New tank. new live plants, new guppys, need advice!!!!!

I am new as well but in my research I've come to the conclusion that a 25% water change weekly seems to be a good schedule. Also with Gravel vaccuuming at least every other week if not every with with your water change. As far as letting the tap water sit first I'm not sure on that.

Not sure on the feeding for the Guppies but that just doesn't seem like enough to me. I could be wrong.

As far as lighting you got a good time. I hear about 10-12 hours a day and I've also heard a timer is recommended as to keep everything on the exact same schedule. This should help the "surprise" factor as like most normal life forms they should get used to the schedule if it's kept on a timer like that.

Also are your live plants a kind that does well with low lighting? I've heard a lot of plants need even more lighting then the single tube lighting that comes with most aquariums.

Hope this helps. Like I said I am new as well but have done MUCH research.

Curtis

Oh tell me about it. I have read countless sites and documentation on everything from species behavioral tendencies through live plants and there is still new things you run across that you didn't know about.

As far as the feeding dilemna, you know there is nothing better then a "2nd opinion" so to speak. I might be inclined to just call around to a few different shops and see how much or how little the answer differs. They should be able to tell you over the phone based on the species.

Curtis

You don't need to let the tap water stand as long as you use conditioner in the water to remove chlorine or chloramine. Do you know what your tap water is treated with? Keep an eye on the fish to see how they do in the next while, and test your water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate regularly. Be prepared to do a lot of water changes (might even need 25% or more daily!) As I understand it, guppies aren't the hardiest fish to cycle with (my LFS recommends no guppies until a tank is well established), so you may see the ammonia and nitrite affect the fish early on.

If your tank isn't cycled, then definitely keep the feeding to a minimum. Fish will pretty much eat anytime there is food, but when they are overfed a lot of that food will pass through undigested and just contribute to the waste in the tank and will raise your ammonia levels. 5 flakes every couple of days sounds fine, plus you don't want to feed them when they're first put into the tank either. Whenever you do feed, remove any left over food that isn't eaten within 2 minutes.

Yes fish do sleep. 12 hours seems long to have the lights on, you may want to do 10 or less hours.

The fish store guy had it right. It is ez to overfeed and next to impossible to underfeed. That amount of food sounds fine to me especially in a New tank!
In a brand new tank there isn't sufficien bacteria to process the ammonia and then nitrites.
Think of it this way. every time you add food, you are essentially adding ammonia, one way or another. They really really wont starve. You can maximise their nutrition by variety though, Its nice to see them eating an especially favorite food. Just be SURE to remove any leftovers, and replace the regular meal, don't supplement it.
Again it's especially crucial now at the beginning.
sounds like you got some test kits?
They will really up the chances of the fish making it while the tank bacteria establish themselves.
Do you understand what to look for when testing to see how the cycling is going?
First it will be the ammonia going up, before the nitrites. The water changes will be the only way to remove ammonia and then nitrites from the water until the bacteria populations are large enough to process it all.
So in the beginning, you need to do a Lot more water changes than later.
In an established tank, 25%/week might be fine. But for now you will need to do a lot more. I have never cycled a tank this way, SO, I I cant tell you the exact procedures, but this is the general idea:
You would need to check the ammonia levels (every day?) untill you start to see some, (which you may already, depending on when the fish moved in)
Once you see ammonia, You would need to do a water change to bring the amonia reading back down to zero. After that you would definitely check every day and as long as you see some ammonia, do the water change to bring it back to reading zero..
Eventually, you will test the ammonia one day before a water change and it will still be zero. Because enough bacteria have grown in the tank to 'eat' it all. once they eat it though, they only turn it into nitrites.
So this would be when you should see the nitrite levels in the tank start to rise, and youd need to control those as you did the ammonia. Until they level off, as you said.
all this is to protect the fish from dangerous levels of ammonia or nitrites. as long as thwere is some amonia being added to the water, this will all go on with out any testing or changing or anything. It is just that the ammonia and nitites would endanger the fish.
As far as letting the water stand. As mishi said that isnt necessary as long as you use a water conditioner that removes both chlorine and chloramines.
If you have a ph test kit though, you might try this:
test your tap water ph. Let the water stand 24 hours and test it again.
From what I have read, some tap water will show a considerable change in ph over time. It would be good to know if yours does. You wouldnt do this regularly, Just once, or if you have reason to suspect the tap water has changed.
keep us updated,ok?

People prolly already covered this but;
15% Water changes once a week. (Change the filter once a month)
Its safe to feed your fish once a day - Some people do it 2 times a day. Its really your choice.
I have my light on for only 4-5 hours a day, sometimes just 10 minuets while I am feeding them! (The room has alot of natural sunlight)

YOu've gotten some good advice. Anywhere from 10%-30% weekly water changes are good. Gravel vac at least once a month, but every water change or every other water change would be better. Since this is a new tank, and it is cycling, you may need to do more frequent water changes in the beginning. If your fish are looking stressed or acting odd, I'd do a water change and go from there. (if you've got test kits, you could test for ammonia or nitrites, which will spike at some point in the cycle, if they spike too high, you would need to change the water). What plants did you get? Most plants need 8-12+ hours of light a day.
As for feeding, it is true that overfeeding is much worse than underfeeding, and while your tank is new, feeding lightly may be better. However, every other day is not really an ideal regimen in the long run. I prefer a couple of smaller meals a day rather than one large one. Often, with one large meal, food goes uneaten and rots at the bottom. With two smaller meals, the food is all eaten. Though, it will turn to fish waste, which will also rot at the bottom... Fish will always act hungry and can be very good at begging for food, so don't give in to the temptation to feed them all the time... I also wouldn't go with the "5 flakes" thing. Put a very small pinch (ground up) in the tank. Watch the fish eat. If they eat it all in 1min. Add a bit more. If it's been 3-5 min, and food is falling to the bottom, feed less next time. If lots of food falls to the bottom, do a gravel vac with each water change. Once the tank has cycled, you could add some bottom feeders to clean up the food that falls to the bottom. (but then you'd still need to vacuum up the fish waste).

As for letting the water sit, it all depends on your water. You want to use a good dechlorinator that removes both chlorine and chloramine. Usually, there is no need to let the water sit after that. However, some water has a lot of disolved CO2 in it to keep the PH around 7. As the CO2 gasses out, the PH of the water rises. If this is the case, then it's best to let the water sit out a while. To find out if this is the case, test the pH of the water from your tap. Then, let the water sit out for about 24-48 hrs. Test the PH again. If it is much higher, you will want to let it sit before using it. IF its' the same (or nearly so) you are fine to use it with just the dechlor and not letting it sit.

Emily

15% Water changes once a week. (Change the filter once a month)

Click to expand...

As a general rule, unless you really get the feeding thing down to a minimum, you will need much more than 15-30 % weekly. Nitrate testing will help you estabilish your maintenance routine once you have completed the cycle period. Essentially set a target for desitred nitrate levels, and do water changes to keep them below that target. Most folks like 20 ppm or less and it usually takes 50% + weekly in a well stocked tank. If your plants do welll they will consume some nitrate, and this will throw the numbers off. In the case of a planted tank you are better to just estabilish a routine and stick to it. In most cases this routine is somewhaer above the 50% weekly already mentioned. Nitrates are the indicator of pollution buildup in a tank. when the plants take away our indicator, then it is better to err on the side of caution and do more rather than less water changes.

Changing media is an arbitrary idea, and an expensive one. You can rinse the media in a bucket of old tank water indefinately, but you want to use tank water to keep the bacteria from being killed. Similarly you will want to only replace part of the media at one time so you don't eliminate your primary bio-filter all at once and have to re-cycle the tank.

As far as feeding, your LFS guy hit it real well. If anything feed less than he said. Guppies will eat everything you give them and it doesn't seem to matter how much that is. I frequently have my guppies go 4-5 days without food at all and then feed lightly on the weekends. it will not hurt them.
Dave