New To All This And Is Stressing Please Help

[newtothis26]

hi people

started my tropical fish tank about 8 - 10 weeks ago and i dont no if im doing it right so please help
i have a 80 ltr tank set up with live plants and i currently have 4 fish in there 1 dalmation mollie 2 sunset mollies and a cat fish. m
my worry is that the gravel has started to turn an orangey colour and is a bit cloudy plus my sunsets are at the top of the tank im doing 25% water changes every week and getting my water tested by the shops while i wait for my api master testing kit to arrive and they say every thing is fine but it doesnt look like it help please

 

[kelly528]

The orange is probably brown algae. Look up some pictures of it. Am I right?

 

[rebrn]

Hello, well the first thing I would advise is go to the Beginners Resource Center on this fourm. There is a lot of really good information there, basically fishkeeping 101. My next question is: Did you cycle your tank before adding the fish? If you didn't or are not sure then you are in a "Fish-in Cycle" and you really need to read the artical on Fish in cycling (in the Beginners Resource Center). Once you get your liquid testing kit make sure to test your water to see where you are at. Most likely you will need to do a large water change immediately. Test the water about an hour after the water change to see where you stand. You should be testing your water every 12 hours and doing the appropriate water changes untill your tank is cycled. Also make sure you treat your water with a water conditioner to remove any chlorine in your tap water before adding to your tank, make sure to read the directions on your water conditioner, some require that you let it stand before adding to your tank. You may also want to cut down on the amount you feed your fish to once a day or even once every other day to help controll your ammonia levels.

Good Luck.

Additon : Sorry missed the point about your tank being run for 8-10 weeks, you may already be cycled, but still check out the Beginners Resource Center it has a lot of good information

 

[newtothis26]

Hello, well the first thing I would advise is go to the Beginners Resource Center on this fourm. There is a lot of really good information there, basically fishkeeping 101. My next question is: Did you cycle your tank before adding the fish? If you didn't or are not sure then you are in a "Fish-in Cycle" and you really need to read the artical on Fish in cycling (in the Beginners Resource Center). Once you get your liquid testing kit make sure to test your water to see where you are at. Most likely you will need to do a large water change immediately. Test the water about an hour after the water change to see where you stand. You should be testing your water every 12 hours and doing the appropriate water changes untill your tank is cycled. Also make sure you treat your water with a water conditioner to remove any chlorine in your tap water before adding to your tank, make sure to read the directions on your water conditioner, some require that you let it stand before adding to your tank. You may also want to cut down on the amount you feed your fish to once a day or even once every other day to help controll your ammonia levels.

Good Luck.

Additon : Sorry missed the point about your tank being run for 8-10 weeks, you may already be cycled, but still check out the Beginners Resource Center it has a lot of good information

i should get my test kit tommorrow mate so the first thing ill do is test the water record the results and do a 50% water change and test he water again to see if there is a change also whats the best way to clean my filter

 

[rebrn]

Hello, well the first thing I would advise is go to the Beginners Resource Center on this fourm. There is a lot of really good information there, basically fishkeeping 101. My next question is: Did you cycle your tank before adding the fish? If you didn't or are not sure then you are in a "Fish-in Cycle" and you really need to read the artical on Fish in cycling (in the Beginners Resource Center). Once you get your liquid testing kit make sure to test your water to see where you are at. Most likely you will need to do a large water change immediately. Test the water about an hour after the water change to see where you stand. You should be testing your water every 12 hours and doing the appropriate water changes untill your tank is cycled. Also make sure you treat your water with a water conditioner to remove any chlorine in your tap water before adding to your tank, make sure to read the directions on your water conditioner, some require that you let it stand before adding to your tank. You may also want to cut down on the amount you feed your fish to once a day or even once every other day to help controll your ammonia levels.

Good Luck.

Additon : Sorry missed the point about your tank being run for 8-10 weeks, you may already be cycled, but still check out the Beginners Resource Center it has a lot of good information

i should get my test kit tommorrow mate so the first thing ill do is test the water record the results and do a 50% water change and test he water again to see if there is a change also whats the best way to clean my filter

I am relatively new my self so I am not 100% sure, but from what I have read on this fourm you want to wash it in some tank water. I would think that after you do a water change rinse the filter in the water that you took out of your tank. But I do know that you definately want to rinse it in tank water to get the large debris off that is why I would say rinse it in the discarded water following a water change. But double check with the more experienced people first.

 

[OldMan47]

You are quite right Rebrn. The only good way to clean media is to rinse it in tank water or water that is very much like tank water, such as dechlorinated tap water. If you are cleaning a mature tank's filter, it can be used to start a new tank by cleaning the filter in the new tank and then starting the new tank's fishless cycle. The cleaning will add some of the right bacteria to the new tank to get it started.

 

[waterdrop]

Regardless of whether you have the test kit yet or not, those 25% water changes per week may be to "wimpy" for what you need and/or the gravel-cleaning technique you're using may be not good enough. Nice deep gravel cleanings as the water is siphoned out often take out more than 25% of the tank volume and will help with diatom and other algae situations too.

I agree with the filter cleaning comments too.

~~waterdrop~~