Newbie with 20g, any tips?

J

Jeffr760

AC Members
Nov 22, 2004
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Hello-
Amazing site, I visit many forums, mainly my subaru one, but I never knew there was a forum for fish tanks. Its awesome!

I just got my first tank and I have a few questions.

I got a 20g starter kit with a whisper filter, and a 50w heater. The filter is rated upto 20g, so I am assuming it would be good later to get a better one? What other upgrades should I do?

I have had the tank running for 3 days with no live plants or fish. I checked the levels tonight and they are:

Temp = 79F
pH = 8.0
Nitrite = 0
Ammonia reading= 1 PPM, so the level is 5.8% of 1PPM
I am sort of confused on this reading can someone help explain. It came with a chart that I get the % from and I take a reading on the PPM

Now that I have my readings, can someone help me interpret them? What am I looking for, what is good for fish? I haven't decided on fish yet and I know that may determine what my levels need to be. I will continue to read and take in all the info I can. I am really interested in trying to grow some plants in there too, but it looks a little intimidating. Whats the best way to learn and get into it?

Thanks in advance for any guidance! Looking forward to adding some life to my appartment :)

-Jeff
 
Do you know anything about cycling your tank (sorry if this question seems a bit patronizing)? If no you should read through the sticky.

You need to keep your readings for nitrite and ammonia at 0ppm by cycling your tank
 
Yes I have been reading about cycling, but I am not 100% clear on it yet. I will keep reading, thanks.

-Jeff
 
cycling condensed: [Most Toxic] Ammonia > Nitrite > Nitrate [Least Toxic]

Your tank's filter is just a place for bacteria to live- they are the "filter." They metabolize down nitrogen compounds. So, to cycle your tank, you'll need a source of bacteria (preforably from a filter of an established, disease-free tank) and a source of pure ammonia. You'll want to keep your ammonia at 4 PPM at all times. When your filter's bacterial colonies can remove 4 PPM of ammonia from the water column in 24 hours, with no residual nitrITES, your tank is "cycled."

Things to monitor daily: Ammonia, Nitrites, General and Carbonate Hardness (GH AND KH), pH

If your GH and KH start to get low, your water will lose buffering capacity- and pH will become very unstable... This can be disasterous for your bacteria. If your GH/KH gets low, add a tablespoon of Baking Soda to the water column- repeating as necessary to keep the pH and KH/GH stable.

Once your tank is "cycled," keep adding 4 PPM of ammonia until the day you stock. When that comes, take a cup full of your tank's water, put your filter media in it, and remove the water from your tank. Replace it with fresh, dechlorinated water that's free of chloramines. Put your filter back in, and stock your tank.
 
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Check and see that your 50 watt heater can maintain about 78 degrees farenheight without fluctuation. (you might want a 100 watt) Your ph is 8, so you can add a big piece of driftwood and some live plants to lower it just a bit. (Better than playing with baking soda, I think). Don't sweat the ph. A stable ph is what's most important. I have an African Butterfly which prefers a ph of about 6.5 but is doing well in ph 7.8. You just don't want fluctuations.

Analog Saint is right, but too technical and confusing and unecessary advice at this point. Keep it simple and you'll be ok. Aim for 0 amonia (most deadly)
O nitrites (if they go high, add salt) and finally when you see nitrates, keep them within acceptable range, and you can do all of this by regular water changes.
That's it!
 
Thanks for the responses. I was wrong, my heater is 100W and I have been checking the temp twice a day, and it has been stable at around 78F.

I went to a LFS, not petco, and talked to a very knowledgeable guy. He told me to keep it simple to begin with, don't worry about adding ammonia or baking soda or doing a fishless cycle. He told me to get 2-3 basic stong fish, platey, mollys, or swords and then add bio-spira to get my tank cycled. He said it would cycle the tank much faster and be easier. I also added a little bit of salt which he said would be a good thing.

I'm trying to remember what I got for fish, but I think its 1 black platey, 1 sunset wag molly, 2 balloon mollys or plateys (cant remember) They are all pretty small.

Thanks for the help, hopefully I was given good info! He had a chart to help brush my memory on the nitrogen cycle.

-Jeff
 
whoops, I have:

1- Black molly
2- Balloon molly
1- sunset wag platy

one of the balloon mollys seems to be picking on the sunset, so his name is ******* now. :rant:

-Jeff
 
Watch your amonia levels, the mollies don't tolerate it well. I saw dalmation mollies savaging silver mollies at a LFS. It was a sad sight, they picked the silver mollies fins until they had none. Ther wer about 6 dead and others being picked at. I told a salesperson about it. She just picked out the dead. I left the store feeling quite sad.

Watch the fish who's being bullied and take it back if things don't change.
 
He told me molly's would be pretty hardy. Either way, they were cheap, but I will do everything I can to keep them around! I love the balloon mollies, they have huge beer bellys LOL.

-Jeff
 
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