod and walk away.

 

[karin]

I have a Ph of 8 and have a full array of fish. There are some particularly sensitive fish that will not do well in a Ph of 8 (e.g., discus and german blue rams) but many will be fine including tetras. When you get ready to buy fish, try to find fish that were tank bred in your area.

Have fun setting up your new tank. The gravel you got won't do much. See if you can get some filter sponge material from a mature tank, that can speed things along.

 

[krittermom]

None of my LFS will give me filter media Only one would give me gravel. I don't have any local friends who have tanks either. So frustrating!

My concern with the intake on the filter is that is too close to the bottom. Here is a picture, is it ok??

 

[SlyPolak]

You could either cut a few inches off with a hak saw or take the extension off and hook the bottom "basket thing".. guard .. whatever its called to the piece that comes straight out.. but then itw will suck water from pretty high up in the tank

 

[Tolak]

While that intake is a bit close those filters have a serious intake strainer, so I wouldn't be too concerned with that. If your local shop won't spare some cycled media try a local club, a list of which can be found here.

Media can be shipped as well, I've shipped plenty. Worst case if you can't find a local club member willing to part with some cycled media pm me with your zip code, I'll give you a shipping price, media is free as I usually just toss it out.

 

[Skins]

Keep up the good work

Skins.

 

[krittermom]

Well, I tested Ammonia today and it's dropped a bit, It was at 4, now it's at 2. That's progress, right?

The ph dropped from 8, to 7.8. I should keep an eye on this right? A stable PH is important, correct?

I'm working on contacting a few of the local fish clubs now, let's see if I have any success.

 

[Timmy_Bee]

thats sounding good. When the ammonia drops to 0, add some more. And keep an eye on the pH - if it drops more, you can add some bi carb of soda to bring it back up (good for the bacteria) but should be fine at 7.8

 

[krittermom]

I tried a few more LFS today and every one of them just tried to sell me a bacteria in a bottle. None would cough up some used media. Oh well, guess I'll just have to wait it out.

 

[Aqua Tom]

PH 8 bah try living where I do. It comes out the tap at 7.5, then rockets to 8.5 + overnight. Mental