Painfully New

[Arbee]

I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself.  My name is Rebecca, I am 33 and live in Cincinnati ohio.  I recently got a 75 gallon tank, and like an idiot thought getting a few tetras to seed the tank was the right thing to do.  Luckily I have had very little loss, but thats not from my mad skills lol but from dumb luck.  I did use some media from a cycled tank, and did some water changes. But after reading some of the help threads I will be increasing the water changes tomorrow.  I also have 5 plants in the tank, and am using a canister filter and lots of air running in the tank at the moment.  But truly wish I had researched more before I decided to subject the poor unsuspecting fishies to my tank lol.  My goal is for a beautiful planted tank with some Rams in it.  But I know that will be months away.
 
 

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Hi, to the forum Rebecca.
Your tank looks nice, though IMO a bit fake. Nice tank on the whole though

 

[Arbee]

I agree, it's a work in progress. All the fake decore will be leaving as live and natural things take its place. The dragons and the castle are on borrowed time 8) it all came with the tank

 

[Sophie]

I wouldn't worry - we've all made mistakes, some more than others. I impulse bought a fish tank a year ago, I now have 2 running and 3 in storage ready for the new place! I've spent the last year researching, reading books, browsing the net and lurking on this forum and now utterly obsessed. There's so much to learn, but do feel free to ask us anything! We're happy to help

 

[the_lock_man]

Hi Rebecca, I have to say I've seen a lot more "fake-looking" tanks on here, yours is not too shabby at all, though I do prefer natural decor as well.
 
Just a quick point, unless your parents were motivated by those of John Wayne, I've never come across a bloke called Rebecca before, so you might be wanting to edit your profile.......
 

 

[Arbee]

Hmmm maybe a boy named Sue....
 
Thank you!  I will go edit now

Or the operation was a success hehehehe

 

[the_lock_man]

Or the operation was a success hehehehe

 

 

[Arbee]

I am doing a water change today, my tap water is so hard its painful to take a shower I have a TON of bottled spring water (over 150 gallons) with no additives in it.  Is it a good idea to use that when I do my change?
 
Thanks

 

[the_lock_man]

What kind of water are the fish in at the moment? It's best to keep them as they are, really.
 
The other problem you might find is that if you do have them on bottled water - if you need to do a big water change, and don't have sufficient bottled water available, doing a water change with tap water might make the water chemistry so different, the shock of this may do some damage.

 

[Arbee]

Its mainly tap water, I added 5 gallons of bottled to it when I set it up.  When I test it shows very hard water, so it wasn't enough to make a difference.  I will just use tap water on todays change.
 
Thank you

 

[the_lock_man]

What's the pH?

 

[Arbee]

pH-7.8
hardness-425
total alkalinity-180

 

[stanleo]

What kind of tetras are they? Some species are hardier than others. I used von rio tetras when I cycled mine and it went fine. But If you have say neon tetras, they can be very fragile.
 
As for your tank, I do love natural but I like the dragons. And its your tank, you design what you like to look at.

 

[the_lock_man]

That's not mega-hard water. Tapwater should be fine.

 

[Arbee]

Thank you! I will use tap water then. Do you recommend salt? I used it with the initial setup. Although I've read where some only use it durning sickness.

Tetras;
Serpea
Glow light
Black skirt