Help Me Please

[PanthyWanthy]

Ok where do I start!!.. This is my second post on these forums and I can say you are all nice ppl, and have been very helpful.
I have had my tank now for a few months, but when we decided to go into this hobbie we didnt really know much about it. We bought our tank as a starter pack, where u got all the basic stuff in, i.e the tank, filter, heater, hood and light.. Thats really about it, We then bought the gravel and some real plants and a few pebbles/decorations.. The guy at the shop said we needed these chemicals to put in it aswell, they are called.. (NUTRAFIN Water Conditioner Aqua Plus and NUTRAFIN Biological Aquarium Supplement) We followed the instructions then let the tank settle for about a week and half, then we bought our fish!!
First of we got 5 Neon Tetra's and 2 Guppies, Both guppies have very large Tails. Are they male or female?
Then last month we added 2 mollies and a red tailed shark, shop owner said shark will be ok with the fish coz it's a baby..

Ok thats as far as we have got so far.. Now we need to know what to do next. Occasionally the water goes very cloudy and my filter slows down, not many bubbles comes out of it. so i take it out clean it and it's ok again for about a week. is that right or should i get a under gravel filter?

I'm not to sure how often i have to clean it out too, do i do a complete water change every time or what? After about a month we did do a complete water change and had to wash gravel in sink, was very messy indeed...
as you can see i am a complete newbie and i think ive done some things wrong. Could someone please help me in telling me what i should do and how often and what to put in my tank..

Thanks for your help guys its much appreciated

 

[cryosi]

water change i do a 10%each week some do 20%a fortnight, dont do a a complete water change you will loose ur cycle, and dont take out the gravel to clean it, the bacteria levels in the gravel will be loss. Get a gravel cleaner for that ..not sure about sex of ur fish never kept them ones.
will or stix or someone will help ya out there.
what filter do you have!

 

[PanthyWanthy]

I'm not too sure what the make is on the filter, but basically i think it's a poopy one coz it was in with the tank package we got..
It's black and sits on side of tank internally tells you alot doesnt it LOL.. sorry though, that's as much as I can tell you. Oh it's got a tube spongy thing inside that i have to clean every week to make bubbles come out of spout faster..
Helpfull arent I

 

[Thomas A. Anderson]

Right, judging my your very clear pics in the picture section, your filter is an aquaEL 1000+ internal filter.

Below the yellow line you should have a little orange dial to adjust the water flow?

Anyway, I bought the larger version of the exact same set up it is made if I remember correctly my Peak Aquatics.

You may find that you might need a stronger filter and also an air pump and air stone. That was one of my initial problems the water wasn't being oxygenated (??) enough so I bought a Flauval filter which IMO are very good filters and some bods on here will swear by Eheim filters.

When you do wash the tube sponge thingy, don't wash it under the tap, rather wash it in some discarded tank water otherwise you will be losing a lot of your beneficial bacteria, I do mine monthly but as I said I bought the second filter and an air pump/stone.

Take Care

 

[StiX]

ok, first off water changes, U should do a 20-25% weekly water change. U should never romove the whole body of water or the gravel. The filter should be cleaned every 1-2 weeks by squeezing the sponge in water that u have just taken from the tank, not tap water. To clean the gravel, what u need is a 'graval vac', this is basically a tube which ur push into the gravel while it is syphoning water into a bucket, thus sucking any debris out from the gravel.

The only chemical u need to add to the water is dechlorinator at each water change.

The reason ur tank has become cloudy is because u removed all the water and scrubbed the gravel, this would have removed all the 'good' bacteria, so now your tank is going through a cycle again, and the cloudyness is a bacteria bloom.

The guppys sound like males to me, large very colourfull tails and slim bodys.

If u have bubbles coming from the filter then a airpump is not needed, unless of corse u want one for the look, i.e. a bubbles wall etc.

Hope this helps

 

[cichlidmaster]

I think this topic would get more replies if it were in Tropical emergencies so................


POOF....it's there

CM