My First Tank.

[Thirdfloor]

So my best friend bought a 20 gallon tank at a yard sale and set it up very simply with a guppy, a pleco, and 4 neons. Needless to say I fell in love with the tank and decided to get one of my own. Before buying anything I went to a bazillion stores and explored sizes, shapes, and options for tanks as well as doing tons of research online about cycling tanks and advice for beginners. I live on a third floor apartment and probably am not allowed to even have an aquarium so I have to keep it small. I have read and absorbed so much information in the last 3 weeks about fish species and water chemistry etc that I feel like I'm Biology again in high school! But I hav a very thorough understanding of the cycle and know the difference between Nitrite and Nitrate

Sorry for the US measurements, I don't convert to metric well

I finally decided on an 18 gallon hexagonal tank (not a tall, thin column, but like a regular rectangular tank except with a nice bay window in front instead of a flat pane) If you were to look down on the tank from above it would resemble the capital D: back of tank ---> D <-----front of tank. It's 24 inches long, 12.5 inches wide and 17 inches deep.

The filter I chose is an internal 3 stage filter designed for 10-30 gallon tanks and it moves 150 gallons per hour without making a sound

My substrate is a coarse, roughly pea sized polished gravel, mostly quartz about 2 inches deep. I want live plants eventually. I have several artifical plants and one corner of the tank is furnished with some nice breeding grass and small plants for fry to hang out in as I plan on having some livebearers in the finished tank.

I have one air pump and a 4 inch airstone buried at the bottom of the substrate and placed under some decorations to break up the bubbles a bit.

I set the tank up 8 days ago and am cycling with 5 zebra danios and 4 small livebearers (2 swords a platy and a mystery fish I haven't identified yet, about 1/2 inch each) and about half a dozen little snails (might be a problem in the future, I already see a couple clutches of what I assume to be snail eggs on the aquarium glass)

Daily water tests show my ammonia level to be hovering just under the fatal level, so I am doing daily 25-30% water changes to try to keep the fish alive, I am fully prepared to lose them during the cycle but can't help but do my best to keep them alive. I have NO nitrite in my tank yet according to my tests. I decided against fishless cycling in the beginning, but when I do my next tank (and I'm already so hooked that I know I will end up with more tanks) I think I will do it fishless.

I'm aware now also that I have too many fish in the tank to be cycling with, I'm going to try to get my friend to take the livebearers in his tank which is understocked at the moment until mine is fully matured. I have faith that the Danios will survive since they are so hardy.



Here are some questions I have:

Snails... good? bad? worth it? I read that they are a nuisance and I read that they don't hurt anything and help keep your tank clean. Am I going to end up with an infestation? Should I get rid of them now or just let them be?

Does the atypical shape of my tank present me with any challenges? Once my tanks is matured can I still go by the 1" of fish per gallon of water rule of thumb or does the different shape alter that?

Should I be seeing Nitrite yet after 8 days? My tests are showing none. The ammonia is, like I said, pretty high even though I'm doing daily water changes. (20-30%)

Filter media: My friend had to treat his tank for Ich (just in the last 4-5 days) and in my opinion doesnt have a sufficient filter for his tank (I don't know the specs of it, just doesn't seem to move much water) although it is fully cycled...would it be a good idea to get some filter media from him to help speed my process up or would that be kind of risky because of the Ich and medications/chemicals?

Salt: should I be using it? The fish seem better since I've been using it. I am adding a little less than a teaspoon to each 4 gallon bucket of water I dechlorinate for water changes.

Temprature: my tank stays right around 80F is that too warm? How can I cool it down if it is? I live in Orlando, Florida and its naturally pretty warm, so no heater in the tank, of course.

I'm torn about the Danios too, I bought them to cycle the tank with because of their hardiness, and still expected to lose them along the way. I don't plan on having Danios in my finished tank, but if they survive the cycling process I'm not sure what to do with them, I won't kill them or anything, but I don't really want them taking up 10 inches of my fish space Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance for the advice, any pointers or tips are welcome as well, Sorry for the long post but I wanted to give as much information as I could. This seems like a pretty nice forum to hang out in with some friendly and helpful people.

Here's a pic of my tank.

 

[Ilya]

Gorgeous tank! I'd keep snails if I were you. And if you have a problem, then just buy a skunk loach or something to eat them...

Also, if you haven't noticed, I would rather do a fishless cycle. It's saves you the hassle of doing daily water changes, and any fish will be safe from dying.

 

[Musho3210]

hmm, well you should never use fish to cycle, so try and return them back to your lfs and do a fishless. No need for salt, different fish = different temperature (78 is a good average number for tropicals)

Dont take your friends media, and tell him if its a common pleco he had better get a huge tank (in the hundreds of gallons) to fit it.

Oh and your danios will probably survive the cycle, but the long term damages will kill them prematurely. It is very cruel, torturous, and inhumane to cycle with fish. The best thing you can do know is to return them and do a fishless.

 

[backtotropical]

Yip, return your fish to the LFS and go for fishless cycling. Its better for the fishes.

Theres a link to a great fishless cycling thread in my signature. I'd advise reading it if you haven't already.

Good luck.

 

[Thirdfloor]

I wholeheartedly agree about fishless cycling now, and will get the fish out ASAP.

I'm still wondering about the shape of the tank and if it will affect anyting I should know about.

Thanks for the advice thus far, I honestly didn't know that the cycling process was so harmful to the fish as I have seen it done that way for years. I wish I had found this forum before I started!

 

[backtotropical]

The shape of the tank wont have any adverse effects. The only thing i can think of is it can sometimes distort viewing because it magnifies the tank, but its a small price to pay because bow-front tanks look great.

Glad to hear you're going fishless. C'mon the fishes!!!!

 

[Ilya]

Keep the snails though. They will help with the algae. I'm in my late cycle stage, NitrAte and NitrIte are unreadable because they are so high, and the snails are thriving!

 

[Kevinator]

I have mystery snails in my tank and they pretty cool to watch. I have not had an infestation problem with them, we have a few small ones but the bigger fish have had them for a snack.

 

[Thirdfloor]

Wow, Backtotropical, that article on fishless cycling is really great.

Is it possible to switch to fishless after having fish in there? I don't see why not. Just not sure how far along in the cycle I am. I guess I could just test daily til the ammonia drops, then bring it back up with pure ammonia from the store and proceed from there?

 

[backtotropical]

Theres no reason why you couldn't go straight into a fishless cycle when you remove the fish.

Aim for 5ppm of ammonia. I doubt your ammonia will be this high when you remove the fish, because they would all be dead. So, add ammonia to bring levels up to 5ppm then start from there. No need to let the ammonia drop first.

Hope this helps.

 

[Ilya]

Make sure you use PURE ammonia. With no perfumes, dyes, or any additions. It IS a cleaning product, and not an aquarium accessory. That was my problem. I went to fish stores asking for ammonia . Try going to a True Value. That's where I got mine.

 

[backtotropical]

Boots The Chemist also sell it, if you are in the UK?

Its called Boots Household Ammonia.

Note: when we say pure ammonia, we mean ammonia mixed with water, normally about 10% ammonia.

You will not find 100% ammonia on sale as it is very dangerous.

 

[Thirdfloor]

yep, your article made it very clear what ammonia I need. Again, thats an awesome write-up.

 

[backtotropical]

All credit to RDD1952 for the fishless cycle thread. He's the in-house of cycling IMO.

 

[Musho3210]

if you cant find ammonia, fish food will rot and make ammonia but can be messy and grow fungus etc, a raw coctail prawn will decompose and produce ammonia but will smell really bad. Pure ammonia would be best but the other ones work as well.