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My 55g is only 3 days new. I have ordered a boatload of nice plastic plants. I plan to cycle with existing fish for a month. What would you add after that?

Thanks!

Hi and welcome to FP!

congrats on starting up your new tank!

what existing fish are you cycling with ?
i can just make out little red ones which look like tetras but not too sure...

also did these come from a tank you already have running?

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

Hi Carpe. Thanks for the welcome.

Here is a closer picture of the fish. To be honest with you, I went to LFS and let them pick the fish to get me started. I am not sure what they are.





And no.. These were just purchased 3 days ago from LFS.

Those look like serpae tetras (red ones) & black skirt tetras to me.

Welcome to FP

There are so many choices of fish out there! You should look around your fish store & write down the names of the ones you might like. Them come back here to FP or any fish site really & read up on the fish you want & see if they are all compatible. They probably won't be, so that is where some thinking & deciding come in on your part.

If they are schooling fish, you need at least 6 of that school. What you have in there now are also schooling fish. If you like them, then later get more of them to make at least 6 each of them for 2 schools.

During this next month read up on all you can on fish you might want. On our forums pages you will see "search" at the top. Click that & then type in a word or two of what you might want to know about. Also look at the fish profiles on here.

Nice tank by the way! I noticed your heater was placed vertically. I read on someone's post on here that the heat is distributed better if it is placed horizontally.
I'm new here also, so someone may come along & correct something I have said if it isn't correct.......... though I believe it to be.

Thanks Patty!

I that case, I have 5 serpae tetras and 4 black skirts.

Also.. My filter is an AcquaClear 500.. My heater is a EBO-Jager 200W... I keep the temp at 77.

I do not have any other circulation other than the filter. Do you recommend an air stone or is the filter enough? Once all my plants come in, I will take another picture.

As far as feeding. I feed them once a day in the evening.. Just enough for a few minutes of feeding. I will do a 20% water change w/ gravel siphon at end of week.

The way I understand it....... the more circulation the better...........within reason of course. I believe your existing filter would be fine but the addition of an air stone or a an air wall (wand) would increase circulation on the top of the water therefore bringing in more oxygen & the bubbles would help release accumulating gases toward the bottom of the tank. All helpful to the fish.

I feed my fish twice a day.......... just a little..........cause I like to be fed twice a day also. But I'm sure that is a debatable subject.

The water change & syphon idea sounds good for an established tank. Since you are cycling I would only change the water without the vacuuming since the tank is new & you want the good bacteria to stay in the gravel for awhile so it will build colonies to get rid of the ammonia. Do I have this right people!? Someone come on here & agree with me or disagree so jspicloi will know the correct way. I'm just practicing I guess, so I am very liable to give misleading advice if my memory does not serve me correctly. Hang in there & experienced advice will come soon & correct or agree with me.

I wouldnt recommend water changes just yet. you need to allow colonies of bacteria to build. keep testing the water regularly. you should get readings of both ammonia and nitrate which will both eventually drop to 0 and also a nitrate reading. once ammonia and nitrite drops to 0 nitrates are between 20-40ppm your tank is cycled and its time for a water change.


however do watch your ammonia as you are cycling with fish and if it reaches the more dangerous level you may want to think of just slight water change to bring the ammonia back down.
feeding once a day for the moment or twice with small meals watching out for left over food to be removed is a good idea you dont want too much ammonia in the tank just what the fish are producing in waste.

as for your filter i would recommend turning it on an angle and placing an air stone under there to help the warm water circulate rather than sitting in the one spot.

As for what fish you would like to add, as fish patty mentioned look around on the internet and in your LFS and see what you like then come back here and start a thread for opinions
its always fun choosing fish!
keep us posted on your cycling!

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

I would only feed every other day or less in some cases while cycling with fish. After cycling is a different story but for now you don't want to cause too much of an ammonia spike especially if you don't have practice measuring out the right amount of food. Watch the ammonia and nitrite levels and do water changes if they get really high. Also watch the fish to see if they are getting stressed. Otherwise don't do water changes and even if you need to do a water change don't gravel vac. Usually I do a fishless cyle or a heavily planted tank so I don't have to worry about ammonia and nitrite levels. Along with not doing gravel vacs not changing the filter media will help it cycle faster. Rinse it in dechlorinated water if you have to but don't change it out until the tank is finished cycling.

An aquaclear 500 is enough filtration if you don't stock the tank too heavily. Only problem is a powerfilter like that doesn't circulate a 4' tank the greatest. You could leave it but it would keep the tank cleaner and the water better circulated if you either put another small powerfilter on the other side of the brace from the aquaclear or put a small powerhead/water pump on the far end. I ran two penguin 330's on mine but with the aquaclear you would only need something around 100gph to circulate water from the other end. More than that wouldn't do any harm though so long as you have some decorations to break up the flow.

You need to start researching your stocking so you don't have to just listen to the store selling you fish. Most either aren't knowledgeable or don't care. Tetras are schooling fish and it's best if you have at least 6 of each species. That means you either need to buy more of each fish(after the tank cycles) or return 1 species and still increase the number of the remaining species. The more of their own kind the happier they are. Both those tetras are also known to be somewhat nippy and will not go well with long finned and slower moving fish like angels or gouramis.

Thanks for all the great advice.

I just ordered a RENA 300 pump to add more circulation. I will skip on the water changes for now while I monitor the water quality. I may take the fish back after the cycle if they are known to pick on others... I would have went with an African Cichlid tank if I wanted to deal with aggression.

Ok..........don't do water changes during cycling unless the ammonia or nitrite readings come out high. Otherwise they aren't really needed. Feed lightly so as not to cause an ammonia spike. I'm getting it.

as for your filter i would recommend turning it on an angle and placing an air stone under there to help the warm water circulate rather than sitting in the one spot.

I was considering doing that with my own heater....... I assume you meant heater. I have one air stone & one wand placed on the far half of my tank, as my filter is on the other half of the tank. They are running off of an air pump that is recommended for a 100 gal. tank, even though mine is just 55 gal.. I have no decorations or plants in front of theses air stones, as that is the way I want it. If I place my heater in these bubbles it will be very obvious & I don't like to see my heater!

I have been wondering for a long time if they make a heater "hider". Something that snaps onto the heater that looks like a leaf or a plant? If I was ambitious I would make one myself by buying something that looked rather natural & glue it onto a couple suction cups like the ones that already attach the heater onto the tank wall. I think they should also make one of these for the filter intake tube.

Does anyone know where I can buy one of these or has anyone made one of these themselves? Surly I am not the only one that wants to hide these things in the aquarium?!

Should I make a new post for these questions........... as it may not get seen on this dwindling thread?

OK, DON'T do any water changes until the tank is cycled, it will only prolong the process. First you may see, if you are testing with a good teast kit (not strips) ammonia rising. Then, bacteria will grow and colonize, comsuming this ammonia and leave nitrites. As this bacteria colony grows and consumes more and more ammonia, you will see the ammonia levels drop and nitrites start to rise sharply. As this happens, more bacteria grows to consume the nitrites leaving nitrates instead. Again, as this happens you will notice the nitrates rise as the nitrites fall. Doing a water change will only lower the levels of ammonia for the bacteria to consume, lower the levels of nittrites etc, taking longer to cycle the tank. Once the nitrites fall off and nitrates rise your tank is cycled and you may do your wter changes and gravel vaccumming. As your fish make waste (poo, uneaten food, decaying organic matter) this makes the ammonia for the bacteria to consume. Once the tank is cycled your tank will probably always read very low to none at all, even tho your fish will always make waste. Nitrites will probably read very low also, but the cycle is a never ending process and your bacteria are there hard at work.
Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are all toxic to fish, with ammonia being the most harmful and nitrates the least. The only way to control your nitrates is by changing the water.
Nice tank btw, I have the same driftwood decoration. My yo yos and rubbernosed pleco live inside it, only coming out for food and the loaches to play.

Oh, and about your heater...I just place a few tall plants in front of it, small suction cup to hold them in place sorta camouflages it a bit

Got my plants in!

Here is an updated pic. I still have many plants left over to add if need be (I over-bought)... Do you all think I should add more, leave it as is or take some out?

Thanks! This is getting quite fun.



http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/8775/tankwithplantsfr1.jpg

Nice assortment of plants........... I love the variation!

I wouldn't take any out, & as to weather to add more or not, I can't decide myself!
Maybe it's a matter of preference? If you like it, leave it............ if you decide to add more, add more. You will probably be playing with it for the next mo. anyway.

If that was my tank, something I would do would be to put a tall plant in front of the filter intake tube to sort of hide it cause I don't like to see them, as I stated in my previous post. But that is up to you though......... it's your tank & if it doesn't bother you, than that's fine. Weather it hinders filtration though, I don't know? I've never heard anyone comment on it, but it doesn't seem to interfere with my tank.

Good job on hiding the heater though! I don't even see it? But then I only got the last link you gave to come in, so I can only see one picture, but it's a full tank shot anyway.

This is getting quite fun.

Glad to hear that........... it"s supposed to be!

You know............ I love the background on your tank............ it's a shame to cover it up with plants, even though you do need them in there for the fish to hide in or just to be alone. So I think my final opinion on your planting is............. I just don't know!

Ummmm can you tell I'm female?