Starting Up My Tank Again

[nshockeyplaya]

Boy i wish i found this forum about a year or two ago when i first started. Well im going to start my tank up again i hav everything still in my tank, its a 55 gallon. I have a few questions, and anyhelp woudl be greatly appreciated.
1. Well tp start off i was wondering if i should replace the gravel or jsut clean it. 2.Next i wanted to know what you mean by cycling the tank, do i have to do this if my tank was in use about a year ago.
3. I have a penguin 330 biowheel filter and another similar but it doesnt hav a biowheel setuo to it. Is this ok filtration. All thats in it though is the blue carbon replacement slip things with the biowheel.
4. Last time my tank was running i had a freshwater barracuda, a black shark, a six stripped sexus fish or something like that, a arownna and a pleco. Was that a bad setup becuase it seemed to be fine, i mean they lived healthy for 1 year and a half until my stupd cousin dropped my red tail shark from my other tank in ther and the barracude of course ate it which gave him a disease whcih killed all the fish as well as him. And all this caused me to stop having fish. But was there anything wrtong with that setup.
5. Also i was wondering do you guys refil the tank with tap water when you do water changers or what because i used to use tap water for everything including the filters.
6. I hear thta for the fiters u keep around old water taken out to clean them is this true?
7. Last question would you suggest live plants if im not gettin african chichlids?

Any help to these questions is appreciated or any addition suggestions will be appreciated as well thank you

 

[nickylu]

hi im new to all this so im no expert, but i always clean the filters in tank water i have taken out during water changes. i think normal tap water kills the bacteria you need in the filter. this is why you need to cycle the newly set up tank to develop this bacteria. if it hasent been used for one year all the bacteria will have died. i use tap water for my water changes but only after treating it. i dont know enough to advise you on the gravel but i think it should be ok. i have plants in my tank, they get quite dirty but i just clean them with a un used toothbrush. they are more work but i like them better. i hope all the advise right but im sure other people with better knowledge will write back too.

 

[ioNightShade]

1. Definitely clean the gravel. I do not believe it is a must to replace it.

2. There are a few articles on cycling in the beginner's forum. Read those. Yes, you have to restart the cycling process from scratch.

3. Not exactly sure if I understood your filter "status." If you do have the biowheel, fine. If you don't, get one.

4. I'm not great at what should/shouldn't go in a tank. Someone else will be glad to help you out with it. I do know enough to tell you that an arowana does not belong in a 55 gallon tank.

5. I (most of us) use plain 'ole tap water. However, we condition (remove chlorine, chloramine, etc. using a chemical product) the water before we pour it in the tank.

6. Yes, that is true. You want to clean the filters, but you do not want to use untreated tap water. The reason for this is because the chlorine will kill the good bacteria that is on the biowheel, etc.

7. Live plants will definitely help. However, they are a lot of work. And, from reading your post, you might want to wait awhile before you go tackling live plants and their problems. Concentrate on fish now. (Don't worry...I, too, do not use live plants....I'm concentrating on fish....once I master that, live plants....then marine).

I know my answers are not complete, but just trying to help as much as I can.

JT

P.S. Use the "search" function. You will learn A LOT!!

JT