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Getting Started with a Freshwater Fish Tank

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linuxrulesusa:
Many or most of us here have been keeping fish for a while, but we all have to start somewhere.

So, if you are new to keeping fish, one of the most important things you need to understand is the nitrogen cycle. Before we get there, do you have the other tools you need?
 
Equipment Needed
 
For the basic freshwater tank, you need some basic equipment.

First, the tank. If you already have one, you may be set. Make sure the seals look good and the silicone in the corners is not cracked or warped. This prevents leaks. Think about what fish you want to keep, and use a tool like AqAdvisor to get a good idea of whether your planned fish will work together and whether they will outgrow the tank you have or plan to buy. Ask questions of people who have kept fish for a while, like on this forum.
 
Second, a filter. Sponge filters are not as pretty but are great for growing helpful bacteria, which we will look at in minute. They do not do as good a job keeping the bottom of the tank looking clean ('mechanical filtration'). Hang on back (HOB) filters are less obvious, but often have to be primed (pour water into the back chamber) to get the suction started. Plus the water level will have to be fairly close to the top for these to work. They do a good job at mechanical filtration (sucking waste etc out of the tank) but vary as to how much space they have to grow good bacteria compared to a sponge filter. Third, canister filters. Canister filters combine advantages of sponge filters (lots of space for good bacteria to grow) with HOB filters (lots of mechanical filtration) to keep the water looking clean and keep the fish healthy. Canister filters have lots of good options and don't have to be cleaned as often, but can be prone to leaks if not set up properly. They are also more useful on larger tanks, e.g. 75 gallons or more.

Note: when cleaning a filter sponge make sure you rinse it gently in a bucket of tank water, rather than squeezing out everything in it, as you will lose helpful bacteria. More on this in a minute.
 
Third, a heater. Most tropical fish need a heater to make sure they don't get too cold.  You want a heater that is somewhere around 3-5 watts per gallon, e.g a 150W or 200W heater for a 55 gallon tank.  The exact size depends on how much colder the room is than you need your tank to be.  If the room is 70 and you want to heat to 72 Fahrenheit in your tank, you can get away with a smaller heater.  If the room is 65 and you need to get to 80 in the tank, you need a bigger heater.  At some point, it may make sense to heat the room instead of the tanks individually.

If you go with an in-tank heater, there are two common types, submersible and hang on back.  Submersible heaters can be placed (usually) horizontal or vertical or diagonal.  Hang on back heaters are more difficult because the water level has to stay closer to the top of the tank for them to work properly.  Keep an eye on where you put the heater as most heaters can break/shatter if they are on and running but exposed above the water.  Pick a good heater brand (Aqueon/Hagen/Ebo Jager) and make sure it has a temperature adjustment knob that shows degrees, not just +/- or even no adjustment.
 
Fourth, a thermometer. This lets you know if your heater is working properly. A heater that fails can either cook your fish (too hot) if it sticks on, or freeze them (too cold) if it no longer turns on.
 
Fifth, substrate, decorations, plants. This is not technically necessary, but most fish are more comfortable with something in the tank, whether a thin layer of sand or gravel, or even aquarium soil. Heavier grain sand, like pool filter sand, is better for your filter as it is less likely to get sucked up and wear out the inside of the filter. Avoid colored gravel if possible as the paint can chip off and become toxic to the fish, or at least look bad.
 
Finally, a stand. Make sure the stand, whether metal or wooden, allows the tank to sit level. Use wooden shims under the feet of the stand if needed to get it level.

Now you have your equipment. What's next?
 
Introduction to the Nitrogen Cycle
 
For a quick overview, here's how it works. Fish and other creatures (snails/shrimp/etc) produce waste in the form of ammonia. If the proper bacteria are present, that waste (ammonia) is converted to nitrite, then by another kind of bacteria to nitrate.  These bacteria needed to process ammonia and nitrite into nitrate grow on various surfaces - gravel, sponges in filters, etc.  Nitrate is then removed by plants (if you have live plants) but more importantly by water changes.
 
So Ammonia > Nitrite > Nitrate > Water Changes to reduce Nitrate > cycle continues.
 
Once the bacteria are in place, the tank is said to be cycled. If you don't have the right bacteria in place, then your fish will likely die off ('new tank syndrome').   

Water Changes
 
After the cycle is in place, you have to keep up changing the water. This simply means removing a certain percentage of the water, and replacing it with new water. This new water that often needs to be dechlorinated using something like Seachem Prime (see directions on the bottle for how much to add). Try to match the temperature of the water you add to the temperature of the water in the tank as a general rule.
 
Changing 20% of the water out weekly is a good starting point. You should adjust the amount based on how many fish you have.

A helpful tool for estimating how much water you should change each week and how many fish would be a good idea for your tank is AqAdvisor. On that website, you pick your tank size, your filter, and the kinds and number of fish you have or want to have, and it will give you an estimate of how much water to change out each week. As well as whether you are planning too many fish for the size tank you own.
 
To really know for sure how much water to change, you need a water testing kit. The liquid ones are more accurate (e.g. API Master Test Kit) but somewhat expensive. The test strip kind (e.g. by Jungle) are easier (just dip in the water sample) but are not as accurate, expire more quickly, and are more expensive per test.
 
If you don't change out enough water regularly, harmful levels of ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate accumulate which either kills existing fish, or any new fish if you add them later ('old tank syndrome')
 
How to Start the Cycle
 
From my experience and research there are three general options for getting the nitrogen cycle started.
 
1) fishless cycle
 
2) bacteria in a bottle or using sponges or other filter media from a healthy existing tank,
 
3) cycling with hardy fish.
 

The Fishless Cycle
 
The fishless cycle is perhaps the most humane but can take a very long time.

Essentially, once your tank is set up, you need an ammonia source and a water test kit.  Your goal would be to add enough ammonia to match the waste output of your future stocking of fish.   There are various calculators online to help you figure this out, based on your tank size and planned number of fish.

You can create ammonia in your tank by adding a handful of fish food and leaving it, by putting in a raw shrimp and letting it decay, or more precisely by adding a certain amount of pure ammonia to the tank each day.

You then use the water test kit to watch for a decrease in the level of ammonia and an increase in nitrite.  Then, once ammonia and nitrite are near 0, you watch for the present of nitrate.  When ammonia and nitrite are essentially 0, and nitrate is 10ppm or higher, your tank is 'cycled.' 

If you don't add the right amount of ammonia every day (if you are using the pure ammonia method) you may have to start all over. If you don't add enough ammonia, your bacteria colony may be too small to handle adding very many fish at once.  A workaround is adding your fish one or a few at a time and waiting in between to let the bacteria adjust/build back up to an adequate level to handle the new fish.
 
If your schedule does not allow you to add ammonia and do water tests every day, or if you are impatient/want to add most of your new fish at the same time (perhaps you live a long way from a good fish store), you may want to consider the next method.


Bacteria in a Bottle/Used filter media
 
Bacteria in a Bottle
 
Generally speaking, the process for using bacteria in a bottle is: add water (dechlorinated e.g. with Seachem Prime), wait a day, add fish, add the bacteria the same day as the fish, and then don't touch the tank for about a week.
 
The 'bacteria in a bottle' options that have worked for me are:
 
1) Tetra SafeStart - never exceeded 1ppm nitrite and a very brief spike (less than a day - was not testing hourly) - whole process took ~5 days if memory serves to get to 0 ammonia 0 nitrite 20+ nitrates
 
2) TLC StartSmart - this had a higher nitrite spike (or my test may have been off slightly) of 2+ppm, again, only for a day or so - whole process was done in under a week as well
 
3) Other brands - have not tested, but good to keep in mind that Prime and similar additives help mitigate symptoms (temporarily detoxify nitrite) but don't add the bacteria you need to get your tank 'cycled'. So they are not a long term solution. Though helpful for dechlorination.
 
The major pitfall of the bacteria in a bottle is that you have to follow the directions and you have to buy a test kit to know if it's working. And the bacteria need an ammonia source (like in the fish-less cycle). So if you dump in the bacteria and don't add fish (or ammonia, if you're combining fish-less cycle with bacteria in a bottle), it won't work.
 
The big advantage of the bacteria in the bottle is that if you add your full stock of fish initially, you have enough bacteria to handle their waste.
 
Used Media
 
If you have a friend, or a friendly LFS (local fish store/shop) that will give you a sponge filter or some filter pads/sponges/ceramic media from a healthy cycled tank, you can take that media (submerged in water) from their house/store to your tank, put it in your filter, and fairly shortly your tank will be cycled.
 
Be aware if they have a lot less fish than you plan to add, you will have to add fish slowly to give the bacteria time to catch up to the number of fish in your tank.

Also be aware some of the good bacteria may die in the process of transferring from the running tank to your new one, so again, don't add too many fish at once, and keep an eye on your water parameters using your test kit.
 

Cycling with Fish
 
I no longer am a big fan of cycling with fish (without additives) as you will almost definitely have many of them die.

Some people like to buy a lot of cheaper fish like 'feeder' goldfish or guppies and throw them in the tank. Once the cycle is in place (anywhere from a couple weeks to a month or more), they add the 'nicer' fish. If you go that route, keep in mind that feeder fish are often diseased already and you risk your 'nice' fish getting those disease later on. Also, it can be confusing to know if the fish are dying because of being sick or because of the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate in the water.
 
If you just throw expensive fish in the tank and hope for the best, you will have wasted a lot of money.
 
Either way, there are better methods, both from the perspective of not killing fish needlessly, and not wasting lots of money with more expensive fish dying.


Feeding Your Fish

Before concluding, a quick note about feeding your fish. 

A search of various forums online will give you a rule of thumb for feeding fish that goes something like "feed them as much as they can eat in two minutes".  Sometimes, this is bumped up to "what they will eat in five minutes." Generally, that is too much food.  Something like 'what they will eat in 20-30 seconds' is a better rule of thumb.  Start out with less food and increase as needed.  It is better to underfeed, especially at first, than to overfeed.  If you leave uneaten food too long, it will mold.  Make sure to siphon out leftover food when doing water changes so your water quality doesn't go downhill. 
 
For example, if you have a 10 gallon tank with three or four guppies, start out by feeding a pinch of flakes (what you can hold between your thumb and index finger).  If they start to look too thin, e.g. sunken bellies, then increase the amount of food.  If they look too fat, you may want to cut back.

If feeding pellets, e.g. to a pair of convict cichilds, don't just dump a handful in.  Start with a small amount, and make sure uneaten food is not sitting on the bottom. 

You have to be especially careful when feeding live foods, as these will quickly pollute the water if you put in too much. 

Many fish will do just fine on a good quality pellet like New Life Spectrum or equivalents.  Make sure you research the diet of your new fish.  Some need more vegetables, and others more protein.


Now you're on your way to having a great fish tank!

Regalblue:
Look at you going for a sticky. :P

linuxrulesusa:

--- Quote from: 1w4nn4Bc00l2!4m1c00ln0w2? on March 20, 2013, 03:52:10 PM ---Look at you going for a sticky. :P

--- End quote ---

What?  ;)  :P

I searched and didn't see anything similar...I know most everybody on here knows this stuff already (and may  have a different opinion about it) but if we want to help out newer members we need some good info/FAQs/howtos posted up and easy to find.

Regalblue:
It's a good write up. Great job

mightieskeeper:
Great Job Apple Man!  Marty needs to make it a sticky

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