Hi all!
I'm very glad I stumbled upon this forum (God bless Google!). My girlfriend and I were at PetsMart a few weeks ago, and I was fantasizing outloud about starting an aquarium. I got her jewlery for V-Day, she bought me a 20 gallon glass-tank starter kit!
Anyway, on to the important stuff...
I'm reading everything I can get my hands on about fishless cycling. I really like the idea, and it will get me in the habit over the course of a month+ of testing the water and learning how to tend it properly without the risk of killing fish. But a couple questions..
It's a 20 gallon high TopFin All-Glass tank. It has a filter, heater and lighted hood. It comes with one sponge filter and a carbon filter that sits behind it. I've read that carbon filters are bad for bacteria colony growth, because replacing them ever 30 days damages the nitrogen cycle (hopefully I'm using my new vocabulary properly ). It's been suggested that the carbon filter should be swapped out for a second sponge filter instead. The thing is, the carbon filter sits in a grooved slot behind the sponge filter. Are there drop-in sponge replacements for the carbon filters? Like I said, there is a slot carved out just for the carbon filter. Will another sponge filter fit?
It's also been said that I need two forms of filtration. The filter that came with the tank is a TopFin 20 (which, I would assume, means it should filter a 20 gallon tank ) that I spoke about above. Now, should I be looking into an undergravel filtration kit? What are my other options?
I haven't found anything that says one way or the other, but do live plants help "buffer" the levels in the tank? In other words, will/do they act as another means of natural filtration? As I understand it though, I can't have an undergravel filter with live plants.
If I go to PetsMart and buy 2 fish bowls, will it give me the space necessary to keep my fish alive while I clean the tank? Vacuuming gravel doesn't sound like a good idea with live creatures swimming around .
I'm looking for a tank that will be tolerant of a novice. I don't have to have the brightest or the most fish, I just want a miniture body of water that I can care for and not damage fish in the process of discovery. In reality though, I'm not going to be in the market for fish anytime soon, which gives me plenty of time to research varieties.
I would really like to try live plants, and I understand that if my goal is to use live plants, I need to cycle with live plants, correct?
Anyway, thanks for the wonderful FAQ's and the pointers! Admins...the search function works very well
Thanks all!
I'm very glad I stumbled upon this forum (God bless Google!). My girlfriend and I were at PetsMart a few weeks ago, and I was fantasizing outloud about starting an aquarium. I got her jewlery for V-Day, she bought me a 20 gallon glass-tank starter kit!
Anyway, on to the important stuff...
I'm reading everything I can get my hands on about fishless cycling. I really like the idea, and it will get me in the habit over the course of a month+ of testing the water and learning how to tend it properly without the risk of killing fish. But a couple questions..
It's a 20 gallon high TopFin All-Glass tank. It has a filter, heater and lighted hood. It comes with one sponge filter and a carbon filter that sits behind it. I've read that carbon filters are bad for bacteria colony growth, because replacing them ever 30 days damages the nitrogen cycle (hopefully I'm using my new vocabulary properly ). It's been suggested that the carbon filter should be swapped out for a second sponge filter instead. The thing is, the carbon filter sits in a grooved slot behind the sponge filter. Are there drop-in sponge replacements for the carbon filters? Like I said, there is a slot carved out just for the carbon filter. Will another sponge filter fit?
It's also been said that I need two forms of filtration. The filter that came with the tank is a TopFin 20 (which, I would assume, means it should filter a 20 gallon tank ) that I spoke about above. Now, should I be looking into an undergravel filtration kit? What are my other options?
I haven't found anything that says one way or the other, but do live plants help "buffer" the levels in the tank? In other words, will/do they act as another means of natural filtration? As I understand it though, I can't have an undergravel filter with live plants.
If I go to PetsMart and buy 2 fish bowls, will it give me the space necessary to keep my fish alive while I clean the tank? Vacuuming gravel doesn't sound like a good idea with live creatures swimming around .
I'm looking for a tank that will be tolerant of a novice. I don't have to have the brightest or the most fish, I just want a miniture body of water that I can care for and not damage fish in the process of discovery. In reality though, I'm not going to be in the market for fish anytime soon, which gives me plenty of time to research varieties.
I would really like to try live plants, and I understand that if my goal is to use live plants, I need to cycle with live plants, correct?
Anyway, thanks for the wonderful FAQ's and the pointers! Admins...the search function works very well
Thanks all!