Newbie Need Help!

[riggs111]

hi guys ive just come across your forum and it looks really friendly and helpful. nice to meet you all im adam and i have recently (3 months ago) decided i wanted to start a tropical aquarium up so i went to pets at home and i bought a fishbox 60 which came with everything to start up including a interpet delta therm heater: My link and also a interpet pf2 internal filter My link and also had built in lights which one was a daylight bulb and the other was a moonlight blue bulb but i recently changed it to just two daylight bulbs!

ive put in natural coloured gravel and i started the fishless cycle that i was recomended to do then i started out with 8 cherry barbs. i havent had many problems if any to be honest but im still a bit blind on what im suppose to be doing with my tank exactly. every sunday i do a 10% water change where i clean the gravel with a gravel cleaner, clean the walls of the tank as a little brown algae has been growing a bit, and i take the filter out and give that a rinse in the dirty water that was taken out of the tank, then i replace the water that was taken out with fresh water from my tap that has been brought up to around 26 deg, i also put a tapsafe product into the water and a stress zyme that i was reccomended from pets at home and i put a product called filter start that came with the filter that i put in near the filter when i turn it all back onand ido this every time i clean the tank.
Now i have 6 neon tetra's 8 cherry barbs and 4 rummy nose tetras, and peice of bogwood roughly 25cm in length and a small bit of wood with a live plant on top of it and 3 small potted plants that seem like there dying to be honest.

i was hoping you experts on here could help me out and just give me some advice on what i shlould be doing and what i shouldnt be doing, i really would like it to look like it does in pictures like the perfect tank with nice big plants that grow on the back of the tank that kind of looks like a background but a real one, also would it be bad if i put more gravel in as i feel there isnt enough in there? dosent feel like the plants are set in deep enough as the gravel comes up about 3 quarters of the pot that they are planted in?
i know im going on now so i apologise but i am so dumb about all this and i really dont want to do something wrong! please help guys and gals!
thanks for listening
adam

 

[james_fish]

Hello and Adam.

Good job with completing the fishless cycle and adding a nice stocking in your tank

I would probably up your weekly water change to around 20-25% just to make sure the NitrAtes are not building up too much in your tank.

Plants, like fish will need proper care in order to survive and thrive. C02 and Fertilizers will be worth looking into in order for you to have a succesful planted tank.

As for backgrounds, you can choose between sheets or 3D. 3D look much better but they are also much more expensive. I personally use a plain black 2D sheet, it really brings the depth out in my tank.

​

Hope I was of help

James.

 

[riggs111]

hi james thank you for your warm welcome,
i really like the black background on your tank what is it just a sheet?? i didnt particuly want something with plants etc on.
also i was curious of what the advantage if any would be of changing from internal filtration to external? thanks for your reply though james and i look forward and hopefully to hear from other memebers
adam

 

[abih2005]

Hi Adam - this forum is definitely the bees knees, what are you water levels at the moment - ammonia/nitrites?

 

[riggs111]

HI, This evening i bought a API freshwater master test kit and what a piece of kit! i love it! i done a test just a couple of minutes ago and this is how my results look

Nitrate - 1ppm - 3ppm couldnt really tell a difference to be honest.
Nitrite - 0ppm
Ammonia - 0.25ppm
ph - 7.3ppm - 7.5ppm

now i think there not perfect and now im a bit worried about my fish and unsure what to do? please help!
adam

 

[james_fish]

Ammonia and Nitrite need to be 0 at all times, or trace (which the test won't pick up)

The way to keep this down is by water changes, do a 50% leave an hour test, then according to results leave or water change again.

Nitrate will always be there, but it is not too harmful to fish, so no need to worry!

James.

 

[Gilli]

Hi Adam Welcome to the forum. You say you have done a fishless cycle but im curious as to how you tested your water if you have only just bought the test kit? If you didnt cycle the tank for 6 - 8 weeks before adding the fish then it wont be cycled which means a lot of hard work with a fish in cycle. As already mentioned Ammonia (and nitrite) should always be at 0 so you are going to have to test at the very least once a day and make a big water change if you get anything other than 0. In the meantime when you do your water change vac the gravel and cut back on feeding until it is
constantly at 0.

You dont need to clean your filter out every week - that only needs to be done when its gunky - I only do mine every 2 months or so.

Its best to take the plants out of the little pots which will only stunt the root growth. I find most of the plants the shops sell dont have much root on at all so I leave them in the pots for a while until the roots grow a bit then plant them straight into the gravel. You will need to keep your aquarium lights on for 8 hours or so a day for them to get enough light. Tanks need time to mature - be patient and it will look good with a little care and time!

You may find your neons might not survive - they shouldnt really be added to a tank that not at the very least 6 months old as they dont fare well in water thats not spot on.

If you like the look of the 3D backgrounds you can pick them up cheaper on ebay which is where I got the one in my signature pic!

 

[riggs111]

Hi! Yeah I done a fishless cycle for 1 week and I was told to bring the water up to pets at home and have it tested and they said it's perfect! I know that's the wrong way and I wish now I didn't do that and trust there judgement! But it's done and and thank god I didn't get any deaths and everything is ok apart from the test results!

Today I done a big big water change and cleaned the gravel as well as possible and gave it a real thorough clean and then put water back in with stress zyme in and I put water conditioner and the temp was spot on! So I stuck it back in and I switched everything back on,

Its been about 2 hours since and I am not home at the moment so can't do a test! Should I do a test later on or do it tomorrow when the tank is nicely settled??

I'll be honest with you I am really worrying!! I just want everything to be good and healthy and I'll be happy! Haha I hope i don't sound pathetic!
Thank you all For your reply and for caring!!

Adam

 

[anon02]

Did you put the old water back in the tank ?

 

[riggs111]

No, why should of I?

 

[chilli-spice]

No, why should of I?

no, you shouldn't have done
don't worry, it sounds like you are doing everything great.
keep up the good work, test the water every day and make sure you do a water change every time there is ammonia.

welcome to the forum

 

[riggs111]

Thank you so so much for the replies and the warm
Welcomes this place is very friendly and extremely helpful!!

What type of water change should I do if I've got
Ammonia and/or nitrite in the water again?

Adam

 

[abih2005]

You're going to have to keep doing water changes, you've done the same as me - P@H really take the absolute biscuit for the approach to fish welfare!! Basically you're in a fish in cycle, that means your filter is maturing while fish are in the tank - which means your water parameters will fluctuate for a while yet. My advice? Read up on fishless cycles, there's lots in the beginners section in this section of the forum. If you think you want to fishless cycle - take the fish back, explain your grievance and they'll give you a receipt to use to claim back the fish at a later date (when you're actually cycled and not when they say you are...)

 

[riggs111]

Oh that sounds bad I don't particuly want to bring them back, but if I keep checking the ammonia and the nitrite levels and do big big water changes, it will sort itself out??
Adam

 

[abih2005]

Some other more experienced people will be able to give more advice, but basically - your tank isn't properly cycled, you're exposing the fish to intolerable levels of toxicity... I took my fish back because I couldn't bear to expose them to any potential suffering caused by my cycling of the tank using ammonia.