Need advice on seating up a new tank and how much time should be given before adding fish and felting water?

Question

In seating up a new 10 gal.~ Hexagon~ Tank.
Too Help with the cycling process peoriod.
How much Gravel or sand is needed to start with ?
I have a friend that has a tank already,
Should I ask her for some of her water ?
There is one thing that scares me, With using her water, is she is losing a couple fish a week. her water looks very clear not foggy @ all. I told her to get a kit to check the water, but when she says she is going to get a kit, she comes home with no kit and new fish, I told her she can take her water in to be checked.she says, She don't want to told she is doing anything wrong. So,
I give up. but, I want to do it right the first time. How much time should I give it before adding Fish ? ECT... ECT... Should, I let it filter before put adding fish. I look @ it like this I have the rest of my life, To start this up. I only want two fish and real plants. I need to best advice, I can get to do this.
Any good websites to look @ for advice?
~ PLEASE~ HELP

Answer 1

best advice i can give you is to research.. you can't go on what they tell you here.. you need time to figure out and prepare what you'll be doing.. if you wanted plants i would recommend http://www.plantedtank.net/ join the forum and do a bit of research.. also, you should establish your plants before you add fish.

Answer 2

First answer to your question regarding gravel, it should be 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of gravel for every gallon of water.

There are several cycling methods you can do. The best one is fishless cycling. You completely set up you tank, heater filter the whole works but without the fish. Put some fish food in it everyday for about a month. After that all of the ammonia, pH and nitrates should be in order and the water should be safe. Also when adding the water, put in some water conditioner like Aqua Safe.

A quick way to cycle the water is to buy something called Bio-Spira. I think Petco sells it and maybe a local petstore in your area may. It's refrigerate. It's a little high but it basically does all the cycling for you and you can add your fish in there right away. The ammonia may spike up but it should settle down rather quickly. It's also very good if you are having a problem with your ammonia.

I would not ask your friend for any water. I would do it completely from scratch yourself. You could also ask a good local petstore if you could buy some of their water. I know mine will give you some of their cycled water from an empty tank, but still. You really can't trust someone elses water.

I personally have always used the Bio-spirva and have had no problems with it at all.

Here is an article on fishless cycling:
http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_fishless.php

Make sure whatever live plants you buy go with whatever fish you are getting. Certain plants can't be with certain fish because if you fish should eat the plants it can be poisonous to them.

The rule of thumb with the fish is one inch of fish per 1 gallon of water. So if you only are going to have 2 fish, make sure the fish don't get bigger than 5 inches. Overcrowding with your tank can cause lots of problems.

Undergravel filters are a good thing to buy and for a 10 gallon tank, they shouldn't cost you that much.

I also use aquarium salt for my tanks. I put in a little bit when starting up a tank or doing water changes. This helps with keeping your tank healthy but some fish like Silver dollars, I have heard, can't have salt and that it burns their scales. (Not sure the truth behind that)

Make sure you also have a bucket that is JUST used for fish cleaning purposes. Perferrably a new one. I had a incident where I used an old bucket that I use to clean with. I washed it out good, or atleast what I thought was good and in 2 weeks, I lost every fish I had.

Personally, I would have the following when starting a new tank. You of course don't have to have everything on the list but this is what I have and my fish have always been fine except the bucket problem.

gravel
plants
Water conditioner like Aqua Safe
Aquarium salt
fish net
undergravel filter
variety of food depending on your fish
Bio-Spirva
Master test kit (ammonia, pH, Nitrite and Nitrate)
gravel
vacuum
heater (if you want tropical fish)
Filter
Therometer
decor
new bucket

There is a lot to keeping a fish. A lot more then most people realize. I think it's great that you are taking out the time to do things right instead of just going out and buying fish.

Hope this helps

Answer 3

DO NOT USE YOUR FRIENDS WATER, THE CCLE IS NOT DONE IN THAT TANK AND THE SAME WILL HAPEN TO YOU,since you are going to use real plant then your cycle can be a little faster and it might be better for you so do this... get 10 pounds of fine gravel, add declorinated water, add plants and let water settle,next day add 2 fish ( never add goldfish to a 10 gal tank, it is very inhumane they need at least 25 gallons per fish) get a ammonia, nitrite and nitrate kit try kits that test things individualy, test your water every day and change no more than 50% of the water daily until you finally get 0 ammonia(or as close you can get to 0) 0 nitrates and about 10 to 15 ppm nitrites and you should be good after that with 1 25% water change a week.

Answer 4

Owning fish can be VERY involving! lol As I have learned. There's a lot you need to know before you head out and start putting fish in pretty tanks you set up. 1st you need to make sure the tank set-up is totally fish-friendly. Meaning there's no sharp things that could hurt the fish, no precarious rocks that can fall on them, everything is meant to be in an aquarium (some rocks can leak harmful minerals so always make sure they are aquarium safe!)

Then adding water is another ball game. The water has to be safe for the fish, so you will need to treat it to remove chlorine and chloramines (if it is tap water), and consider filtration, also make sure you cycle the tank before you put fish in so good nitrifying bacteria can grow to take care of ammonia, nitrates and nitrites. Distilled water is BAD for fish since it lacks minerals and electrolytes they need, spring water is good to use, or instead try half tap and half distilled.

Plus you have to measure PH, alkalinity, hardness, and the nitrates, nitrites and ammonia levels to ensure the tank is well balanced. Most tropical freshwater fish like the PH to range from 6.0-8.0 but keeping it near neutral is the best. Some fish require colder water (like gold fish) others need warmer water, like (Betta fish), so it's important to have a thermometer in the tank. Also you need to try to avoid letting any food fall to the bottom of the tank to rot, since this will turn to ammonia as well as fish waste, and harm the fish if there's too much.

As for gravel, usually 1/4 inch is all that is needed, the more there is the harder it can be to keep clean and you may need to get a gravel vacuum, a gravel cleaner, or have a undergravel filter. It all depends on your tank setup, plants or no plants.

And if your friend has an established tank take some of the gravel from her tank and put it into yours, allowing up to 2 days for the bacteria to get established only if you know for sure there's no rampant bad disease in her tank. You can also ask a local pet shop (preferably one that takes GOOD care of their fish) to let you have a little gravel. Or you can buy Bio-Spira, a product that puts in all the natural bacteria to start the cycle. Then the water will be safe for fish (providing you treated it to remove the bad chemicals too).

Now there's the fish. You need to know what fish go well together in a community tank. You should research and ask around about what fish are good together. For example, if you had African ciclids, they should be the only fish in the tank (maybe with a pleco) but they are very aggressive fin-nippers. Docile fish are guppies, mollies, platys, and goldfish, good for beginners. Just ask people at your local pet shop too, what fish are good together. Once you have them, don't put too many in the new tank all at once cause the ammonia levels may spike, and if one fish is sick they will all get sick. There are a lot of products to help treat fish and keep them less stressed so I suggest doing some good research. Watch out though cause the research can be frustrating since you will find a lot of contradictory information. Every fish owner does things a little differently and they all swear by their methods. Some people like to use aquarium salt for preventive measures against ick and parasites while others prefer not to use it, some do frequent water changes while others feel that is not healthy for the fish. So when it comes to specifics maybe referencing a good aquarium book is best.

For feeding, make sure you vary their diet. Most people go between freeze dried foods like brine shrimp, to frozen foods like bloodworms, to flakes, to pellets, and live food (live food may be risky though! Parasites!) Also never overfeed the fish, one-two times a day will suffice. Never feed them more than they can eat in two minutes. Overfeeding can lead to swim bladder and other problems so be careful!

So before you get into fish, bear in mind it will be expensive! And if your tank isn't settled your fish will most likely get stressed, sick, and die. It's happened to many who start this hobby and didn't know what they were doing so don't fall into the impatience of throwing them into the tank! Good luck to you and your future fish :) And please research into all the specifics!

Answer 5

Fill the water right away. Let it run for AT LEAST 24 hours. I strongly recommend 3-4 days and on the 5th day you can get fish definitely. Do not use tap water, use distilled or spring water from the store. Be sure to get conditioners for your tank

Answer 6

The number one thing to remember is to DO YOUR WEEKLY/BI WEEKLY water changes.

and use a water de clorine with each water change.

Distilled water, is not good. be careful and DO your research