I Hope I Did This Right.

[d0tehdew]

Hello everyone.

First let me start off by saying that about 2 months ago I decided that I wanted to try my hand at building a nice community fish tank that I can sit and enjoy watching while I am lounging around my apartment.

After doing some research then talking with the localized aquarium store by me (Elmers Aquarium) I came up with this setup.
40 Gallon Column Tank (20x18x30)
Ground filter with power head
3 Stage biological filter
Heater set at 78degrees

The Base is a mix substrate (dark blue / pink / orange)
Decor has a large ship with multiple hiding places and a hollowed out tree stump that is tall and is placed in the back... 24" fake plants line the back. other fake plants in the front that fan out.

Cycled the water for 36 hours maintaining
1tablespoon aquarium salt per 5g of fresh water
recommended oz of bacteria per 45g of fresh water
and the recommended dose of decholorinate chemical.
-- These instructions were given to me by the LFS and were followed ---
http/www.elmersaquarium.com/c102setupinstructions.htm


Yesterday I put in a baby rainbow shark and 3 Phantom Tetras to cycle the tank with fish.

Plans for the future are some xray tetras and either catfish or algae eater. possibly add more tetras or angelfish im not sure at this point. I wanted to build the tank around the rainbow shark.


The fish seem to be taking to the tank well.. i fed them 3 times so far I haven't really seen them eat the flakes but they did enjoy some of the pellets. The shark is a crazy SOB always swimming up to the power head then getting blasted back to the glass.


Basically I want to know if my setup is adequate for the type of fish I plan on having and/or are their things that I really need to watch for this first week with the fish's behavior etc?

Also I was told that i should not have added the salt by another poster on ratemyfishtank.com and that my tank is only built for angelfish i shouldn't put many schooling fish in their. Can this be verified?

 

[Curiosity101]

I agree that the salt shouldn't have been added, you have freshwater fish, salt just isn't neccesary and is actually likely to cause problems over a long period of time.

I also agree that the tank is a VERY good tank for angel fish, aswell as a small shoal of something or other.

It is a bad tank for bottom dwellers:
Rainbow Shark
Catfish (Corydoras specifically)
Quite a few algae eaters (though I'd suggest listing exactly which ones you're interested in)

Due to it being a 'tall' tank as opposed to a 'long' tank, it cannot take the same levels of stocking as a long tank. This is because the surface area of the water, where gas exchange takes place, is smaller...so can't support as many fish.

Bottles bacteria products are a waste of money. By adding this and leaving the tank for 36 hours you have done nothing to boost / begin the cycling process. The cycling process only began when you added fish.

You now have two choices (either are fine):
Return your current fish and do a Fishless-Cycle
Or Keep the fish and continue with a Fish-in Cycle
Eitherways you will need a test kit to keep an eye on water levels during the cycling process. If you decide on fish-in cycling you need to aim to keep ammonia at below 0.25ppm and nitrite at below 0.25ppm.

Also I don't like undergravel filters AT ALL, I would replace that straight away with an internal canister filter or an external.


Now on the lighter side...it sounds like a really nice set-up Do you have any pictures?

 

[d0tehdew]

No pictures as of now.. my camera died at the beach last week so I need to figure that out before I can take a snapshot of the tank.

I will try a fish-in cycle and see how that does within the next couple of weeks. Now to remove some of the salt content if I remove 20-25% of the water and refill the tank adding the appropriate dechlorinate.. will I need to add any of the bacteria in there or will the fish themselves start to take care of that?

 

[Curiosity101]

There is no need to do a water change now. If you are fish-in cycling you may be doing water changes up to twice a day anyways depending on test results. So the salt will soon be diluted.

Did you read my whole post? If so I already mentioned the bottled bacteira product...

I would really really suggest that you read the fish-in cycling thread link I posted.

Do you have a test kit? If so what are your results?

 

[d0tehdew]

Yes i've been reading the threads you posted and since I have the tetras already purchased, fed, and in the tank im going to choose the fish-in cycle.

I will discontinue the use of the bacteria product until i have some test results.. right now I am at work so I'm unable to check. And no I do not currently have a kit to test this.. i was planning on picking one up on my home from work to measures the first full day after the fish have been in the tank.

 

[Curiosity101]

That's fine, if they've only been in for a day then like you said, it's good to have a full day of results. Also you will see how much ammonia has been produced in 24 hours and will easily be able to work out how much of a water change you need to do each day.

The bacteria boost wont hurt to be added. But I can pretty much guarantee it wont work. Most of them don't work, and often the ones that do contain the incorrect bacteria anyways.

 

[d0tehdew]

Thanks for your help on this.

Because what I'm reading on my tank... (which i should've done earlier stupid me thought I had enough info on it already) the tank is more geared towards angelfish.. I guess my next question is..

If I choose to transition the fish in the tank to angelfish.. will I need to recycle once the tank has already been cycled with the tetras??

 

[Curiosity101]

Cycling just means growing enough bacteria to process ammonia --> nitrite --> nitrate. Whilst never giving a testable level of ammonia or nitrite.

The bacteria tends to grow on the filter media.
In an UGF (under gravel filter), alot of the bacteria grows on the gravel aswell as the filter media.

In an internal canister filter it grows on the filter pads

Once your tank is fully cycled with its current stock then you can swap your stock for anything else that will create roughly the same levels of waste or less. The filter should catch up pretty quickly if the new fish are creating more waste than the previous inhabitants.
But as a rough guide I'd say you could probably swap the albino shark for 2-3 juvenile angels and not see an ammonia or nitrite spike.

Though obviously only once it's actually fully cycled.

 

[d0tehdew]

Well.. it seems that all is well.

I bought the drip tests. my ammonia is .25 or below along with the nitrite. The nitrate value was not high at all.
The fish seem to be taking to the tank well and are eating regularly twice a day.

Thanks for the help.. I'll be performing the weekly / monthly maintenance as needed.. and just looking foward to the upcoming weeks of getting the tank filled with some other tropical fish.

I believe I am headed
2angelfish (already in)
6 phantom tetra (3 already in)
1 rainbowshark (already in)
2 bolivian rams
2 Golden Panchax

and i'll go from their. either another bottom dweller such as a small catfish or algae eaters.

 

[Davo86]

Hi, You will probably find that it was a bad idea to add the shark first, Usually aggressive fish are added to a setup last as once they setup a territory any fish that are added after them tend to get bullied pretty badly.

Setup and stocking plans does sound good though

 

[d0tehdew]

ya that was my dumb impatientness poking through since i did get it as a very very small fish still only about an inc 1/2 long or so.. im hoping that since its in the tank with them early it'll work out nicely if not i'll transfer him to another tank suited for his needs.

 

[arobinson1984]

Sounds like you have a good grasp at what you are doing.

I certainly wouldnt add anymore fish now until the tank cycle has completed.

Have you read up on fish-in cycling? You'll need to be doing 2/3 water tests a day for the next 4-6 weeks and whenever you see a reading higher than 0.25ppm for either ammonia or nitrITE you will need to perform a large water change, at least 50%

Andy

 

[d0tehdew]

Right now i've been doing 1 water test a day and have yet to do any water changes.. the readings have all been well within the limits of a good habitat according to the test.

One thing I guess that might of bothered me a little is.
I'm not sure if its the power head i have in the tank but visibility towards the top of the tank is extremely low and my girlfriend commented on the tank as a little foggy. Is there anyway to clear the water up or should that just handle itself once cycled?

 

[arobinson1984]

What levels does the test say is a good habitat?

The levels that you need to keep both ammonia and nitrITE below is 0.25ppm, ideally 0. Any amount of ammonia or nitrITE is poisonous to your fish so minimal levels must be maintained

If your test says anything else other than <0.25ppm then ignore it!

Also the cloudy water may just be a bacterial bloom which if thats the case will clear up itself, but cloudy water can also be a sign that ammonia is present in the tank.

What exactly are your results for:

1. PH?
2. Ammonia?
3. NitrITE?
4. NitrATE?

What test kit are you using?

Andy

 

[d0tehdew]

API Drip testing kit.

didn't do the pH.
ammonia was reading between 0 - .25ppm
nitrite was reading between 0 - .25ppm
nitrate level i forget the scale.. it was between the first and 2nd lvl on the description.

Everything looked good so I'm not too worried right now.

I guess a question I do have is.
The powerhead I'm using is blowing out some water which is causing a strong current at the top of the 18x20 tank. So the fish don't come to the top to eat unless its behind the powerhead / in the corner with the lowest current. So they are trying to catch the food as it falls.. However their not eatting a lot (atleast by what i would consider them to be a lot).. A lot of it is falling and just sitting on the floor not getting touched. Is this a sign of overfeeding? (im at 2x a day.. 8am and 6pm)

The angelfish seem to be grabbing anything that comes around them.
The tetras don't each much
The rainbow shark eats here and their.