I have an older 30 gallon tank. I know you can't clean it with chemicals so what do I clean it with? I've have just used plain water and it still has some kind of residue on it. I have a ph meter and a thing to check Cholorine. I need to know what the ph should be. I also need to know what kind of water to put in it. I would rather buy water for it but I don't know if it should be spring, distilled or something eles. How would I take the cholorine out of it if I used tap water? See I tell ya I know nothing on how to start one up.
Someone gave this to my children. I have bought a filter that was supposed to be one of the best. (I was told by a salesman)
Its the kind that hangs on the back a sucks the water up and back out through the filter. Hmm thats all the questions I have for now. I'm sure there will be more later. Thanks for any advice you could share.
Full Version: Are There Any Fish People Here?
the residue is probably a hard water line - you can use a little white vinager to clean it off. You can use tap water in the tank just add stress coat to the water to remove the chlorine. I would also let the tank run for a few days before adding fish.
OK....You have a bio filter which is an excellent filter. But the thing you need to remember is that its going to take a few day up to a few weeks for it to start working properly...you have to get the GOOD bacteria growing in it
So what you need to do, is get all the gravel and stuff set up...Let me back up a bit
I have had tanks all my life...I just took down a 55 gal that I had up for YEARS to make room for...you guessed it...BIRDS...Anyway, I prefer to use two types of filters...I had the bio filter on the back and then I also had an underground filter with a power head that drew the water down through the gravel so it acts as a stratusphere and helps take care of all the waste. It also helps keep the water airiated (sp) so the oxygen level stays up.
What I would do is take regular old table salt and and it to water and scrub the tank down... Or you can even just use bleach water at like 25% scrub it out and rinse it real well...
Chlorine in tap water disipates after 24 hours...so if you wanted you could just fill the tank up with tap water and let it sit for 24 hours before you put any fish in it But there's several products on the market that will take the chlorine out and condition the water so the fish don't lose their slime coat. No matter how you do it the water should be allowed to cycle for 24 hours before putting fish in it.
Unless your going to only be having gold fish in the tank you will also need a heater and the water should be kept between 72 to 80 degree's no warmer... I tried to keep mine at about 74-76
The type of fish you want to have will determine what the PH level should be. But for a community tank with several kinds of fish in it I kept mine around 6.8 - 7.0 or fairly neutral
Some people start out by adding chemicals to raise or lower the PH. Unless you know your water is extremely acidic or alkeline.. I wouldn't add chemicals to start with to balance it cuz its gonna change soon as you start putting fish in it.
So now, after you've got your tank set where you're going to have it and all the gravel and decorative plants and features are in place fill it with luke warm to cool water...warm water has less oxygen content. Turn your filters on and the heater and allow it to start cycling, watch the water temp so it doesn't go above like 78 Remember the warmer the water the less oxygen.. After its cycled for 24 hours you can start adding fish...BUT just a few...And my fish of choice for beginners and a new tank are Mollies...Black mollies Just plain old not fancy black Mollies...they are really a hardy fish and can withstand a large variance in PH levels with out getting too stressed. for a 30 gal. tank I'd get 4 mollies to start. What you're trying to accomplish now is getting the good bacteria started in the tank filters....You don't want to over populate the tank because them the ammonia levels get way too high and fish start going belly up. There's also a few products on the market that you can get that will start the bacteria growing faster, so if you're an impatient person then you can get that and put in. Ask the dude that sold you the filter.
SO now...you've got 4 fish in the tank...leave them in there for 24 hours and only feed them a small pinch of food...just enough that its all cleaned up in 5 minutes...otherwise it goes to the bottom, rots and causes ammonia to be given off...Ammonia is BAD! It is NOT your friend!
Feed the fish twice to 3 times a day but only what they'll clean up in 5 minutes. NOW, things to start watching for... Stress...are the fish hanging at the top of the tank only? This can be caused by several things...They're too cold...Warm water rises...or if they keep tapping the top of the water like they are trying to feed it could mean that there's not enough water movement to cause the oxygen exchange and they're basically gasping for breath... In which case you need to increase the water flow...this very seldom is the case.
If the fish are hanging to the bottom of the tank it could mean they are too warm... colder water at the bottom of the tank. You want them to be swimming at all levels throughout the tank and being fairly active but not zipping back and forth across the tank but not just staying in one place.
After a week, you'll want to do a partial water change...about a 1/3 of the water needs to be siphoned out and replaced with fresh water, tap water that's been dechlorinated by being left set for 24 hours or treated with chemical... Pour it in slowly to the tank and allow it to cycle...you don't need to take the fish out. Now you need to continue monitoring the fish to watch for stress...check the PH... try keeping it as neutral as you can. Also watch for signs of illness. The most common is ICK...little white spots on their bodies, usually starting on the tail fin and dorsal fin. but can appear all over. This is caused by rapid temp change mainly. So make sure that your tank is staying pretty level temp wise. If you need to adjust the heater do so in very small increments...and if the heater you have has a temp gauge as to where to set the dial, don't trust it to be accurate.
Then after the first water change and the fish are still doing well...active and eating not floating belly up at the top or sunk to the bottom...you can start adding a FEW fish... If you plan on having a community tank with several species of fish you want to make sure that they are all pretty docile fish, not aggressive... And for beginners the hardier fish are ones like platys and guppies and mollies and zebra dannioes (sp) and that type of thing...You can also get fish like neon tetras at this time...but ONLY A FEW at a time...I would add no more that 4 fish at this time... When you add fish, float the bag they come in on top the water for 1/2 hour to an hour till the water temp is about the same...then open the bag and add about half as much more water as is in the bag into the existing water...this gets them used to the PH....after 15 minutes or so do that again...after about another 15 minutes you can allow the fish in the bag to swim out continue to do this process don't over feed and montior the PH...in another week do a 1/3 water change again. If things are staying pretty constant PH wise you can add a few more fish. Don't over crowd... Fish do best when there are at least 3 of each species to school together. Depending on what type of fish you get, I prefer 3 to 5 of each type so you can watch them move in schools. Guppies, mollies and platys and swordtails are all Live bearers meaning they will have live babies and not lay eggs. But if things aren't done to protect the fry, they will be eaten by the adults and other fish. So they need hiding spots with different types of plants and stuff they can get into to hide. Remember, Guppies and Mollies are the "rabbits" of the fish world...
After about a month or maybe even two you'll want to start adding bottom feeders, like cat fish and coulie loaches to help clean up all the extra food that has dropped to the bottom of the tank. You will also want to get an algae eater of some type...I prefer the plecostomus...but there are chinese algae eaters too...they will help keep the algae population down. One or two SMALL plecostomus' per tank is more than enough...especially at this point. Cuz there isn't much for them to eat in there. You can also feed them green beans, uncooked but canned green beans and just drop 1 or 2 in the tank and they'll be able to eat those and not starve. Then you can start changing water once a month and make sure that you change the filters in the bio/back filter as well.
Again its important not to over crowd your tank...so you have a thirty gallon tank so they say 1 inch of fish per inch of surface So measure the tank width...and keep in mind thats the TOTAL inches of fish you should have. I usually think of each fish as 1 inch long unless you know that they are bigger than that... so if your tank is for instance 15 inches wide... no more than 15 fish...and that's SMALL fish...
I would also suggest you start out with the lesser expensive fish...guppies, mollies, platys swords etc. so that you aren't out a bunch of money if some of them go belly up.
Look for some books on Community Fish Tanks and it will help give you ideas of what fish are compatible etc. Tetras and most live bearers goe well Barbs are pretty aggressive...but depending on which kind you get, Ask if a sales person if you aren't sure!
Sorry this is long, but I hope it gets you started...
Remember you can always PM me
So what you need to do, is get all the gravel and stuff set up...Let me back up a bit
I have had tanks all my life...I just took down a 55 gal that I had up for YEARS to make room for...you guessed it...BIRDS...Anyway, I prefer to use two types of filters...I had the bio filter on the back and then I also had an underground filter with a power head that drew the water down through the gravel so it acts as a stratusphere and helps take care of all the waste. It also helps keep the water airiated (sp) so the oxygen level stays up.
What I would do is take regular old table salt and and it to water and scrub the tank down... Or you can even just use bleach water at like 25% scrub it out and rinse it real well...
Chlorine in tap water disipates after 24 hours...so if you wanted you could just fill the tank up with tap water and let it sit for 24 hours before you put any fish in it But there's several products on the market that will take the chlorine out and condition the water so the fish don't lose their slime coat. No matter how you do it the water should be allowed to cycle for 24 hours before putting fish in it.
Unless your going to only be having gold fish in the tank you will also need a heater and the water should be kept between 72 to 80 degree's no warmer... I tried to keep mine at about 74-76
The type of fish you want to have will determine what the PH level should be. But for a community tank with several kinds of fish in it I kept mine around 6.8 - 7.0 or fairly neutral
Some people start out by adding chemicals to raise or lower the PH. Unless you know your water is extremely acidic or alkeline.. I wouldn't add chemicals to start with to balance it cuz its gonna change soon as you start putting fish in it.
So now, after you've got your tank set where you're going to have it and all the gravel and decorative plants and features are in place fill it with luke warm to cool water...warm water has less oxygen content. Turn your filters on and the heater and allow it to start cycling, watch the water temp so it doesn't go above like 78 Remember the warmer the water the less oxygen.. After its cycled for 24 hours you can start adding fish...BUT just a few...And my fish of choice for beginners and a new tank are Mollies...Black mollies Just plain old not fancy black Mollies...they are really a hardy fish and can withstand a large variance in PH levels with out getting too stressed. for a 30 gal. tank I'd get 4 mollies to start. What you're trying to accomplish now is getting the good bacteria started in the tank filters....You don't want to over populate the tank because them the ammonia levels get way too high and fish start going belly up. There's also a few products on the market that you can get that will start the bacteria growing faster, so if you're an impatient person then you can get that and put in. Ask the dude that sold you the filter.
SO now...you've got 4 fish in the tank...leave them in there for 24 hours and only feed them a small pinch of food...just enough that its all cleaned up in 5 minutes...otherwise it goes to the bottom, rots and causes ammonia to be given off...Ammonia is BAD! It is NOT your friend!
Feed the fish twice to 3 times a day but only what they'll clean up in 5 minutes. NOW, things to start watching for... Stress...are the fish hanging at the top of the tank only? This can be caused by several things...They're too cold...Warm water rises...or if they keep tapping the top of the water like they are trying to feed it could mean that there's not enough water movement to cause the oxygen exchange and they're basically gasping for breath... In which case you need to increase the water flow...this very seldom is the case.
If the fish are hanging to the bottom of the tank it could mean they are too warm... colder water at the bottom of the tank. You want them to be swimming at all levels throughout the tank and being fairly active but not zipping back and forth across the tank but not just staying in one place.
After a week, you'll want to do a partial water change...about a 1/3 of the water needs to be siphoned out and replaced with fresh water, tap water that's been dechlorinated by being left set for 24 hours or treated with chemical... Pour it in slowly to the tank and allow it to cycle...you don't need to take the fish out. Now you need to continue monitoring the fish to watch for stress...check the PH... try keeping it as neutral as you can. Also watch for signs of illness. The most common is ICK...little white spots on their bodies, usually starting on the tail fin and dorsal fin. but can appear all over. This is caused by rapid temp change mainly. So make sure that your tank is staying pretty level temp wise. If you need to adjust the heater do so in very small increments...and if the heater you have has a temp gauge as to where to set the dial, don't trust it to be accurate.
Then after the first water change and the fish are still doing well...active and eating not floating belly up at the top or sunk to the bottom...you can start adding a FEW fish... If you plan on having a community tank with several species of fish you want to make sure that they are all pretty docile fish, not aggressive... And for beginners the hardier fish are ones like platys and guppies and mollies and zebra dannioes (sp) and that type of thing...You can also get fish like neon tetras at this time...but ONLY A FEW at a time...I would add no more that 4 fish at this time... When you add fish, float the bag they come in on top the water for 1/2 hour to an hour till the water temp is about the same...then open the bag and add about half as much more water as is in the bag into the existing water...this gets them used to the PH....after 15 minutes or so do that again...after about another 15 minutes you can allow the fish in the bag to swim out continue to do this process don't over feed and montior the PH...in another week do a 1/3 water change again. If things are staying pretty constant PH wise you can add a few more fish. Don't over crowd... Fish do best when there are at least 3 of each species to school together. Depending on what type of fish you get, I prefer 3 to 5 of each type so you can watch them move in schools. Guppies, mollies and platys and swordtails are all Live bearers meaning they will have live babies and not lay eggs. But if things aren't done to protect the fry, they will be eaten by the adults and other fish. So they need hiding spots with different types of plants and stuff they can get into to hide. Remember, Guppies and Mollies are the "rabbits" of the fish world...
After about a month or maybe even two you'll want to start adding bottom feeders, like cat fish and coulie loaches to help clean up all the extra food that has dropped to the bottom of the tank. You will also want to get an algae eater of some type...I prefer the plecostomus...but there are chinese algae eaters too...they will help keep the algae population down. One or two SMALL plecostomus' per tank is more than enough...especially at this point. Cuz there isn't much for them to eat in there. You can also feed them green beans, uncooked but canned green beans and just drop 1 or 2 in the tank and they'll be able to eat those and not starve. Then you can start changing water once a month and make sure that you change the filters in the bio/back filter as well.
Again its important not to over crowd your tank...so you have a thirty gallon tank so they say 1 inch of fish per inch of surface So measure the tank width...and keep in mind thats the TOTAL inches of fish you should have. I usually think of each fish as 1 inch long unless you know that they are bigger than that... so if your tank is for instance 15 inches wide... no more than 15 fish...and that's SMALL fish...
I would also suggest you start out with the lesser expensive fish...guppies, mollies, platys swords etc. so that you aren't out a bunch of money if some of them go belly up.
Look for some books on Community Fish Tanks and it will help give you ideas of what fish are compatible etc. Tetras and most live bearers goe well Barbs are pretty aggressive...but depending on which kind you get, Ask if a sales person if you aren't sure!
Sorry this is long, but I hope it gets you started...
Remember you can always PM me
Ok I'm still at the cleaning the tank stage. I printed off your post but expect a pm in the near future. Mollies are my favoritest (I know thats not really a word) fish. I'm glad I can start with those. I did at one point and time have a 55 gal. tank. My SIL got it started for me so I didn't have to do this. But she's no longer in the picture (she's alive just divorced).
ahhhhhh I sometimes really miss my fish tank!!! I had a 50 gallon tank and loved it 
But, like Connie, I made the decision to take it down to add more birds 
I can't add anything to what Connie stated...she's got some excellent advice!! I would go down to your local pet store (or wherever you decide to purchase your fish) and talk to them too. Most pet stores will allow you to take your water in there to have them test it if you're unsure how to do it properly (although the kits they have nowadays are pretty easy to follow).
There are lots of gorgeous fish out there. Towards the end, I only had sharks in my tank. They were my most favoritest
But, like Connie, I made the decision to take it down to add more birds I can't add anything to what Connie stated...she's got some excellent advice!! I would go down to your local pet store (or wherever you decide to purchase your fish) and talk to them too. Most pet stores will allow you to take your water in there to have them test it if you're unsure how to do it properly (although the kits they have nowadays are pretty easy to follow).
There are lots of gorgeous fish out there. Towards the end, I only had sharks in my tank. They were my most favoritest
Excellent advice Connie ...
We keep african cichlids .. Three tanks ... but hubby is the guru!
Just asked him and he suggested vinegar to clean the tank. He also said that he cycled his tank for one week before adding any fish. He then put in the first two .. he tested the water daily for all kinds of things but mainly amonia. If the amonia was too high and he hadn't added fish he would do a partial water change to bring it down.
He didn't add any more fish for at least four or five days and only if the tests were what they should be .. I think PH, amonia etc ..
He also said the number of fish overall is determined by the expected size of the fish and the size of the tank. Also something to consider is the "character" of the fish. Our cichlids are territorial so he is changing around the rock formation all the time so that they need to stake claim every now and again ... keeps them busy and leave each other alone. We also keep the numbers down .. too many would cause them to fight all the time. We have a blue dolphin that has a tank to himself ... even though the big tank is large enough for him with the other cichlids he is just too aggressive....
Good Luck ..
We keep african cichlids .. Three tanks ... but hubby is the guru!
Just asked him and he suggested vinegar to clean the tank. He also said that he cycled his tank for one week before adding any fish. He then put in the first two .. he tested the water daily for all kinds of things but mainly amonia. If the amonia was too high and he hadn't added fish he would do a partial water change to bring it down.
He didn't add any more fish for at least four or five days and only if the tests were what they should be .. I think PH, amonia etc ..
He also said the number of fish overall is determined by the expected size of the fish and the size of the tank. Also something to consider is the "character" of the fish. Our cichlids are territorial so he is changing around the rock formation all the time so that they need to stake claim every now and again ... keeps them busy and leave each other alone. We also keep the numbers down .. too many would cause them to fight all the time. We have a blue dolphin that has a tank to himself ... even though the big tank is large enough for him with the other cichlids he is just too aggressive....
Good Luck ..
How much gravel should be used in the bottom? I don't have an under gravel filter but I do have a bubble stone thing with a plastic plate like thing to go over it. I know its supposed to be covered but by how much?
for any air bubble wand or item, you don't want to cover it completely , i just put a some on the base of it to hold it down, play with it till it is blowing bubbles like you want and looks like you want
i have two 55 gallon fish tanks, and as for most things i won't tell you how we manage ours cause most people would flip, i had one tank full of angels but the heater decided to break and be on all the time. so we lost all of the fish , didn't realize it till it was too late. good luck , the advice that has come before me is good advice. really honestly the biggest mistake most people make is over feeding. the next is adding fish too fast or too many fish added at once. i really didn't do much with my fish once i had the tanks established.
i have two 55 gallon fish tanks, and as for most things i won't tell you how we manage ours cause most people would flip, i had one tank full of angels but the heater decided to break and be on all the time. so we lost all of the fish , didn't realize it till it was too late. good luck , the advice that has come before me is good advice. really honestly the biggest mistake most people make is over feeding. the next is adding fish too fast or too many fish added at once. i really didn't do much with my fish once i had the tanks established.
QUOTE (Dee_ @ Jun 23 2007, 08:06 PM) 
Excellent advice Connie ...
We keep african cichlids .. Three tanks ... but hubby is the guru!
Just asked him and he suggested vinegar to clean the tank. He also said that he cycled his tank for one week before adding any fish. He then put in the first two .. he tested the water daily for all kinds of things but mainly amonia. If the amonia was too high and he hadn't added fish he would do a partial water change to bring it down.
He didn't add any more fish for at least four or five days and only if the tests were what they should be .. I think PH, amonia etc ..
He also said the number of fish overall is determined by the expected size of the fish and the size of the tank. Also something to consider is the "character" of the fish. Our cichlids are territorial so he is changing around the rock formation all the time so that they need to stake claim every now and again ... keeps them busy and leave each other alone. We also keep the numbers down .. too many would cause them to fight all the time. We have a blue dolphin that has a tank to himself ... even though the big tank is large enough for him with the other cichlids he is just too aggressive....
Good Luck ..
We keep african cichlids .. Three tanks ... but hubby is the guru!
Just asked him and he suggested vinegar to clean the tank. He also said that he cycled his tank for one week before adding any fish. He then put in the first two .. he tested the water daily for all kinds of things but mainly amonia. If the amonia was too high and he hadn't added fish he would do a partial water change to bring it down.
He didn't add any more fish for at least four or five days and only if the tests were what they should be .. I think PH, amonia etc ..
He also said the number of fish overall is determined by the expected size of the fish and the size of the tank. Also something to consider is the "character" of the fish. Our cichlids are territorial so he is changing around the rock formation all the time so that they need to stake claim every now and again ... keeps them busy and leave each other alone. We also keep the numbers down .. too many would cause them to fight all the time. We have a blue dolphin that has a tank to himself ... even though the big tank is large enough for him with the other cichlids he is just too aggressive....
Good Luck ..
Dee----I would love to see your fish tanks and setup....Hope you see this....And thanks....
About a year ago my boss gave me a 100 gallon tank and I had absolutely no clue on how to set it up. A friend told me to buy a product called PRIME that is sold at Petsmart/Petco. It gets your water ready for fish in 24 hours, with running filter. I didn't want to risk it so I filled the tank with the waterhose (the easiest way to fill a 100 gallon tank), added the PRIME, the heater, and the bubbles and let it run for 48 hours before adding fish. I was still afraid to add fish but my little girl could not wait any longer so I put six fish in it and they all made it just fine.
A few months later I bought a 30 gallon tank and put it in the kids room I let the setup run for 24 hours before adding fish, figuring that if the fish seemed stressed I could take them out and put them in the big tank, but they did just fine.
I hope this helps!
A few months later I bought a 30 gallon tank and put it in the kids room I let the setup run for 24 hours before adding fish, figuring that if the fish seemed stressed I could take them out and put them in the big tank, but they did just fine.
I hope this helps!
If you are able to use a razor blade to scrape the stuff off you can use that or they make scrubbers for aquariums too which can be different than the store bought ones (most store bought scrubbers contain soap to keep them softer)
are some pretty good primers and I would def get a pleco to keep the algae down.
http://calstaging.bemidjistate.edu/student...rson/howto.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_5794_set-freshwater-aquarium.html
I am sure someone else will tell you some advice about water. I had salt water reef and marine tanks so I had to have a reverse osmosis system with an ionizer for my water supply.
are some pretty good primers and I would def get a pleco to keep the algae down.
http://calstaging.bemidjistate.edu/student...rson/howto.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_5794_set-freshwater-aquarium.html
I am sure someone else will tell you some advice about water. I had salt water reef and marine tanks so I had to have a reverse osmosis system with an ionizer for my water supply.
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