New 37 Gallon Tank And New To Tropical Fish.

[JohnnynCarla]

Hello all! I just got my first tropical fish tank yesterday. It is a Marineland integrated Aquarium system Eclipse 37. It was given to me as a gift. It has the filter built in (which I assume isnt a good one) Also the lights are built into the hood as well. I did get 2 new bulbs already and replaced the ones that were in it with 1 Coralife 10,000K 17 watt 24" and the other bulb is a Coralife 50/50 17 watt 24". Both T8 bulbs. I have a few questions that I would like to know before I start setting the tank up.

1. Are the bulbs that I have ok?
2. Is the filter ok that is built into the hood?
3. After I ste it up today and get the temp right how soon can I add fish?

Thanks all and Happy New Year!

 

[Westwood]

Hi, to the forum!

First place you will want to check out is the Beginners Resource Center. This will tell you everything you need to know about starting up your aquarium!

As for your questions:
1. Not entirely sure
2. Its not going to be the best filter but it should do the job, you can always upgrade later.
3. After cycling possibly 4 weeks.

Hope that helps!

Westwood

 

[JohnnynCarla]

I was told by a worker at Petco to add 1 or 2 cheap hardy fish to help with the cycling. is that True? thanks.

 

[wellbeloved747]

1.the bulbs you have should be fine depending on which fish you put in the tank but generally thy will be ok

2.the filter in the hood probably isn't that good but if you don't want to invest it should be ok as long as it is running well if you want to invest which is the better option (i suggest a fluvial internal filter) i would remove the old one to save some space and to make it look less cluttered

3. once you have added a few drops of cycle to the filled tank switch on all electric items like filter and air pump if you have one then leave the tank for 24-48 hours to mature

any more questions just post them

 

[Westwood]

I was told by a worker at Petco to add 1 or 2 cheap hardy fish to help with the cycling. is that True? thanks.

No, it is bad advice as you are placing the fish in toxic water (as they are living in their own waste with nothing to break it down). Best thing to do is to fishless cycle the tank.

Westwood

 

[Wills]

3. once you have added a few drops of cycle to the filled tank switch on all electric items like filter and air pump if you have one then leave the tank for 24-48 hours to mature

Sorry when you say 24-48 hours to mature do you mean that long before adding fish?

If so I think you need to have a read through these topics
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/
In particular the Nitrogen Cycle and the fishless cycle.

- JonnyandCarla - welcome to the forum, I would not do what the petco employee has said as its quite a cruel method to go with have a read in the link above and read through the nitrogen cycle post and the fishless cycle post as well. The way the Petco guy said is called a fish in cycle have a read of that topic as well.

hope thats helped
Wills

 

[JohnnynCarla]

Sounds good. Also is it ok to add real plants to the tank now? When we were at Petco they had a live Moss or Alge rock and they said put that in your tank and it helps to control the alge. Is this true?

 

[Wills]

Excellent stuff Make sure you have a good read I know it can be daunting at the start but is worth it the beggining of setting up a tank is probably the hardest part.

Plants and Moss will help in the tank as they use up nutrients that the filter does not handle - though not essential as you will deal with these when you do water changes. But it does help and it does help with Algae as it starves the Algae of any food sources as the plants use them up first.

Wills

 

[JohnnynCarla]

Thanks alot Willis!. Is there a rule of thumb how many plants I should have? and how many of thoes moss balls?

 

[Wills]

Kind of depends on what kind of look you want to go for really - though plants serve a purpose they are mainly to make it look good Westwoods tank in his signature above is a good example of a nice balance of healthy plants and lots of swimming space for the fish.

Moss balls are great - unfortunately for me my fish eat them.... - but yeah they just look pretty cool. They are quite chunky and they do grow, very slowly but they do get quite large and round. So will take up space on the bottom of the aquarium so how ever many you want really just leave some room for fish

Wills