Newbie, Posting Out Fish Tank Reincarnation

[Musty Pie]

Hey guys

I'm new to these forums (found the place whilst browsing online) But I hope to become a regular visitor (along with my parents) so we can brush up on our knowledge of tropical fish and the such.

Just a little background info on our tank and ourselves

I'm aged 22 myself (still living at home as much as I hate to admit it) I'm an IT technician working as a workshop managed for an IT company. My fish knowledge is minimal which is the main reason I have chosen to sign up to these forums in order to learn as much as I can.

My parents are both in their 50+ and have a considerable amount of knowledge (from 10 or so years ago) but I will convince them to read up as much as they can as im sure alot can change in this period of time.

When i was much younger my parents used to be heavily involved in running and maintaining a large tropical fish tank we had in our house. The tank used to house many types of tropical fish for a lengthy period of about ten years. When our last fish finally passed away the tank was abandoned due to lack of funds and lack of time . The tank has now been explained as "just because a piece of furniture" to any enquiring friend or visitor for many years.

It has now been sitting unoccupied for about ten years until this weekend just passed when we all decided that it would be a great idea to get it cleaned out and up and running again.

After many hours of cleaning, sorting out old equipment and purchasing new parts, heaters, pumps, air walls etc we have finally managed to get it back up and running. (Pic below)



Apologies for poor picture quality but its the best my camera phone (HTC Hero) would take in low light. I will get some more pics up when my friend pops over with his DSLR to take some pictures of the fish.

We are currently in the stage of "prepping" the water conditions which i hear can take up to 2 weeks. Any comments would be much appreciated.

 

[minxfishy]

Hi and welcome to you and your parents to TFF and back to the fishkeeping hobby.

I expect things have changed in the last 10 years, since your parents first stated keeping fish.

I would suggest you and they have a good read thru the Beginners resource centre here: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/

Which will explain how to cycle the tank, 10 years ago, fish in cycling was the norm, these days and on this forum we try to encourage fishless cycling, follow the links in the thread I gave you to explain this more.

Any help you all need to get started again, any questions, clarification on cycling, there are lots of experienced fishkeepers here, who would be more than happy to talk you thru things and help out.

Tanks looks great btw, look forward to seeing its progress.

 

[Musty Pie]

Thanks for the reply and warm welcome, And the links look very helpful i will read through all of it tonight with my parents.
I'm assuming fish less cycling means allowing the tank to settle and cycle (sorting out levels of nitrates etc) before adding any life forms to the tank? which is what we where planning to do anyway, we are in no rush and have a few "cosmetic" things to sort out before we rush into putting any thing else in the tank. We already have bought a new water testing kit which we will use to monitor the water carefully before purchasing any fish.

We are currently sorting a blue light out to work hand in hand with the white light we already have (but cannot find anywhere locally that will sell the fitted and sealed ends for the size of the tube we have bought)

I will try and keep this thread as up to date as i can, As its always nice to see peoples progression over time.

 

[minxfishy]

Yes fishless cycling is way to cycle the tank without any harm to fish. With fish in cycling, you use a few hardy fish to cycle the tank, the fish produce waste which is ammonia, the filter bacteria eventually grows to convert the ammonia into nitrIte, finally the bacteria multiply enough to convert the nitrIte into nitrAte, nitrAte being the end product of the cycle, which in small amounts is not harmful to fish, whereas ammonia and nitrIte is very harmful and can cause death or permanent damage to the fish.

In fisless cycling, you use a souce of ammonia (household ammonia/fish food/a prawn for example) to replicate that of the fish waste, over a period of time and lots of water testing, the ammonia converts to nitrIte and then to nitrAte, after that your tank is ready for fish and they will not have to go thru this process as the filter is already established ready for them. This of course is a simplified quick answer and the full details of fishless cycling are in the resouce centre, at first glance it looks complicated, but it isnt and usually takes around 4 weeks to complete.

You can of course still do a fish in cycle, with a few fish to start with, but it means keeping on top of water changes, sometimes 2/3x daily water changes of large amounts to keep the ammonia and nitrIte below 0.25ppm which although still harmful to fish is less toxic than higher amounts and it can take longer to fully finish the cycle and then each time you add fish, you will see ammonia and nitrIte spikes as the filter bacteria have to mulitply to catch up with the extra waste load. Whereas with a fishless cycle, you prepare the filter to be able to take almost a full stock of fish because you can allow the ammonia and nitrIte levels to rise very high allowing the bacteria to establish quicker and handle higher amounts of waste. Hope that makes sense.

Whichever route you choose to go down, help will be on hand to advise on course of action for the cycle and which fish are suitable etc once the cycle is finished.

 

[Assaye]

Thanks for the reply and warm welcome, And the links look very helpful i will read through all of it tonight with my parents.
I'm assuming fish less cycling means allowing the tank to settle and cycle (sorting out levels of nitrates etc) before adding any life forms to the tank? which is what we where planning to do anyway, we are in no rush and have a few "cosmetic" things to sort out before we rush into putting any thing else in the tank. We already have bought a new water testing kit which we will use to monitor the water carefully before purchasing any fish.

We are currently sorting a blue light out to work hand in hand with the white light we already have (but cannot find anywhere locally that will sell the fitted and sealed ends for the size of the tube we have bought)

I will try and keep this thread as up to date as i can, As its always nice to see peoples progression over time.

That link Minxfishy gave you is excellent, have a read through.

Fishless cycling is indeed about helping the chemicals in the tank settle down before adding fish. However, simply leaving the tank to run without fish will achieve nothing. In order to grow the beneficial bacteria necessary to support aquatic life you need to actively cultivate them. It is all explained in the section called "Cycling".

It's great that you want to learn more - excited to see how your tank develops!

 

[Musty Pie]

Yeah we used some "shop bought" bio tablets as advised by our local aquatics centre (the brand name escapes me at the moment but will look at them when i get home and post if needed) but the claim they help start off the process of getting the water levels correct. I will certainly read through all of the provided information this evening with my folks so we are as clued up as we can be.

Thanks for all the help so far.

Just cant wait to get some fish in there!! Patients is key though im sure.

 

[Assaye]

Yeah we used some "shop bought" bio tablets as advised by our local aquatics centre (the brand name escapes me at the moment but will look at them when i get home and post if needed) but the claim they help start off the process of getting the water levels correct. I will certainly read through all of the provided information this evening with my folks so we are as clued up as we can be.

Thanks for all the help so far.

Just cant wait to get some fish in there!! Patients is key though im sure.

The only way to add bacteria by hand is to use some mature media from an established filter. "Bacteria in a bottle" or "biological kick-starters" don't actually do very much at all. They just add gunk to the water that may or may not have live bacteria in, and then that bacteria has to find the filter and fix in place before it dies, and then it needs to be given a food source (fish/ammonia) within a few hours or it will die anyway . . .

Just to warn you.

Most shops will recommend anything to get your money. You know you have a good(ish) shop when they advise things that would potentially lead them to lose money (like fishless cycles, adding fewer fish, etc). I have an insider's perspective

Oh, and water levels will always be correct before you add fish/ammonia. They only go mad when you add waste to the tank.

 

[Musty Pie]

thanks for that, makes perfect sense.

Will start reading the fishless cycle on my lunch break so that i can start properly once i get back from the gym.

Will keep you guys posted

 

[jacko32]

thanks for that, makes perfect sense.

Will start reading the fishless cycle on my lunch break so that i can start properly once i get back from the gym.

Will keep you guys posted

the best place to buy the ammonia for fishless cycling in the uk is homebase it took me ages to find this out
shake the bottle before you buy it if theres foam when you take the lid off its no good
if theres no foam its the right stuff
hope this helps

 

[Musty Pie]

Ahh thats good i was thinking where I could pick some up locally. We have a homebase fairly close by so might look there one evening this week.

 

[ChilliPepper]

Welcome to TFF, it's lovely to see you're wanting to keep fish again. Be warned though, it is addictive

Do you know what the measurements of your tank are? Looks fairly large in the pic. That way you can work out what the volume of water is, and then start putting together a list of fish you like and we can help you with any advice on whether they are suitable for your tank

 

[kribensis12]

That is a gorgeous tank! It is refreshing to see someone who can actually accept help on here without question and is doing their best to get things done correctly the first time (sadly, that doesn't always happen). Kudos to you! Cant wait to see how the tank turns out!

 

[Musty Pie]

Thanks for the comments, Sorry ive been a bit busy of the last few days (at work) although ive managed to sneak a few mins after my late lunch to pop back on and update.

The tank it still cycling away (mainly monitored so far by my parents, who have been reading the guides on here to brush up on forgotten tips and information) After adding the shop bought tablets the water turned a little cloudy (although according to the instructions this is to be expected) However as of this morning it has now cleared up completely. We will probably do another water test at the end of the week to check the levels and see how we are getting on.

The tank dimensions are as follows: 52 inches long, 18 inches tall, and 12 inches deep.
As for our fish preference we are unsure and we are going to discuss what we are looking at this evening. I will post our thoughts back up later.

Many thanks.

 

[ChilliPepper]

Using the calculator at the top it says your tank is approx 184 litres, which is a nice sized tank

Have a look in some fish shops, and make a list of what you see that you like and we can see which are compatible

You have a good size tank, so could go for a nice mixed community with a school of tetras or rainbowfish, some dwarf cichlids or some Angels.

 

[Musty Pie]

Yeah its a reasonable size tank, this coming weekend we should be able to sit down and discuss what we cant to start putting in it (when the cycling has finished of course)

I'm interested in mini shark type fish, although I'm not to sure the parents are that keen We use to have 1 or 2 (cant remember) silver sharks back in the day. Now they where awesome!