New To Tropical Fishtank Setup

[Sykes]

Here's a small update to the progress. The white clouds have finally cleared and the tank is starting to look alot better. The water seems slightly murky though and i was wondering if the water should become very clear once it's all filtered properly and there have been enough water changes?

I'm not sure if this is true and i know someone on here will know the correct answer but my friend said it's safe to use goldfish to start the Nitrogen process off? As i'm doing the fishless cycle this doesn't make a difference to me but i thought i would question what he has said because he has a pond and offered me some of his dirty pond water that's been established over a year now. I didn't know if that would be safe to do so iv told him i will leave it and continue the way i'm going.

 

[Akasha72]

Hi Sykes, I've just scan read most of this but I just wanted to say I had a PF2 in my old 2ft tank. I kept the venturi switched on, turned the nozzle (the white plastic thing on the end of the oulet) so the opening was upwards and it moved the water around really well. As for the flow (the blue lever half way down the filter body) I kept the roughly in the middle. Any faster and it blew my smaller fish around too much and they congregated in one corner to avoid it.

I found it a good filter for a beginner. It was easy enough to set up and clean etc.

If you have any further questions regarding the PF2 let me know and I'll try to answer them.

Good luck cycling the tank

Akasha

 

[Sykes]

Hi Akasha, Iv got the filter exactly how you have described with the only difference of the nozzle pointing downwards so i will sort that in a minute. For the venturi to be able to work i understand the top of the filter has to be out of the water but when your nozzle was pointing upwards, was the whole nozzle fully submerged or slightly out of the water? Not sure if that will make a difference but it's best to check.

It seem's a fairly good filter but it came with the tank so i'm not sure if it's different to all of the other filters. I was looking into replacing it for a UV filter but i think it's going to be more hassle than it's worth. Pet's At Home's tanks are crystal clear and use the UV filtering system, that's the outcome i was hoping for which i don't think the PF is capable of but i could be wrong

 

[Akasha72]

a couple of pictures of my old 2ft tank with the PF2 in.

Hope they help you both to see that it is clear (ignore the messed up background, it was a beginners bodge job!) and how the filter was situated.

Akasha

 

[Sykes]

Thankyou, that's going to help me alot and the water is alot more clear than our tank at the moment lol. Once iv got it all established and running well i will grab some photo's. I originally put the filter to the back of the tank facing forward until i realised the water flow would be better if it was stuck at the back but on the side of the tank like you have yours. So i'm getting there slowly, all this help is doing me alot of good.

Iv also noticed your heater is quite close to the top in the photo's. Iv put mine further down so that i don't have to switch it off when i do a water change.

 

[Akasha72]

I would still switch it off when you do your water changes. If it cools too quickly it can break the glass. I had no choice with my old heater as the cable was so short it had to go in like that to be able to reach the power source.

It will clear, just give the filter chance to establish itself. After a while with that filter I replaced the black carbon sponge with another white sponge - it gave me spare media if I needed it (and I did because it helped cycle my new tank!)

 

[BigbruiserAl]

Here's a small update to the progress. The white clouds have finally cleared and the tank is starting to look alot better. The water seems slightly murky though and i was wondering if the water should become very clear once it's all filtered properly and there have been enough water changes?

I'm not sure if this is true and i know someone on here will know the correct answer but my friend said it's safe to use goldfish to start the Nitrogen process off? As i'm doing the fishless cycle this doesn't make a difference to me but i thought i would question what he has said because he has a pond and offered me some of his dirty pond water that's been established over a year now. I didn't know if that would be safe to do so iv told him i will leave it and continue the way i'm going.

The bloom will get better as time goes on, the tank is filling with life forms of things we prob dont even have names for yet it will take a while for the eco system to form and settle, worry about something else for now

I always keep heater on my shrimp tank when i do water change as it so far down and i temp match the water. My bigger tanks i turn them off as i always drop the water.

Getting water from another tank/pond is pointless bacteria live on the surfaces of the sponges/decorations. Scientifically there a % of bacteria in the water coloum but not enough thats goning to help us here

 

[balajake]

use household ammonia to start your cycle off with NO FISH. kleen off household ammonia works good. you have a 60 litre tank so the dose will be about 3ml of ammonia to get it up to 4ppm .

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/113861-fishless-cycling/


you need a testing kit too like the api freshwater master kit. please read the above link. and pond water, or gravel will not help your cycle i dont think. some established filter media will cycle your filter if you have a friend with a cycled fish tank willing to give you some, or ask at a good fish shop for some but make sure its gunky .you will still need to testyour water incase something goes wrong.

 

[Sykes]

Great replies, lots of information. My friend's tank has goldfish in it, will it do the same job?

When we unpacked the filter they gave us a free sample of Fine Filter media which we didn't use. Is the carbon filter needed or can we change it for another white sponge? I just assume the way the filter was unpacked and setup is how it's supposed to be so not changed or messed with anything.

 

[The Taffy Apple]

The Carbon media is only needed to remove any medications you may have been using (and can be used to remove any excess 'tannis' given off by bogwood), as it doesn't really have the surface area to hold as much beneficial bacteria as other types of media, i would, indeed, change it for another white pad or something similiar.

Terry.

 

[Sykes]

Thank's Terry, i will pick a box of 3 up tomorrow morning. The tank is improving quite well now so it's probably just a matter of days. Still waiting for the test kit to arrive so i can see what stage everything is at and was hoping it would have arrived today but not to worry.

 

[Sykes]

Would you say this is bacterial bloom? This is the white clouds iv been referring too that seem to have taken over the tank for over a week. It don't look as bad on the photo's but it is really bad in the tank.

 

[Zikofski]

Very gd work I hope I haven't missed this reading through but with the cloudy ness yes was a bacteria bloom glad it cleared but saw you said it still murky did you clean your gravel before putting that in?

That would have made it very murky

Hope this helped

 

[dh058977]

Just to warn you, I dont think that plant at the front (green and white one) is aquatic, you should really remove it before it rots away!

 

[Sykes]

Hi, the water is fully clear now. The gravel was cleaned thoroughly before we put it in the tank. Regarding the plant, i purchased it from an Aquarium and not sure what the plant is exactly.

We received the test kit today and i had to do it twice as everything seemed stable. 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, 10 Nitrate. I took a water sample to an Aquatic to get them to test and they said it was safe so i purchased 4 danios and was advised to keep checking the water daily and not to purchase anymore fish for a week. Does this sound about right?

Thanks again