Just Brought A Complete Set Up

hi ihave just brought a complete set up ihave a 450ltr tank and have the following fish

• 
  2 golden guarmis
  2 optaireguarmis
  1 dwarf guarmi
  5 neon tetra
  1 white molly
  2 bristle plec
  2 clown loach
  5 boatia loach
  3 shrimp
  4 kooli loaches
  3 bronze catfish
  3 catfish of some sort not sure wat type but pretty big
  3 silver shark
  2 catfish which are small and white

i am just wondering on how much of a water change i should be doing and how regular what should i use to soften the water. what sort of food should i use etc i am looking to maybee get some more fish in the future but im wanting some real coulor full fish can u help me as i dont know what sort of fish are good to go with my fish. i did have angel fish but they killed about 9 of my fish so i gave them away .

Why do you want to soften your water?

i dont no much about what i am doing i am meaning i put stress zyme in wen i do a water change is that ok to just use that ?

Hello & welcome.

That is one BIG tank.

Stresszyme is fine to use but wont last long in a tank that big.

Go get some Seachem Prime.

Best dechlorinator/water treatment additive you can buy & soooo concentrated it lasts ages.


Water changes should be weekly & however much you can comfortably change, i personaly do a 40-50% change each week but this is due to having too much time on my hands & would be impraticle for a tank that size. So i suggest 10-20% each week.

Have you got a test kit?

Have you got a gravel cleaner?

Do not try to soften or otherwise alter the pH gh or kH of your tank, that way lies madness. leave it alone & your fish will be fine.


Tom

have you purchsed the tank and just stuffed a load of fish in it?

or are you cycling the tank in preperation to put those fish in it?

thanks forthe replys and ye i have atest kit and eery thing sems fine and i dont have gravel i have sand and ye i have a sand cleaner (sython hoover thing) i have been doing a water change every week around 20-30% but the water still seems very mcy and dirty is that natural

and i brought the tank with fish already

can you post a picture of your tank so we can see the water? seems weird that your water isnt clear on a pre bought tank

hi ihave just triedtouploada pikbut itsnot doing it coz itssaying the image is too big ? sorry

Use an image sharing site such as

http/photobucket.com/

To share your pictures.

Did you buy the tank, and more important the filter new or are you using a used filter with mature (filled with bacteria) media in it? If its all new, some of your fish might get into trouble, because the bacteria cant dispose of the fishwaste fast enough so the water gets toxic.

nice size tank btw

im using everything that ame with the tank ie filter and everything else i hae just done a really thouroughwater change and cleaned out the filters and everything and it seems to have cleared quiet alot

here is a pre tank water change picture

thisisnt a very good pik but this is it after the clean it looks as it has improved

When you cleaned the filter media, you did clean it in old tank water and not tap water right?

What filter do you have running on the tank at the mo?

Did you have any discussion with the previous owner about how often the water was changed and the gravel cleaned? Sometimes a very murky tank means this was never done and the water will have built up high mineral content from evaporation. When the water is finally changed this can shock the fish.

If you make it through the first big water change without losing fish then you can probably rule out the above problem, in which case you might then switch to the opposite approach and increase the number of gravel-clean-water-changes and gentle filter cleanings. As mentioned above, tank water, not tap water, should be used and a good conditioner such as Seachem Prime should be dosed to the replacement tap water, which should also be roughly temperature matched by using your hand. You will probably want to learn to use a hose system for water changes on a tank that large.

You should post up the numbers from your ammonia, nitrite(NO2), pH and nitrate(NO3) test results for both the tank and your tap water. Just saying the tests are ok doesn't tell enough.

~~waterdrop~~