Fish care products?

Question

Can someone specify what I should get? Everything for a freshwater aquarium. I have a tank, filter, light hood, fish and substrate. I just need to know what chemicals products test kits. etc.

Specify please, no need to be discreet!

Scratch that, I haven;t purchased the fish....

Answer 1

Alright besides tank, filter, light hood, substrate and fish you will also need.

Siphon- To help clean gravel and junk when doing a water change

Bucket- To put the siphoned water into

Decor of your choice

Plants- Real or Fake(I prefer the real plants)

Heater- Depends on Fish

Air stone- Good to have to allow extra oxygen in your tank (not necessarily needed)

Air Pump & Air Tubing- You need this for the air stone to work

Filter Cartriges- Good to have extras for when you change the filter cartrige

Water Condtioner- Always good to have two bottles so when one runs out you have another bottle and more time to get a new one.

Freshwater Test Kit-That tests Ph, Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate

*edit*

It is good to have a test for Ph so that way you now that it is stable and not always changing.

Answer 2

They ONLY chemical you need is de-chlorinator. do yourself and your fish a favour and don't start dumping chemicals into the tank - it only complicates and creates more problems. Twenty years of keeping fish and I've never fallen for these consumables meant to 'help'.

That cycle junk isn't worth the bottle it comes in. If you want to properly seed your tank to speed up the cycle, put actual bacteria into your tank by getting filter media or gravel from a mature tank and putting this into your own filter.

For tests, you should have one for ammonia and nitrite while you cycle your tank. Nitrate tests in the future will give you an idea of how clean your water is keeping with your water change and vacuum schedule. Don't worry about tests for ph and gh and kh - if you start messing with them you'll just disrupt things, so don't waste time and effort worrying about it.

Filter media can be rinsed, you don't need to keep spending money on it every month. Rinse it in de-chlorinated water and you'll preserve bacteria. When you do replace it, don't do it all at once or you risk ruining your whole cycle.

And a book. books are good.

Answer 3

Depending on the type of fish, you will need a heater too. If you are keeping Goldfish, you don't need the heater. You will also need a net, siphon (For vacuuming the gravel), bucket (Only used for your fish, never before used. You will use it to siphon water into.) As for chemicals, you will need a water dechlorinator, and you should get a product like "Cycle" to help cycle your tank. You are also going to need extra filter pads (Filter pads need to be changed once a month). Good luck!

Very useful site (read up before buying fish)-http://www.firsttankguide.net/.
Details on each item-http://www.firsttankguide.net/list.php
This site tells you all about cycling your tank-http://www.firsttankguide.net/cycle.php

Nosoop4u