Newbie Needs Help

[StingRay999]

Something I found, if you do a search on wikipedia for List of freshwater aquarium fish species then you get a nice list which show almost all the adult sizes of fish and what types there are and so on. It pretty much showed me that I cant realy keep a lot of fish in the 7 gallon, so I guess I will be upgrading to a bigger tank as soon as I can.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, tanks under 10 gallons are really among the most difficult to stock and run, needing careful selection of the few fish that can be comfortably provided for and more operator skill because the water parameters can fluctuate much more quickly. The concept feels wrong to a rank beginner picking out a first tank system in a shop, but fairly much larger tanks are actually easier (up to a point) for beginners.

That said, some of the most compelling aquariums I've seen though are tiny ones!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[StingRay999]

Keeping my space restrictions in mind,I saw a nice 63liter (16.5 gallon) tank. What is your opinion on the size of the tank and more importantly what are my stocking options? The LFS is quite expensive with his tanks, for instance a Juwel Rio 180 goes for R7 999.00 (Rougly 1100 dollars/ 719 pounds) so just want to make sure before I invest in a new tank.

 

[Timmy_Bee]

keep an eye on second hand tanks. I got my Rio 180 for 75 pounds which i think is a pretty good price! there are always people looking to get rid of their tank for one reason or another.

 

[Timmy_Bee]

Also, i think one thing to always consider when getting a 'smaller' tank is its length. Lots of medium sized fish need space to swim more than they need vertical space. Especially if you stock your tank right - keeping in mind to have some bottom / middle and top feeders.

In short, a 60L square tank will still have limitations on the type of fish. a 60L rectangular one would be better.

And as a final note, from personal experience i would avoid BiOrbs - they look like a good idea for a 60L tank, but they are under-filtered and again, due to their shape, you can't put any interesting fish in it

Anywho, thats my 2 cents

 

[StingRay999]

Thank you Timmy_Bee. I think for now I am going to stick with my 4 Rio's and the 7 gallon and save some cash to buy myself a Rio 180. I can see clearly now that it does not help to try a cheaper option as it will somehow end up biting me in the behind.

 

[Timmy_Bee]

well it is a pickle. You dont want to spend ~1000 on a new hobby that you don't know you'll like...

 

[waterdrop]

Time spent in learning, dreaming, planning mode is often time well spent. Many hobbyists at the TFF level I believe begin to get interested enough in the individual pieces of equipment that they end up wanting to pick them out individually. The pleasure can be more intense when that sort of a planned tank comes together for you.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[StingRay999]

My tank is finaly more managable with the pleco and the bubles mollies out of the tank. The levels take about double the time now to build up. I only need to do two 30% water changes a day in order to keep the levels safe. The best reading I got over the weekend was NO3/4 0.00 and NO2 0.015. If left for too long the levels spike a bit higher, but if I keep to my water change schedule they dont get any higher than mentioned above.

 

[waterdrop]

Sounds good! Keep up the good work! WD

 

[StingRay999]

So when I got home yesterday afternoon I tested my water as usual and found that the NO2 levels were through the roof. Got a reading of almost 1 ppm. Imediatly did a 90% water change and did another 90% change this morning. I seriously have no idea what could have caused it as there is only 4 rio tetras in the tank. The NH3/4 was pretty much as usual at 0.02ppm.

 

[waterdrop]

Perhaps look at it this way... (and forgive me if I'm remembering tank size and other stuff wrong but I think I remember 7G) To properly fish-in cycle something that small (anything under 10G is basically tiny in the tank world and tends to exaggerate a lot of things) you'd choose perhaps the equivalent of 2 tiny fish (that's IF, I'm being theoretical here.)

You have all the factors working against you (well, most of them, lol).. the tank, being small, will allow concentrations to swing much faster (it would take 10 times longer to raise a concentration the same amount in a 70G.) The biomass of fish, being larger than the tiny 2 fish example, will have the ability to pump out concentrations more quickly, then, on top of that, remember that the A-Bacs triple the amount of nitrite as compared to ammonia, right? So, putting all 3 of those together, its not at all surprising that you could see sudden spikes in nitrite!

(I think you've just reduced fish (good!) and I didn't read back through the whole thread Sting, so forgive me for just being numerical and possibly not sensitive to how hard you're trying!) WD

 

[StingRay999]

Thank you for the support WD, I appreciate it. I think the main factor for a newbie starting out is relying on the information provided by the LFS. Unfortunately more times than not the LFS does not have a clue of what he/she is talking about and the newbie ends up starting out the wrong way and ends up hating the hobby. I on the other hand find this hobby very interesting and will keep on trying untill i get it right, but just to make myself feel better I might take my trusty old baseball bat and pay the LFS a visit

 

[elisew]

Sounds like you`re being very sensible and doing the best you can

When you pay your lfs a visit I`m sure a fair few would probably love to accompany you.......baseball bats and all

 

[StingRay999]

I am still in the gutters. I am back at 3 daily water changes. The NH3/4 levels are at 0.03 ppm and NO2 spikes towards 1 ppm. I am going to try and rehome some more fish. Maybe just leave 2 rio tetras in there.