2 ?'s (therm, fish stocking)

B

bunlet

AC Members
Mar 4, 2006
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I received one of those thin plastic thermometers with a kit I bought so I just sticked it inside the tank. When I see other pplz tanks I see that it is on the outside of the tank usually at the front. Will therm plastic harm the fish or would it give me inaccurate readings? (yes i'm serious)

Also, my tank is 3 days old I just bought one of those water testing kits with the test tubes. My results were 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate. My tank is a 55 gallon heavily planted with 6 zebra danios and 2 snails. I can't wait to fill the tank up with fish and I was wondering if it would be ok?

Hmmm, anyone have any suggestions for fish? I would like to have ones that cleans the tank(algae n stuff), eats the dead leaves, and 1 or 2 beautiful bright fish that stand out.

One more thing, the 0 readings for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Does that mean I have to add stuff to the water (fertilizers n such). Any suggestions for adding them safely so there would be no algae or harm the fish. Any tips and suggestions are welcome I'm 3 days new to this :)
 
Don't do anything yet. Wait a few more days, if you still get 0 readings on ammonia and nitrite, then add a few (Just a few) more. Platy's and swordtails are good in a planted tank and and will stand out. You can mix and match colors if you want, but I personally prefer for them to be the same color. Small tetra's are good in a school and make a good "back ground" fish. For algae, a bushy nose pleco is good, they don't get to big and won't destroy your plants. Oto's are good for this two, and are really small. 5-6 of them would be good. No fish will "clean" your tank. Some snails might eat dead leaves, but the best way to take care of them is to remove them. You might need to add some fertalizer, but once you have some more fish in your tank you probably won't. The plants use ammonia, nitrites and nitrates for food. People will often never have any of these in a well planted tank.

If its one of those LCD thermometers that light up what temperature the tank is at, then yes, they belong on the outside. It shouldn't have stuck to the inside, the glue is on the back of the thing.
 
I would wait a few days and decide what you want to do with the tank. You can add a few fish and fishy cycle, waiting 1 month + before you add more fish. OR, you can fishless cycle, add ammonia to the tank at regular intervals for 4-6 weeks, and then fill your tank with all your fish at once.
 
lol, I did the same thing with my first lcd thermometer, It, does stick to the glass when underwater btw, but won't be acurate. take it out and go spent 2 dollars on mercury type with the little suction cup, they are more accurate and you can relocate them at will. Btw the stick on lcd ones are like impossible to get off your tank if you put it on the outside and have it there for any length of time.
 
Its probably alcohol (if its red), not mercury (which is silverish). I wouldn't put mercury into a fish tank incase it breaks.

I have a suction cup one too. It doesn't suction very well, so I just use it to measure the temperature of the water comming out of my faucet before I add it to the tank.

The temp doesn't have to be exactly a specific temp, as long as its stable and the water you replace the old with is within about 3 degrees.

I put my Sticky meter in the lower back corner on the side, so I know where to find it when I want to check the temp, but its not standing right out there in front making the tank look bad. I got my lack of aquascaping ability to do that for me.
 
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