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Our new 55 gallon

16K views 164 replies 9 participants last post by  lilbabyvenus 
#1 ·
We just transferred our 20 gallon to a 55 gallon. I transferred all the water then added new, transferred our gravel and added new, and transferred our filter media, so I'm hoping to not have a huge mess with our water. Right now we still just have a peppered Cory, a red male guppy, and three tetras. I have four plants right now with one more on the way, and a couple hiding spots that anyone has yet to use. Planning to take my son tomorrow to pick out another fish or two from petsmart.


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#2 ·
So far all the fish seem to be enjoying all the new space. The cloudiness from our hard water is settling nicely. I tested the tank water and it's harder than the last tank, but I imagine that's because it hasn't been conditioned as much yet. The only real concerns I have are that my nitrates are at 5 and my nitrites are at .5. Those numbers are lower than our plain tap water though. I added some more Prime and am hoping that my bacteria transfer from the old tank will take care of everything by morning.
 
#3 ·
It does sound like you tank is going thru a mini cycle now. Please keep in mind that nitrites at any readable lvl is hard on fish and can stress them out. Prolonged periods of it can be deadly to them as well. Soo please don't stock any more fish until the tank is done cycling. This might not take long since you did seed it with old media and substrate. Patience is the name of the game here. Once it has cycled you still need to stock slowly to let the bacteria catch up to new additions.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Hi, Venus! Welcome to TFK and a new 55g tank! This is going to be a very fun tank for your whole family to enjoy - I know, because I have one! I set up mine in pretty much the same way, transferred from a 29g (and soon to move into a 125 - be careful, tanks are addicting!) ^.^ Thanks for starting a journal to share your experiences along the way! We all learn a great deal from the varied experiences of one-another, and we ALL love watching a new tank grow!!!

I do have to agree with Bored that you're seeing a bit of a mini-cycle in there right now. It shouldn't take long for your parameters to clear up with all the seeded media from your old tank, but the bacterial colonies may be a bit fragile for a time, so you'll want to keep up on testing and do water changes as needed when toxins are present. Growing a tank slowly always makes for the best environments in the end!

I'm curious as to why such a shift in your water hardness from the old tank to the new, sudden shifts like this can be very stressful on the fish, so you want to do your best to keep the Ph/Kh/Gh as stable as possible for them. In my tanks, these numbers match, or are *slightly* lower than the Ph directly from my tap. There are a few reasons why the water in your old tank could be softer, and keeping up a good weekly cleaning/water change routine is one easy way to keep them spot-on!

I'm curious as to where your water parameters stand, both in tank and in tap, if you wouldn't mind posting the numbers for us? Hopefully all will be clear by morning, but I'm a bit concerned by the shift in hardness, as well as the presence of nitrItes in your tap. . .

One last thing I'd like to point out is - after a few weeks, when the tank is ready to accept new fish, the first thing to consider in all the excitement is the ones who live there already. Tetra and Cories both should be kept in shoals - both species will be bolder, brighter, and far more comfortable when kept in a group of their own kind -the more the merrier! Typically, Cories should be kept over a sandy substrate. . . so you may want to do a bit more research into their needs before bringing any more home.

Can't wait to see where this tank goes next!!! Congrats on 55 gallons!!! When do we get pictures!!!?? ^.^
 
#5 ·
Ok, as I suspected both the Nitrites and Nitrates are at 0 this morning. As well as Ammonia (still, we never really had an issue with that).

I'm having a problem with water hardness though. I don't know how the water was so much softer in our old tank, maybe I added *too much* Prime? Or maybe our landlord didn't fill our water softener? I have no clue, but I'm open to suggestions on softening tank water...

Our tap water readings have changed since I last tested them as well. A week ago our tap water was at:
PH: 6.8
KH: 180
GH: 150
Nitrite: 2
Nitrate: 10

This morning our tap water reads:
PH: 7.8
KH: 300
GH: 250
Nitrite: 1
Nitrate: 5

This mornings water readings are:
Ammonia: 0
PH: 7.8
KH: 250
GH: 150
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0

So.. it looks like I need to soften the tank, as well as lower the alkalinity some.

Chesh: I feel awful for my little Cory :( My son actually calls him little guy lol - but all we have around here are Petsmart and Petco or WalMart, so when we initially got our 20 gallon, I wasn't told that the cory needed sand. I specifically asked about things certain fish would need and no one had any input, except that she recoemmended I buy the Prime. She told me the food didn't matter as long as it was for tropical fish, but I later ordered them some blood worms and am looking to order a few other food items. But yeah, I didn't know at the time he needed sand. I know he would love some buddies, but I don't know about adding more and making them all uncomfortable. We did have 5 tetras, but 4 of them came from WalMart, and I noticed after I got them home that all 4 looked a lot more pale than the one we got from Petsmart. I actually expected all of them to die, but only 2 did. It was sad, but hopefully we can add some more soon.
 
#6 ·
Oh! I also wanted to add that I've been using test strips because I couldn't find any liquid tests at walmart. Petsmart and Petco are both a little over an hour away so I don't really get to just run there to pick up stuff :( But I ordered an API master freshwater test kit and that is out for delivery right now, so I'll be retesting everything )probably multiple times lol) when that arrives later.
 
#7 ·
Our API kit is here! :D

I recieved the same results as the strips, but this was way more fun lol

PH: 7.6, 7.8 with high PH test
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Ammonia: 0

I'm going to check for KH and GH tests at Petsmart today. I just have to motivate myself to make that drive...
 
#8 · (Edited)
Is there anyway you can get to a faucet that isn't hooked up to water softener? There is a debate about using them and keeping fish one I know very little about so won't go there. Though the constant change in hardness is going to constantly stress the fish out. Soo if you could have a water supply that doesn't change would be best.
 
#9 ·
Is there any way you could add a little "beach" for the cories? In a tank that size it seems it wouldn't be impossible to add an area of sand. And play sand is so cheap! Just a thought.
 
#11 ·
Hmm, I hadn't thought of anything like that. I'll try to plan out something like that. I'd feel better knowing little guy had some sand and was comfortable, and then I could get him so buddies. Thanks for the idea!
 
#12 ·
That would be great! My cories are just a riot to watch on sand. They actually sift it through their gills and dig around it in. They remind me of puppies sometimes. Especially when they lay in a big pile.
 
#14 ·
I got mine at Lowes. Any hardware store should have it. Then you just need a big 5 gallon bucket and some time to give it a good rinse.
 
#19 ·
Well I got more plants today. I found sand at Petsmart but it was $46 for a 10lb bag, and I just can't spend that much on sand. I was going to check Menards but it was completely out of the way of Petsmart. My stepmom called and wanted to me to look at the pictures I had taken of my son and to have him try on his ring bearers outfit for my brothers wedding, so I'm going to try to stop after my psych class tomorrow.
 
#20 ·
Play sand typically runs $5 - $7 bucks at most hardware stores.
 
#21 ·
I figured it was cheap lol. I just honestly didn't think it would be that expensive at Petsmart. I know our local hardware store doesn't carry any. Menards is right down the road from college though, so it should be easy to check them out unless my dad is in a crunch for me to pick up my son. But if all else fails I can probably bring him back out there with me later and we can search :-D

How much area of sand should I put in the tank? Should I just cover the gravel? Or should I remove gravel from the whole area and just fill it in with 3 inches of sand?
 
#22 ·
So sad. I held back on plants at Petsmart because I was waiting on a medium size water sprite that I ordered. I finally emailed asking when it would ship (because I ordered Friday) and got a kinda rude email back saying they emailed asking if I wanted a refund because it was too hot so they weren't going to ship it at all. If they decided they wouldn't ship it, why would you have to ask about a refund? Either way, I never got a message from them, so I waited a week for nothing. I love the look of the water sprites, but I can't find any except for online. I guess I won't be able to get one if no one will ship to me, very disappointing. I wonder if this would be for all plants? Or just those?
 
#23 ·
If you're in the mood and up to the work, I'd say do the whole tank in sand. Also don't be afraid to order plants online. I've picked up some great stuff on EBay.
 
#25 ·
PH has been steady at 8 since yesterday afternoon. I have changed out 2 gallons so far with distilled water. Thinking of heading into the cities today to check out what Petco has, but I'm pretty sure OH is sick of me spending his money on fish stuff lol.
 
#26 · (Edited)
Tanking is sooooo addictive, and fish stuff sure does add up quick!

I can send you some WS if you want, I have extra. Send me a PM if you need it still. It can be a fussy plant in shipping, but most sellers will ship in insulated packages through the summer, you just have to pay an extra dollar for them sometimes. . . s/he should have let you know before you had to ask about it, though!

I think switching out to sand is a great idea, but keep an eye on those parameters if/when you do! In more established tanks, I've seen people just bucket the fish and do it with no problems, but when my tank was new, I actually used nylon 'bags' (lol pantyhose!) and kept the top layer of the old substrate in the water for a week or so to be 100% POSITIVE I wasn't going to mess with the bacteria too much. I tend to be super nervous about my tanks, though ^.^

Very happy to see that everything has evened out with the Ph flux and toxins in the water there! The 55 is on its way!

. . . Bored brings up a really good point about the water softener. I know some types of water softeners essentially pull out the minerals calcium and magnesium using resin beads. The softened water goes out to the taps, and the beads are flushed with a brine solution to recharge them for the next round of softening. Unfortunately, a decent amount of sodium ends up in the softened water. I'm sure this varies from unit to unit, but it was enough that my aunt had to start drinking bottled water when she was put on a low-sodium diet because of the salt in her softened tap water! I'm not 100% clear on how this works, or how it affects tanks (so double check this info!), but have read a lot of conflicting information as to the safety of that particular type of softening when used with freshwater fish (for obvious reasons!). If your landlord uses a Ro unit, that's ideal, but I don't *think* its the standard? Not entirely positive, but definitely encourage you to look a bit farther into this matter!
 
#27 ·
Tanking is sooooo addictive, and fish stuff sure does add up quick!

I can send you some WS if you want, I have extra. Send me a PM if you need it still. It can be a fussy plant in shipping, but most sellers will ship in insulated packages through the summer, you just have to pay an extra dollar for them sometimes. . . s/he should have let you know before you had to ask about it, though!

I think switching out to sand is a great idea, but keep an eye on those parameters if/when you do! In more established tanks, I've seen people just bucket the fish and do it with no problems, but when my tank was new, I actually used nylon 'bags' (lol pantyhose!) and kept the top layer of the old substrate in the water for a week or so to be 100% POSITIVE I wasn't going to mess with the bacteria too much. I tend to be super nervous about my tanks, though ^.^
Aww! That is very sweet of you :) I'll send you a pm!

I am getting excited about the sand, but I'm curious if it would work if I removed half of the gravel and just added sand to it. I have small pieces of gravel, and they are smooth for the most part that I've noticed. They are all natural stones, not the colored pieces. I think a mix of like 60% sand and 40% small gravel would like nice, but don't know how practical it would be.
 
#28 ·
The sand will just sink to the bottom. Unless you're talking about separating the two? Like one side gravel, one side sand?
 
#29 ·
Hmm, ok. I need to decide on one side to make sand anyway, but I was hoping to use some of the gravel since I just bought it all lol. *sigh* I'm not sure what to do with all the gravel either. I'll have to do some more thinking on this.
 
#35 ·
OK, so I finally got a chance to check our plain tap water. I have been just testing it straight out of the tap and getting lower ph readings than what I'm seeing in my tank, and couldn't figure it out. I didn't know there could be such a large difference! I let a glass of water sit overnight to let any extra gasses dissipate, and now I just got a reading of 8.4 from plain tap water. So that must be why my ph wants to sit around 8.2. I'll continue doing water changes with distilled water and hopefully notice a difference over a couple weeks.
 
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#36 ·
Df brought home some tetras Friday might. More than what should be added at once, by far, but he's convinced I'm just overly paranoid. His family never did anything special with their aquarium growing up and he says their fish were fine for years, so when I try to explain about water testing and treatments, and water changes, I just get him shaking his head at me.

But anyway... Everyone has been adjusting fine. No issues, no jumps in nitrites, nitrates, or ammonia. In case anyone is curious, there are 11 tetras... Along with our 3 neon tetras, guppy, and peppered Cory.


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#38 ·
What kind of tetras did he bring home?
 
#40 ·
Bear in mind, tetras are community fish and do best in minimum groups of 6 (your neons included). Without those minimums, they can become aggressive toward each other, shy, destructive, you name it. Hopefully as your tank matures, you can fill out those schools. Even expand them beyond the minimum. Cories are the same way - they need at least 6 to be healthy and happy.
 
#41 ·
Yep. Ive been told 5 of each tetra and 4 or 5 Cory's. I actually had 5 neons already but two had died. They were from Walmart. So I won't buy more from there, but pet smart has been out. I've mentioned before, but I'm waiting to get more Cory's until I get the sand in my tank.


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#43 ·
I'm bad with pictures :lol: But here is one. I've rearranged the tank since this was taken, and I have black sand and plants on the way. This is from Friday while we were acclimating DF's fish to the tank, not all are in here yet:

 
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