Newbie Needs Reality Check - Buying First Tank (Acrylic)

nice, well now that you have your tank, what about its inhabitants? have you decided what to get?
 
Troycool said:
nice, well now that you have your tank, what about its inhabitants? have you decided what to get?
Click to expand...

Yes, it's going to be a guppy tank with cory cats or cory panda, and some centerpiece fish I am still deciding. I plan to build it up slowly.
 
Oh, the fixture holds one 20W flourescent bulb. The intructions do not say what length it is supposed to be, but the supports are 23 1/2 inches apart, so I assume that it holds 24" bulbs?
 
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The light works... it took a 24" "T-8'" bulb. The store had a buy one, get one sale, so I have a spare. One of the two won't stop flickering, so I'll get a replacement.

The blue seems to have settled some already.

I got a Aqueon 150 Watt heater that seems to be working fine, and a thermometer.

Here it was last night. The decorations are temporary.

 
I think I made my first two newbie mistakes already.

I used this stuff thinking it was to remove the chlorine... I didn't notice that it also neutralizes ammonia...

http://www.petco.com/product/102599/Aqueon-Water-Conditioner.aspx

I also misread the instructions and put 5X the amount I supposed to put in.

I have had fish flakes in the tank decaying for 1.5 days now.... I guess any ammonia they make isn't going to be feeding the bacteria. Can the bacteria still feed on "neutralized" ammonia, whatever that means?

What now?
 
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Naught said:
I think I made my first two newbie mistakes already.

I used this stuff thinking it was to remove the chlorine... I didn't notice that it also neutralizes ammonia...

http://www.petco.com/product/102599/Aqueon-Water-Conditioner.aspx

I also misread the instructions and put 5X the amount I supposed to put in.

I have had fish flakes in the tank decaying for 1.5 days now.... I guess any ammonia they make isn't going to be feeding the bacteria. Can the bacteria still feed on "neutralized" ammonia, whatever that means?

What now?
Click to expand...

Most products that neutralize ammonia transform ammonia into a less toxic form.

This less toxic form of ammonia can still be fed on by bacteria.

EDIT: Once that water conditioner runs out I would get a bottle of Prime. Prime neutralizes chlorine and chloramine and detoxifies ammonia and nitrite while still allowing them to be fed on by bacteria. Prime also neutralizes nitrate.
Prime also is very concentrated, one 250 ml bottle treats 2500 gallons.

But I am getting off topic.
 
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That's good news!

After I posted my questions, I was Googling and saw that Prime was OK for the initial cycling. So that gave me hope the Aqueon I used would be OK as well.

(it's not off topic...I was very interested)

About the using 5X as much by accident... any harm, or just wasted money? or should I start changing some water to dilute it? I don't have any fish yet (but my 3 year old likes us "pretending" to feed the fish when I put the flakes in).

Oh, I did buy two live plants.. they were only $1.24 each, so no loss if they die.
 
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