complete newbie alert

[newstu]

hi folks

stu here from near Birmingham UK, after being a complete brat and whinging for days, I have finally cajoled the missus into letting me have my Xmas present early (i knew what it was anyway - told you I'm a brat!)

She knew I always wanted an aquarium and she has bought me a Juwel 96 (25 US Gallon - 21 UK Gallon) setup - I have a few q's I would like some help with if anybody could be so kind - it has a 100W heater, a pump 400l/hour and a 'Bio Internal Filtersystem' with pads of varying porosity to filter and also a carbon pad too (full details here;-http://www.theaquariumshop.co.uk/ishop/1029/shopscr49.html)

1) Siting of the aquarium - I presently have it set up in a wall between 2 rooms so that it can be enjoyed from both sides - 1 side is my lounge and the other a sort of Conservatory affair with clear polycarb roof - I have seen some advice about not siting tanks in direct sunlight due to algae problems - the Conservatory side does not get direct sunlight but plenty of natural light - any comments on this would be appreciated

2) Setting up - the instructions that came with the kit say that it is OK to fill up with tap-water and then add a few hardy fish after a couple of days - looking through the posts on here, this would seem a little optimistic! I know somebody that has exactly the same setup who did just that and lost fish for a good few months - anybody who has advice or experince of this type of setup would be great

3) Stocking the tank - if I am to start with 'hardy' fish, what types would people recommend? I especially like Black Finned Shark nut am worried that my tank may not be dark enough for this fish

4) As I said, I am completely new to this, I would know a cycle if it came up and bit me on the bum and Nitrogen Levels may as well be a rock band as far as I know. Are there any books such as 'Aquariums for Dummies' or similar that anybody can recommend.

I have wanted an aquarium for ages and am absolutely made up with my pressie but I really feel like I am in the dark here - I get the impression that I am going to have to be pretty patient and thorough with this but any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Cheers

Stu

 

[Sponge Bob]

Read the Cycle Thread at the begining of this section. You will learn a bunch of useful stuff there to get you started.

SB

 

[happychem]

Welcome!

First off, you've come to the right place and you've already got the right attitude w.r.t. patience and not just tossing a few "hardy" fish in to cycle the tank.

Definitely read up on "fishless cycling". While it does have a few things to keep track of and potentially tinker with, I would suggest it as the ideal newbie cycling method since the worst case screw-up means that it'll just take a little longer. There's nothing wrong with adding a couple of fish to help you cycle, but it requires far more attention and care, worst case scenario here is dead fish like your friend experienced. One "take home" bit of advice is patience, cycling can be very frustrating as sometimes it seems like nothing's happening. If you start a fishless now though, you should be able to distract yourself with holiday stuff while the tank does it's thing.

Oh! If your friend's tank is stable, done cycling and doesn't have any sick fish, get some filter media from him and add it to your filter, this will greatly speed the process.

Don't use the carbon, but double up on sponges or whatever the inserts are. Keep the carbon handy in case you need to use it to remove meds after treatment or driftwood colouring.

Don't worry about the sunlight, you will have some algae in your tanks, but regular water changes to control nutrients will keep it under control. By 33g gets direct sunlight for 2-3 hours every day and the side facing the window has no problem with algae, at least there's no discernable difference between that side and the other 3 walls.

While your tank is cycling, take a look around the web and do some reading on fish profiles. Have a walk around your local fish stores (lfs) and chat up the salepeople. Take their words with a grain of salt though, there are some very knowledgeable people who work at lfs' but there are also some who don't know truth from myth and just go on what product claims and management tell them. Nonetheless, it's a good way to get an idea about fish species to stock your tank and to get an idea of the decor you'd like.

 

[Nuriel]

Your Local Fish Store (LFS) will (should) check your water for free for nitrites, nitrates,ph, ammonia and all of that if you bring down a sample of water for them. That what I do. But a lot of aquarists love testing their water themsleves as part of the weekly maintenence routine. It is easy once you figure out what test is for what. This site has most of the information plus more (though in different words,of course) that I have read in the "aquariums for dummies" books. If you type in something you ae wondering in the search here at A.Central, usually a plethora of info follows. Good luck!

 

[russjet]

you are in the uk hello i am a brit too near london

finding pure ammonia for us in uk is nigh on impossible

dont use cycle it doesnt do what it says on the bottle in fact the only one that does is biospira

i started fish cycle with neons they died after i found this site and a better way,

one option is friends filter media and maybe some gravel especially if they use an under gravel filter
but then place a piece of raw fish or a shot glass full of fish food to provide a source of ammonia to keep the good bacteria going for your fishless cycle

an alternative is to order some biospira(cycles tank almost immediately)

www.fishstoretn.com

they will mail to uk in the winter as biospira needs to remain at a stable low temperature it comes wrapped in cold packs and it worked great for me

my concern was getting a decent cycle going from a source of ammonia that is hard to guess at rather than pure ammonia

so i cheated and have had my fish in biospira cycled tank with no problems for over three weeks now

something i would say is with new fish,ich or whitespot seems to be very common, but if you are aware before it happens, then you will pick up on its arrival and manage to treat it successfully. so do look into diseases too to be prepared.

i would recommend getting yourself a master test kit before you start as it comes in pretty handy if you are trying to cycle .

and no book that i have looked at is quite as full of particular personal advice as this forum so i advise adding this to your bookmark page

good luck

juliette

 

[newstu]

Many thanks to all of you who have replied - the concept of a fishless cycle appeals as I struggle to get my head round the idea that the first few hardy fish are 'expendible'. I understand that there is an element of trial and error to setting up an aquarium but I would like to stack the odds in the fishes favour if at all possible!
Good news on the help front - I have just found out that a friend of mine is actually a rep for a national aquatic wholesaler (I knew she was into aquatics but didn't realise she did it as a job!) She has told me to hang fire until Saturday when she will let me have some media from her filters and a whole load of testing kits & food etc as she is attending a Trade Show in London.

So for now my wife has cut out as many pictures of fish as she can and Blu-Tak'ed them to the outside to abate my impatience - the one of Nemo actually looks quite good!!!!