New Tank

[strangeworld2002]

Hi,

I have recently purchased my first fish tank. I thought I would go for the best I could afford so I have installed an Amazon 240 bow front aquarium from world of water. The aquarium came with an aqua one heater, lights and an aqua one aquis 1000 external canister filter. We set everything up and left it for 1 week. I then decided I wanted to add a few fish to help with the cycle.

I have added 6 tiger barbs and 2 pearl gourami's as I was told my lfs that they are quite hardy fish.

As a general question how long will it take for nitrite levels to drop? should I use any supplements or just let the filter do its thing?

Cheers.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hi there, unfortunatley you've not been given the best advice by the fish shop, but there's no need to panic.

what you are doing now is cycling with fish, we generally advise people here to go through a process called fishless cycling, as the title suggests you don't use fish to cycle which means it's a lot kinder and safer all round.

however you are not the first person to make this mistake and you will not be the last, if you have a read of the link in my sig 'whats cycling' it should explain more and what to do now. while your researching also have a read of the fishless cycling link which will help you understand the process we usually advise as preferable.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, as another member here, I would agree that there's no need to panic, you will be able to fend off the troubles by following the advice you find here.

Do you have a siphon hose system? They make wonderful types now with adapters that allow you to do the refill part of a water change directly from an in-house water tap. Water changes will be necessary to remove the toxins your new fish would otherwise be exposed to.

Welcome to TFF! Hope we can help answer lots of questions for you!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[strangeworld2002]

Thanks for the advice guys. So far so good though I did a few tests last night and they all seemed low. Ph was about 7.5, nitrite was 0.1mg (I know it should be 0.0mg) but 0.1mg seems good considering my girlfriends tank keeps shooting up to 4mg+ during the cycle period. I have not checked for ammonia or nitrates just yet but I'm expecting them to be good but you never know.

I will post some more test results soon.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Thanks for the advice guys. So far so good though I did a few tests last night and they all seemed low. Ph was about 7.5, nitrite was 0.1mg (I know it should be 0.0mg) but 0.1mg seems good considering my girlfriends tank keeps shooting up to 4mg+ during the cycle period. I have not checked for ammonia or nitrates just yet but I'm expecting them to be good but you never know.

I will post some more test results soon.

you shouldn't be expecting the ammonia to be good at this stage, the nitrite won't be too high but the ammonia will most likleyu be sky high, you need to test all your levels daily, and if ammonaia or nitrite read anything other than 0 then do water changes to bring them down as low as possible.

 

[strangeworld2002]

Just out of interest and I know that partial water changes are good. I do get a little confused, if there is good bacteria in the filter and in the water helping to break down ammonia and nitrites etc, won't a water change with fresh de-chlorinated water potentially clear out some good bacteria?

 

[dave1987]

no the beneficial bacteria are in the filter not the water

 

[Miss Wiggle]

no, the bacteria do not live free swimming in the water, they adhere to surfaces, this is why filter media like the sponges are designed to have the largest possible surface area gto encourage bacteria growth.

Water changes just remove some toxic ammonia and nitrite

 

[strangeworld2002]

Crikey. Ok This fish lark is a full time job! lol.

 

[vinylman]

Crikey. Ok This fish lark is a full time job! lol.

It can be, it just depends on what advice you get when you're first setting up your tank. Have a look around the threads, there's some REALLY bad advice given out by shops who really should know better. Those of us who've been here a while can usually guess where a post is going after the first sentence, and it's so easily avoided. I sometimes wonder how many people have given up after having completely wrong 'advice' in shops. If you're lucky enough to find a good shop, stick with it. If they want your custom, they'll be able to get you what you want.

 

[waterdrop]

Crikey. Ok This fish lark is a full time job! lol.

Ideally, it is a bit intense for a beginner here in the "New" forum for a while. There is a body of basic information and an important set of resulting skills. The more you read the established articles and participate in all the newcomers threads, the faster you digest the info. If you stick with it, you eventually may find yourself transormed into one of those members who can spot what's coming when they read the first sentence of a newcomer!

Thing is, after that you should be free to choose to settle down to an easy routine and enjoy your tank and the hobby.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Thing is, after that you should be free to choose to settle down to an easy routine and enjoy your tank and the hobby.

then you get bored of it, decide to change the tank around and start the choosing and worrying all over again

 

[waterdrop]

...she's always way out there ahead of us beginners, but at least she smiles

 

[Miss Wiggle]

having a very smiley day today

Just finished a massive piece of work that's taken about 2 months

 

[waterdrop]

well, we must be on the work see-saw, I'm on the down side

at least looking upward at a smile might help my day! thanks