Water Not Heating Up

[waterdrop]

Spare hardware never hurts in the aquarium hobby if you can afford it. You really can lose investments (both costwise and psychologically) in fish and plants and effort when physical equipment fails and you can even do your own rough cost analysis of whether a given spare might be worth it to you, at least on the cost end of things.

Agree with the others, we like to ask all our newcomers if they are aware of the various options to prep a biofilter prior to exposing fish to a new tank, as we see so many coming in and getting fish and plants before realizing a lot of the options.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[wayne2467]

Yeah-I've seen the water testing kits-so il get one of those- and see what the woman in the shop says unless someone on here can mention anything?
Thanks

I just saw the post above that goes through the stages before putting fish in.

 

[waterdrop]

Many of us here in the beginner section like and use the API Freshwater Master Test Kit. I'd recommend that the most since it carries a kind of lingua franca for having discussions with the members. The similar Nutrafin Mini-Master kit is almost as good and on a similar level. The Salifert kits are better than both of these in some cases but a bit more complicated in some regards. There are then also quite a number of other kits out there we don't tend to like as much.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[wayne2467]

Got up this morning and the temp had risen to 24c. Thought it would be higher than this so tured the heater to max but temp still not rising.

Just to add i have the thermometer near the bottom of the tank.
Thanks

 

[KittyKat]

Sometimes, the heater can be "off" by a set amount from what the reading says (for example there may always be a 3C difference between setting and temperature), although this isn't common for a new heater. Is the water being circulated by a filer or pump?

 

[wayne2467]

Filter i think-It's one of the small fluval tanks.

 

[wayne2467]

I'ts gone up half a degree or more now-so maybe it was just a bit slow to kick in after i turned it up. Il let you know in a bit if it's still rising LOL.

BTW what temp should i be aiming to get to? About 28c or is that on the high side?

 

[waterdrop]

If you are planning to fishless cycle (you've never stated a goal for your heated up box of water, lol) then you are aiming for 29C/84F because you are not trying to keep fish, you are trying to grow two specific species of autotrophic bacteria.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[wayne2467]

At the moment just heating up to make sure it's working properly then or just now i will read through the stickys about preping the tank etc before fish--What temp are the fish kept at though?

BTW i'ts up to 26.2 now.

 

[KittyKat]

At the moment just heating up to make sure it's working properly then or just now i will read through the stickys about preping the tank etc before fish--What temp are the fish kept at though?

I prefer to keep average tropical fish at 22-25C. There are a few species which are picky about temperatures (either wanting high or low), but most live for longest and are suitably active in the lower half of 20s.

 

[wayne2467]

I had this tank given to me-so i thought if i can succesfully keep fish i would then buy a bigger display tank

 

[wayne2467]

Someone in the shop recommended Danios as a good fish to start with.

What other fish will they be compatible with-Its only a tiny tank and i don't intend on putting too many fish in and not even all at once.
Thanks

 

[KittyKat]

Someone in the shop recommended Danios as a good fish to start with.

They are not.. Zebra danios should be kept in schools of 6+ in aquariums which are 3+ ft in length as they are active fish.

What other fish will they be compatible with-Its only a tiny tank and i don't intend on putting too many fish in and not even all at once.

For an 18*12*12 inch, fish-less cycled aquarium with sand as a substrate, I would recommend the following stocking:
* 8-10 ember tetras
* 6 dwarf Corys
* 1 male dwarf gourami

A fish-less cycle will help you understand how the nitrogen cycle works in an aquarium.. it is well worth doing.

 

[wayne2467]

Someone in the shop recommended Danios as a good fish to start with.

They are not.. Zebra danios should be kept in schools of 6+ in aquariums which are 3+ ft in length as they are active fish.

What other fish will they be compatible with-Its only a tiny tank and i don't intend on putting too many fish in and not even all at once.

For an 18*12*12 inch, fish-less cycled aquarium with sand as a substrate, I would recommend the following stocking:
* 8-10 ember tetras
* 6 dwarf Corys
* 1 male dwarf gourami



A fish-less cycle will help you understand how the nitrogen cycle works in an aquarium.. it is well worth doing.

Does the substrate have to be sand and if not are the ones you mention suitable to other substrates?
thanks

 

[KittyKat]

Someone in the shop recommended Danios as a good fish to start with.

They are not.. Zebra danios should be kept in schools of 6+ in aquariums which are 3+ ft in length as they are active fish.

What other fish will they be compatible with-Its only a tiny tank and i don't intend on putting too many fish in and not even all at once.

For an 18*12*12 inch, fish-less cycled aquarium with sand as a substrate, I would recommend the following stocking:
* 8-10 ember tetras
* 6 dwarf Corys
* 1 male dwarf gourami

Does the substrate have to be sand and if not are the ones you mention suitable to other substrates?
thanks

The Corys do best in sand.. if you don't want to have sand, I would go for cherry shrimp instead of Corys (although shrimp and gourami might not get along, depending on individual fish). Also another option would be a Betta instead of the gourami.

By the way, I said specifically fish-less because with fish-less, you can stock from 0 fish to 100% final stocking in one go. If you do fish-in, you'd probably start with 6 ember tetras and that would be pretty much it for at least the first 6 weeks, so it would take about 3-5 months to get all the fish.