ANY KNOWLEDGEABLE PEOPLE OUT THERE???

[Kitt_81]

Well folks apart from my previous post problem I could do with some advice...

WATERCHANGES - as in how often should you actually do them?(normally without doing it for a disease of some sort) At present I'm trying to treat whitespot from new fish but I usually do it when I get a thin film on the inside of the glass...am I doing it wrong???

GRAVEL & ORNAMENTAL STUFF - mine keeps getting green sh*te (algae I imagine) over it and usually when I clean it I use my hands to scrunch the gravel together and loosen the crap then let it settle and use my sucky tube (dunno what its actual name is - its ancient and belonged to my brother - should I get a new one too?) to suck up the stuff and a nail scrubber under the cold tap to get it off my rocks n bridge but I keep reading how the benificial bac. is on the bottom so whats the deal with that?? To scrunch or not to scrunch, that is the question!

I may not be very clued up on fishy stuff I do realise that coldwater fish use coldwater (had goldfish as a bairn ) but I whats the difference between Tropical, Saltwater, Freshwater and Marine fish?

Some other things....

How often do I change my filter, its about 9mths old t'now and how do I do it....

I use water from my tap and was told to add water conditioner by some1 and not to bother from another..... who's right?

How much fish flake do I use? at present I grind up a few flakes into tiny bits for my 'ickle' fish like my baby tetras and slightly larger ones for the others... are there any rules on feeding?

I don't have a quarintine tank should I get one even though I don't really have any where to put it in my living rm (suppose I could put it in my B.rm... do fish mind where they go like birds like being able to see out a window and be in company of sort?)
if I should get one does it have to have the same requirements as the main one? i.e heater filter light plants gravel etc? or can it just be plain basic?


Research....MY NEICE WANTS TO KNOW WHAT KIND OF FISH ARE THE MAIN CHARACTERS IN FINDING NEMO, AND WHERE ARE YOU LIKELY TO GET THEM?
(I think she wants one of each and I haven't seen the film so I don't have a scooby doo(!)

 

[dixaisy930]

A couple of things....what size tank to you have, what kind and how many fish do you have, and what kind of filter do you have?

Ok, waterchanges - most recommend doing 10%-25% once a week. And most people usually vaccume their gravel while doing this (using a gravel vaccume to get down in the gravel to suck up all the fish poop and junk that sinks into the gravel).

As for the algae, sounds like the tank is getting alot of extra sunlight and food. Cutting down on the feeding, and looking into some fort of algae eating fish would probably help.

Beneficial bacteria lives in the gravel, some on tank decorations, and in the filter media as well. I try to rinse my filter media in old tank water every couple of weeks. I do it in treated, old tank water, so I don't loose much of the beneficial bacteria.

Tropical -freshwater (no salt in the water) that is a warm temperature (usually somewhere around 74 degress F)
Coldwater - freshwater that is a little cooler than tropical.
Marine and saltwater are the same thing - salt in the water (the same type of water found in oceans)

Marine tanks are much more complicated and delicate than tropical or coldwater tanks.

Dechlorinator or tank condition is VERY IMPORTANT. It removes chlorine and other chemicals from tap water. Just letting water sit for a day or two cannot guarantee that the water will be safe for the fish.

Most people feed 1-2 times a day, and give just enough food that the fish will eat within a minute or two.

Nemo is a clown fish, which needs to be in a marine tank (reef tank, I think). Again, marine/reef tanks are more complicated (need live rock, protein skimmers, higher amounts of light, etc).

Hope this was helpful. B)

 

[jrd77]

This is just what I do....

First, no one knows what kind of tank you have....

WATERCHANGES - as in how often should you actually do them? Under normal circumstances, I'd say 20-25% 1x per week.

GRAVEL & ORNAMENTAL STUFF - mine keeps getting green sh*te:
Yep. algae. If you do not like it there, you can add a chemical to get rid of it but I just leave the algae there for the pleco. As long as its not completely out of control, you should be okay. You should not need to scrunch and rub rocks/gravel together to get the algae off, at least I don't think so. I wouldn't vaccum the gravel part of the tank a lot, maybe twice a month...depending on how much you do and how much you feed...

whats the difference between Tropical, Saltwater, Freshwater and Marine fish? Marine and saltwater are the same. Tropical fish are either cold freshwater or warmfreshwater...


How often do I change my filter? What kind? I change mine every 4 weeks (charcoal/carbon)

I use water from my tap and was told to add water conditioner by some1 and not to bother from another..... who's right? I don't know what the water's like in Scotland (although I really enjoyed the area when I was there a few years back). Here, we have to dechlorinate but that's about it. Maybe some people closer to your area can help with that one. Just be wary of people selling you a product just to sell it.

Are there any rules on feeding? Everyone is different. I feed 1x per day usually, and only what they can eat in a few minutes.

I don't have a quarintine tank should I get one...if I should get one does it have to have the same requirements as the main one? i.e heater filter light plants gravel etc? or can it just be plain basic? If you plan on really seeing the fish thing through, yeah, I think so. I'm converting one of my tanks to one as soon as I can. Mine will be a 10 gallon (37.85 L) established tank with gravel and a small plant. It dores not have a heater but maintains itself at 78 F (25.57 C) like it is. I do have a little temp. gauge to make sure.



Good luck!

_Jessie B)

 

[Kitt_81]

My tank measurements are length - 4ft, height - 1ft 1inch (inch is a guessimation) and width is 1ft see the photos below

My filter is called a Fluval4plus......

 

[jrd77]

Your tank is about 32.4 gallons (122.7L), assuming you measured correctly.

I calculated this from this site: http/www.drhelm.com/aquarium/areajava.html

It looks like a nice tank; I'd be excited...

I looked your filter up and it is carbon and foam insert. The carbon part should be changed every 4 weeks but the foam insert just needs to be rinsed off...here's some info:

http/www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_filter...nal.asp?CartId=

You'll need to go to a pet store yo get a new carbon filter and follow the directions on the packaging.

-Jessie