Oldie Returning To Keeping :-)

[GrumpyJohn]

Hi All
 
I used to keep fish back in the old days but now, after many years without a tank I'm setting one up again. Things seem to have changed greatly in the time I've been away from tropical fish keeping; in those days we would set the tank up on the Saturday and then, if the water had settled and had reached the right temperature, would stock with fish on the Sunday. I can honestly say that we never lost fish but I suppose the growth of the internet has changed things and now the recognised way of getting a tank together is a bit more involved. Anyway, I'm giving it a go the new way this time.
 
The tank in question is 150L. I'm going the community route with small fish rather than big. I have an idea of the look I want in my head. I'm trying NOT to get ideas from others on the look, etc as I want it to be my own. It may look rubbish in which case I'll start again.
 
I'm sure there will be questions I post as the tank comes on (like why is my bog wood taking so long to sink!), but for now I'm off for a browse around the forums . . . 
 
John
 
Edited to remove the partying smilie!

 

[techen]

I'd start with, How do you plan on cycling the tank?
 
Apart from that, Welcome.

 

[GrumpyJohn]

Hi, thanks for the welcome.
 
The tank is currently cycling (fishless). I left it for a couple of days to get up to temperature and for the water to lose it's cloudyiness from filling. My mate has a tank and was due a media change in one of his filters - we swapped media so that I could use his mature (is that the word) media in my filter. Will leave it a few days before I test.
 
I haven't added plants yet and the main feature (a large piece of bogwood) is currently undergoing saturation in my bath.
 
John

 

[fluttermoth]

Hi, john, to the forum.
 
Don't forget you will need to add some source of ammonia to the tank, as soon as possible after adding mature media, or the bacteria will starve and start to die off.
 
'Pure' (it's really a water/ammonia solution) household ammonia would be best (cleaner, less smelly, easier to dose accurately) but fish food or a cooked prawn (in a piece of mesh or net for preference) would also do the job.
 
FWIW, the best method of setting up tanks using mature media is to get the tank up to 2 or 3ppm and then add your mature media last thing at night. Test for ammonia and nitrite the next morning, and if they're both at zero, you know your filter is good to go.
 
As another point, it's actually quite rare to need to change media. It should be done only if the media is actually degraded so badly it's coming apart, and even then you should change no more than one third at a time. I have sponges and ceramic rings that have been in constant use for over 15 years.

 

[the_lock_man]

I was about to say what Fluttermoth just said.
 
So I will say the other thing that she normally says and didn't about how things have changed - I reckon that our water is much "cleaner" these days than it was then, and I also reckon that in the "old days" there was a good deal more of the filter bacteria in our tap water than there is now, so when you just set a tank up on Saturday, and chucked fish in on a Sunday, and they all lived, it was because the ammonia-neutralising bacteria were already there. These days, we start from a more "sterile" starting point.

 

[GrumpyJohn]

Hi, and thanks.
 
Although I didn’t mention it I have added ammonia to the tank – it was immediately after adding the filter media. I’m not sure as to the exact ppm as the test kit I have is actually out of date. Suffice to say that I added a few drops.
 
With regards the media change of the filters. We both have filters that take sponge type sheets, each taking two/four sheets. Mine obviously had new ones in so we swapped one of his for mine, leaving three established sheets in his. I hope that makes sense?
 
I’ll be getting a new test kit tomorrow so will check stats.
 
John