New To The Forum - New To Tropical Fish

[Cooper2085]

I was given a 3ft tank about 2 months ago and have finally got round to setting it up. Spent a huge amount of money getting a new hood, heater, filter, light, light control, plants, ornaments ect ect

Its been set up since Saturday afternoon and on Sunday night i noticed that the water was getting a little cloudy. Its now Tuesday and the water is still cloudy. The place i got the items from have said just to wait and the filter will clear it up but i just wanted to check with you guys!

The water has been treated just so you know ^^

Also how much space do you leave between your heater and your plants? And what colourful fish would you recommend for a beginner?

Thanks everyone

 

[evilchild]

did you cycle the tank before hand? it might be a batriea bloom?

 

[Cooper2085]

Im sorry i dont know what you mean, they guys in the shop said to add the water and treat it with this liquid (I think it was aqua cleaner) and leave the tank running with the filter and everything on. It has no fish in it yet.

 

[evilchild]

well, you need to cycle the tank, the best way is to do a fishless cycle. cycling. do you know what the liquid is call?

don't add any fish yet, they will have a high chance that they will die. i don't the the water just yet, i think thats normal. have you tested your water for amoina and nitrate's? also have you treated your water inthe tank with some sort of de-clorantor?

 

[Cooper2085]

Yeah the liquid i added was a de-chlorinator. I need to turn down my heater, its getting up to 27 atm, and iv been told 25 is best. My friend is coming round tonight to check the PH of the water.

 

[evilchild]

27 not to bad, you got no fish so it should be ok, would be ok if you did have fish, too. do you have real or fake plants? what kind of tank you looking for a comminty tank with a lot of differnt fish or a tank for one type of fish?

if you could post your water stats once they have been checked, we can then get an idea what your tanks doing?

 

[onlinebug]

First off, welcome to the forums

Could you tell us how much water the tank holds? If you don't know, dimensions will do fine

If you have sand as a base in the tank, and you have put the water in this could be the reason for the cloudyness, you should pop into your local hardware store and buy some "household ammonia" which has water and ammonia 9.5% as the ingredients.

Once you get back check out the thread that is pinned at the top of this forum as it contains alot of information regarding "cycling"

Cycling is a process which builds up bacteria in the filter to help fight off the ammonia which the fish in your tank WILL produce and once the concentration of this becomes high the fish will eventually die. Most LFS don't have very experienced staff when it comes to setting up a tank in my experience anyway.

Good luck and keep active on the forums if you need help

 

[Cooper2085]

Im looking at it being a community tank, i like neons and mollys. There was a really nice tiny shark aswell which they said would be fine. It really depends on how many fish will fit in comfortably.

The plants are plastic and silk. I have 2 hanging down that are silk and 4 plastic. Il try and get a pic and post it up.

 

[evilchild]

i had mollys and had a lot of truble from them as i have found them quite sickly.

 

[Cooper2085]

Still working on the pic, getting my GF to email me one ^^

The tank dimensions are - 3ft long 1ft Wide and 40" Deep.

 

[onlinebug]

40 Inches deep or 40 centimeters? if its 40 inches then wow.

This means that your tank is about 110 litres.

 

[Cooper2085]

Not 40" >.> Bloody hell im making a idiot of myself lol Sorry about this, i really am new to all this.

I know its 3ft long by 1ft wide and its over 1ft deep, i will upload a pic as soon as my missus sends me one!

How many plants do you guys/gals keep in your tanks?

 

[evilchild]

one. lol. at least one real one.

 

[onlinebug]

When I get my tank i'll get like one but im still not sure, they look nice though.. And your tank is about 80 litres then That should help when you buy your fish and accessories

 

[Cooper2085]

OK heres the pics: