Filter And Water Help!

[dburgess92]

I'm new to this and I need some help. I got a fish tank for Christmas, its a Jewel Rekord 96 with the filter system build in. I have added gravel, plants and a couple of ornaments. I have also put the pump, heater and the filters in. I have a white filter wool, a black carbon sponge, a green sponge and a fine blue sponge.
How often do I change the green and blue sponges because the instructions say there is two blue sponges, a coarse one and a fine one, but I only have a fine one?
I have put them in and I have added the water. The water is up to about 23'C. I have added water conditioner to take out the clourine and I have added some biological supplement, This One:
http/www.aquariumsdelivered.co.uk/catalo...ycle-p-408.html

How soon can I add in 3 or 4 hardy little fish, or is there something else I need to do?

 

[AdAndrews]

the manufacturers tell you to change the sponges way sooner than needed, the white one can be changed when you want, i change mine 4 weeks and i replace them with filter floss, very cheap!, dont use the carbon sponge as it is not needed, it will only remove the medications. With the blue and green ones, keep them in there until they start to break apart, which will be like in a years time, you can add first fish now if you want, add like 6 white cloud mountain minnows, many people on this forum will tell you that fish cycling is cruel and to do fishless cycling, but as long as you do a water change every few days and test using API Freshwater test kit you will be fine, and the fishes wont be harmed. keep the first fish in there until the nitrite and ammonia spike settle down which will be in like 3 weeks, there are some useful links on this site, go to new to the hobby and look at the top

Liverpool won 3-0, whey, and you have to turn temp up to 26 degrees if you are keeping tropicals!

 

[toshapetriji]

Hmmm I beg to differ.

Fish in cycling will certainly stress fish and very often kills them.

A fishless cycle will be far less work for you and will give you time to find out about fishkeeping. In my opinion you will get far more out of this fascinating hobby by following this route, as opposed to putting fish in straight away and loosing them in a couple of weeks and getting disallusioned.

The time taken to complete a cycle will be about the same either way.

 

[rabbut]

Well, as AdAndrews says, many will object to fish-in cycling as he surgests; I'm one of them Yes, it can be done "successfully" with carefull water testing twice a day and daily to twice daily waterchanges to control ammonia and nitrite as they appear. Every few days is not going to work for most typical "cycle fish" as they will produce too much waste and poison themselves to death, bringing me onto the reason of why I object to fishless cycling...

Cycling with fish intentionally exposes them to toxic substances, namely Ammonia and NitrIte, while the filter establishes Any detectable level of Ammonia in the water will do permanant damage to a fish, and is life-threatening past 0.25ppm, though NitrIte won't do permanat harm. NitrIte will become an imediate danger to most fish at 0.25ppm also, and it stops oxygen getting into the bloodstream of the fish concerned, suffocating them. Ammonia burns the fishes gills, also suffocating them and making them more suseptible to disease. Whitespot and Fungus infections are common in cycling tanks and are difficult to treat untill the cycle completes...

Bacterial supliments are bottles of snake oil unless refrigerated at all times. If the supliment came free with the tank, no worries, but if you paid for it, you basically wasted your hard earned cash

Have a read of these three articles to get an understanding of cycling and what fishless and fish-in cycling involves before making your own informed decision. Fishless is less work and does not expose the fish to anything toxic. The downside is that you will have to wait arround 4 weeks with a fishless cycle. We can help with either, though IMO Fish-in cycling because fishless cycles "take too long" shows some selfishness and disrespect to your new pets I will help, but in that case, it's to help the fish, not the keeper

Nitrogen Cycle outline and one take of a fish-in cycle

My fish-in cycling "how to"

Fishless Cycling working guide

All the best
Rabbut

 

[raptorrex]

I'm new to this and I need some help. I got a fish tank for Christmas, its a Jewel Rekord 96 with the filter system build in. I have added gravel, plants and a couple of ornaments. I have also put the pump, heater and the filters in. I have a white filter wool, a black carbon sponge, a green sponge and a fine blue sponge.
How often do I change the green and blue sponges because the instructions say there is two blue sponges, a coarse one and a fine one, but I only have a fine one?
I have put them in and I have added the water. The water is up to about 23'C. I have added water conditioner to take out the clourine and I have added some biological supplement, This One:
[URL="http/www.aquariumsdelivered.co.uk/catalo...ycle-p-408.html"]http/www.aquariumsdelivered.co.uk/catalo...ycle-p-408.html[/URL]

How soon can I add in 3 or 4 hardy little fish, or is there something else I need to do?

whilst the other two "duke" it out, i'll try to help.

Dont worry about sponges yet. though i would recommend you change the black for another colour, any blue or green, it honestly makes no difference.

You need to cycle the tank, even if you use a "with fish" cycle. you are looking at a month before you can have more than a few hardy fish. and if you use this form of cycle, you will need to add fish slowly. making it months before you have your community.
trawl this, and other, forums for information on "cycling", my advice would be "fishless" cycle. we have very good threads on this here, i see no reason to go elsewhere. but its worth seeing what others say, if you have little experience.

As for how often to change your sponges.......... once in a blue moon, when they fall apart. please dont let anybody convince you otherwise. sponge (Regular) changes are like Aquarium salt, designed to empty your pocket, not help your fish.

 

[dburgess92]

So what does this stuff actually do?

I have added four capfuls of this so far. It has to be added every 7 days for 2 weeks then 2 capfuls every week. I don't quite understand the fishless cycle yet. I will read it through again and see.

 

[Tolak]

So what does this stuff actually do?

Makes your wallet lighter.

Basically cycling is growing specific bacteria in the filter media, the pads or sponges inside the filter.

To start cycling you need really cheap ammonia, the kind with no soap added. Shake the bottle in the store, if it has a few bubbles that break up quickly it has no soap. If it has foam or bubbles that don't break up it has soap.

Fish produce ammonia as a waste product. Ammonia is really bad for fish. What you are doing during cycling is growing bacteria that convert this ammonia into a substance that isn't anywhere near as bad for fish.

The first type of bacteria live off of ammonia, and produce nitrite as a waste product. Nitrite is less bad for fish, but still not good.

The second type of bacteria eat nitrite, and produce nitrate as a waste product. Even the most sensitive fish can handle 20ppm nitrate, more commonly found community fish easily handle 50ppm nitrate, or more. Nitrate is removed via weekly water changes.

So, by adding ammonia you are replicating fish waste, with no harm done to fish from ammonia and nitrite during cycling.

Run the filter & heater for a day or two, just to make sure they function properly. Add enough ammonia to bring the test results up to 4-5ppm ammonia. You can experiment with one gallon of water to see how much is needed, concentrations of ammonia vary between different companies.

If it takes 5 drops to bring a gallon to 5ppm, it would take 50 drops for a 10 gallon tank. There are 20 drops per ml, and 30ml per ounce. The last tank I did a fishless cycle on was a 60 gallon, it took about a capful to bring it up to 5ppm.

Any more questions do not hesitate to ask, we are all here to help, and all started the same place you are!

 

[ghent_3rd]

The method I have used is to have a chat with the LFS and get some readily cured filter media if they will let you use it. This way you can instal that into your filter long with your own sponges and add fish at the same time. This way the old filter sponges from the shop (or other helpful fishkeeper) will basically spread all their good bacteria onto your sponges also and hey presto, instantly cycled tank.


I have done this with all of the tanks that I have ever set-up and also for the tanks that my Uncle and Sister have had set-up. Just about to set-up 5 tanks myself and will be using filter media from my Uncle's tank. What I would suggest is that you get the water tested of any fellow fishkeeper that helps you out. This is because the water may not be as good quality as you need. His/her fish may be healthy but may also have adjusted to any higher pollution levels in the tank.

This is not everybody's cup of tea but it is all down to personal preference and it has worked well for me and am sure it has worked for other people also.

 

[rabbut]

The method ghent uses is a good one, but you need to be careful. It is not always garrenteed to "instantly cycle" a tank and can easily backfire. If you use it in conjunction with a fishless cycle, it will speed the process up, but I'd only rely on mature media alone to cycle a tank if you have a lot of mature media available to you

All the best
Rabbut

 

[dburgess92]

So do I need to buy a bottle of pure ammonia?
I have ordered my water test kit from ebay, so it should be here shortly.
My tank has been running for five days now. Should I wait for the test kit before I do anything else?
Whats the next steps for me?
Thanks.

 

[Amerce]

What you can also do is beg/borrow mature media from a friend or ask a local lf's for some gravel from their tank (as long as the tank looks healthy that is !).

This will give you a jump start to getting your sponges seeded, then what I do is add some left over brineshrimp after I have fed my fry to the tank to feed the bacteria. You can add flaked food or even a piece of veg to let the bacteria feed on this (courgette or some such).

Keep doing the water checks and small water changes as necessary, after doing water checks for a few weeks if the conditions stay stable slowly introduce a few fish at a time, say 1 or 2 fish a week, but do the water checks and if the conditions stay stable then add the other fish you want. But watch out that you don't overfeed the tank, only feed the fish as much as they can eat.

Good luck.

 

[alan3513]

if your looking to use ammonia, Homebase sell 500ml bottles of household Ammonia for £1.95 (white bottle with blue cap), thats what i used and it worked fine.

 

[dburgess92]

Do I need to add ammonia or can I use something else to start the cycle?

 

[raptorrex]

Do I need to add ammonia or can I use something else to start the cycle?

in short, YES and NO!

 

[dburgess92]

Because I don't understand why we have to add ammonia if we don't want it in the tank?

Sorry, just takes me longer to understand it.