New to tropical fish keeping. Upgrading from 30l to 90l

[RC2017x]

Evening all!

Never used a forum before but having recently started keeping tropical fish bought I'd give it a go.

Started off in November with a 30l tropical set up, wrongly took pets at home advice and put fish in just 2 days after putting water in, they sadly died.

Went to an independent shop and got test kits, done daily water changes until everything was fine then gradually introduced 7 beautiful male guppies (who are all now happy and healthy).

Had been thinking about upgrading to a bigger tank when I got the nack of the 30l one, then noticed a fluval roma 90 tank for sale on gumtree with a fluval 206 external filter, heater, new gravel etc for a bargain price.

So I bought it today and have brought it home and cleaned it all and set it up and stuff, all seems fine. Just looking for some sort of ideas of nice fish to keep that will get on with our guppies, nothing that grows too big.

 

[Byron]

Providing us with the parameters of your source water, presumably tap unless on a well, will help us offer suggestions. The GH (general hardness) is most crucial for fish, but it helps to know the pH and the KH (carbonate hardness or Alkalinity) as well. This data you should be able to find out from your municipal water authority, check their website.

And welcome to TFF.

Byron.

 

[RC2017x]

Hey Byron!

So in my 30l tank the levels are as follows:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
Gh: 50
Kh:50
Ph: 7.2

On the Scottish water website, it says the water is soft in my area.

Hope this helps! Many thanks. R.

 

[Byron]

Hey Byron!

So in my 30l tank the levels are as follows:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
Gh: 50
Kh:50
Ph: 7.2

On the Scottish water website, it says the water is soft in my area.

Hope this helps! Many thanks. R.

I will assume the unit of measurement for the GH and KH is mg/l (milligrams per liter) as seems most often the case. This is the same as ppm (parts per million) which is a standard unit in the hobby, and the other common unit is degrees (dGH or dH). So I will assume 50 mg/l (ppm), which is indeed soft, equivalent to around 3 dGH. The KH is similarly low. This means your pH is likely to lower once the aquarium is established. The fish produce organics, and bacteria break these down, and CO2 (carbon dioxide) is produced which acidifies the water and the pH lowers. That is a very brief summary, but should get the point across. So don't be scared when the pH becomes slightly acidic (below 7), it is normal here.

So that means soft or very soft water that will be slightly acidic. Your choices for suitable fish in your new Roma 90 liter [roughly 23 gallons] are many indeed. Most all of the species originating in South America and SE Asia require soft water, and there are many that are small in their mature size. Off the top, forget livebearers; guppies are livebearers and will be better with more mineral in the water, but they are also able to withstand less than ideal conditions though I am not suggesting they should have to. But do not consider mollies, platy, swordtails here, as they just will not make it.

I can't begin to suggest species, there are so many. But have a look at the tetras, pencilfish and hatchetfish--these are all characins from South America. Also the cory catfish. And there are some "unusual" catfish that could work too. From SE Asia there are the rasboras and some of the gouramis. There are also danios but these are more active so one has to be careful because active fish need more space, meaning longer tanks. Barbs I would not consider for this small a tank, they are very active, some near-hyper, and can be rather feisty. You will find more options with the quieter more sedate fish.

As you research, feel free to post questions. There are many very knowledgeable members here, and we all love helping out.

Byron.

 

[NickAu]

what are you going to do with the 30 l tank? It would make a nice home for a Betta you know.

 

[Gruntle]

When you move your fish from the 30l to the 90l, move the media from inside your filter into your new filter. If you do so, you will have a much better environment for your fish, as the bacterial colonies will get a massive head-start to cycle your new tank.

And when adding fish, add them a few at a time so the bacterial colonies can expand to cope with the extra "waste" of ammonia and nitrite.

Cheers, and good luck with your new fishy family.

 

[RC2017x]

what are you going to do with the 30 l tank? It would make a nice home for a Betta you know.

Hey Nick

Unfortunately, my friends son has 'dibs' on it! Hope you manage to pick one up!

 

[RC2017x]

Providing us with the parameters of your source water, presumably tap unless on a well, will help us offer suggestions. The GH (general hardness) is most crucial for fish, but it helps to know the pH and the KH (carbonate hardness or Alkalinity) as well. This data you should be able to find out from your municipal water authority, check their website.

And welcome to TFF.

Byron.

Hey Byron!

Haven't put fish into tank yet as wanted to let it settle first & make sure everything was ok for new fish first. Done a 50% water change yesterday (had got new gravel and wanted to clean it properly)

done a water test and sitting as follows:

Ammonia 0
Nitrate 1.5
Nitrite 0.5
GH 0
KH 150
PH <6.4

Do you reckon it's safe to put 1 male guppy in as a trial run?

 

[Byron]

Hey Byron!

Haven't put fish into tank yet as wanted to let it settle first & make sure everything was ok for new fish first. Done a 50% water change yesterday (had got new gravel and wanted to clean it properly)

done a water test and sitting as follows:

Ammonia 0
Nitrate 1.5
Nitrite 0.5
GH 0
KH 150
PH <6.4

Do you reckon it's safe to put 1 male guppy in as a trial run?

No. You have soft water, very soft, and a slightly acidic pH, so avoid fish requiring harder water. All livebearers are harder water fish.

Have you cycled the new tank?

 

[RC2017x]

No. You have soft water, very soft, and a slightly acidic pH, so avoid fish requiring harder water. All livebearers are harder water fish.

Have you cycled the new tank?

Cool, all we have done is cleaned the gravel & filter (external filter) put it in tank filled the tank, ran filter, heater & light daily for 1 week & done a 50% water change yesterday.

 

[Byron]

Do you have live plants? If not, you will need to cycle the tank. Did you move over the filter media as was suggested by someone previously?

 

[RC2017x]

No live plants. How do I go about cycling it?

The thing is the filter in the 30l is a fluval mini and the filter for the 90l tank is a fluval 206 external filter so like where do I put the media from the fluval mini?

 

[Byron]

No live plants. How do I go about cycling it?

The thing is the filter in the 30l is a fluval mini and the filter for the 90l tank is a fluval 206 external filter so like where do I put the media from the fluval mini?

Sometimes you can just put the "old" media in the new filter. So long as it is submerged and the water is flowing through it, fine. The bacteria on the old media will help seed the new tank.

There are articles on cycling in the "Cycle Your Tank" are of this forum, here
http://www.fishforums.net/forums/cycle-your-tank.291/