Starting Again after many years

[Tony_W]

Hi, started keeping finish many years ago as a teenager, now in my 50's I've decided to start again with a 200ltr / 50gallon tank.
In 40 years the florescent tube lighting and under gravel filtration seem to be things of the past. Now it's LED lighting and external cannister filters.

The tank has been set up now for 3 weeks.
I have added a water conditioner, plant feed and done 2x 20% water changes a week a part.
Started testing the water after 2 weeks.
During the last week, Ammonia has always tested 0, Nitrite dropped from 5ppm to 0, and Nitrate went up from 10ppm to 20ppm.
I assumed it is cycling OK and introduced my 1st fish today, 9 Congo Tetra. Have I done this too soon?

Plants seem to be growing OK, the 2 pictures attached are taken 9 days apart.

Looking forward to getting advice and contributing

 

[WestCoastChelle]

Beautiful tank! I'm also returning after a long time away, although with a smaller tank.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Hello lovely tank! I'd agree it's cycled and ready for livestock.

I imagine there's much to learn and catch up on after 40 years away I hope it's an enjoyable journey for you!

I'll start you off with my pearl of wisdom if you care for it....larger water changes are now considered more beneficial. I typically do up to 50% water changes weekly. The beneficial bacteria lives on surfaces and not in the water column, so changing out larger amounts won't upset your cycle but will make sure to keep your nitrates to a minimum

 

[Tony_W]

Beautiful tank! I'm also returning after a long time away, although with a smaller tank.

Hi, Chelle, just read your post, good luck with the 20 gallon tank, please post a picture when it is set up.

 

[Tony_W]

Thanks for the advice CaptainBarnicles, I was worried about taking too much goodness out of the tank, so good to know about the 50%.

​

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello Tony. Nicely done tank. 50 gallons is a nice size and large enough to get in some plants and a few fish. You could even have a couple of the slightly larger variety. I always use a bacteria starter like APIs "Quick Start" and a few hardy fish to get things going and have the benefit of some activity in the tank. I always go with an aggressive water change routine, by changing half the water a couple of times weekly in addition to the bacteria starter for the first few weeks to make sure the nitrogen from the fish waste never becomes a problem for me or my fish. After a few weeks, I add a few more fish and back off on the water changes to half or a bit more weekly. By this time, the bacteria colony is established. I always stock just a few fish in the beginning, but I do like to have some from the start.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

 

[Fishmanic]

Welcome to TFF. That’s one awesome tank. Be sure to enter it in our May Tank of the Month contest which will feature tanks sized at 31 US gallons and larger tanks.

 

[Essjay]

Since you last had fish cycling has become important. The first part of this tells you what cycling is, but you can ignore the second part since you already have fish.

Cycling Your New Fresh Water Tank: Read This First!

Cycling Your First Fresh Water Tank What is Cycling and Why is it Important? Fish waste, and especially fish breathing, plus uneaten food and other organic matter breaking down in a tank all produce Ammonia. This can quickly become toxic to fish if it is allowed to build up to any measurable...

www.fishforums.net

Monitor ammonia and nitrite daily for the next week and if either read above zero do a water change. If they stay at zero, you can add more fish after another week, and again monitor those levels for the next week.

You have a number of live plants in the tank, and these will take up the ammonia made by the fish. Plants turn ammonia into protein rather than nitrite. The bigger the plants grow, the more ammonia they'll take up. If the levels stay at zero, there are enough plants for the fish in there now. Adding more fish too quickly may mean more ammonia than the plants can take up, so slowly is the way to go.

Bacteria will grow in the background, but not nearly as many as in a non-planted tank. If you wish to use a bacterial supplement, try Tetra Safe Start or Dr Tim's One & Only as both of these are known to contain the correct bacteria species. Most other brands contain the wrong species of nitrite eaters.



One last piece of advice - nowadays we know that the 'wrong' hardness can shorten a fish's life. Look on your water company's website for hardness. Ignore any words they use to describe it and look for a number and the unit of measurement. The unit is important as there are half a dozen of them but fish keeping uses just two and the number you find may need converting to a different unit.
While you are on the site, look at your water quality report which contains nitrate. That's a quick check to see if it agrees with your tester for tap water.

 

[Tony_W]

Thank you Essjay for the excellent advice.
I know the local tap water is hard due to the amount of limescale that builds in appliances like kettles and the local pet store informed me that the Nitrate level is high.
Will look for the specifics and test water when I get home tonight.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

You can go to Anglia Water's website and use their postcode checker for your local water parameters, I'm in South Lincs and it's liquid rock round here

 

[Tony_W]

Lots of calcium data in different units
Total hardness as calcium 113.282 mg/l
Chloride average 33.1 mg/l
Nitrate average 39.66 mg/l
Nitrite less than 0.03 mg/l
Ammonium less than 0.14 mg/l
Ph 7.39

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Was there a number in dH?

 

[Tony_W]

Was there a number in dH?

16.086 °dH
I'm guessing that's high

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Here's a rough guide...

 

[Essjay]

Total hardness as calcium 113.282 mg/l

Mg/l calcium is a unit common on UK water company sites. Fishkeeping uses two different units - ppm (also called mg/l calcium carbonate) and dH (also called German degrees).
113 mg/l calcium = 16 dH (as CaptnBarnicles said) and 282 ppm. This is hard water.

It is easier to keep fish which originate in water with similar hardness to our tap water. The site Seriously Fish is just about the best for looking up a species requirements as it is written by scientists and ichthyologists rather that someone who doesn't actually know much.

Knowledge Base — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

It is now realised that nitrate in a tank should be below 20 ppm, which is difficult if tap water is 39.66. There are ways to reduce this nitrate before it goes in the tank, from nitrate filters to letting the water stand in a container full of plants. Others use houseplants with the stems above water but the roots in the tank, since terrestrial plants prefer nitrate as their source of nitrogen. The aquarium plants will remove the ammonia made by the fish so that doesn't get turned into nitrate by bacteria. Finally, there's RO (reverse osmosis) water. This is almost pure water which when mixed with tap water will lower both nitrate and hardness.