setting up a tank?!?

Question

Hi i want to set my fish tank up but i know NOTHING!!!! about fish or tanks or anything! lol so i need step by step help please!!
when i 1st set it up it was to the instructions what came with the tank. for some reason my fish dies after 3 days :-(
my tank had got like a residue on the service of the water so i think it might of been that what did it. i got told it might of been from the plastic plants and rocks i had put in. i emptied some of the water to start again but it ened up being left. now it has been standing like that for months. i emptied the rest of the water out yesterday and the glass is dirty as hell, ants had tried to build a nest in my filter (i have a ant problem in the house) and ants are now in the gravel. how do i clean it to get rid of the ants and dirty marks? is it best to put live plants in with slate or bogwood for them to hide? how do i look after live plants? how do i know if my fish are actually going to stay alive this time? PLEASE HELP!

Answer 1

First, take everything outside and dump it out so that it can dry and the ants will leave. Then you can reuse everything. Scrub the tank, filter and other hard items with hot water and a new kitchen scrubber, the kind made for glass and nonstick pans. You can also use salt like a scrubbing powder to help get stubborn spots. Rinse the gravel really well in a strainer ,again, with very hot water. Also rinse the plastic plants well to remove as much old gunk and algae as possible. That should get everything ready to go. You will need to replace the filter cartridge, but those are available at the pet store, just know the type of filter you have so you can get the right cartridge.


Once you have that done, your ready to stop and learn a bit about keeping an aquarium. No worries, we all had to do it when we started, it's not hard, and it won't take you long at all. Here's a link to a page that will tell you pretty much everything you need to know about setting up your tank and more importantly how to keep the fish from dying on you.

http://www.firsttankguide.net/

Be sure to follow the links at the bottom about cycling your tank and cleaning BEFORE you even set up your tank, much less get any fish. This will give you an excellent start and arm you with the info you need to keep your fish alive those first few weeks.

MM

Answer 2

STARTING A FRESH WATER AQUARIUM


Starting a fish aquarium is fairly easy if

you have everything you need. The things

you need are:

An aquarium
A water heater
A filter (under gravel filter is very easy to use. There are other types of filters too, but you have to keep buying filters for them).
Gravel (2 lbs. for every gallon does pretty well).
A hood or lid with a light is important to develop bacteria (it is important to purchase bacteria because it gives the fish a protective slime coating, and breaks down other harmful things that could hurt your fish).
Live plants (they aren't a necessity but keep the tank cleaner and provide more oxygen and hiding places for fish).
Water dechlorinization tablets or liquid (this takes the chlorine out of the water because chlorine kills the fish).
Air pump
A net
Fish food (there are many kinds of fish food. It depends on what kind of animals you have in your tank. Most of the time the food bottle tells what kind of fish it is meant to feed).
And of course something living (you have to wait at least 24 hours after you set up your aquarium and put the bacteria in, so it will have time to settle. You don't want to start with a huge amount of fish. Take it little by little. You may want to just start with 1 or 2 fish, then a few weeks later add some more

Answer 3

You need to clean the tank really well before you add fish. A 10% bleach solution should kill any algae or bacteria living in there and the best thing to kill the ants in the filter would be just plain old boiling water. Drop the whole filter into a pot of gently boiling water and wait for the ants to die and float up to the top. Then pull out the filter and clean it up in warm water. For the ants in the gravel, you can just dump it all into a container and then pour boiling water over it to kill the ants. Then rinse it with a bleach solution to kill any bacteria byproducts from the ants that may have survived and sieve out the gravel from the ants under clear water. Use a colander with big enough holes that the ants will fall through but the gravel won't.

If the dirty marks on the glass are hard water stains and not algae, try scrubbing them with vinegar. Rinse your gravel and the tank really well with clear water afterwards and set it up with fresh, conditioned water and let it run for at least 24 hours before you add any fish. Start out with only 2 hardy fish to let the tank cycle (convict cichlids, danios or feeder goldfish are hardy cycling fish). Make sure you research your fish before you add them. I have added links below so you can read up on the nitrogen cycle in aquariums and the needs of different types of fish. (The second link is for a store, but it has good fish info - just click on the fish you like and it will give you a quick little rundown on it.)

Live plants will help speed up the cycling process and use up the waste that the fish produce. They also help provide a more natural environment and reduce stress on fish. There are plenty of plants that are easy to care for and don't take a lot of extra work or high light. My favorite is java moss. You can tie it onto driftwood or rocks or ornaments to keep it where you want it, or you can just let it drift around freely and it's very easy to grow and hard to kill. Some other easy, low light plants are java fern, amazon sword, various crypts and watersprite. The third site I listed below sells plants and has info about them. Just look for the plants that say "low light" or "easy" care. Then you can either order them online or ask for them by name at your local fish store.

Answer 4

yeah that sucks. i would take everything out clean the rocks, plants, then the tank, with a partial bleach/water mix. DO NOT use soap. Soap leaves a residue.

Fill it up, get a water tester, check for chlorine, nitrates, other stuff. Some tap water isnt good for fish.

get a thermometer, most fish need i think 76-82 degrees.

vist your local pet shop. They will show you all the chemicles and stuff you need.

Answer 5

Sounds like you got a real problem. Have you ever thought about a Paludarium? If you build this, chances are you can have lizards and frogs that will eat the ants, while at the same time, you can have fish also.

Answer 6

Sounds horrible. Throw it all away and start over. Get a book.