new fish tank?

Question

I got the tank all set up last night with everything, water, filter and decorations. I also put the packet of stuff in that makes the water safe for fish. how long should I wait till I put some fish in it? I just want to be sure the water is safe and a good temp. Also... if I put the heater in it, what temp should that be on?

Answer 1

Depending on how big the tank is. If you have a ten gallon tank, that only needs about an hour. If you have a much larger tank then use the scale of one hour for every ten gallons. That's what they recommend at my fish store. As for temperature, the average temperature should be around 75-80 Fahrenheit. Make sure all the chemicals you are adding and every thing else gets a good mix of the water before adding fish. When adding fish, You need to let the temperature of the water in the bag be the same as your tank. Usually floating your bag of fish on the surface for around half an hour should do the trick. After half an hour, cut the top of the bag off and let some of your tank water into the bag. Fold the sides of the bag down to create a rim so that the bag stays afloat. After about fifteen more minutes you are ready to add your fish. Take a net and net the fish out of the bag. Then put the fish in the water. Don't allow any water from your bag to enter your tank. Good Luck!

Answer 2

I'm glad that you didn't buy your fish already. Thank you so much for that. I don't know what you mean by a "packet of stuff that makes the water safe for fish." But, nothing makes the water good immediately. If the "packet of stuff" was something like Cycle or Bio-Spira, then that's a live bacteria that helps get the nitrogen cycle going and that's good. If you didn't add a live bacteria, you will need to use fish food, a piece of shrimp, ammonia or the packaged live bacteria to get the nitrogen cycle going. A tank needs to fully cycle before you add fish. How long it takes to cycle depends on how well you manage the nitrogen cycle process. Raising the temperature in the water to maybe 85 degrees F will make this go faster. Just remember to lower it back down when the cycling is done before adding your fish. In order for you to know whether it is cycled, you need a test kit. Get a master test kit that tests for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates at least. Other tests are good, but these three are the most important. Read the link about fishless cycling. It also tells you about the nitrogen cycle so that you can better understand how the water quality process works. Once your water tests at ammonia 0 ppm, nitrites 0 ppm and nitrates 40 ppm or less, then your water is ready for fish. As far as temperature, that depends on your fish. But, for tropicals, the water should be between 74-80 degrees F. Get a thermometer as well as a heater so that you know what the temperature is. Also, make sure that you read about the amount of water each type of fish needs to live in so that you don't overstock your tank. Good luck and have fun!

Answer 3

Your water is "safe for fish" because it is free of chemicals now. But putting fish into a brand new, sterile environment like that is quickly going to turn it into an ammonia bath, which is painful, damaging, and many times even lethal to fish.

Cycling your tank doesn't mean just to let it sit for a few days. Cycling it means establishing a colony of good bacteria in order for nitrogen products (including ammonia and nitrites which are generated by fish waste and uneaten fish food) to be processed safely before they injure your fish.

Products like Stress Zyme and Cycle contain DEAD bacteria, which helps soothe your fish a bit when they're already suffering, but they do nothing to actully create live bacteria for your tank. The only product at this time that actually contains live bacteria is Bio-Spira. Call around your local fishstores and see if anyone carries it. It has to be refrigerated. When you buy it, you take it straight home along with your fish, and dump them into the tank together.

If you can't find Bio-Spira, the easiest and fastest way to cycle your tank is by fishless cycling. There's a good article on it at the Aquahobby boards. (www.aquahobby.com -- click on the Articles button -- so much great information to learn from there.) Some people will tell you to cycle it with fish, but not only is that MUCH slower and MUCH more work intensive, it's very frustrating because the torture you put the fish through weakens them severely so you have to deal with constant illnesses and deaths.

Besides, while you wait for the tank to cycle you can research your fish choices. :) Different fish require different temperatures, tank setups, and even food. The more you know about them, the better care you can provide, and the healthier, more active, and more beautiful your fish will be.

Good luck!

Answer 4

You can put in a couple of fish now. Platys and other live bearers are good. Heat should be in uppper 70's. Fish today are not as sensitive to steady lower temps as many years ago. They are not imported and are mass harvested for the pet trade in outdoor ponds! which are of course unheated but in warmer states.

Start out right and do a 10-25% partial water change every two weeks it really helps.

Good Luck.

Answer 5

this all depends on the type of fish you plan on getting. 24 hrs is safe for freshwater fish most of the time, the temp. varies by species, so make sure you do research on the species of fish that you plan on buying. For saltwater you have to wait longer, about 2 wks, and then you have to buy several damsels, and leave them in there for a few weeks, so you have a stable enviroment for the fish

Answer 6

about a month. you need to cycle the tank first or your fish will die or have dramatically shorter lives.

letting the filter run for a few days does NOT count as cycling the tank. here's a great site about cycling.
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article14.html

as for the temp, it depends what fish you plan on keeping. and that depends on how big the tank is. a good guess is about 78°F for tropicals. for goldfish you need room temp.

Answer 7

The very best thing for you to do is go back to the store for the one peice of equipment you forgot. A book about fish keeping. It will be much easier to find your answers there than all over the web or asking here and getting the kind of answers you have gotten above. Read up a bit then you'll be ready to care for your fish.

MM

Answer 8

You should let it cycle for three days, even with the chemicals. ( I assume they're bacterial supplements?)

If you're getting tropical fish set the temperature for 75. If you're getting goldfish, ditch the heater all together.

Get a good thermometer, heaters heat the water, but sometimes they heat it too much and temperature changes in the house affect the water temperature too.

A week is suggested cycling on any tank, but three days with a bacterial supplement should be fine. Also, only introduce a small amount of fish at one time. And then wait a few weeks, because week three is when your nitrate/trite cycle spikes, which can kill all your fish if you aren't cautious.
After week four, it should be safe to introduce some more new fish, but definitely get your tank water tested/ (I know Petsmart does this for free, just bring in a water sample.)
Never introduce more than four fish at a time, because the ammonia increase can stress or kill the other fish.

Answer 9

Go to a reputable fish/pet store, ask some questions. Or just monitor this board for a few days...tons of info and past questions about starting a new tank...but you need to let the tank cycle up with beneficial bacteria or by some Start Zyme or Cycle to kick start the system. Temp varies, but for most tropicals, 72-78 degrees is just fine.

Answer 10

Ideally, you should cycle the tank before putting fish in.

An awesome website to learn from is Fishgeeks
www.aquaria.info