New to fish, advice on FW setup

OK, heres the final list then:

Tetras: Albino Congo, Black Phantom, Black Neon, Black Skirt, Bloodfin, Bleedign HEart, Cardinal, Glowlight, Gold Skirt, Lemon, Long Fin Red Minor, Long Fin Black Skirt, Long Fin Gold Skirt, Neon, Orange Von Rio, Red Blue Columbian, Silver Tip, X Ray

Rasbora: Harlequin

Corys: Albino, Emerald Green, Sportea

No, I'm not expecting you to stock my tank, but just being paranoid and making sure everything is compatiable. Honestly, I'm not one to sweat losing some fish. I'm new, thus prone to make mistakes, and I accept that I may lose some early on. I don't like killing fish wholesale, but I'm not one to get bugged by losing a few either.

Also, any comments on taking some PVC and glueing some substrate to it with silicone for hiding places?

Chiclids. I dont' remember why I had them on the list. At least one person probably suggested them. Those that I posted were ones I was looking for info on to eliminate or not. I'm going to make the assumption that they are all bad. I do have a list of Chiclids that I though might be fine, so here they are:

Bolivian Ram, Bumblebee, Curviceps, Electric Yellow, Red Finned Borleyi, Snow White Socolofi, Sunshine Peacock.

You are right that it is a 24 gallon tank. In stocking this, I've kinda been using the 1" per gallon rule as a rough guideline. The tank is 20X17X20, so mostly square. I would actually think that, with the exception of length, it will be rather roomy. The bioload should likely be reasonable, in my inexperienced opinion. It seems that the filter is good and this will be a planted tank. If I eliminated the Chiclids (again assuming they're all a bad idea) Would that be a better amount? It should bring me to right about 24" of fish.

Also, any comments on glueing substrate to PVC for hiding places?
 
Not to keep asking stuff (but y'all answser so well!) but I'm having issues finding ammonia. I've been to 4 different stores and all only seel ammonia with surfactants. Even the "Clear Ammonia" from Walmart has been reformulated. I've got one other store I want to try tomorrow, but if they don't have the right stuff, what's the best method? Should I buy a shrimp and throw it into the tank, and see if a cory eats it later? Throw in a big pinch of fish food?
 
If you use the rotting shrimp method you have to be careful to remove it from the system before adding fishies. You don't want them eating a seriously rotted shrimp.

I got my ammonia at Shop-Rite. Store brand.
 
Well, here's hoping for the best. I picked up a gallon from Smart&Final. It's got no ingredients listed, and when shaken there is what looks like air bubbles that very rapidly disapear. I think it's just a little bit of air getting caught up in the agitation. This isn't a sudsing layer either, more of just a signifigant handful on the top and along the top edges of the ammonia. But jst out of curiosity, what would happen if there was surfactants in it?
 
Surfacants kill fish fast. In small amounts IME. You'd have to rinse off EVERYTHING really well and start over. I don't know what they do to bacteria, but I would think that they are deadly to them as well, not that it matters. Once they are in the water they don't go away, so even if you could cycle with them in there, they'd kill the fish when you added them.
Odd there are no ingredientd listed. not even "ammonia"? You could try seeing if you can get it to sudz if you try harder. pour some into a bucket and add warm water, aggitate it a lot. ammonia itself won't sudz at all. Sort of as you described.
There could be coloring or perfume... I don't know what else, and I don't know how detrimental colors or scents can be.
chelating agents,often present, are fine, I believe.
maybe there is a manufacturers contact info on the bottle?
Good Luck!
 
I went out and just bought the Ace Hardware stuff. IT doesn't have ingriedents listed either, but it was like $3 for 32oz. I don't normally use cost to determine quality, but between the Walmart gallon being under a buch, and the gallon at Smart & Final being $2.50, and then factoring in that others have used this one, and that it "bubbles" even less then the S&F stuff, I THINK it's safe.

BTW: This mess had just arrived when I was pulling up:

Picture_002.jpg

PetSmart seemed to be light on plants, so I dealt with what they had. I'd like to put in a few more later. From the front:

Picture_003.jpg

Left side:

Picture_005.jpg

Right side:

Uh... Dunno what happened to the right side. There's some swords behind the driftwood.

I'm going to add the ammonia in a few minutes at 6:00 my time. I figure that way on the hour I can check the level and add if necessary. I left the substrate kinda low in the front right. I think it adds some terrain feature to the tank. I may put a PVC piece in there to make a "tunnel" and bury it later. The powerheads are aimed to try to have all the water spin counterclockwise for now. Later I'll likely have to do something else, but this way it'll help filter everything at first.

Picture_002.jpg Picture_003.jpg View attachment Picture_004.jpg Picture_005.jpg
 
I like all the thought you are giving your tank setup. Too many don't ask questions or don't do reseach before running out and buying fish.

A note on cories: They prefer to be kept in schools, and they don't like such high temps as some tropical fish.
 
I put the corys in there because (1) someone suggested them, and (2) I figured they'd be good tank cleaners. I dont' think a school would be a good idea (may be a few too many) but if the tank can support that I'd be fine with that. The list I've made is by no means set in stone. If it gets revised 30 times before I get the fish that's fine. My guidelines are pretty simple. I dont' really care, though I don't want all 1 inch fish, the more the merrier, and the tank is going to be slightly over 80, possbily 82 or 83 (I'm guessing) in the summer. My basic limit is what fish are available. I've been sticking with PetSmart because it's close and at least one person that works there that I overheard sounds competant. I don't know enough to determine for sure, but she had the right feel to what she was saying.

Now that the waters started to clear up, what's a good thing to do with the power heads? You can see them in the 3rd picture (there's two). Since the Aquapod was predominantly set up for reef they put them in, but I dont' know if that kind of current is bad or not.

Now that I've got the tank, "get-fish-in-itis" has set in. It's really just made bad because I'm at home so much right now. The tank hasn't been set up for 36 hours and I've tested the water like 6 times. I'm considering buying one of the "cheaper" cycle products. I'm not gonna pay the extra $20 is shipping for some Bio Spira, so I was thinking about just buying a product that claims to spped the process up at the pet store. Since there is no fish in the tank yet I dont' see a danger. If it's just wasting a little of my money, well, for under $10 or so I'd be willing to take the shot. Suggestions?
 
I don't think the "other" cycle products are worth any money.
 
Well, judging from the speed at which things have started off, I may not want anything anyway. After setting up the tank on Thursday I already have nitrites. It's low, .25ppm I believe, but they're there. I've also got .5 of nitrates, but I was getting that out of straight tap water too.
 
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