New Guy Here

[bambam507]

Hello,


I semi retired from one expensive habit/hobby (car audio competition )and looks like I'm diving into this one.Freshwater Never had a tank myself, but have always wanted one. last weekend I picked up a 55 gal tank.

I have been reading a lot in the beginners section and it looks like Im doing a lot wrong. lol. I am on well water my alkalinity is very high color isnt on the test strip decoder. and the ph is just off the chart as well. everything else I was told looks good. on Monday took water sample in and was told my ph is at 8.3 or 8.5 cant remember.

Would rather not add up or down to tank after hearing how much of a pain it is to chase. So I think I will be staying where I am at and running a North African tank.

So last Friday I filled 4 totes with tap water (well water) Picked up used tank Sunday off classified add. Cleaned tank with vinegar and water mix using paper towels and old credit card to remove the previous hard water stains / creep. Added room temp degassed water to tank, added stress coat and a additive local shop suggested to help bring up natural bacteria. Sunday mon water stayed same (according to test strips) Monday picked up three giant Danios. Water at 77 Deg f. I wanted to know if my water or the tank was bad befor I added substrate .... Added 60lbs of sand and few hand fulls of medium round substrate. After the sandstorm settled lol Dont recommend adding sand with almost full tank lol

Picked up new cover new Marine land double led light that I am exchanging for single tonight due to not having any plants in future. Air stone, filtration set up that Im not sure after reading reviews if i want to keep. the API nexx Aquarium FILTER have been told it lacks proper circulation and result growth in supply and return tubes.

What do you recommend for exchange of water per hour? have been told 4-5 times per hour on a 55 gal. Currently am only at 2.4

Few pics of my boring start to tank.
I plan on cleaning up hoses and wires shortly .

During the sandstorm (after adding sand substrate to full tank)

After the sand storm cleared.

I would love to do plants , just have been informed that Cichlids destroy plans live or realm and alot of places i have been browsing didnt look to like the PH but saw pinned post about plants for north african tanks I am interested in doing plants. also interested in other fish helping filter n keep the tank balanced like clams, shrimp, PLeco . but not sure they like the properties of the North African.

Kinda pushed towards North African bc its where my water naturally rests(so far).


Testing have just been the basic test strips and yea.... tonight going in to get an actual test kit to get more accurate readings.

besides fish that like the 8 ish PH level I havent really decided yet.

Yea I like the tank size but my living room makes the tank look small . living room is 23ftx18ft with vaulted ceilings.

Oh yea I have seen on here recommendations for hours to keep light on. uhm have had my light on since tuesday. during day white/blue l.e.d.'s at night time just blue. Is this bad? or for tank jsut starting is it good to get the bacteria going? or will only grow algae?

Cant keep myself out of the fish store . blah lol. So went in tonight and they wont have full test kits till next week. So might start digging else where or another shop. They did a full test on my water

PH 8.3
no2 10
no3 0
nh3 .5
gh 75
cl 0
kh 300

He said my tank must be mid cycle and is safe to add fish? So i picked up a few more fish

1.) Feather fin Catfish
1.)Peacock Cichlid
1.) Hap Moorei Cichlid

and picked up a chunk of lace ...rock?

Catfish

Previous posts have been from post in new to forum section

 

[bambam507]

This weekend drove hour and half to check out some other lfs. Shop had a good selection but I felt rushed into decisions. I picked out some more lace rock and wanted to come back after we went out to eat and employee said oh I can put your fish in large bags and a styrophome box to help them last. took his word on it.Told him what I had and he sugested some basic plants but failed to give me name of the plants and full name of the fish.

Picked up two yellow labs, a pleco (dont know what species have no idea on how big he will get. ) , plants , and lave rock. Well after we ate and got home the pleco was very stressed pale. and one of the labs killed the other, his side fins and gills were still going so gave him a small dose of aquarium salt and stress coat and put a hose to bubble in the bag this am he was dead.

I dont think I will go back to that shop unless I do my research ahead of time. The employee didnt give me straight answers when I asked questions I am new to this so I wanted to ask questions. I like my local shop bc they will write down every fish /plant you purchase.

 

[bambam507]

Friday I received my fluval 306, still am not sure on location of in and out of my filters. at the moment I have the fluval 306 and my API nexx filter

The fluval 306 says 303 gph and the api says 132 phg , with a combined gph making 7.9 change over per hour Correct?

Any tips on how far to place two different filters would be appreciated.

also trying to find out when it is necessary to get a co2 set up for plants.

 

[dh058977]

Ok, if the yellow fish in the photos is the one you refer to as a yellow lab then I'm afraid it's not. It looks to be a red zebra. If the other one is the same and they were left in the same bag together for a long period of time I'm not suprised they fought with each other.

Based on your other thread you are in a fish in cycle at the moment, forget plants, co2 and everything else for now - your focus should be on getting the tank cycled and the health of the fish you do have. Either setup the two filters and be prepared for large daily water changes or take the fish back and cycle your tank with ammonia. Once your tank is cycled then you can think about adding plants etc. don't rush any more purchases and certainly do not add any more fish.

 

[boabmac63]

Ok, if the yellow fish in the photos is the one you refer to as a yellow lab then I'm afraid it's not. It looks to be a red zebra. If the other one is the same and they were left in the same bag together for a long period of time I'm not suprised they fought with each other.

Based on your other thread you are in a fish in cycle at the moment, forget plants, co2 and everything else for now - your focus should be on getting the tank cycled and the health of the fish you do have. Either setup the two filters and be prepared for large daily water changes or take the fish back and cycle your tank with ammonia. Once your tank is cycled then you can think about adding plants etc. don't rush any more purchases and certainly do not add any more fish.

He the tank of classified he said the filter was cycled so only a little mini cycle

 

[bambam507]

yea the place i got the yellow ones from were not helpful at all. thanks for the input. I thought the tank they had them in at the lfs was small they had probably a dozen cichlids on a 20 gallon tank . and there was like 4 of these yellow ones in there but the ratio was large enuff to not single out one fish.

the mid cycle post was from about 2 weeks ago. half of this post was copied and pasted from the new to forum section.

 

[dh058977]

If the tank is cycled, excellent! And sorry for assuming it wasn't! Good luck with your malawis, I know I love mine

 

[bambam507]

LOl the girl friend is hooked . texts me how she misses my fish tank lol any ways she just dropped of an electric yellow cichlid. Looks a bit diff than the yellow from this weekend.

 

[Man of fish]

What I want to know is how is this tank cycled with the stats you gave in your other thread You said and I quote:

PH 8.3
no2 10
no3 0
nh3 .5
gh 75
cl 0
kh 300

That means you have in your tank 10 ppm of nitrItes (VERY harmful to the fish over 0.1 ppm)
0 nitrates meaning that your bacteria aren't turning the harmful nitrItes into non-harmful nitrAtes
And 0.5 ammonia meaning that the ammonia bacteria are having trouble turning the ammonia into nitrItes (any reading about 0.25 of ammonia is toxic to fish)

You need to read up on the nitrogen cycle because this seems like a bit more than a mini-cycle

I really REALLLLLLLLLY advise you NOT to buy ANY more fish until we figure out if your tank really is cycled or not!

 

[bambam507]

ok to clear some things up .

tank was purchased threw classified add , but brand new filter on start up march 25th 2012 with no donor media

added sand substrate and Nutrafin cycle march 26th
added Nutrafin cycle march 27th
added Natrafin cycle march 28th

added three Danios to cycle tank march 29th.

Water test of on march 29th
PH 8.3
no2 10
no3 0
nh3 .5
gh 75
cl 0
kh 300

water change april 2nd 15 gal

water change april 4th 158 gal

water test april 3rd with mini master kit

ph 8.5
Amonia 0
Nitrite 110

Added Fluval 306 filter along with the api filter april 6th

Water change april 10th 18 gal

test after change

ph 8.5
Amonia 0
Nitrite 110

I have two 18 gall totes on hand waiting for first tote to get up to temp (with heater) and will change tomorrow morning if is up to temp 18 gall

I am new to this and feel like a putz. Thank you for the warnings and tring to get this under control asap

do i want to pick up test for nitrate? my mini master kit i currently have is only ph, nitrite and amonia

 

[eggo]

your priority is the get your nitrite and amonia under control first, are you using a dechlorinator during water changes, also it may be a good idea to add seachem stability it's a 7 day course, also ask your LFS for some used filter media to give your filter a boost.

 

[bambam507]

I am on well water. so no chlorine

 

[bambam507]

4/10/2012
Water change

Just snuck home from work and drained 30 gall of water out of tank

added 18 gallons

waiting for other tote to get up temp
in tote have 50 watt heater and power head circulating 18 gallons of water.

the on deck tote was 67 when i left, waiting for it to get to 77. hopefully after work

 

[bambam507]

your priority is the get your nitrite and amonia under control first, are you using a dechlorinator during water changes, also it may be a good idea to add seachem stability it's a 7 day course, also ask your LFS for some used filter media to give your filter a boost.

is this the stuff I want and shoudl be using?

Prime
Product Description
Prime® is the complete and concentrated conditioner for both fresh and salt water. Prime® removes chlorine, chloramine and ammonia. Prime® converts ammonia into a safe, non-toxic form that is readily removed by the tank’s biofilter. Prime® may be used during tank cycling to alleviate ammonia/nitrite toxicity. Prime® detoxifies nitrite and nitrate, allowing the biofilter to more efficiently remove them. It will also detoxify any heavy metals found in the tap water at typical concentration levels. Prime® also promotes the production and regeneration of the natural slime coat. Prime® is non-acidic and will not impact pH. Prime® will not overactivate skimmers. Use at start-up and whenever adding or replacing water​

 

[Man of fish]

Yes..... If you have the API kit how do you know it's 110 nitrite mine only goes up to 8+......
A master kit is better, but first you must get your nitrite under control. It's good that the ammonia eaters are there, but nitrite is just as bad and should be kept under 0.1 ppm so the nitrite eaters need to come to take that nitrite away