New Tank Set-Up

[Luke28]

Hello,

Being a Ex-reptile keeper, i know how forums can be with new members doing things wrong, so before i introduce any fish, i though i would come here first.

Rite,

100 ltr Tanks
Sand Bottom
Temp - 26/79
filter - fluval 300 , This filter come straight off my uncles tank and added into mine within 1 hour, with it left full of his old water and media.
Air Pump + Stone.


Doing The Evolution Aqua (pure Aquarium) 7 day course, on day 2.
And added biotopol plus.

Havent got a reading yet, but when do you think i could introoduce new fish taking into account of the filter being full of a healthly tanks water etc?

And when we do a test tommorow what kind of results do we want?

 

[KittyKat]

What do you want to keep? Community fish? Planted tank? Which fish do you want?

Many community fish do better in about 22-23°C, in my experience, but some do require higher temperatures.

Is the filter cycled? (How long did you uncle have the filter in a fish-tank with fish? Did he clean it only in old tank water? How long have you had it without fish? Did you dechlorinate the water before adding the filter?)

What is this course?

You want the following results from a liquid test kit:
* ammonia 0ppm
* nitrite 0ppm
* nitrate under 50ppm
* pH and hardness will determine which fish you can keep

If you do not have your own test kit, you should get one. API do a good master kit. It is about as important as water, for a new fishkeeper!

 

[Luke28]

What do you want to keep? Community fish? Planted tank? Which fish do you want?

Many community fish do better in about 22-23°C, in my experience, but some do require higher temperatures.

Is the filter cycled? (How long did you uncle have the filter in a fish-tank with fish? Did he clean it only in old tank water? How long have you had it without fish? Did you dechlorinate the water before adding the filter?)

What is this course?

You want the following results from a liquid test kit:
* ammonia 0ppm
* nitrite 0ppm
* nitrate under 50ppm
* pH and hardness will determine which fish you can keep

If you do not have your own test kit, you should get one. API do a good master kit. It is about as important as water, for a new fishkeeper!

Thanks For the Response,

Community Tank
Hes had it in his tank for about 10 months maybe more, and he has (im not sure what these are ) but he has additional media for stuff like amonia etc, the filter hasnt been cleaned it was literally a straight swap, we added the filter and then added biotopal plus,

The course is something i got from maidenhead aquatics, there a few threads about it on this forum, ive lost the link or i would post it for you, thanks for posting the results, ill let you know what we get tommorow.

 

[waterdrop]

Hi Luke28 and Welcome to TFF!

Biotopal Plus appears to be JBL's water conditioner (removes chlorine/choramine from tap water) analogous to API's Stress Coat in that it adds a slime coat chemical. I have no idea what the 7 day course is - Is it a class you take for 7 days to learn about cycling?

In our experience, there are no "bacteria in a bottle" products that you can add to a filter or tank to magically cycle it (although there is no end of trying over and over on the part of local stores and manufacturers to convince naive beginners that this is the case and that they of course need to pay for it!) What they are all playing on is your impatience for having fish and trying to get around the hard fact that the two species of bacteria that we need to grow in the filter can take a full 6 to 9 weeks to actuall grow (that's pretty much how long it can take just like human babies take 9 months or so!)

KK is asking the right questions and taking you in the right direction. You probably need a proper testing kit and if it were me I'd be using the right type of household ammonia both to keep the bacteria alive and to test and "qualify" the filter as actually being cycled to the point where you can do a first introduction of fish. A great set of background reading to be able to converse are the Nitrogen Cycle, Fishless Cycle and Fish-In Cycle articles in our Beginners Resource Center.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[KittyKat]

Community Tank

What are the dimensions of the tank? You want to be looking at harlequin rasboras, Corys or bristlenose plecos and Apisogramma cacatuoides.
Your ideal (beginner) stocking would be:
* 10 schooling/shoaling fish (for example harlequin rasboras; avoid neon tetras)
* 6 Corys OR 1m 1f bristlenose plecos
* pair of cichlids (I suggest Apistogramma cacatuoides or Apisto. agassizii)

..that would be the "peaceful" option. A more aggressive option would be:
* 10 barbs (for example, tiger barbs)
* 1m 1f bristlenose plecos
* paid of Kribs

I would recommend plants as they generally make fish happier.

Is the filter cycled? (How long did you uncle have the filter in a fish-tank with fish? Did he clean it only in old tank water? How long have you had it without fish? Did you dechlorinate the water before adding the filter?)

Hes had it in his tank for about 10 months maybe more, and he has (im not sure what these are ) but he has additional media for stuff like amonia etc, the filter hasnt been cleaned it was literally a straight swap, we added the filter and then added biotopal plus

Ah, this might have killed off the bacteria as they are sensitive to chlorine and chloramine in the tap water. If I were you, I would do a "test" cycle: basically, add pure ammonia to the fish tank until it reads 5ppm and see how long it takes to get down to 0ppm. If it is under 12 hours, then the tank is cycled, otherwise the filter either needs cycling or a kick start. (See what waterdrop said.)

What is this course?

The course is something i got from maidenhead aquatics, there a few threads about it on this forum, ive lost the link or i would post it for you

Would be interesting to see..

 

[Uriel]

Evolution Aqua is a bacteria in a bottle with a seperate fertilizer style component that your supposed to add over the period of a week. They've appeared recently at my local maidenhead with the standard dump this in you tank for a week and it's ready for fish promise. Not seen anything to suggest this is anymore effective than the snake-oil sold by most companies.
We like good old fashioned fishless cycling around here luke and theres a load of information on it in the beginners resource centre.

 

[waterdrop]

Evolution Aqua is a bacteria in a bottle with a seperate fertilizer style component that your supposed to add over the period of a week. They've appeared recently at my local maidenhead with the standard dump this in you tank for a week and it's ready for fish promise. Not seen anything to suggest this is anymore effective than the snake-oil sold by most companies.
We like good old fashioned fishless cycling around here luke and theres a load of information on it in the beginners resource centre.

Yes, I particularly worry about the dark brown ones that seem to have fertilizer-like properties. In the past we've found that they have a lot of nitrate and other things directly in them that really throw the readings off and cause even more confusion on the part of the beginner. If you can't tell whether your measurements relate to what the bacteria have processed or whether they are simply chemicals coming out of the bottle then you really haven't got enough data to make cycling decisions on (one tip is to actually run a set of tests on the bottled stuff itself to get of hint of the ways it might throw you off.

Many of our beginners who have used the fertilizer type snake-oils have ended up having to completely reset their tank after a month or so and then restart with a simpler fishless cycle and in the end a long thing takes even longer.

~~waterdrop~~