My First Setup

[photoj]

Hello everyone. Just wanted to say hi and tell you I wish I came here first. This is my first aquarium and here is my setup. I have a 30gallon tank, fresh water, that I setup with one filter that hangs over the back with bio/mec/chem media in it. I have two under gravel filters. I set it up to "cycle" without fish (or borrowed media) for 1 week. I now understand that this did nothing. I set up the temperature to 76F. I then bought four plants, 2 Hygro, 1 Bacopa and a green cabomba. I also bought a piece of malaysian wood for decor. I left that for two days and then bought some fish. 2 red platy, 1 wag tail and a swordtail. I have been checking the water by taking a sample to the LFS and was told yesterday that my Nitrite is still a little high to add more fish. So i did a 25% water change today. This is week two with fish and week three since initial setup.

I'm just looking for advice on how i'm doing and what i should be doing differently. Also suggestions for more fish to go with the four I already have.

Cheers
photoj

 

[Colin_T]

Howdee & Welcome

it sounds like things are moving along fine. Keep the feeding down to once a day or every second day. the less food the lower the ammonia and nitrite levels will be.
Keep doing partial (30-50%) water changes each day or every few days. Basically whenever the ammonia or nitrite levels go above 1ppm, do a partial water change. If the levels go up above 2ppm then do a bigger water change (ie: 50%), with lower levels do a smaller water change (30%).

If you have a light on the tank then have it on for about 10-12 hours a day. The plants will use some of the ammonia and nitrite to grow and help keep the levels down. Adding more plants will also help. The more plants you have, the more nutrients (ammonia & nitrite) they use.

If you have a black granulated substance in the filter that hangs on the back (known as a HOB- Hang on Back) filter, then that is carbon and should be replaced about once a month. If you want to grow plants and use plant fertilisers, or use fish medications, then remove the carbon completely.

Some HOB filters have a small white granulated substance called Ammogon or Ammonia Remover. If your filter has this then remove it completely as it can interfere with the developing filter bacteria.

The following link has a picture of some livebearers (mollies, swords, guppies & platies) at the bottom of the page. Click on the picture and it will open a page with info on how to sex livebearers.

http/www.perthaquarium.com.au/fish/tropi...ater_fish.phtml

If you plan on keeping platies and swordtails together it is preferable to only keep males or females. If you have males & females of both species then they can cross breed. Also male livebearers are randy sods that chase the females all the time. Having a tank with only females will reduce the stress.

There are plenty of fishes that can go in your tank but you would be better off going to the local fish shop (LFS) and making a list of fishes that you like. Then come back with the list and we can say yes or no.
The main fish to avoid would be big fish, in particular big cichlids (pronounced sick-lids) from South America, and African Rift Lake cichlids. These fish will not go well in a community tank with plants.
Look at barbs, tetras, gouramis, dwarf cichlids, small species of rainbowfish, and catfish like Corydoras.

 

[Schmill]

Double post.

I've also replied to your exact same question in the thread below:

My First Setup

Please keep all responses here now

MODS Please merge the other topic onto the end of this one

 

[photoj]

Thanks for the reply and sorry about the double post there was a forum error when i hit submit.

Good to know that I need to replace my carbon filter weekly. I was only going to replace it once a month. I'll also get a test kit and do water changes more frequently until i get the nitrite levels down.

Thanks for your help.

Cheers
photoj