So excited!

DaisyGirl

DaisyGirl

My Betta Malaria
Jan 5, 2005
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Hello everyone! I'm sooo excited, since tomorrow I'm buying new sand substrate, and a few plants, and I'm going to start my new tropical tank! I'm so happy! I have a few questions:

(1) Does Wal*Mart sell pool filter sand?

(2) Can you use sand-box sand for a substrate?

(3) If I use the filter media from an already cycled (about 3 m old) tank that I just stopped using today, how long will it take for my tank to cycle?

(4) Which fish should I get first, the 3 platies, the 1 dwarf gourami, or the 3 panda cories? (If I should get them seperatly at all)
It would be better if I could just get them all at once, since my LFS (the good one) is about an hour and a half away from my house.

Thanks! :dance
 
1: I don't know, but Home Depot does

2: Play sand? Yes, and Home Depot sells that too. Should be like $4.95 for a 50 lb bag. I didn't even use 1/10th a bag on my 10 gallon.

3: I know it helps, but I don't know how long it'll take.

4: Test your water to be sure it's cycled completely before adding any fish. I always like to add 1 or 2 fish to start to make sure there are no problems, because if there is, it'll suck worse to lose a bunch of fish rather than 1 or 2.
 
Ok, thanks for your help! Since the cories are sensitive to the water conditions (or so I've heard) I'll get them last. I think I'll stick to the play sand since its cheaper. More questions:

(5) Anybody suggest any certain brands of food? And also, just to clarify, the cories need an algae wafer food?

(6) Anybody suggest any certain test kits? And what test kits will I need? ( I ran out a few weeks ago, and I forgot which brand I had, also, if I need different ones this time)
 
DaisyGirl said:
Ok, thanks for your help! Since the cories are sensitive to the water conditions (or so I've heard) I'll get them last. I think I'll stick to the play sand since its cheaper. More questions:

(5) Anybody suggest any certain brands of food? And also, just to clarify, the cories need an algae wafer food?

(6) Anybody suggest any certain test kits? And what test kits will I need? ( I ran out a few weeks ago, and I forgot which brand I had, also, if I need different ones this time)
Click to expand...

TetraMin, Nutrafin, O.S.I, Hikari, Omega One, Wardley, etc, etc. There are many food brands. Are there specific food types you are looking for such as flake, bloodworm, brine shrimp, pellets, etc, etc?

For test kits, you could use Aquarium Pharmaceuticals test kits, they seem to be accurate and fairly reasonable in price. I have and use the ph test kit made by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals, and haven't had a problem with it, and it's one of the old ones that came with a big spreadsheet full of info aswell as the colour chart. The newer ones just come with a plastic colour chart.

Oh and if you use play sand, buy from the home depot or another store, and make sure you don't go to a lpg (local playground) and get some sand from there because it's free, because only god knows what's in that sand! :eek:
 
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Your media that you stopped using today won't be any good tomorrow. The bacteria need to have a constant source of food provided to them otherwise they start to die almost immediately. If you want to use filter media to seed a new tank, it needs to be taken out of an established tank and placed immediately (within a couple of hours) into the new tank. And the new tank must already have fish in it so that the bacteria can start to feed again.

Do not use the Gourami or the cories to cycle your tank, go with the Platies.
 
Karnajj: What I meant (which I definetly stated wrong) was that the filter media is in a tank, with fish and water, but its just there until I set up my other tank, so its an extra, its going to be in use up until when I use it.

Blueturq: thanks for the advice and don't worry, I wont take sand from the LPG, lol. The food I need is just regular flakes, for the platies and gourami so I think I will just get TetraMin, and then I will need algae wafers for the cories, I think.
 
DaisyGirl said:
(5) Anybody suggest any certain brands of food? And also, just to clarify, the cories need an algae wafer food?

(6) Anybody suggest any certain test kits? And what test kits will I need? ( I ran out a few weeks ago, and I forgot which brand I had, also, if I need different ones this time)
Click to expand...

All good brands mentioned above. It's best to feed your fish a variety of food. You don't have to feed them everything in one night, but maybe some pellets one day, bloodworms the next, wafers the next, that kind of deal.

I've never bought a test kit ever. I just run up to the local petsmart and they'll test it for free anytime.
 
I just got Hikari Algae wafers today at Wal-Mart for my plecos... They've been a hit in both tanks. I had a pleco, a snail, and the paradise fish all playing "keep away" with the algae wafer. In the end, the snail took a huge chunk into his shell, and so I dropped another one in for just the pleco.

In the other tank, the baby severum (less than an inch long), six panda cories, and a pleco have all taken turns on their wafer, and have eaten about half of it in an hour.

Judging by the response, I'd reccomend them highly.
 
thanks for the tip Analog Saint. What brand wafers are you using?
 
Hikari Tropical Algae Wafers- Comes in a little white pouch, they were about $3 or so for a substantial supply of them.

Thinking of backing them up with some sinking shrimp pellets for some variety. The bristlenose eats anything and anything, so whatever the cories don't finish, he will.
 
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