another new guy...

SDRANGER619

SDRANGER619

something more family oriented.....
Sep 1, 2004
125
0
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San Diego, CA (El Cajon)
Hi there everyone...My name is Edgar and i found this site actually by accident...

This is my first time doing the whole aquarium thing so I'll be asking a bunch of questions...Hopefully you guys don't mind...Let me tell you my special situation and we'll go from there...

My cousin gave me his 50 gal tank about a month ago. It had old gravel and was real dirty. I ended up throwing away all the gravel and washing the tank throughly.

Here's where it gets interesting...​

So i head over to the pet store and ask the guy at the fish dept what i need to get started. I told him all i had was a tank and that's it. He pointed out all the stuff i would need to buy...(gravel, filters, fish, heater, etc)

I told him i couldn't buy everything at the same time due to money problems. I was told that was ok. I needed to get the tank cycled anyway...I said cycled? He mentioned i had to introduce bacteria into the tank to get the environment going...(this was last sunday). So i only ended up buying Gravel, water detoxifyer, and bacteria. NOTHING ELSE.

So i rinsed the gravel and layed it out in the tank...then i added water to the tank and the detoxifyer for the chlorine. I read the instructions on the bacteria thing and it said to add 2/8 of a teaspoon per 25 gallons...so i did...it says to add daily for 7 days.

NOW...(sorry to go on and on...just want to be detailed) Here are my questions...

1. Is it fine to get this going with out having any water filtration stuff or heaters, etc? I'm thinking of getting that stuff this weekend...

2. Is this the bacteria which is getting my tank ready to support my fish?

hopefully i can get some tips from you guys...i just don't want to mess up and kill the fish i buy. Thanks for your time...

-Edgar
 
What is the name of the bacteria product? Most are snake oil, and not worth a recycle return nickel. Of those that one that is viable, it doesn't require 7 days of use...

Without a filter, there's little reason to try introducing the bacteria anyway. You want the bacteria to colonize the filter--this is where they can do the most good, since the filter brings them a constant supply of food (ammonia/nitrites distributed in the water column) and oxygen.

Read up on cycling--there are several threads in this forum, as well as some int he Freshwater Archive section that will explain what the goal of cycling is, and how you can do it without killing fish or wasting your money on useless additives. :)

Welcome aboard!
 
How did you "wash" the tank?

You didn't use any kind of soap did you?

That is toxic to fish and you need to make sure all of the soap residue is cleaned away.

Usually all you need is plain water and paper towels(because detergent residue will be found in cloth). Sometimes using salty water is advised.

If you did use soap, clean out the tank with salty water. Use and algae pad that you can buy from the fish store for a couple bucks and paper towels to dry it.

Welcome to AC. You'll love this place. A wealth of very good information.
 
yeah i knew i just shouldda waited and bought everything before doing all of that...

Another quick question...(and yes i'll DEFINATELY read the cyling threads) can i have fish swimming about WHILE the tank is cycling?
 
Watcher74 said:
How did you "wash" the tank?

You didn't use any kind of soap did you?

That is toxic to fish and you need to make sure all of the soap residue is cleaned away.

Usually all you need is plain water and paper towels(because detergent residue will be found in cloth). Sometimes using salty water is advised.

If you did use soap, clean out the tank with salty water. Use and algae pad that you can buy from the fish store for a couple bucks and paper towels to dry it.

Welcome to AC. You'll love this place. A wealth of very good information.
Click to expand...

**** well i did use soap...BUT when i added the water i threw in some water detoxifyer...is that not gonna do any good?
 
No. The 'detoxifyer' is only good for chlorine and probably chloramine.

You really need to make sure you have no soap residue left over or your tank is a death trap to any fish you introduce to it.

[EDIT]
There are two ways to cycle a tank. The traditional way is to put some hardy fish in the tank. The fish's expiration and wastes will produce Ammonia, which is highly toxic to fish. After a week or two a type of bacteria will start growing in your filter that eats the Ammonia and produces Nitrite. Nitrite is also toxic to fish, slightly less so than Ammonia. After a few more weeks, another type of bacteria will grow in your filter and eat the Nitrite and produce Nitrate. Nitrate is only harmful in large amounts and are removed by regular partial water changes.

The other way to cycle a tank is to put pure Ammonia in your tank and monitor the levels of Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate. Once your tank can take an Ammonia dose and get rid of it, producing a testing result of zero Ammonia, zero Nitrite, and some Nitrate after 12-24 hours your tank is cycled.

Until you either start dosing with Ammonia or add fish your tank will not start/begin to cycle.[/EDIT]
 
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I'd be worried about the soap if it were me. It's a lot of work, but I think I'd have to rinse, rinse, rinse everything very well again before I'd be able to consider using it.
 
Watcher74 said:
No. The 'detoxifyer' is only good for chlorine and probably chloramine.

You really need to make sure you have no soap residue left over or your tank is a death trap to any fish you introduce to it.

[EDIT]
There are two ways to cycle a tank. The traditional way is to put some hardy fish in the tank. The fish's expiration and wastes will produce Ammonia, which is highly toxic to fish. After a week or two a type of bacteria will start growing in your filter that eats the Ammonia and produces Nitrite. Nitrite is also toxic to fish, slightly less so than Ammonia. After a few more weeks, another type of bacteria will grow in your filter and eat the Nitrite and produce Nitrate. Nitrate is only harmful in large amounts and are removed by regular partial water changes.
[/EDIT]
Click to expand...

Well I've been checking my PH levels of the water i have in there now and it reads "basic" So i'm assuming I'm ok with it.

So summing what you've said up here's what i grasped from it...

I need to buy some "hardy" fish. Don't mind my ignorance but is "hardy" fish an actual type of fish or do you mean get any type of cheap lil fish to do the job?

Ok so by the time i'm ready to introduce the fish which will cycle my tank I should have all my decorations, plants, filters, gravel, etc etc in the tank huh...i know it's kind of a dumb statement but I'm a lil on the broke side and i jumped into getting gravel and that's already in the tank along with detoxifyed water. Can i just keep that water there and buy the rest of my required stuff?

another question I won't hurt the "hardy" fish i put in the tank since it has no type of bacteria growing?

Thanks for all the valuable information everyone...I'm happy I stumbled on this website...it's great!

-Edgar :cool:
 
Really, do read the cycling threads--particularly fishless cycling, please.

Yes, get the tank setup with the inanimate bits first. The existing water is likely okay to use--but if you are concerned about soap residue, empty and rinse, rinse rinse! Then refill and add the other bits.

Hardy fish are those which have shown tolerance for poor water quality--they survive. Danios are the most common 'hardy' fish out there. The hardy fish will indeed be harmed by the toxic levels of ammonia and nitrites. This damage can be minimized by doing frequent water changes and keeping levels low--but they will be damaged none the less. Fishless cycling, using bottled ammonia, will not injure any fish, but you will have a tank of water for several weeks, no fish. Patience will be rewarded though, by being able to introduce fish without concern for spikes.
 
"hardy fish" like a Zebra danio they are cheap and hardy. you need to get a filter if not 2 depending on what and how many fish you want. If you want to order online try www.thatfishplace.com I just got 2 Penguin 330's for my 55 gallon for about the same price as one from Petco/petsmart. I've never done the "fishless" cycle but I will on my next tank so read up on this forum for that info. you can wait on the heater till you get some more money but you will need at least one filter to get the bacteria that you want.
 
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