Beginner with 55g and a few questions

While I have some attention... any thoughts on the deal I got? Did I get ripped off?

55g tank, stand, lights, gravel, heater, Wisper 60 Power Filter, pump, 8 fake plants, 3 med size rocks... $300. Tank/stand in decent condition, seems a bit old given the style and quality control sticker in one of the lights from 2000. Here is a picture of the tank.

I was checking through prices around here and I am starting to feel like my amazing deal was not so amazing after all. What's done is done I guess... but if I was completely ripped off, I may fight with the guy a bit.

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Thanks,
Jimmy
 
I did not protect it. It remained upright during travel but did not have much water in it. From water to water... it was probably out about 1-1.5 hours. That bad? He seemed pretty confident that would be no problem at all.

-Jimmy
 
Sadly your biological bacteria probably died in that amount of time. I am far from being an aquarium expert, I believe with no water, bacteria starts to die within 15-20 minutes and then after 1 hour most of it will be dead.

This will increase your tank cycling time. Regardless of transfering the filter or not you would have still had to cycle the tank. It would have made the process faster.

When I do a complete break down of my filters for cleaning i usually float my biowheel on my HOB and keep my biological parts of my canister submerged in water during longer cleaning periods.
 
Nah... I'll bet the filter is still alive... it was still WET during transfer (or so I understand)... that's all the bacteria need... wet but not submerged will be just fine...

If it actually dried out for any period of time though... oh well... you'll still end up with a great aquarium in a few weeks! :)
 
I've never done a fish-in cycle, so I can't say anything to that.

As far as live plants go though, I would suggest deciding now if you would like to use them. You can always add them later, but it can be a pain in an established tank and it is much easier to just start off with a plant-friendly setup (speaking from experience here).

To be really successful with plants I would suggest adding some kind of plant substrate in with your gravel, I use Ecocomplete and have also heard good things about Flourite, you can just mix it right in with the gravel already in there. There are also fertilizer tabs that you can add to your gravel to help provide nutrients to your plants. You may want to upgrade your lighting depending what you have, but low-light plants like java fern, java moss, and anubia will grow in most lighting. This is also something that can easily be done at a later time if you decide you want to grow more light-intensive plants.

I would say go for it and add some plants in the next week or two, they will help maintain water stability, provide a lot of natural territory for your fish, and they look lightyears better than the plastic ones :)

Just make sure you do your own research about plant growing conditions, and remember: Mondo grass is not aquatic, so stay away from it! (even my otherwise-wonderful LFS sells this as an aquatic plant)
 
the bacteia in the filter is fine, it would take at least 24 hours for a major die-off, that small amount of time unless you baked it in an oven wont hurt anything, get some fish in it as soon as you can. the danios are a great choice. and get that api test kit.plants are also a good idea, tho there really isnt a need for a special substrate. i use regular playsand in my tanks. it looks more natural and the plants do fine under low light say 1.5 wpg.
heres my 75 gallon no ferts no co2 and a sand bottom
10-16-09.jpg
 
Thanks for the great replies! Bushwacker - I like your style.

I have 6 giant danios in there right now. In the end, I don't know if the "giant" version was a good choice, but whats done is done.

My water readings have been pretty consistent...
Ammonia - 0-.25
Nitrites - .25
Nitrates - 10

Fish seem to be having a great time in there. Bit sketched out at first. When I had the light on, they would all huddle together and swim in place, but I don't blame them as they have virtually nothing in there with them but gravel and two tall skinny plants. Now they are swimming around all over the place, and ravage the food I put in there.

I will be doing another 25% water change this evening to see if I can't get the ammo and nitrite levels down a bit.

Thanks!
Jim
 
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