Hey! I'm new - how are you?

[daisymac]

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I just brought home a brand new 55 gal. tank set-up. I have had a very small tank that fit on my dresser for about 5 years, and liked it a lot, and has been very successful, but that is really minor league compared to this. So I am here browsing, looking for some help in doing this big boy the right way. I think I want to have live plants in there but is that difficult? Right now I just have an enormous glass box in my living room and that is as far as I am going until I get a handle on this.

You all seem helpful, so here I am!

BTW - I won this set-up.

[HFBfounder]

Re: Hey! I'm new - how are you?

Awesome! Welcome to the HoustonFishBox! Start off in the beginners forum. There are some pretty good articles there. And ask away! Plants are not that difficult, but I would probably stick to the basics and then work your way up to plants.

[Smokin_Cache]

Re: Hey! I'm new - how are you?

Welcome to Houstonfishbox.com

I am no expert but from my experiance live plants are very easy, buy I guess this depends on what type you try to grow.

[daisymac]

Re: Hey! I'm new - how are you?

Thanks! I am heading to the beginners forum, but before I go . . .

The employee at the store said I should get the water going, buy about 10 cheap tetras, wait a few days for them to die and then buy the plants. That doesn't seem right to me! Does it make sense to either of you?

[guppymax]

Re: Hey! I'm new - how are you?

Welcome to the box. I am pretty sure you are going to need some water in there. If it holds the water, why not add some dechlorinator drops and some amquel as well? What they really want to do is get the little bugs established that help convert all the waste from your fish, dead plants, and uneaten food into harmless chemicals. These bugs live in something called a biological filter. Did this tank come with a filter? They are using the fish to make food for the bugs. What kind of fish if any do you want? What kind of plants do you want? I think you should be cautious and not get something you don't want. It takes about a month to cycle the tank, get the bugs started so I would go ahead with the water and hold off on the fish and plants. I have lots of duckweed that I cannot get rid of and some snails as well. Make sure the fish if any are healthy.

max

[Smokin_Cache]

Re: Hey! I'm new - how are you?

I don't like cycling a tank with fish no matter how cheap the fish are. Read up on fishless cycling. I have a bunch of the ammonia I will give you more than enough to do your tank. Ammonia is used as a plant fertilizer so I don't think you are going to hurt them with it. As long as you don't go over board with it, as I did in my tank. Though it hasn't killed the plants I added this weekend but it's a little early yet I think. I would say plant the tank then fill it with dechlorinated water. Add very small doses of ammonia until you reach the recommended 5ppm ammonia. Wait for ammonia to drop below 2ppm. Then add approx. half the initial dose daily or every other day until cycle completes. Never go over half the initial dose or 3pmm until cycle completes. Filtration needs to be running prior to adding ammonia.

This information has been gathered by reading every article I could find on fishless cycling. Please read as many articles you can and make an educated decision before going this route. I would hate for my advice to kill all your plants. You can also wait and see if my die. LOL

I will post links to some articles when I get home tonight.

Use some of the filter material out of your small tank to "seed" the biofilter of you new one.

My tank is the first big tank I have had, but I had a small planted tank for a few years with no lost fish of plant.

I am sure everyone here at Houstonfishbox will help all they can. They have been a great source of knowledge.

[SCOTT]

Re: Hey! I'm new - how are you?

The little bugs Max is reffering to are actually bacteria, not bugs, so don't go looking in your tank expecting to see bugs, if fact, if you do see bugs I would be a little worried, hehe. If you already have a tank up and running, the simplest way to get the new one running would be to take a portion of the filter media from the established tank and place it in the filter for the new tank. This transfers the needed bacteria into the new tank and jump starts it for you. By moving the filter media into the new tank you can immediately light stock the tank with no cycling issues. By light stocking I mean 4 or 5 small fish or 1 to 2 medium sized fish, wait a couple weeks before adding any more fish, this allows the seeded material to establish itself in your filter without stressing your fish. If you dont have any filter media to seed the new tank with, let me know, I can easily hook you up.

[daisymac]

Re: Hey! I'm new - how are you?

Okay guys, here is what I won. A 55 gal. All-Glass tank, 48 x14x24 with an oak cabinet w/hood, 2 24" hood lights, an Aquaclear 70 Power filter, Aquaplus water conditioner, 2 25 lb.bags of spectra stone, water heater, and a thermometer.

The reason it is just sitting there is I just brought it home last night, and I want to do it right! I have had a 2.5 mini-bow tank for about 5 years, and have not had any problems.

I have had leopard danios, neon and headlight tetras, male guppies and algea eaters - not all at the same time of course! I do know to watch the mix of fish, I test my water (have a kit), change the filter, siphon/vacuum the tank, etc. Most of the fish that have died have either done so within a couple days after bringing them home - even though I am very careful about introducing new fish - or they just lived out their lifespan. All the decorations have been plastic.

I just thought sine I have a big tank now that it would be nice to have some live plants, but I don't want to get in over my head. I also want to stay with the tetras, guppies, etc, but I am open to suggestions. I would like some larger tetras, or whatever, but I want to wait until I get the environment correct.

A lot of what you are telling me doesn't make a whole lot of sense yet, but I am a fast learner!

So that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Daisymac

[HFBfounder]

Re: Hey! I'm new - how are you?

ok, good to know. The best thing to do asap is get water in the tank. The sooner you get water in, the sooner you can start everything else. If it were me, I would follow SCOTT's method since you already have an established tank. Also, make sure the filter media stays wet while you move it over to the new tank. I'm really glad you found us. A lot of people would just take the tank home, pour water in, pour the conditioner in and throw in about 20 or so fish. I have also cycled a tank with a small piece of store bought frozen shrimp.

[daisymac]

Re: Hey! I'm new - how are you?

The only problem with Scott's method is that it is only 2.5 gal. tank. And I still have 3 fish in there.

Also what do you guys mean by filter media?

And let's get very basic here. From what I understand I should:
1. Rinse out tank - DONE

2. Rinse off the spectra stone and put it in the bottom of tank with the slope higher in back than in front - not done

3. Add plants and decorations, and fill 1/2 way. Add water conditioner

4. Put in filter and let run for at least 48 hours

5. Add the rest of the water and take water sample to store

6. Add a few fish

Is this correct?

Thanks

Daisymac

[Jose]

Re: Hey! I'm new - how are you?

You should by yourself a drop test kit(sticks test are not accurate). Most likely the store will use a stick test strip. The filter will not run with half of tank filled. When you fill your tank add water to filter before turning on(lesson learned for me ). Most likely the only filter media you have is carbon rocks(the black rocks in  your filter cartridge).

[SCOTT]

Re: Hey! I'm new - how are you?

Filter media typically is filter floss, the white or blue cottony looking substance that you insert into your filter as a pre filter to the carbon insert. On a smaller filter like the one for a 2.5 you probably wont have this. If you would like some floss, let me know, I have roughly 10 cu yds of it in operation at any given time on my sump for my rack system. As for setting up, rinse everything, fill the tank, treat the water, seed the filter, add a few fish, wait a couple weeks, add some more, done.
For a planted tank, it is a good idea to use laterite or similar additive to your gravel. This is a substance rich in nutrients for your plants and is best added when initially setting up the tank rather than adding it later. Don't forget lighting, a 55 gallon tank should have roughly 120-150 watts of light for plants to flourish. Unless you have an open top glass canopy, this can be difficult to achieve. If you do have an open top glass canopy, lighting can be achieved in 1 of 2 ways, you can either invest in expensive compact floro lights, or, you can use the 2 20 watt lights you got with the tank and add a 4ft shop light. The light combo yields 120 watts of light. (2-24" strips @ 20 watts each + 1-4 ft shop light with 2-40 watt bulbs, or 20+20+40+40 for a total of 120 watts) this light combo will allow you to grow all but the most light demanding of plants. A good rule of thumb when looking at prospective plants for your tank, the darker the coloration, ie.  deep dark green, red, purple, the more light they require. There are exceptions to this of course, but if you follow the basic rule you should be ok.

[szidlon]

Re: Hey! I'm new - how are you?

Hi and welcome!  You'll find a lot of very helpful people here.  Plus, they are always willing to go a little further to help you get started.  My sisters live in Oak Forest, what a small world.  When you get ready to add fish, be sure to check here, I'd take a guess and say you could pretty much find any kind of fish you wanted just by posting on the Fish Market board.  Oh, and congrats on your win  

[daisymac]

Re: Hey! I'm new - how are you?

Hi szidlon! It is a small world - my daughter lives in the Heights! Thanks for the congrats, too. Totally unexpected but a great surprise!


Scott - I have decided to wait before I use live plants, even though I have more than enough lighting for them. I just need to get used to the big tank for now.

Thanks you all!

Daisymac

[PhishPhreek]

Re: Hey! I'm new - how are you?

Welcome
I see you have plenty of help and plenty of refference material to catch up on.

Hope you enjoy the big tank as much as you have the small one.