Tropical Fish Keeping banner

Newbie Looking For Reassurance

4K views 32 replies 10 participants last post by  SheyFirestar 
#1 ·
Greetings All

My wife and I started our first fish tank (neither of us have any experience even as children) about two months ago. A little background on the tank first. It is a 45 gallon freshwater tank roughly 22x22x22 (it is a pentagon shape so it's slightly less). We have an Emperor 400 Bio-Wheel filter, 2 marineland heaters (not sure of the size, but they are rated for more than our size tank). We have a light fixture with 2 65 watt dual daylight bulbs (130w total) which we are now only running at half power (65w) due to some hair algae growth we experienced our first few weeks which seems to now be under control with the reduced lighting and co2 injections. As far as the co2 we are currently using one of the systems in which you drop a tab into some water which then creates co2 and injects it into a holding device which adds the co2 into the water over a few hours. We used eco-complete substrate and have about a 3 inch cover. PH is around 7.4, kh is at about 180 ppm and gh at about 120 ppm. Temp ranges from roughly 76-79.

My wife is maintaining the plants, so I may not have this exactly right, but I believe we have 2 wisteria plants, 2 ludwiga?, 3 java ferns, some java moss, a moss ball, and 3 baby tears. We are using a couple different fertilizers, the kind you just dump into the water. API leaf-zone i know is one, than there is something called excel i believe and another iron supplement.

We have 4 male guppies, 3 zebra danio's, 6 neon tetra's, 4 cory's (2 panda and 2 green), 3 otocinclus, an upside down catfish and a striped raphael catfish. We also have 2 large trap door snails and another smaller snail that made it in through our plants when we purchased them. Currently I am feeding two different flakes (tetramin and tetraveggie) as well as some freeze-dried and frozen bloodworms and an occasional small fresh boiled cucumber, in small increments 3 times a day.

The tank has cycled and I am still testing ammonia/nitrite/nitrate every few days and all the readings are good (0/0/<10ppm respectively). In fact I only saw a very small ammonia spike and never even witnessed the nitrite spike during the original cycle and I was testing everyday. I'm doing weekly water changes at between 10-15% each week as well as cleaning the filter once every other week, replacing cartridges once a month. I've been using a marineland filter media (don't remember the name now) that is designed to reduce ammonia but I have been weening my tank of it and as of yet there has been no additional spike. I used a fairly small amount (about half of one of my media containers worth). I expect to be completely off of it by this time next week.

I've done countless hours of research and feel that I am as knowledgeable about the aquarium hobby as one can be without actually having any experience. I think my tank may be a little overstocked, but all my fish are relatively small and I think I have adequate filtration and a good enough maintenance routine to not cause any problems.

We have lost 3 fish up to this point. 1 danio which I believe was attributed to the beginning cycling (we started with 4 danios). 1 swordtail which I believe was diseased from the LFS and 1 german ram which died within 12 hours of purchase either because i did not acclimate him properly (I've been using the method of placing the bag in the tank, slowly filling it up with tank water, draining out half of the water, repeating, etc. for between 30-45 min per fish) or because he was just not healthy. The other three danio's I've had from the start, and the guppies and raphael catfish have been in the tank for only a few weeks less time than the danio's and all are doing fantastic. In fact, all my fish appear to be extremely healthy. With the exception of the swordtail (which as I said I believed was diseased) none of the other fish, including those that have died, showed any signs of distress or disease.

So, after all of that, my question to you, the experts, is what am I doing wrong? What am I missing? What am I not doing? I feel like we've made a very good start but that there is still something that we need to do or purchase or look for that we're not. Any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Sounds like you're off to a good start. Losing a fish during cycling makes sense. The swordtail could very well have been diseased. I've heard a lot of things about the rams being sensitive, which is why I'm hesitant to buy one myself.

Just a warning: your raphael catfish might eventually start eating your neons and possibly the guppies and otos.
 
#4 ·
you say you clean your filter. I am certainly not an expert, but you need to be sure you arent eliminating the good bacteria in your filter. If you are using ammo chips now, you will need the bacteria to convert the ammonia to nitrite and then to nitrate when you are finally off the chips.
 
#5 ·
well if you don't clean your filter you end up with a bunch of sludge in there that will back it up. I'm not taking my biowheels out and dipping them in chlorine to clean the filter. Just taking the filter apart and running a brush through to clean it out. If that's wrong then someone please tell me. Seems like common sense to me.
 
#6 ·
Well I wouldn't go as far as to give it a good scrub down or anything, but certainly once a month (or if need be twice a month) Taking the media out and giving it a good rinse, and just rinsing the actual filter out is always a good idea. Normally I would just rinse the media, but once in a while I'll rinse out the actual filter. Blah the stuff that comes outta there, I don't even wanna know what that is :sick:

If your really worried about the sludge build up and it effecting the performance of your filter, really the thing that gets my filter going again, it just scrubbing the intake tube and pulling the.. Lol ok here comes my not so correct terms for filter parts... Part thats kinda like the motor thing with the propeller?? Yeahhh come on you know what I'm talkin aboot :wink: Give that a good rinse too because gunk tends to build up on that! :thumbsup:
 
#7 ·
qpc68 said:
]So, after all of that, my question to you, the experts, is what am I doing wrong? What am I missing? What am I not doing? I feel like we've made a very good start but that there is still something that we need to do or purchase or look for that we're not. Any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.
Hi there! :D Zebra danjos as well as all the upside-down catfish are shoal fish. They are not happy in threes, much less alone. Similar species are no substitute for a shoal.
 
#8 ·
You're thinking of the impeller, LF.

As for the filter, swishing it in the old tank water will be sufficient, as for your plants are they in a healthy state and doing well or not so much?

I would recommend having a QT tank for your new fish that you bring home, otherwise it's very possible to bring in a disease from an LFS and get the rest of your fish sick. It doesn't have to be big...it's just really hard to keep from stocking running tanks :)

Regarding your cories, they're like the other fish PDX mentioned. They like to be in groups of 6 or more I'm pretty sure that the two different types of cories you have would be happier in their own groups (more pandas and more greens).

One more thing, it might be better to up your water changes to 25% so that you're getting more fresh water in there on a weekly basis.
 
#9 ·
I have a cheap little 1 gallon tank that I'm using for that purpose. I don't have a filter for it so I'm only keeping new fish in it for 2 days before transferring them to the main tank.

My plants are iffy. The wisteria/ludwiga are doing great. The moss is ok I suppose. The Java Ferns aren't doing all that well. I'm going to be adding a larger diy system next week for a higher injection of co2.

I added 2 trilineatus cory's in there as well and the 6 of them (2 panda, 2 green, 2 tri) are actually doing quite well together.

I understand that "Similar species are no substitute for a shoal" and I wasn't suggesting that was my purpose. I am a bit worried about my u-d cat and am considering adding some buddies for him.

Thanks for the advice folks, I really appreciate it. Other than the things y'all stated does it sound like everything else is rockin? I'll probably post some pics this afternoon.
 
#11 ·
Just want to agree with the others to be careful about over-cleaning your filter. You can un-cycle your tank that way. You should only clean it enough to keep it running smoothly. I've personally never used Bio-Wheels, but with my AquaClears I never ever replace the media. It's a moneymaking scheme for the filter makers. (When things get gunked up I do give the sponge a good rinsing, but why replace it? It isn't worn out just dirty!)

The only thing that really wears out are the carbon inserts...but you don't really need those anyway. All they do is improve water clarity which is really only useful if you put in driftwood with a lot of tannins and don't like brown water.
 
#12 ·
thespiff said:
The only thing that really wears out are the carbon inserts...but you don't really need those anyway. All they do is improve water clarity which is really only useful if you put in driftwood with a lot of tannins and don't like brown water.
Just to add onto that, if you have media with carbon in it, just cut the flossy side open a bit and shake all the carbon out. Carbon is pretty much useless in my opinion, unless you want to remove like meds from the tank (Lol no one hound on me for calling it useless but in a planted tank its does more bad then good) Plus if left in for to long its been known to cause hole in the head disease, and removes nutrition from the water that feeds your plants.
 
#17 ·
I've had the same sponge in my filter for a few months now, as long as your giving it a good squeeze and getting most of the gunk off it then it'll be ok. But they do have to be replaced eventually. Be careful with sponges!! Make sure you read it over carefully to see if it says anything about not using for aquariums, some sponges have like soaps and stuff already in them, and your fish wouldn't appreciate that!!
 
#19 ·
Ok, as per y'alls advice I removed all the activated carbon from the filters. So basically now I just have the bio-wheels running and a couple of sponges picking up the gunk. Is that sufficient? The bio-wheels have pretty good (at least I think) build up on them.
 
#20 ·
You will see pretty soon whether or not it is sufficient. ;) The mechanical filter primarily filters visible gunk out of the water. If your water becomes ugly, consider finer sponges from your LFS. Chemically, all should be fine. As someone pointed out, activated coal only makes sense when it comes to cleansing the water after medication or in acute poisening situations. It's not a permanent solution.

Your m. umbrosum look really healthy. Could you comment on your water specs and lighting?
 
#21 ·
Yeh I checked out some extra info on the carbon today. I made the assumption (always a mistake) that if it came already inside the filter, as it does with the Emperor Bio-wheel cartridges, that it would be cool. Obviously not.
As far as my water goes...Ammonia/Nitrite = 0 Nitrate around 5ppm. PH is a little higher than I want at 7.6. My tap water is 7.0. I believe the cause was a few rocks that I was using to form a cave for my catfish. Again I assumed (stupid) that since the clerk at my LFS said they wouldn't affect anything that they wouldn't. Won't be making that mistake again. I just removed them yesterday. I'm also adding a DIY co2 system soon to pump in some more CO2 for my java ferns which are doing miserably as you can tell from the photos. Currently I'm just using a cheap co2 system where you drop the tab in the cup and it bubbles up co2. As cost is an issue I believe the DIY system is my best bet. Obviously I'll have to play around with it to hit that right balance. We are using several different fertilizers at the moment, though at reduced dosages. Seachem Flourish and Flourish Excel, as well as API Leaf Zone. We're playing around with the quantities of each to see what works best. We also have Flourish Iron but I'm nervous about dumping a concentrated shot of iron in the water considering all the other fertilizers also contain iron. We have allowed the back walls of our tank to grow a pretty good amount of green algae for our snails, rainbow shark, and oto's but my fear is that if we dump in too many nutrients that the algae will completely take off and quickly cover the whole tank.

My light fixture holds 2 65 Watt Dual 6700K White/10000K White compact bulbs. I'm currently only using 1 at a time until I get that extra co2 pumping. Even then I may only need the one but we'll see. Water temp averages around 77. Fortunately only Hell is hotter than Texas so my tank doesn't even need the heaters right now, but they are in place for our 3 days of winter. Our AC keeps the water temp pretty stable. KH is relatively high (which may also be affecting my ability to alter my PH) at 15 dkh while my GH is pretty neutral on the soft side at 7dh. I'm trying to shy away from any chemicals that artifically raise or lower any of my water parameters (other than the tap conditioner) so I'm hoping the removal of those rocks and the additional co2 will reduce my PH and not greatly affect my KH. I really don't want to spend the money on RO if I can avoid it.

So, if you were only looking for the short version :wink: AMMONIA/NITRITE = 0 NITRATE = 5ppm PH = 7.6 KH = 15 GH = 7
 
#22 ·
You don't even have to use sponges, if you take the media that comes with the filter, and cut a little on the flossy side, you can shake all the carbon out of there and then you have a reusable filter cartridge.

:nicefish: Your tank looks good, I'm surprised your java fern is failing to thrive! I've got some java fern in my tank and besides the fact that I have pond snails making salad of it, its doing well.

Lol anyone have a suggestion to kill pond snails that I can't seem to find?
 
#23 ·
Little-Fizz said:
You don't even have to use sponges, if you take the media that comes with the filter, and cut a little on the flossy side, you can shake all the carbon out of there and then you have a reusable filter cartridge.

:nicefish: Your tank looks good, I'm surprised your java fern is failing to thrive! I've got some java fern in my tank and besides the fact that I have pond snails making salad of it, its doing well.

Lol anyone have a suggestion to kill pond snails that I can't seem to find?
1. Buy a 5.5 gallon tank.
2. Decorate it and let it cycle.
3. Put a dwarf puffer in it.
4. Put some veggies in the problem tank for a few hours, remove, shake off snails into puffer tank.
5. Watch the cute little puffer turn into a merciless killing machine.
 
#24 ·
:D I like that idea! Thanks batman :lol: I feel bad for killing the snails... Lol actually I'm not going to lie, I found two (they were mating :evil: ) and I scooped them out and said "ahah! Now your gonna die :twisted: " Then looked at the cute little things just innocently doing what they were made to do... And put them in my ten gallon with no live plants :lol: I'm to soft.

But I've wanted a puffer for a pretty long time, and I wouldn't feel bad if the snails were dying for a good cause. So I'll be looking into that :wink:

Thanks again!
 
#25 ·
About your pH. I would let some tap water sit in a cup for a day and them test it again. My water comes out of the tap at 6.4 and rises to 7.6 in about a day! I don't know why, but if I had just tested it in the first place I would have saved myself a lot of time removing countless decorations in my aquarium :? . It may not be your rocks after all. Just thought that I should share my experience with this.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top