New Tank!

[Sesshis_grl]

Hello!

I just got a new 10G tank today and I am so excited ! ^.^ I went and bought a bag of sand for the substrate but I have absolutely NO experience with it. I want to mix black gravel and the full bag of sand for the bottom. From what I've read on the bag..you need to soak it completely(do not swish it around) and you have to have an outside filter? My filter hangs on the outside of the tank...I'm not sure if this is what they mean or not. So first are these beginning instructions correct? what else do you need to do to it? and how soon can you add a fish to that?

I'm soaking the new filter in a bag of water from my current cylced tank and then am planning to do a fish in cycle with my betta. Any advice would be wonderful

Thanks!

 

[mark4785]

I currently have an internal filter stuck on the aquarium side-glass and I've had no issues with sand getting sucked into it. The water intake grills are about 10cm above the sand. So an internal filter should work just fine if you'd prefer the filter system to be in the aquarium.

I think the term 'outside filter' is referring to a filter system that operates outside the tank, possibly due to the fact that its not waterproof. I don't know much about these so I can't really say how compatible they are with your substrate.

With regards to preparing the substrate, from personal experience, you should just add it all and then place a large plate on the substrate surface followed by pooring water onto it. The effect of this is that water hits the plate and bounces upwards so as to not disturb any of the sand. Without the plate the sand would probably float up and down the water column for about 24 hours before finally settling.

Soaking the new filter sponge in old tank water will not achieve anything as the old water does not contain anything of interest that will be transferred to the new filter sponge. You could avoid having to do a fish-in cycle by adding spare filter media/sponges from your old filtration system to the new filter system as it is the old filter media that contains the bacteria needed to remove water toxins ( i.e. ammonia/nitrite).

 

[Sesshis_grl]

Yea I wasn't sure how much good it would do but thought it couldn't hurt =). I only have one filter with proper bacteria in it so the spare idea won't work but thank you for the idea. Are saying that you don't even need to soak it then? just pour it into the tank? I've heard that a lot of dirt/dust can be in it if you don't rinse it...

And how are you supposed to clean it? can it be siphoned like gravel?

thanks!

 

[waterdrop]

All substrate materials (gravel, sand, mixtures, etc.) should be thoroughly rinsed prior to tank placement. A large bucket or other container (it should be a clean container not previously used for soaps etc.) is best, to allow much more water than substrate. Its best to do this outdoors with a hose. The hose can be plunged into the substrate and then the force adjusted such that the substrate is churned and the water overflows the bucket brim but the sand/gravel loss is kept to a minimum. This method is better/easier than constantly cleaning with your hands in that it can usually be kept going for a longer period than you would have patience for (on the other hand, some gravels that come pre-washed will not take that long for the dust to be cleared while using hand movements in the gravel.)

Later, when you have finished the weeks of preparing your working biofilter and are ready to get fish, you will have an established aquarium and will to to apply the skill of substrate cleaning on a weekly basis. Its different for sand than gravel. Many members here can lay out the steps of this skill for you.

Let the members know more about your filter. It sounds like it could be either what we call an "HOB" (Hang On Back) filter (which does indeed hand on the back rim if the tank) or an external cannister filter (occasionally abbreviated "EC" filter) which is a self contained box or cylinder unit that sits in a cabinet below the tank and communicates via hoses with the tank water.

The HOB design is long-established and well-respected. In its early years in the states it was often called a "Power Filter" (so called because in those days (around the 1960's) it was a new thing to design a pump motor specifically in to the workings of a filter. Prior to that the pump was a air pump that drove a bank of valves splitting off to both simple box filters and to airstones.) Most HOB designs bring the water immediately in to the impellor area and pump the water sideways into the media box where the flow moves upward through 2 or 3 layers of media and then spills out over a lip and back into the aquarium, creating a small waterfall.

As with many filters, the layers are often a coarse mechanical layer first (such as ceramic rings) followed by a "biomedia" layer such as sponge or ceramic gravel (where the all-important bacteria grow on the large surface areas offered) and then lastly through a "fine mechanical" floss mat or such to catch smaller particles of debris.

The basic three functions that should be available to the aquarist from their filter are "mechanical filtration," "chemical filtration," and "biological filtration." Two of these have been mentioned. The third one, chemical, is an optional function, usually reserved for short stretches of time, for instance to help clean out medications used for a disease. Biological filtration is extremely important and is the subject of most of the initial filter skill development for beginners.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[mark4785]

Yea I wasn't sure how much good it would do but thought it couldn't hurt =). I only have one filter with proper bacteria in it so the spare idea won't work but thank you for the idea. Are saying that you don't even need to soak it then? just pour it into the tank? I've heard that a lot of dirt/dust can be in it if you don't rinse it...

And how are you supposed to clean it? can it be siphoned like gravel?

thanks!

If you think theres a lot of dirt and dust contained in the substrate then it wouldn't harm to place it all in a bucket of water. Try and move some of the sand while it is submerged to loosen the dirt/dust etc. Keep replacing the water in the bucket until it contains no visible detritus. If the water goes cloudy then I wouldn't worry about that as it generally clears up by itself within 24 hours should you place it in the aquarium.

With my sand substrate, it was sealed in a bag which said that the sand could be added to the aquarium straight away without having to prepare it. If you have something like basic play sand, you may want to try and clean that.

I have syphoned my sand many times with a battery powered syphon and manual syphon. In both cases, the sand didn't get sucked right through the syphon. So long as you know how to use a syphon and get used to using it you won't come across any problems cleaning the sand.

 

[Sesshis_grl]

Thanks a lot =) The tank looks really pretty. I love the look sand gives the tank