Bits and Bobs....

[Jo and Gra]

Right,

Been doing fishless cycle for three weeks, its now complete....

get four cory julli tonight, doing a 75%ish water change, then putting them in....


we got the obvious heater, filter light, gravel vac....

what other sort of bits and bobs will we need now we will have live inhabitants??


we thought of algae cleaner, either a magnet or "sponge on a stick" version, and cory food and a couple of nets....

anything else?

 

[3fsh]

Your most precious commodities will be...

• magnetic algae cleaner (SO much easier than scrubbing from the inside by hand... well worth the price)
• 5g bucket (makes water changes less of a hassle)
• AT LEAST 2 fine nets (it doesn't matter how many fish you have, some fish just don't like to be caught, and with two nets you can use one to herd them into the other net)
• thermometer (even if you have a preset heater, it's nice to make sure that everything is okay)
• meds-- I would start out with three types... an anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal, and an anti-parasitic (things can and do go wrong... best to have them when you don't need them rather than not having them when you do)


As far as food is concerned, Hikari Sinking Wafers are the best food for corys on the market. Hope that helped some.

 

[glolite]

Glad to hear your tank has cycled. I'd always have a spare heater just incase. Useful for heating water for partial water changes and you just never know when a heater might break.

 

[rdd1952]

Since you did a fishless cycle, you need to add as close to your full stock of fish as soon as possible. The 4 corys won't produce enough waste to keep you bacteria colony alive. It will only take a day or so until you start losing bacteria and your whole fishless cycle will have been wasted.

As for things you need, everyone else has covered most things but you may also need an air pump/airstone depending on whether you have live plants or not. Corys also like some cover (they aren't really fond of the light since they are nocturnal) as in caves or plants (live or artificial) so that would be another thing if you don't already have it.

Edit: Another item I have found quite useful is a digital thermometer. They only cost $3 or $4 and are much better than the stick on the side strips. These have a suction cup to attach them to the tank glass and a probe that goes in the water. Also, if you are changing water with buckets, you can simply stick it in the bucket of water to see if the temp of the fresh water you are about to put in is close (within a degree or so) to the temp of the tank water. It eliminates the guess work.

 

[Jo and Gra]

OMG........

hadn't thought of heating the water for the change!!!!!

do i need to do this before putting it in the tank?

and do i need to remove fish when water changing?

 

[oneponygirl]

Do you already have a test kit? They can be very handy. And big buckets. I have one marked "clean" and one marked "dirty" so that I can remember which is which and use the "dirty" one for anything but the "clean" ONLY ever has clean water for the tanks.

 

[Jo and Gra]

yeah, got a test kit, hence why i know my cycle is complete

 

[3fsh]

hadn't thought of heating the water for the change!!!!!
do i need to do this before putting it in the tank?
and do i need to remove fish when water changing?

No and no. What I do is I put the bucket full of fresh water up on a desk or stool or something higher than the tank. Then I run a small airline tube from the bucket into the fish tank (with a small weight tied to both ends). I suck lightly on the end of the tubing and it starts siphoning the new water into the tank. If you measure it out and make sure that the same amount is going in that got taken out, you can leave it and let it fill the tank back up for you. This way, it replaces the water so slowly that the heater has time to compensate for any (small) temperature changes. Now, I'm not suggesting you use chilled water from your refrigerator, but I think you get the idea.

 

[rdd1952]

OMG........

hadn't thought of heating the water for the change!!!!!

do i need to do this before putting it in the tank?

and do i need to remove fish when water changing?

You really don't need to heat it and definitely don't need to take the fish out. Since I use the digital thermometers, I check the temp of the water in the tank. I then run the bucket of water I am going to be putting in and get it as close to the tank water temp (using the same thermometer that is in the tank) by just using a little hot water. You'd be suprised how little hot water it generally takes to get the temp to the 78 - 79 degree range. It doesn't have to be perfect since you're only changing 10 to 25 percent of the water. Even if the fresh water temp is 2 degrees colder or hotter, you're not going to change the tank temp by more than 1/4 to 1/2 degree. I just take a cup and slowly it in the tank. Just be careful not to pour to quick and stir up the bottom. I usually use 2 cups - one to pour with and the other to pour into. I put it with the top at water level so when I pour into it, the water just flows out into the tank. That way you don't disturb the gravel/sand on the bottom.