Hello guys, I am completely new with aquariums, I just got my first aquarium ever! It is 180 gallons, and it is in my office room as an in-wall, and also the other side is in my bedroom. I paid about $9,000 dollars for the whole thing including cabinets and setup etc..
Check out a bunch of pictures of it here:
http://primelogic.ws/180-gallon-fish-tank.htm
I did have a professional guy set it up, but now it's up to me to do the rest.
I had it setup for a week with water before I put fish in it. The first time I put fish in it, I put 25 fish in, it turn out that within a few hours they ALL died! well except for 3 of them, 2 of which was angel fish, and 1 other one was one of those sucker fish. They are still alive today, after 3 weeks, and like i said, the rest died.
I'm not sure why the rest died, maybe because I put too much fish in at once, or the tank had too much ammonia in it or something, I don't know. I recently just added 2 gold fish into it and they are doing okay now. So maybe the tank is now settled down and healthy now for fish.
Here are some more details of the tank:
-180 gallons, freshwater.
-100% starphire glass around it.
-all fake plants.
-2 under gravel filters. No other filters.
-A heater set at 75 F.
-There is a bubbler in it that spits bubbles up.
-Two T5 florescent bulbs, one is a glow light, the other is a regular white light, both are on a timer that is on 14 hours a day and off for 10 hours a day.
-There is a very small amount of natural sunlight coming in.
-There are 4 real rocks in the tank.
But since this is my first tank ever, I am a newbie with all this stuff, and I am going through a big learning process about this, so I have a TON of questions that maybe you guys can help me with. Here they are:
1. How often should I do a water change? And I should do a 20-30% change correct? Remember my tank is 180 gallons!
2. I am concerned about doing the water change because I use my garden hose attached to my faucet outside. I live up north, so it is cold and the tap water is very cold up here, so it makes my water a bit colder for a short period of time until the heater heats it up. Will this be okay for the fish, is there any alternative I should consider?
3. Should I chose a different filter method, Or should I add another filter? Remember I am using 2 under gravel filters.
4. I am now seeing a build up of what I think looks like little white turds in the gravel, I assume these are fish poop?? Am I right? Is this bad? Do i need to clean these out and if so how??
5. How often do I need to clean the filter, and how do i do it? Im not sure how to clean an under gravel filter's filter!
6. My fish food they provided for me is in huge flakes, should I crumble these up, or just put them in as big flakes? Or it doesn't matter?
7. One of my rocks has a large growth of green fuzz on it, should I take the rock out and clean it, or just leave it in there?
8. When I feed my fish I do not see the fish to come up and eat anything, should I give them less or not feed them at all?
9. I see a lot of small particles floating around in the water. Should I be concerned about this? If so how do I remove them? It is kind of annoying to look at!
Is there anything else I should know?
Thanks for those who help me with any of these questions, it is greatly appreciated!
Check out a bunch of pictures of it here:
http://primelogic.ws/180-gallon-fish-tank.htm
I did have a professional guy set it up, but now it's up to me to do the rest.
I had it setup for a week with water before I put fish in it. The first time I put fish in it, I put 25 fish in, it turn out that within a few hours they ALL died! well except for 3 of them, 2 of which was angel fish, and 1 other one was one of those sucker fish. They are still alive today, after 3 weeks, and like i said, the rest died.
I'm not sure why the rest died, maybe because I put too much fish in at once, or the tank had too much ammonia in it or something, I don't know. I recently just added 2 gold fish into it and they are doing okay now. So maybe the tank is now settled down and healthy now for fish.
Here are some more details of the tank:
-180 gallons, freshwater.
-100% starphire glass around it.
-all fake plants.
-2 under gravel filters. No other filters.
-A heater set at 75 F.
-There is a bubbler in it that spits bubbles up.
-Two T5 florescent bulbs, one is a glow light, the other is a regular white light, both are on a timer that is on 14 hours a day and off for 10 hours a day.
-There is a very small amount of natural sunlight coming in.
-There are 4 real rocks in the tank.
But since this is my first tank ever, I am a newbie with all this stuff, and I am going through a big learning process about this, so I have a TON of questions that maybe you guys can help me with. Here they are:
1. How often should I do a water change? And I should do a 20-30% change correct? Remember my tank is 180 gallons!
2. I am concerned about doing the water change because I use my garden hose attached to my faucet outside. I live up north, so it is cold and the tap water is very cold up here, so it makes my water a bit colder for a short period of time until the heater heats it up. Will this be okay for the fish, is there any alternative I should consider?
3. Should I chose a different filter method, Or should I add another filter? Remember I am using 2 under gravel filters.
4. I am now seeing a build up of what I think looks like little white turds in the gravel, I assume these are fish poop?? Am I right? Is this bad? Do i need to clean these out and if so how??
5. How often do I need to clean the filter, and how do i do it? Im not sure how to clean an under gravel filter's filter!
6. My fish food they provided for me is in huge flakes, should I crumble these up, or just put them in as big flakes? Or it doesn't matter?
7. One of my rocks has a large growth of green fuzz on it, should I take the rock out and clean it, or just leave it in there?
8. When I feed my fish I do not see the fish to come up and eat anything, should I give them less or not feed them at all?
9. I see a lot of small particles floating around in the water. Should I be concerned about this? If so how do I remove them? It is kind of annoying to look at!
Is there anything else I should know?
Thanks for those who help me with any of these questions, it is greatly appreciated!