Your current Fish tank Setups!

^^Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are the absolutely essential ones. A ph test would also be advisable. The brand Hagen do some decent enough test kits, individual ones - which are more than ok, or whole case kits which might prove expensive, though it depends on how many tests they carry. I'd just buy the above individually, but check out your local fish store for any deals that might be going, you might be able to save a good few quid.
 
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Try not to buy too budget of a test kit. You are adding fish, which in turn are pets. Look after them, spend good money on things. They are alive and you really have to care for fish like you would a cat or dog.

Read up on stuff and if you want join a dedicated fish forum and get there views as well. All this may take a bit longer, but it will certainly be worth it in the long term.

No disrespect aimed at you, but too many people want a fish tank just because it will fill a gap in there house, look good and be a talking point. But no care or knowledge is ever put into it.

As arc@css says, Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are absolutely essential.

good luck, take it easy and read up on your fish, are the ones you are thinking of adding, compatible with the other fish etc.
 
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Magic_x_uk said:
Try not to buy too budget of a test kit. You are adding fish, which in turn are pets. Look after them, spend good money on things. They are alive and you really have to care for fish like you would a cat or dog.

Read up on stuff and if you want join a dedicated fish forum and get there views as well. All this may take a bit longer, but it will certainly be worth it in the long term.

No disrespect aimed at you, but too many people want a fish tank just because it will fill a gap in there house, look good and be a talking point. But no care or knowledge is ever put into it.

As arc@css says, Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are absolutely essential.

good luck, take it easy and read up on your fish, are the ones you are thinking of adding, compatible with the other fish etc.
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I have read various arrticles although many articles recommend different temperatures/waiting times and so on.. For example someone at work has the tank at 29c all fish are fine and happier, many pet stores are saying 24/25 .. soem say 26c I will be sticking at 26c. I have been told to add Good Bacteria and add 3 Neons, then a week later add go Bacteria and another 3.. Keep building that way (My tank has been running for roughly 124 hours 4/5 Days) although I am going to get a testing kit.. what results will I want to be looking at.

My plec will also be helping my tank run through the Cycle I believe?
 
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Gilbert89 said:
I have read various arrticles although many articles recommend different temperatures/waiting times and so on.. For example someone at work has the tank at 29c all fish are fine and happier, many pet stores are saying 24/25 .. soem say 26c I will be sticking at 26c. I have been told to add Good Bacteria and add 3 Neons, then a week later add go Bacteria and another 3.. Keep building that way (My tank has been running for roughly 124 hours 4/5 Days) although I am going to get a testing kit.. what results will I want to be looking at.

My plec will also be helping my tank run through the Cycle I believe?
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There are several great guides on cycling your tank, all just a google search away.

Adding bacteria in a bottle is a waste of money.
 
Right, So I have had my water tested therefore I was ready to add some fish. I firstly 8 Neon Tetra they were instantly happy swimming around in a school within the space of a week/week half I have added 2 X - Ray Tetra / 3 Red Eye Tetra / 1 Silver Hachet Fish, Now regarding the Red Eye Tetra they have great vibrant colours after being in the tank for 10/15 minutes as I believe they fade when unhappy/stressed which will be from kiting them home and adding into a new environment. All fish seem peaceful although I often see the Red Eye Tetra chasing each other (of the Red Eye's) and also the X - Ray Tetra when they pass they have a little chase then lay off and so on is this normal behaviour? I have read that Red Eye Tetra are quite active and can be a little nippy I have not seen any contact what so ever just what seems to be a friendly chase is this normal within fish and If not could this possibly end up making the fish vulnerable to infection or even die of exhaustion? It's not to the extreme extent but just curious to anyone previous experience.
 
Don't quite have time for a full update, but here's a shot of my big tank from the front now -

april2012.jpg


I've also shuffled the livestock around a bit, so inhabitants are now 5 Yunnanilus sp. 'rosy', 8 Danio erythromicron and 3 Dario hysginon (and the otos are still in there from before).
 
Is that Optiplex and daylight lighting King, or have you tinkered with the photo a bit? The colours look fantastic. I've only just set up my new tank so I'm months away from having anything that looks established or natural, but pictures like that keep me going!
 
The colours are a bit over saturated if viewing in Chrome, Firefox gives a more accurate rendition. Have tweaked the contrast and levels a bit for added clarity as there are quite a lot of tannins in the water at present (hence the yellows).
 
My new (and small) fish tank:=

IMG_0631.jpg


Although the chap in the local fish shop is helpful, I could do with some advice from the OCuk fish guru's please....

The tank I bought is only a 19l and has been switched on for only a week. I'm not contemplating putting any fish in just yet and would like some advice on water ph levels etc.

I treated the water initially and added some API filter start to get things going. I just used the test kits tonight and a couple of the readings are very high but some others not too bad.

GH (general hardness) level is 180
KH (carbonate hardness) level is 240
pH is 7.5
Nitrite is 0
Nitrate is 20
Amonia is 0

I live in an area where the local water is very hard and the chap in the fish store said that it should'nt be too much of an issue as of course all his fish are in the same water.

I've also set the small water heater to 26deg

Any recommendations on fish type for my small tank would be most welcome as i've always wanted to keep a small amount of tropical fish.

My goal is to eventually get at least one clown fish in there.
 
Marine is more my type of fish but in a 19l tank your looking at a very limited amount of fish

Clown loaches need about 350l and prefer groups. They will grow from the tiny couple on inch in the fish shop to 5 inch quickly then hit 8-12 inch at full size.


I would suggest a beta and maybe some Cherry shrimp.

Or

2-3 guppies

Or

4-5 neon tetra but these require mature water.
 
Ok, at 19l you're in "nano" territory, so consider yourself as that with any reading you're doing.

With your ammonia and nitrite readings, your tank appears to be established. Personally I'd give this a couple of days, check again, then do a 50% water change, and check again in a couple of days. You should have an absolutely rock steady tank by then, and if that's the case, stock away!!

26C is a good temperature for most tropicals.

You've got hard-ish water, but you're too far over on that, so don't get unduly worried.

Options for fish would include:

pygmy corydoras
tetras
shrimp

There are many other options of course, but they're probably good starters! With a small tank it's important to keep on top of your water changes too, since the chemistry can change quite rapidly if you're not careful.
 
Makhaira said:
Ok, at 19l you're in "nano" territory, so consider yourself as that with any reading you're doing.

With your ammonia and nitrite readings, your tank appears to be established. Personally I'd give this a couple of days, check again, then do a 50% water change, and check again in a couple of days. You should have an absolutely rock steady tank by then, and if that's the case, stock away!!

26C is a good temperature for most tropicals.

You've got hard-ish water, but you're too far over on that, so don't get unduly worried.

Options for fish would include:

pygmy corydoras
tetras
shrimp

There are many other options of course, but they're probably good starters! With a small tank it's important to keep on top of your water changes too, since the chemistry can change quite rapidly if you're not careful.
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Thanks for the advice, I read that for hard water I could do a small water change and use deioinised or distilled water?
 
You're thinking of water changes in term of trying to reduce the effective hardness of what is in your tank. I'm talking about water changes to keep the chemical balance of waste products in check (i.e. the biological side). In terms of hardness though, you're correct, that will reduce the effective hardness of what is in your tank since the ion concentration will be lower.
 
Makhaira said:
You're thinking of water changes in term of trying to reduce the effective hardness of what is in your tank. I'm talking about water changes to keep the chemical balance of waste products in check (i.e. the biological side). In terms of hardness though, you're correct, that will reduce the effective hardness of what is in your tank since the ion concentration will be lower.
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Does the hardness level of the water not matter too much? I must admit that putting deionised water in sounds like doing a quick fix.
 
Hardness of water matters to some degree since certain fish and plants will have certain requirements. Since you're fairly middle-of-the-road though, it shouldn't cause you any great issues.
 
OK, here are my two low tech 25l tanks (medium/low light, barely any ferts except what was in the ADA Aquasoil, no CO2)...

1. Eleocharis acicularis, Lileaopsis brasiliensis, Microsorum pteropus 'trident', bolbitis heudelotii, willow moss.

p1000117w.jpg


2. Hygrophila pinnitifada, Hygrophila sp. "araguaia", Cyperus helferi, Blyxa japonica. The blyxa is looking a little sorry for itself as it is still melting following from the move from a high tech tank, but there's new root and leaf growth so think it should be fine.

p1000119v.jpg
 
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