i have brought a fish tank how long should i keep it running for before i put in the goldfish?

Question

1 week or what

Answer 1

There's more to it than just letting the tank run. In the wild, and in established tanks, there are nitrifying bacteria that break down toxic ammonia from fish waste and excess food into less toxic nitrates. In a brand new tank, these bacteria don't exist, so any fish in the tank will produce ammonia, which, not being broken down by bacteria, will kill or weaken the fish. So, it is vital to cycle your tank.
There are a few methods. Do you have access to an established tank? These bacteria live in the gravel and in the filter cartridge, so if you can get some from another tank, you can put the bacteria right into your tank (don't let the gravel or filter cartridge dry out). If you do this, in a day or two, your tank will beready for fish.
Another way is to get Bio-Spira. It is the actual live bacteria in a little pouch, and your tank will instantly be ready for fish. http://fishstoretn.com/bio_spira.html

Other methods, which include putting a source of ammonia in the tank and letting the bacteria build up on its own, or putting a fish in and letting the fish produce ammonia (which borders on animal cruelty, because the fish will suffer from the ammonia in the tank), take 2 to 6 weeks before your tank is ready. If you rush that, any fish you buy may die, so try one of the instant methods I mentioned above (bio-spira or gravel from another tank)

Answer 2

24-48 hours, just to make sure the tank equipment works, and to stabilize the temperature. A fully cycled tank is not necessary for goldfish, IME goldfish do very well in the tank during the cycling process. Goldfish are cold water fish, and are very hardy. With that said, they do need a few things to help them thrive in thier new enviornment. A water conditioner, to remove the chlorine & chloramines from the tap water- be sure to treat the water before adding it to the tank when doing water changes. A bacterial culture such as cycle, ecostart, etc. to help establish the nitrifying bacterial colonies necessary to break down the ammonia in the fish waste and the nitrites which are the by-product of the broken down ammonia. Be sure that when you are perfoming tank maintenece that you take the water off the top the tank instead of syphoning the gravel. 25% every 3-5 days making sure to treat the water with water conditioner & add a capfull of bacteria every other day for about 2 weeks untill your water tests indicate a cycled tank (ammonia 0 nitrite0 nitrate>40 ppm) syphon the gravel to remove the water after the tank has cycled.

Fishless cycling is a necessary practice for marine tanks, and some of the more delicate species of tropical fish, but it is not necessary for gold fish or hardy starter fish. It is a good technique to learn, if you plan on expanding your hobby beyond goldfish, but it is not vital if this is going to be your only tank.

Answer 3

Run it a few days to a week with air stones and filter. Add GF one at a time, just get one or two to start. Let the tank get cycled. Then add one at a time, no more than 1 every 2 weeks until tank is at capacity. Capacity is 10 gallons per goldfish. 40 gallon tank 4 goldfish max. Go get a good book on how to care for your exotic pet.

Answer 4

Most fish require about 6 weeks of running before they completely cycle. But goldfish being one of the most hardy fish you can get, I would run the tank for about 10-12 days then do some chemical tests for Ph and other levels and you should be fine. Make sure the tank is big enough to house the fish. I usually advise people to keep no more than 1 fish per 3 gallons of water. Goldfish have a very high gas exchange rate. Have fun.

Answer 5

Just a day or two is fine. All you really need to do is make sure all the equipment is working properly and that the temperature is stable. Assuming you used a product to remove the chlorine of course.

A note of caution though. Add fish very slowly. How slowly depends on the tank size, type of fish and other factors, but I would say add one goldfish and wait 2 weeks before adding anything else. The tank must develop certain beneficial bacteria to be stable for your fish. These cannot develop without some source of ammonia in the tank and the best source is fish. The bacteria you need will come in with your new fish or will develop naturally (big, big myth that they won't, these bacteria, like yeast can exist as spores in the air), but need lots of time to grow. Just add very slowly so that the ammonia build up doesn't get to be too much for the fish before the bacteria can get up and running. Some people say adding ammonia is good and that's fine if you are really up on your water chemistry. I prefer not to use just fish food to cycle the tank as it is called because that can lead to the growth of unwanted types of bacteria and fungi that would causes problems when you add the fish later. Adding gravel etc from existing tanks is also a way to get the bacteria "jump started" in the tank. Moving anything from one tank to another also risks move harmful bacteria and other disease causing agents into the new tank and to me isn't worth the risk when nature can take it's course and do the job without that risk.

If you post a new question or add some details to this one concerning tank size etc we can give you much more detailed info.

Best of luck and hope this helps!

Answer 6

hardship-loose goldfish are the style given as prizes at carnivals. they're quite bred for ponds, yet should be saved interior. This type of goldfish must have saved in a fifty 5+ gallon tank. regrettably, yours is stunted by using being housed in a 10 gallon tank. A 4 3 hundred and sixty 5 days previous hardship-loose goldfish should be about 10 inches lengthy. you opt on to get the fish right into a tank a minimum of fifty 5 gallon lengthy. you should use gravel out of your cutting-edge tank to velocity alongside the biking procedure. i ought to also propose utilising many of the former clear out media out of your cutting-edge tank. attempt this, wait an afternoon and put in the fish. it really is really user-friendly to get connected to goldfish because they have a good number of personality. you've for sure cared on your fish and also you shouldn't be dissatisfied with your self about not understanding a thanks to save a goldfish. maximum individuals kill their goldfish in less than a month!! once you've added questions, please be at liberty to digital mail. solid success

Answer 7

Until it is cycled which can take 4-6 weeks. Having it run without adding some sort of ammonia does nothing so either go buy some pure ammonia or add fish food to the water every day.

Answer 8

There are quick ways to cycle your tank.

During the cycling process, ammonia levels will go up and then suddenly plummet as the nitrite-forming bacteria take hold. Because nitrate-forming bacteria don't even begin to appear until nitrite is present in significant quantities, nitrite levels skyrocket (as the built-up ammonia is converted), continuing to rise as the continually-produced ammonia is converted to nitrite. Once the nitrate-forming bacteria take hold, nitrite levels fall, nitrate levels rise, and the tank is fully cycled.

Your tank is fully cycled once nitrates are being produced. To determine when the cycle has completed, buy appropriate test kits and measure the levels yourself, or bring water samples to your fish store and let them perform the test for you (perhaps for a small fee). The cycling process normally takes anywhere from 2-6 weeks. At temperatures below 70F, it takes even longer to cycle a tank. In comparison to other types of bacteria, nitrifying bacteria grow slowly. Under optimal conditions, it takes fully 15 hours for a colony to double in size!
you will read here people giving advice on using a filter from an established tank. or removing gravel from an established aquarium containing nitrifying bacteria which are attached to the gravel. (In other words, take some of the gravel (a cup or more) and hang it in a mesh bag in your filter (if you can), or lay it over the top of the gravel in the new tank (if it has an UGF).

THIS IS NOT A RECOMENDATION for a new tank. The down falls of this process is introducing parasites and other unwanted guests into your new tank. Most seasoned aquarists wouldn't do this and being new to the fish just DON"T do this. Chances are you will be asking for more problems in the future. This also goes for fish shop gravel.A word of caution is appropriate here. Due to the nature of the business, tanks in stores are very likely to contain unwanted pathogens (bacteria, parasites, etc.); you don't want to add them to an established tank. For someone setting up their very first tank, however, all fish will probably be purchased from the same store, so the danger is relatively small, as the newly purchased fish will have been exposed to the same pathogens.

More recently, products containing colonies of nitrifying bacteria have become available at pet shops (e.g., ``Fritz'', ``Bio-zyme'', ``Cycle''). In theory, adding the bacteria jump-starts the colonization process as above. Net experience with such products has been mixed; some folks report success, while others report they don't work at all. In principle, such products should work well. However, nitrifying bacteria cannot live indefinitely without oxygen and food. Thus, the effectiveness of a product depends on its freshness and can be adversely effected by poor handling (e.g., overheating). Unfortunately, these products don't come with a freshness date, so there is no way to know how old they are.

A quick way (emergency cycle) to cycle your tank is to get scallops, fish shirmp from your local store. Cut it into small pieces and put them into your tank. This will start the decaying process for bacteria. You should have water test levels up to par within a couple of days. (as little as 2 as much as a week) I have used this process when a contractor cracked one of my tanks containing my elephantnose. I called the fish store where I buy 99.9% of my fish and this was what they told me to do in an emergency. All fish survived and were fine with no ill effects.

Answer 9

I believe the water / filter should run for 24 hrs before putting in any fish. make sure to add a bit of aquarium salt to the tank (even if its freshwater fish) it's 1tbsp per 5 gallons. Also check the Ph level of your water. Petland will test your water Ph for free, just bring in a sample in a small jar or test tube. You can also purchase a test kit.
HAve Fun!

Answer 10

I would say you are about right with a week but most importantly dont forget to treat the tap water first to remove heavy metals and chemicals like chlorine that kill fish pronto i personally use one called tap safe available at all good aquatic outlets