Hello I'm New

[manicfish]

Hello, I am a complete novice. Have new tank.

I need all the information I can get.

I have installed the tank. It has gravel, some ornaments and a fake plant.

The filter didn't come with any instructions so went back to the aquarium centre for advice. He said for some reason it doesn't come with instructions. So I got how to put it together from there. But I am struggling with the clear hose pipe thing. Obviously it's not supposed to be out of the water as it shot water everywhere.

So is that meant to be in the water? As I said, complete novice!

I will not take offence if you tell me things that should be totally obvious!

Many thanks

Manicfish

 

[brian1]

Hi And welcome, you would need to know if it's an external filter or submersible filter, if there is a name on it anywhere, Google it,or put a picture on here........

 

[mislisa]

Hi, and Welcome!!
We can give you more help if you can tell us how big your new tank is, and what you'd like to do with it.
Take a read through the beginner's resource center here

and feel free to ask any question that comes to you, we are always glad to help.

 

[manicfish]

Hi And welcome, you would need to know if it's an external filter or submersible filter, if there is a name on it anywhere, Google it,or put a picture on here........

Hi, and Welcome!!
We can give you more help if you can tell us how big your new tank is, and what you'd like to do with it.
Take a read through the beginner's resource center here

and feel free to ask any question that comes to you, we are always glad to help.

Hello!

Thanks for your replies. Well I worked out what I did wrong with the filter. I had the air thing attached to the wrong bit.

So the tank is sorted. Bought 3 plants for it today. Just need to wait a week and test the water before I can get fish.

I want all the fish in the shop!

Any tips for what fish to get. The aquarium has a traffic light thing for the fish so I will only be selecting "green" fish.

Can I have angel fish? I love them! Mind, I can remember when I was a child, I got up one morning to find the loach sucking the side if the angel fish.

Manicfish x

 

[Lizi_angelfish]

Hi manicfish,

Welcome to the forum!

Before you get fish, it would be worth setting aside an hour or so to read the information in the beginners resource centre. I've recently got back into fish keeping and so I've done cycling both ways and I can say that the fishless cycling method is by far the easiest! If you leave the tank for a week, it won't be ready for fish, despite what the shop may say!

It is always worth doing your own research before you go into the shop to get fish because the Internet is a better source of information on compatibility and suitibility of fish.

If you have already given tank dimensions I'm sorry, but it makes it easier to suggest fiish when we know your tank dimensions, water ph, and hardness.

 

[manicfish]

Tank is a 60 litre tank. I'll have to measure it for dimensions!
The water is Very Hard here. No idea about PH levels.

What do I need to do to test my fish tank water?

My aquarium just said to cycle it for a week and take some fish tank water in and they'd test it for me.

Clearly I am clueless.

manicfish

 

[elmo666]

Hi and welcome. Let me try to give you a quick overview of setting up any new tank. Clean the substrate, whether it be sand or gravel. Decide if you are going to add a growing medium below before adding the cleaned substrate. Set up your filter in place, put a small plate on the gravel the begin filling. Once 3/4 full add your heater, de-chlorinator(tho not strictly required at this stage) and complete filling. Switch on and check all is working correctly. Now, your filter will become a living colony of bacteria, won't bore you with the names, but needs a food source. The feeding cycle starts with ammonia, the end product being nitrate with nitrite being produced in the middle. Water changes are carried out to dilute the nitrate. You can start this process by adding the ammonia from 2 sources, fish or bottled. Fishless cycling is the preferred way now as no fish are stressed in the process. You will need bottled ammonia and three test kits, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. As the cycle begins you will see ammonia at a high level with nitrite beginning to show after a while. The nitrite will increase, and nitrate will then begin to show. Your aim is no ammonia, very low nitrite and nitrate to around 20ppm. It may sound a little confusing, it is straight forward enough and there is loads of helpful info on the process here on the forum. Your hard water will restrict your choice of fish, angels would not be a good idea. You can buy a water softening cartridge to sort this. The best way to approach fishkeeping is this: look after the water and the fish will take care of themselves. Good luck, don't worry too much and above all enjoy