My First tank Weeeeee

[CluelessScot]

Well after lots of research and looking around im off tomorrow to pick up my first fish tank

Q1. anyone know how to work out how much gallons it will be? L48" W12" H17"

Q2. a friend of mines has told me i can have his old filter i think it was. he said water passes through it and builds up bacteria and it will be good to put in your tank and will speed up the cycle... is that ok/true?

Q3. been offered a 5gallon tank with heater and filter free... the tank had white spot and his fish died so he is giving it to me. if i were to boil the gravel could i use it again?

Q4. can i use the tank above as a Quarantine tank/A&E tank if the fish b4 had/died of white spot?

Q5. Can i add in plants tomorrow and get the cycling started or does the plants effect the cycling Process?

Q6. why is it so easy to get addicted to this hobbie lol

 

[cujoho78]

Hi. Haha, sorry, question 6 got me chuckling. Q1. to find out how many US gallons you just multiply LxWxH and divide by 231. So 48x12x17 divided by 231 is 42.389 or about 42 US gallons.
Q2. Yes that is true. Ideally you are looking to have a filter that will circulate all the water in your aquarium at least 4 or 5 times every hour. So your filter should be around 170-210 gallons per hour for the 42 gal tank. Just make sure his tank is healthy or your fish might get what his fish had.
Q3. You could use it but you would have to clean it well. No soap though ever. I would soak all of it in water with chlorine bleach in it and then rinse it off well and add new water with de-chlorinater in it, recycle and carry on as normal.
Q4. Yes, just make sure to clean it really well first.
Q5. I am not sure... someone with more plant experience will chime in on that one.
Q6. I really don't know about this one either haha. You will see people here complain of MTS (multiple tank sydrome) or larger tank syndrome. I guess everybody finds it fun!
good luck.

 

[smooth_bourbon]

My understanding is plants are good for a tank at any time. However since plants do not put off amonia they will not start a cycle. If you get the filter media from your friend you will need some form of amonia in your tank to keep the bacteria alive.

A 42 gallon should be a great first tank. Big enough to be farely steady, and lots of fun. What kind of fish are you thinking of getting?

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, gonna need ammonia if you plan on a fishless cycle. You can either use pure ammonia (pure meaning without surfactants or soaps in addition to the NH3) which is much prefferable, or you could try and decay some food to create some NH3. Any way you slice it, you'll need a testkit that can do pH, ammonia (NH3/4+), Nitrite (NO2), and Nitrate (NO3). Try to get a liquid testkit as strips are horribly inaccurate. I'd also read up on some of the threads about the nitrogen cycle in the stickies

 

[CluelessScot]

yeah, been reading this forum for bout a month now lol think i have everything sorted *crosses fingers*

What kind of fish are you thinking of getting?

[snapback]924120[/snapback]​

well i really love rams ive been in and out of the fish shop about 10 times this week... was standing for like 20mins just watching the Rams. they are so nice and shy the only thing is i have read they are rather hard to keep but would love to try. I was reading about the Bolivan ram and seems they are easier to keep? any1 know how many you should have, like just a male and female or a group?

i like Corys too... they are nice too but was looking for maybe a group of say 4 or 5 which are not to hard to keep and grow no bigger than 3"
Bandit cory
Peppered cory
Adolfo's cory
Panda cory
Three lined cory

any other suggestions on Corys?

as for the rest of the tank im not 100% what i want lol been reading loads but they are all really nice.

not keen on Livebearers or killifish,

Are there any cichlids that a begginer could have? up for suggestions anyway

Thanks

 

[annka5]

Q3 White spot parasites die within a few days if they can't find a "host" (i.e. a fish) to latch onto at the appropriate point in the lifecylce. So gravel woldn't harbour any surviving parasites
Q4 As above
Q5 Add the plants now to keep algae at bay -algae thrive in new tanks and plants use the same nutrients as algae, thus limiting there numbers
Q6 You think its bad now...? Just wait....

 

[dwarfgourami]

i like Corys too... they are nice too but was looking for maybe a group of say 4 or 5 which are not to hard to keep and grow no bigger than 3"
Bandit cory
Peppered cory
Adolfo's cory
Panda cory
Three lined cory

any other suggestions on Corys?


Thanks

[snapback]924360[/snapback]​

Peppered corys are quite hardy, and can go in a newly cycled tank. Females grow to 3 inches, males slightly smaller. I've got them- and I love them!

No experience of the other ones, though pandas are said to be extremely difficult and sensitive; Inchworm said in a post the other day that she has stopped recommending them, as so many people find it impossible to keep them alive. Certainly not ones for a newly cycled tank.

I feed my corys catfish tablets and sometimes bloodworm, daphnia and peas. You need to keep the substrate quite clean (gravel vac at least once weekly; I do twice weekly when it's hot). They like to have a hiding place; mine have several bogwood caves, which they love.

 

[scrappy]

Heh, Q6 is a good un, it is not only addictive it can also be expensive...

1st Stage: You start off with one largish tank (say a living room tank about 50gal) fill it with fish and then find that "lovely" looking fish youve always wanted but cant put it in your tank cos you either dont have room or they are not compatible with the types of fish youve already stocked...

2nd Stage: You like the fish so much you go and spend £150 on a 20gal tank (cos its just for that one type of fish youd always been after)...

3rd Stage: You spot another fish that looks great, but cant go in tank1 cos its not compatible, and can neither go in tank2 cos thats full too... guess what happens next... yes u got it, onto tank3, normally another large one cos u found u ran out of space in tank2 too quickly. Bang goes another £400...

4th Stage: Suddenly you find eggs being laid or maybe your livebearers are producing fry.... of course natural instinct means you suddenly want to become a "breeder"... After the first time u spot the eggs go missing in one of your community tanks, or the fry getting eaten by other fish as their falling out the bottom of the big fat platy youve always loved... its time to get a "breeder" tank, somewhere you can put the fish when they are spawning and producing fry (another £100 or so spent).

5th Stage: Oh dear one of the fish looks poorly, you cant bring yourself to kill it and think that meds may help, but of course you dont want whatever has made it sick to spread... Along comes another small tank "the hospital tank" (£100 or so again).

Thats 5 tanks you could own in a very small space of time... and you havent even thought about the idea of having species tanks & possibly moving onto Marine fish...

This is just my opinion of how it can go... not eveyone can do this or have the finance to do it aswell... but i guarantee that there will be some people reading this, noticing the pattern of events and thinking ive been stalking them ...

the "LURE" is there...

 

[CluelessScot]

well had a very busy day today and i have the tank set up and cycling

not to sure about a few things tho... i have a Aqualine filter and it shoots out air bubbles from the top and its really powerful, this normal lol? also my tank is covered in bubbles and looks really cloudy, will that go away after a few days?

i bought a nice bit of bog wood and a white stone that has holes in it (cant remember the name of it) The guy at the shop said the bog wood was ready to pop into the tank and i would have to soak the stone in some water for a few hours, i soaked both the wood and stone for about 6 hours and it seems ok. also got 3 plants (fake but the look real lol) all that seemed alot when it was in the bag on the way home but put it all in now and it looks like i need to save some more cash for real plants and some more bog wood ect.

Heh, Q6 is a good un, it is not only addictive it can also be expensive...

1st Stage: You start off with one largish tank (say a living room tank about 50gal) fill it with fish and then find that "lovely" looking fish youve always wanted but cant put it in your tank cos you either dont have room or they are not compatible with the types of fish youve already stocked...

2nd Stage: You like the fish so much you go and spend £150 on a 20gal tank (cos its just for that one type of fish youd always been after)...

3rd Stage: You spot another fish that looks great, but cant go in tank1 cos its not compatible, and can neither go in tank2 cos thats full too... guess what happens next... yes u got it, onto tank3, normally another large one cos u found u ran out of space in tank2 too quickly. Bang goes another £400...

4th Stage: Suddenly you find eggs being laid or maybe your livebearers are producing fry.... of course natural instinct means you suddenly want to become a "breeder"... After the first time u spot the eggs go missing in one of your community tanks, or the fry getting eaten by other fish as their falling out the bottom of the big fat platy youve always loved... its time to get a "breeder" tank, somewhere you can put the fish when they are spawning and producing fry (another £100 or so spent).

5th Stage: Oh dear one of the fish looks poorly, you cant bring yourself to kill it and think that meds may help, but of course you dont want whatever has made it sick to spread... Along comes another small tank "the hospital tank" (£100 or so again).

Thats 5 tanks you could own in a very small space of time... and you havent even thought about the idea of having species tanks & possibly moving onto Marine fish...

This is just my opinion of how it can go... not eveyone can do this or have the finance to do it aswell... but i guarantee that there will be some people reading this, noticing the pattern of events and thinking ive been stalking them ...

the "LURE" is there...

[snapback]925146[/snapback]​

i know what you mean... i have this 42 gallon tank and now a small 5 gallon tank, the small one was free so