Setting Up A New Fish Tank

[Gnad]

I have a fish tank that i believe is 24 x 16 3/4 x 12 1/4. A couple of years ago i had a couple of gold fish in there. Now i am 15 years old and would like to put some tropical fish in there and begin the hobby again. I have a couple of questions.

1. can i use this tank?
2. if yes what fish would be cheap, nice looking, and easy to maintain and can fit in this tank?
3. what other equipment will i need? (heater, light, filter)

Thanks for answering my question..

 

[rdd1952]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

First, you can definitely use the tank again. That tank calculates to about 21 gallon so I assume it's probably a standard 20 gallon tank. You are limited to mainly smaller community fish as anything with an adult size of as much as 4 or 5 inches would not have enough space. Most community fish, such as guppies, tetras, rasboras, corys, platies, dwarf gouramis, etc. would work fine.

As far as equipment, you would need a filter that is rated at least 100 gallons per hour. Five times the tank capacity is usually considered the minimum. You will need a 75 watt heater (at leas 3 watts per gallon). Lights depend on whether you want plants or not. There are plants that would do fine with just a standard flourescent light but if you want to get more exotic, you would need power compact lights to get the 2+ watts per gallon you need. With flourescent lights, it's almost impossible to get much over 1 watt per gallon.

Here is a good pinned thread on setting up a tank and what you need.

 

[Gnad]

alright i read through ALOT. Now i believe i have a general grasp of most of the concepts.

So lets say i wanted to start the tank tomorrow i would run the tank with all the equipment then add chemicals and run it for 24 hrs then add in the fish?
is that cycling or is cycling something else? if so please explain. and add anything else i missed.

also can someone please post a link to an example of a cheap, good filter and heater,

thanks alot

 

[OldMan47]

Gnad, there is a link in my signature area to fishless cycling. If you set up a tank for a day and then add fish you are asking for a lot of trouble trying to keep the fish alive. It can be done if you are willing to do all the work involved but is not a very good idea. A proper fishless cycle often takes 4 weeks or more but it lets you add your fish worry free at the end.

 

[Aquatic_Az]

Yeah as said, theres no way you could cycle in that short amount of time, although if you did decide to add fish in that soon be prepared for 50% water changes daily to keep the fish happy, otherwise im sure theyd begin to die off, its what im currently having to go through as my tank obviously wasnt cycled when fish were added so now im doing 50% water changes basically every night to prevent the fish from getting harmed but the end result will be worth it

 

[lyotim88]

as for a filter, i use an aquaclear 50 on my 20 gal and it works fantastically. Very quiet and it's rated for 200gph. petsmart.com has it for 40 bucks. when you say 'cheap', well you get what you pay for and will probably end up spending more money because you're going to have to replace it. i would not reccomend the whisper filter as it broke in about a month for me. hope that helps. good luck!

 

[bordercollie05]

as for a filter, i use an aquaclear 50 on my 20 gal and it works fantastically. Very quiet and it's rated for 200gph. petsmart.com has it for 40 bucks. when you say 'cheap', well you get what you pay for and will probably end up spending more money because you're going to have to replace it. i would not reccomend the whisper filter as it broke in about a month for me. hope that helps. good luck!

I had the same problem with a whisper filter. Tetra filters are good too, I have two, one of which I've had for probably 2 and a half years, still running well. I also have an aquaclear, it works pretty well, but sometimes has a hard time restarting when its been turned off for cleaning (in tank water only ).

 

[badenmate]

if your looking at cycling then you need 6 weeks with no checmials as i have found out is you doa 25% water change every week with tap safe that should calm the levels in the tank down but i have found if you use bio start thensame process for 3 weeks

 

[Gnad]

alrighty, thanks for all the help. After i cycle the tank how do these fish sound for my 20 gallon tank?

3 neon 3 cardinal tetras (depending on whether or not they will school together? will they?)
a kuhli loach
5 white cloud mountain minnows
and 2 rasboras

i would plan on keeping the Temp. at about 75 degrees F. i would keep the ph and around 6.5 and 7.

im sure there are things that need to be changed please give your advice. thanks again.

 

[LauraFrog]

Stocking sounds fine but I'd add another two or three rasboras, provided you stock slowly and filter well the tank can handle it and they much prefer living in schools.

 

[Truck]

the neon and cardinal tetras will most probably die if you put them in your tank now, wait six months before adding them so your tank has time to mature and become more stable

 

[Gnad]

the neon and cardinal tetras will most probably die if you put them in your tank now, wait six months before adding them so your tank has time to mature and become more stable

yeh i read that somewhere else. thanks for the advice. any more comments?

 

[Truck]

if it was my tank i would have 12 rasboras, and a 6 khuli loaches,

khuli loaches need to be kept in groups or they will become timid

and then a few months down the line a centrepeice fish like a gourami or ram

 

[Gnad]

i really like the looks of the ram. im thinking about dropping the rasboras and getting 4 loaches 5 cloud mountain minnows, then in say a couple months adding in the tetras and ram. how does that sound? also what are some other options for a center piece like fish?

 

[LauraFrog]

Other options.... gouramis would be good. If there is an open surface area, a lace gourami (trichogaster leeri) is a good option, although dwarf gouramis are better suited to the size of the tank.