New to "Fishing" [Aquaria]

[robc638]

I am new to aquarium fishing, and I am overwhelmed by the amount of information (and mis-information) given by salespeople who do not always know what they are talking about. I have visited major pet centres and not so major pet stores everywhere between Montreal and Ottawa, and everything was suggested from a 5-gallon to 100-gallon tanks; filters ranging from undergravel, to corner filters driven by air pumps, to "over the edge" filters, to monsters that sit on the floor, and even a filtration system where the water drops down a tube into a second tank and a pump to bring it back to the top; plants which look like they belong above water; to rocks and decorations for the tank. I was even told by a Wal-Mart person that you fill up a tank and put the fish in immediately (he was looking to sell me a 10-gallon "starter kit" and several fish!).

I have decided that I want an "exibition" tank (I am not looking to breed, yet), probably somewhere around 50 gallons (18 x 24 x 36). I think the Fluvial pump will probably do, as it says it will pump 100GPH.

I understand that once the tank is filled with water it must run empty with the filter and plants (and gravel to hold the plants) to create bacteria which will the do the filtering. I was told that there is a product (I do not remember its name) that will accelerate this bacteria production. After several days, it is safe to add the rest of the decorations, and the fish.

Any thing else I have missed or forgotten?

Thanks.

[Marc]

Hi,

You seem to have gathered lots of information already but I still recommend that you read the 2 following articles:

Setting Up A Tank, for Dummies: http://ovas.ca/article.php?sid=47

and especially

The Basics of Cycling an Aquarium:  http://ovas.ca/article.php?sid=69


You should note that an empty tank will not create the bacteria required for biological filtering. Read the cycling article above to find out more.

As for the products to accelerate bacteria production all the information I've read have said that such products have little to no effect.

Marc

[dpatte]

i agree with Marc completely, especially in respect to cycling a tank

[Al]

Agree with the posting from Marc - and great articles by the way. Commercial "cycling" products are way too expensive. Another way to cycle!! - To seed my tanks, I use SeptoBac, an additive used for us folks with septic tanks to accelerate bacterial decomposition. Picked this up from the gang at CRLCA. I mix a packet of SeptoBac(get it at the hardware store - cheap) with 2 gallons of tank water (from the new tank) in a pail - let it sit for one day. Then filtered it through a cheesecloth and jarred the stuff. Day one - add one ounce of urine to the new tank - read ammonia. Day 2 - add a cup or so of the Septo Bac solution. The urine feeds the bacteria. I let it sit for a couple of days, maybe add a little more urine a week later and a little more SeptoBac - I got a load out of 1 packet. My latest tank seeded this way is doing fine - I added a colony of 24 Wild Caught Kirschflek to the tank about 2 1/2 weeks after seeding without any problems - that was 6 months ago.

[luvfishies]

Instead of Urine, just use ammonia, bottled, from the cleaning section of the grocery store or walmart or canadian tire, etc. The only ingredients should be:

Ammonia
Water
Chelating agents.

NO perfumes or dyes
NO sudsing agents (shake bottle, if it suds, don't buy that one)

There *is* one cycling product that works, called BioSpira, made by Marineland Labs, but it's NOT available in Canada, and right now it's in short supply Stateside due to something that went wrong in the production.

Here's the short and quick version of what happens when ammonia is added to a tank, to start the cycling:

Cycling a tank is basically this:
Fish give off ammonia, thru respiration. Decaying food and solid poo also decompose into ammonia. Ammonia is deadly to fish in small amounts. Bacteria #1 are attracted to the ammonia, and start eating it. They give off nitrITE which is also toxic at low levels. Bacteria #2 then come along and eat the nitrite, giving off nitrATE. NitrATE is not nearly as toxic as the ammonia and nitrITE, but it does accumulate, and needs to be removed via those partial waterchanges we do every week.

Now, these little bacterias need a place to live. While they will gladly live on solid surfaces in the tank (rocks, decorations, etc), their preferred home is in moving water with lots of Oxygen. That would be the filter in a fishtank.

These little bacteria are the reason you very very very rarely ever completely dismantle and "clean" the decor in an established tank. They are also the reason we advise to NOT throw out the filter stuff, but to rather rinse the floss or foam in "used" tankwater that you've removed when doing maintenance (partial water change). Hot, Cold, Chlorine and some medications can and will kill off our friendy bacteria. We need to treat them with some care if we want the fishies to be happy and healthy.

So that's the short and sweet version of what goes on. There are a few ways to make this happen in a new tank, from adding ammonia from a bottle (NO FISH!!!) to adding a couple of hardy fish and testing like mad and changing water when needed - ie the ammonia and/or nitrITES get over 0.5-1.0 ppm

There is also a new product out by Marineland, called BioSpira, which adds the necessary bacteria right from the beginning.

IMO all other "bacteria in a bottle" are a waste of money, so you don't need them. Spend the money on tests for ammonia, nitrITES, nitrATES and pH, instead.


RED denotes a very toxic substance. Keep the level below 1.0ppm  in a new, cycling tank. Waterchanges will help enormously.

GREEN denotes a less toxic, but still problematic substance. Keep the level below 20 ppm for most fish. Again, waterchanges are the way to do this. Most of us do a partial waterchange (25%) each and every week.

Note that if you do the Fishless cycle using household ammonia, you won't need to do partial waterchanges while cycling, as no fish are at risk.

[robc638]

Thanks for all the info. I will read the articles.

I was wondering: which would be the best filter setup for the tank I am looking at? I assume under-gravel and cornet filters are out due to the large surface of the tank (18 X 36 = 4.5 sq.ft.).

[BigDaddy]

The type of filter you need will really depend on how often you plan on doing maintainence, if your livestock will produce lots of waste (i.e. goldfish) and if the tank is planted or not.

First off, a 50 gallon tank is 36 x 18 x 19.

If you are looking at a fairly well planted tank, an AquaClear 300 will provide you with 6 times filtration (the total volume of water in the tank is filtered 6 times per hour), which is more than enough.  If it will be non-planted, then you would want to consider around 10 times filtration and an AC 500.  These types of Hang On Back power filters (or HOBs) are very easy to get up and running, run very quietly, and provide decent mechanical, chemical and biological filtration at an affordable price.  However, they will require more maintenance as the sponges will get gummed up with mulm and detritus fairly quickly.

Most people who have "medium sized" tanks prefer to get canister filters.  They are more expensive than HOBs, but can run for significantly longer periods of time between maintenace.  Additionally, you usually get a lot more surface area in a canister filter for nitrifying bacteria than you would in a HOB.  If you go with a canister filter, the Fluval 304 would be adequate, as would the Rena XP 2.  Eheim canister filters are a little pricey, but they last and last and last.

The last filter you mentioned is actually a wet/dry filter.  These are typically used with much larger tanks than what you plan on purchasing so you can ignore this type of filtration.

Hope this helps.

[ambushman2j]

standard 50 gallons are 36x16x20...  hagen anyways..maybe theres other companies with those dimentions