Still Have A Couple Of Questions

[southcity]

I have been reading at this forum for a few days and started my aquarium today. I bought ammonia and added enough to bring my readings up to 5ppm. My questions are:
1. When I do my large water change once the tank has cycled, will I also be cleaning it, there was mention that it could very well be brown algae everywhere and it will look quite nasty. So do I remove any plastic plants and wash them off? Do I scrub the glass to clear it?
2. When I refill after my large water change will I be adding conditioner to the water? Any time I do a partial water change am I adding conditioner?
3. If I understand this correctly the cycling procedure is to get the filter properly adjusted, so when I change the filter, what happens then?
I know these will be dumb questions for most people on this forum but this is my first tank and I want to get it right.
Thanks to rdd1952 for the instructions I am following to cycle my tank, and also to anyone who can answer my questions. I appreciate any help I can get.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Hello, I will answer as best i can.

1. You do your large water change at the end of the cycle to bring down the nitrAte level.

2. You should add dechlorinator every time you do a water change even after the cycle is complete. I reccomend double the dosage on the label.

3. When you change the filter you just swap the filter media from the old one to the new one.

Hope this helps.


~Tom~

 

[fluttermoth]

Hello and welcome to the forum

1. Yes, you can take plastic plants out and wash them. To clean the glass, I use a sponge pot and pan cleaner; you know the ones I mean? A new one, of course! The brown algae is easy to clean off; you never know; you might not get any!

2. Any water going into your tank needs to be dechlorinated.

3. If you want to change your filter, take all the media (that's sponges, ceramic rings or whatever is in there) and put it into the new filter

 

[southcity]

Hello, I will answer as best i can.

1. You do your large water change at the end of the cycle to bring down the nitrAte level.

2. You should add dechlorinator every time you do a water change even after the cycle is complete. I reccomend double the dosage on the label.

3. When you change the filter you just swap the filter media from the old one to the new one.

Hope this helps.


~Tom~

Tom, thanks for the reply, I am about to let you and everyone else know how uneducated I am in this area. What is filter media . The filter I have looks like a small bag of charcoal so when I buy a new filter or charcoal bag I am kind of confused about swapping old media to the new one.

I am so hesitant to ask these questions because I don't want to appear stupid, but I want my fish to have the best chance for survival so better to look dumb than lose my fishy friends once I have some

 

[fluttermoth]

Is there anything else in your filter besides the charcoal, southcity? You probably don't need to use charcoal, so you'd probably be better off replacing it with something else; sponge or ceramic rings would be good.

 

[Aqua Tom]

What make of filter do you have & what model?

We can then tell you exactly what media came with it (if it is new) & what to put into it.

 

[southcity]

This is a picture of what the filter looks like in my new tank, it's only a beginner set up....baby steps

 

[southcity]

I gotta say, I am not enjoying the smell of ammonia taking over my room,