What To Know About Startup A Small Tank

[ahavah]

Hi I am new to owning a fish tank therefore i started with a small 5 gallon fish tank which had a filter system.
I was told at Wal- mart to let my fish tank sit for a week as it filtered the water then add fish in one week which I did.
I bought 5 Neon Small tropic fish and its been going on the 2nd week and all seems OK.
I checked the water with a 5N1 test kit and all read Ok however being that they are tropical fish I noticed my tank temp is at 76 and I am wondering is this temp OK ?
Another question is how many times do I need to change the water?
I noticed many have remarked they change the water every week therefore how much and when should I change for a 5 gallon tank?

 

[KkAaNnEe]

Hi

76 is a tad low, 78 would be best

Change the water once a week and if I would you I would change around 1 gallon at a time considering the size of your tank

 

[waterdrop]

Welcome to the beginners section! You are in what is called a Fish-In Cycle. Please read the write-up about it by rabbut in the Beginners Resource Center. A smaller tank is more difficult for a beginner because the water chemistry can change much more quickly than that of a larger tank. Unfortunately the paper strip testers are worse than bad, they can cause you to make wrong decisions. Most of us like and use the API Freshwater Master Test Kit and I would recommend that as an important thing to get soon. Until then I would do at least the daily changes mentioned. After you have the kit you can base the water changes on the feedback per the Fish-In Cycling article.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[BigbruiserAl]

just to eco what WP said, i find it much harder to keep my 50L tank right then my 250L just on volume of water

 

[The Taffy Apple]

+1.

I found starting up my 30L ALOT more difficult than my current 100L tank.

Best of luck with it though

 

[ahavah]

Hi

76 is a tad low, 78 would be best

Change the water once a week and if I would you I would change around 1 gallon at a time considering the size of your tank

thank you the temp dropped to 74 heading to the store this morning for a heater.

I have a filter that came with the tank do i need any other equipment beside the heater I am buying .?

 

[KkAaNnEe]

I'll be completely honest wth you, heaters in 10g< tanks are such a pain. Of course you need one but if i was you try to get a 25w because 50w can overheat it sometimes, especially as summer is on the way!

If you already have a 50w consider a timer, but you will need to monitor the temp changes during a 24hr period...

You should be ok for now, neons tend to prefer matured water but its kinda too late lol, just monitor the fish, tank, temp etc and with regards to your filter, do not change the sponges inside of it, just consider squeezing them into the dirty water during water changes, maybe once a month.

Good Luck

 

[waterdrop]

What the rabbut article should make clear is that after you get your liquid-reagent based test kit then the name of the game will be to try and keep the ammonia and nitrite(NO2) at or below 0.25ppm via water changes on a frequent basis during the month or more it takes to grow the bacteria.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[OldMan47]

You are doing fine with a tank temperature of 74F. As WD has said, the focus tight now should be on biological filtration, not water temperature. Fish are fairly flexible about tolerating various temperatures but there is no such thing as a fish that will ignore excessive ammonia or nitrite levels. Without proper test capability, you may or may not have a water problem right now, today. Please get the needed test gear ASAP.