(Sort of) Newbie help

[Lilnipper]

Hello all! It's a pleasure to come across your site. I have a few questions, if you don't mind. I had a tank running years ago, but it was with the help of my folks that I had it going. After 15 or so years, I am itching to get into the swing of things!
First off, how long after setting a tank up is it okay to add any fish? I have a 29 long which has been running since last Friday. Temp is 76ish, pH at 7.0 (checked it the last two days), and it is pretty soft. I run a whisper power filter 3.
Secondly, with this water type, what types of starter fish would be good to get it going? How many? And after I've had it running with some starters, what other fish would work well in this environment?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I look forward to hanging around here if I can get the hang of this stuff!

Thanks,

Lilnipper

[Anton Wernher]

Do you know about cycling? If so are you doing it? If you are it could take 2-4(or more) weeks for the thing to cycle completely. If you are not cycling the tank and don't want to - you can start adding fish now, only adding a couple every couple of weeks. This will help keep the ammonia levels at a tolerable level. As far as pH is concerned you have a neutrual pH which will enable you to keep pretty much anything but fish with extreme requirements. If you would like me to expand on anything just let me know.

[Anton Wernher]

Also with that tank size I would stick with fish under 6 inches.

[ArkyLady]

You might want to look into fishless cycling. I really like this method as it doesn't put any fish into danger and you can get your tank cycled and ready for fish much faster.

Here is a website with some info:

http://www.tropicalfishcentre.co.uk/Fishlesscycle.htm

You can also head over to www.google.com and do a search for fishless cycle to find more information.

Good luck!

[Lilnipper]

Thank you for your responses! I don't know much about cycling. If I wanted to cycle with fish, what would be a couple of good fish to use and when do I add them?

[TnCgal]

Hi, lilnipper !

Welcome to AquariaCentral, home of the most fishless cycling members and fish-safety advocates on the entire planet. :)

We like to advocate fishless cycling around here whenever possible because it is a safe, toxic-free way to cycle your tank without putting any fish in life-threatening or health-risking danger.

Before starting, it is real important to familiarize yourself with the "nitrogen cycle". This is an essential lesson that all new ***********s need to learn in order to be successful at this with as few fish losses as possible. The only way to be a good *********** is to be an educated one !

I recommend this website for a beginner's lesson in the nitrogen cycle :

www.thekrib.com

For fishless cycling information, this site is awesome and very easy to understand, not to mention it is my personal favorite as a reliable and informative resource :

www.skepticalaquarist.com

These are websites that are designed for beginners to the hobby and you will get much information about that topic as well as many others. We will be here to fill in the blanks for you and to answer any questions you have after you do some reading but remember, research is key !

If you haven't already, you will also want to make a trip to your LFS and get the basic testing kits that will help you along. These tests are gauges that can help you understand what is going on in your tank, and you will find that if you have a question about your tank, the first question we all will ask you is what are your parameters. This is what you will need to get you started :

Ammonia
pH
NitrIte
NitrAte

You can often get a master kit with some of the essential testers included.

Good luck and let us know if there is anything else we can help you with or if there is something you have read but don't understand. :)

[Lilnipper]

Thanks so much for your help! I will report back as things progress!

-Lilnipper

[O-man21]

They sell products that are supposed to instantly cylce your tank, I reccomend not buying them

[Lilnipper]

Originally posted by Lilnipper
Thanks so much for your help! I will report back as things progress!

-Lilnipper

You mean, like Algone? Came across their site on my search for cycling info...

[famman]

There are products such as Cycle by Hagen? that supposedly help. However no person on this board has ever posted information that reliably shows that any of these products actually work.

Cycling a tank means to build up colonies of bacteria that eat the waste products produced by the fish.

The essense of fishless cycling is to regularly add a small amount of pure ammonia to your tank as if real fish were in the tank producing ammonia wastes.

After a few weeks, colonies of the bacteria that breaks down this toxic ammonia will form in your tank and filter all by themselves in response to the constant food supply.

After a while, you can add fish to your tank without risk of harming them through exposure to toxic ammonia before these bacteria colonies are big enough to break down all the waste produced.

[O-man21]

Yes that is one of the ones I'm talking about. I don't think they work well. I used it once and it never did a thing.