NEON
New Member
THE PLAN OF SET UP TOMORROW AND PUTTING THE FISH IN ON CHRISTMAS EVE IS OK THEN? ENOUGH TIME?
BEGINNER IN URGENT NEED OF SOME ADVICE
- Thread starter NEON
- Start date
dixaisy930
I'm trying really hard to act normal
It depends on if you do a fishless cycle or not. I think most tanks take about three to four weeks, but it might work. If you buy a product called "Cycle" this should help. It gives a boost to the beneficial bacteria, I believe.
I wouldn't add all the fish at once, though. Too much at one time...
I wouldn't add all the fish at once, though. Too much at one time...
Hi NEON and welcome to the forum. 
You are about to embark on a wonderful hobby that will keep you interested and excited for the rest of your life.
But, some things cannot be hurried; setting up an aquarium is one of them.
You are making an expensive purchase and will be involving living creatures. While it's good that you came to the forum to learn how to do it, my advice to you would be to wrap the tank with pretty paper and bows and share the experience of setting it up and buying fish with your loved one. It might not be as exciting on Christmas as a fully set up aquarium might be, but it will give you both many hours of pleasure in the future.
There is not enough time between now and Christmas to fully cycle the tank.
You also take a risk any time you move a tank. Water is heavy (even if the level is lowered) and the stress moving it makes on the seams could cause them to burst.
Is this the tank you have?
http
/www.petsworld.com.au/petsworld/desc...p?indexid=23279
You are about to embark on a wonderful hobby that will keep you interested and excited for the rest of your life.
But, some things cannot be hurried; setting up an aquarium is one of them. You are making an expensive purchase and will be involving living creatures. While it's good that you came to the forum to learn how to do it, my advice to you would be to wrap the tank with pretty paper and bows and share the experience of setting it up and buying fish with your loved one. It might not be as exciting on Christmas as a fully set up aquarium might be, but it will give you both many hours of pleasure in the future.
There is not enough time between now and Christmas to fully cycle the tank.
You also take a risk any time you move a tank. Water is heavy (even if the level is lowered) and the stress moving it makes on the seams could cause them to burst.
Is this the tank you have?
http
/www.petsworld.com.au/petsworld/desc...p?indexid=23279NEON
New Member
IT LOOKS THE SAME SIZE AS MY TANK BUT THE HOOD IS A LITTLE DIFFERENT.
SO DO U THINK THE BEST THING FOR ME TO DO WOULD BE TO SET IT UP WITH WATER AND PLANTS, GRAVEL AND TREAT THE WATER TODAY AND WRAP IT UP SOME HOW THEN LET HIM PICK THE FISH?
SO DO U THINK THE BEST THING FOR ME TO DO WOULD BE TO SET IT UP WITH WATER AND PLANTS, GRAVEL AND TREAT THE WATER TODAY AND WRAP IT UP SOME HOW THEN LET HIM PICK THE FISH?
i don't think you should put the water in the tank at all right now. just buy all the supplies, put them in the tank, and wrap it up. then, when he opens it, set it up, put the water in and go from there. cycling the tank will take anywhere from a week to a couple of months, depending if you do a fishless cycle or not. then once it'c cycled, you can pick out the fish. you have some time now to do the research on different fish and then you can help him pick them out, maybe some good beginner fish
Phantom Thief
Population Control Volunteer
Set it up now and there should be enough time. Be careful though! Dont break it! For the cycle put some fish food in the tank or some really tough fish like zebra danios. I believe there is a post on that in the beginners forum.
HTH
P.T.
HTH
P.T.
BobTheDog
Fish Fanatic
Hey Neon. Not trying to be a party crasher here, but I would worry about the short period of time during which you are trying to cycle your tank. I set up my first aquarium on Nov 11 and it is just now getting to the end of cycling. I don't think you are going to be able to complete the cycle by Dec 24th. It appears you are like me and are a complete novice. I would HIGHLY recommend you try to lay your hands on the book "The Simple Guide to Freshwater Aquariums" by David Boruchowitz. I cannot tell you how valuable a resource this has been for me during setup. As he says in the book, read it cover to cover before you buy anything! (although it sounds like you have at least the aquarium already. 
) You are going to have to "cycle" the aquarium... there are two methods... with or without fish. I did the with fish myself. Here are the steps I followed:
Setup aquarium - decorations, filter, heater, etc - and fill with water, using a dechlorinator. Let it run for 24 hours and make sure it maintains temperature, filter runs ok, etc. Note on dechlorinator... there is chlorine and there are chloramines. If you have chloramines in your water, you must get a dechlorinator that says it handles both chlorine and chloramines. If in doubt, get one that handles both.
Add fish: You want to add a few, hardy fish to the aquarium. I used 4 platys for mine. Someone else can comment on this, but I do not think that neons are very hardy. Do not feed the fish.
Check ammonia levels. Do this pretty much daily for a while. At first, they will be zero or very low. I have a 55 gal tank and it took quite a while for ammonia to start registering. Only feed fish a little and do not feed if ammonia levels are getting high. If they get too high, you will need to do a partial water change. I tried to keep my ammonia out of the stress range and definitely out of the dangerous range. After a while, your ammonia levels will start dropping. Proceed to next step.
Check nitrite levels (note, not nitrate with an 'a'). This procedure follows that for ammonia but you are checking nitrite instead. The tank is "cycled" when both ammonia and nitrite levels reach zero and stay there. Only at this point should you think of adding more fish. When you add fish, you need to add small numbers and monitor ammonia and nitrite for a few days after adding. You may get what is called a "mini-cycle" as the bacteria which process these waste grow their populations to handle the additional load.
I hope this helps you! From my recent experience, I can tell you this is a slow process and I would not try to rush it. I did try to use one of the products which supposedly introduces the beneficial bacteria needed to process the ammonia and nitrite but I do not really think it helped speed things up... it is still going to take about 6 weeks to cycle.
If you have any questions, you are at the right place to get them answered.
Good luck with everything!
Jason
) You are going to have to "cycle" the aquarium... there are two methods... with or without fish. I did the with fish myself. Here are the steps I followed:Setup aquarium - decorations, filter, heater, etc - and fill with water, using a dechlorinator. Let it run for 24 hours and make sure it maintains temperature, filter runs ok, etc. Note on dechlorinator... there is chlorine and there are chloramines. If you have chloramines in your water, you must get a dechlorinator that says it handles both chlorine and chloramines. If in doubt, get one that handles both.
Add fish: You want to add a few, hardy fish to the aquarium. I used 4 platys for mine. Someone else can comment on this, but I do not think that neons are very hardy. Do not feed the fish.
Check ammonia levels. Do this pretty much daily for a while. At first, they will be zero or very low. I have a 55 gal tank and it took quite a while for ammonia to start registering. Only feed fish a little and do not feed if ammonia levels are getting high. If they get too high, you will need to do a partial water change. I tried to keep my ammonia out of the stress range and definitely out of the dangerous range. After a while, your ammonia levels will start dropping. Proceed to next step.
Check nitrite levels (note, not nitrate with an 'a'). This procedure follows that for ammonia but you are checking nitrite instead. The tank is "cycled" when both ammonia and nitrite levels reach zero and stay there. Only at this point should you think of adding more fish. When you add fish, you need to add small numbers and monitor ammonia and nitrite for a few days after adding. You may get what is called a "mini-cycle" as the bacteria which process these waste grow their populations to handle the additional load.
I hope this helps you! From my recent experience, I can tell you this is a slow process and I would not try to rush it. I did try to use one of the products which supposedly introduces the beneficial bacteria needed to process the ammonia and nitrite but I do not really think it helped speed things up... it is still going to take about 6 weeks to cycle.
If you have any questions, you are at the right place to get them answered.
Good luck with everything!
Jason
BobTheDog
Fish Fanatic
Inchworm and Aquarius posted their replies while I was posting mine. I would STRONGLY agree with their recommendations. Put all of the stuff in the aquarium (minus water) and wrap it up. Then, between now and Christmas - RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH. Then after the person opens the aquarium on Christmas, you will be ready to start the process of cycling the tank. I fear that if you start now, things are going to be rushed and you won't have all the information you need. Good luck!
NEON
New Member
WELL SETTING IT UP DIDNT GO ALL TO WELL.
GOT THE GRAVEL WASHED AND THE BACKGROUND IN PLACE.
BUR WHEN IT CAME TO CHECKINTHE FILTER AND HEATER THE INSTRUCTIONS ARNT VERY CLEAR AT ALL SO IM NOW WORRIED INCASE EVERYTHING IS NOT IN THE RIGHT PLACE, IN THE SHOP WHERE I BOUGHT IT IT SAID JUST FILL WITH WATER AND PLUG IN BUT THE HEATER WAS IN A PACKAGE!!!! ALL I KNOW ABOUT IT IS THAT ITS A MOBY DICK 60!!! HELP!!!! ALTHOUGH I AM VERY GRATEFULL FOR THE HELP I HAVE ALREADY BEEN GIVEN!!
GOT THE GRAVEL WASHED AND THE BACKGROUND IN PLACE.
BUR WHEN IT CAME TO CHECKINTHE FILTER AND HEATER THE INSTRUCTIONS ARNT VERY CLEAR AT ALL SO IM NOW WORRIED INCASE EVERYTHING IS NOT IN THE RIGHT PLACE, IN THE SHOP WHERE I BOUGHT IT IT SAID JUST FILL WITH WATER AND PLUG IN BUT THE HEATER WAS IN A PACKAGE!!!! ALL I KNOW ABOUT IT IS THAT ITS A MOBY DICK 60!!! HELP!!!! ALTHOUGH I AM VERY GRATEFULL FOR THE HELP I HAVE ALREADY BEEN GIVEN!!
De Plano
Fish Crazy
Buy a book. There are a few good ones. The one mentioned is a good one, but I think there are a couple of other ones that are more complete. Check under my thread "Books for Beginners", I am just about to add to it so it should be near the top in beginner questions.
Wrap the present up (or cover it if it is too hard to wrap), leave it in the other room and make them hunt for it. Make a few clues leading to various places with clues leading to the next one until you lead them to the tank. I think that is funner than just unwrapping a present (and no, I am not 6 years old ).
Setting up the heater and filter are pretty easy. If you have the equipment, read the box and tell us what it is. Does the heater have a clamp to set on the side? (if you have the box just say what it is, the fish heads hear seem to know EVERYTHING) Does the filter hang on the back (HOB is a common abbreviation for this), go into plates at the bottom, have space to put anything inside of it, or have tubes and designed to sit outside on the floor?
Oh and stop yelling please jk
Wrap the present up (or cover it if it is too hard to wrap), leave it in the other room and make them hunt for it. Make a few clues leading to various places with clues leading to the next one until you lead them to the tank. I think that is funner than just unwrapping a present (and no, I am not 6 years old
). Setting up the heater and filter are pretty easy. If you have the equipment, read the box and tell us what it is. Does the heater have a clamp to set on the side? (if you have the box just say what it is, the fish heads hear seem to know EVERYTHING) Does the filter hang on the back (HOB is a common abbreviation for this), go into plates at the bottom, have space to put anything inside of it, or have tubes and designed to sit outside on the floor?
Oh and stop yelling please
jkLithril
Fish Addict
Okies if you're absolutely totally going to set the tank up before xmas you're going to need to do a few things and its going to take some monitoring. First you're going to need some gravel from an Established tank. Also if you can get it get some media like floss etc for your filter again from an established tank as this will already be seeded with the bacteria and it'll just need to mulitply.
You're going to need to go to a shop and get some clear ammonia (no perfumes or additives at all, shake the bottle if it foams its the wrong stuff).
Next read the following links and as many more of the pinned ones as you can New Fish Syndrome, Fishless Cycling 1, fishless cycling 2. The last 2 will tell you how to cycle the tank with the ammonia. Forget using fishfood to do it you won't have time.
If you can do the above you MAY get a tank ready for xmas at the end of the day though if you Ammonia & Nitrite levels aren't at 0 on Xmas day DON'T GET THE FISH, as they'll Die, personally I'd rather have a healthy tank thats been set up properly than one thats been thrown together and get one problem after another.
Its up to you it CAN be done but when you're playing with nature nothing is certain, every cycle goes slightly different so there are no hard and fast rules at all on this.
Take ur time and if the tanks not ready you at least tried and whoever is getting the gift can help in the rest of the way instead of picking up the pieces.
You're going to need to go to a shop and get some clear ammonia (no perfumes or additives at all, shake the bottle if it foams its the wrong stuff).
Next read the following links and as many more of the pinned ones as you can New Fish Syndrome, Fishless Cycling 1, fishless cycling 2. The last 2 will tell you how to cycle the tank with the ammonia. Forget using fishfood to do it you won't have time.
If you can do the above you MAY get a tank ready for xmas at the end of the day though if you Ammonia & Nitrite levels aren't at 0 on Xmas day DON'T GET THE FISH, as they'll Die, personally I'd rather have a healthy tank thats been set up properly than one thats been thrown together and get one problem after another.
Its up to you it CAN be done but when you're playing with nature nothing is certain, every cycle goes slightly different so there are no hard and fast rules at all on this.
Take ur time and if the tanks not ready you at least tried and whoever is getting the gift can help in the rest of the way instead of picking up the pieces.
De Plano
Fish Crazy
If you know anyone with a tank that is freshwater you could get some water from them, but that is probably covered in the sections Lithril just pointed out. There is also the fact you don't want to get anything bad from their tank.
I still say buy a book, and read it while the tank is cycling with the person your buying it for. That way you could both go to the LFS (local fish store) and buy the fish together. That way the person gets the fish they want.
I still say buy a book, and read it while the tank is cycling with the person your buying it for. That way you could both go to the LFS (local fish store) and buy the fish together. That way the person gets the fish they want.
Not to throw a wrench in anything but you may want to look into some Bio-Spira.. It's the bacteria you need in a nice little package.. If you add this without fish though, you'll want to add some food for the bacteria ie; a little ammonia, decaying fish food, or a few fish! THis stuff has worked for me and many others.. I'd say get the tank setup on christmas, give it a day or so to check for leaks and get the temp right, add the bio-spira and fish then.. Start with just a couple fish.. I'd bet you come out ok.. ANd read as much as you can the whole time Good Luck!
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