Hiya, I posted yesterday explaining my situation, we inherited a badly maintained 50litre tank from our neighbour as she was moving and didn't want to take it with her. It has 4 neon tetra, 4 (we think male) guppies and a panda garra called Jelly! I feed them on flake food. There are 3 small live plants, 2 small ornaments. The tank has built-in filtration system and water pump and strip light but not much else.. I'm very new to all of this and need some advice to make it a happier environment for them but on a tight budget? Also, is there possibility to add more fish, if so, which? X
Please Help Set Up My Tank Properly!
- Thread starter fishypps
- Start date
RossC
Fish Addict
Any photos?
First thing I'd do is check the inside of the filter. Open it up take the inners out. Wash the foam pads out with clean water. Get the media out (they may look like little white balls or cubes) if they look dirty that's good. Don't wash them you'll kill the good bacteria. If they look really manly you might want to purchase some more and replace half the amount with new media. But deffo rinse the sponges out if it hasn't been done. Put the filter back together and put it back in the tank
If the glass needs a clean I'd invest in a glass scraper or magnet cleaning pads. Every fish store will sell these. Get a gravel cleaner and do a good 50% water change. The key to a nice clean tank is frequent water changes. If its an older more developed tank which it sounds like I'd do a 30-40% water change weekly but some people do fortnightly. It's down to your desgression on that one
These basic steps should do you for now mate
If the glass needs a clean I'd invest in a glass scraper or magnet cleaning pads. Every fish store will sell these. Get a gravel cleaner and do a good 50% water change. The key to a nice clean tank is frequent water changes. If its an older more developed tank which it sounds like I'd do a 30-40% water change weekly but some people do fortnightly. It's down to your desgression on that one
These basic steps should do you for now mate
I cleaned out the filter sponge on the weekend with the tank water that was siphoned off when I did water change as I was told not to use tap water, is that right? I also use a "weekly cleaner" and anti chlorine product which I purchased from Wilkinsons. We did a 50+% water change when we got the tank in December and we do a 20-30% change ever couple weeks. I will share pics when on pc as I'm on mobile at the moment! When say."media" we have little black rubbery cog looking things... About 10 of them... Would that be them?
P.s. We have a gravel.cleaner and I do that.when changing water x
P.s. We have a gravel.cleaner and I do that.when changing water x
Thanks, i will try! It's sometimes hard with a 3 year old at my feet whilst im trying to do it asap to keep the fishies happy so i try and do it whilst she is out the way which isnt very often! lol. Also, my guppies seem VERY grumpy with eachother... they are constantly nipping at eachother and chasing eachother... is this normal for guppies?
Akasha72
Warning - Mad Cory Woman
NO. NO. NO. .... Never, ever wash the sponges or any other kind of media (ceramic balls or whatever you got) in CLEAN water ... only ever use old tank water. And only replace them when they really are falling to pieces. You don't need new - you only need new when the one's you have have really really had it. This is the first rule taught on this forum.
Filter media is there for a reason - to eat the waste the fish produce (ammonia) and keep the tank healthy. The bacteria will then convert Ammonia (and any nitrite) into NitrAte which will feed your plants. If you get any of this media anywhere near clean water you can kill it and then you've got a tank with no bacteria, ammonia will start to rise and the fish will get poisoned by it, get sick and die.
If I was you fishypps I'd head over to the beginners section of this forum and have a good read. It's gonna take a good few hours to read everything so it may take you a few days but you will learn lots about keeping the fish healthy, what you can and can't have living together in a community tank and how to get the tank you've inherited looking how you want it to look.
Good luck and I'll look forward to more pics
Thanks for your kind advice... will have a look at the beginners forum this evening when i havent got a little person nipping at my ankle saying "i want to go out" oh these school holidays are tough.... she would be better at nursery! lol
Akasha72
Warning - Mad Cory Woman
I'll repeat myself - NEVER EVER wash ANY media in tap water. Please always use the tank water you have syphoned off and give the sponges a brief rinse. Nothing more is needed. Clean them too figourously and you kill your bacteria and the fish will die
Wow I must be lucky then. I occasionally rinse my sponges when they get really manky with tap water. I test my water and the ammonia levels etc are all bang on I must be lucky. I never ever touch the media balls though I did know that. Someone told me washing sponges was fine. Not listening to him anymore lol
Akasha72
Warning - Mad Cory Woman
@Steve, yeah you've been lucky. I did it just once before I discovered the lovely people here and I ended up in a right mess with ammonia killing fish etc. It took ages to get back to where I was and made my fish really poorly. Hope you don't think I was shouting at you (well I was kinda but in a nice way) I just dread anyone else making the same mistake I did and ending up changing buckets and buckets of water day after endless day 
No need to apologise at all mate I'd rather be told. I feel stupid now cause I do know quite a lot about fish keeping and I didn't know this. Thanks for correcting me I'm glad I know now cause iv only done this with my small community tank iv not yet had to service my external filters on the bigger fish tanks I have I'm glad I know now
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