Crazylegs Tropical fish tank log (Ongoing)

[crazylegs]

I was asked if I was going to post some pics up on my birthday thread when I mentioned I had bought a new tropical fish tank for my birthday with the proceeds of my birthday money, well I thought I would do a tank log aswell as posting some pics..

The tank isn't massive or anything its a 40 litre tank and was a compromise between having a tank and not having one as I just don't have room for any tank that would be any larger, This one caught my eye in the tropical fish store because of its dimensions and I knew I could tuck it out of the way, yet still enjoy it..

I'm no newbie when it comes to fishkeeping as I kept tropicals for 7 years almost 20 years ago, in that time I kept almost every type of tropical fish from African rift valley Cichlids to South American Cichlids and quite a few oddball fish in between to keep my interest..

This log is of setting the tank up and getting it cycled for tropical fish..

So onto starting the process I added the substrate which was very small pea gravel then added the rocks to the aquarium, these were Lava rock, Coral stone and spiderweb stone which are very colourful under the right lighting conditions..The aquarium heater was then fixed into place as was the powerhead filter, the lighting unit was in place and consisted of a T3 and ultraviolet unit together (keeps fish healthy)..

Then it was just a case of filling the aquarium up with water and heating it..
This all went really well and took no more than an hour and a half to complete..I really enjoyed it and it brought back memories from years ago

I must explain the cycling procedure of a tropical fish tank..

The Fishless Cycle where Ammonia solution is added to start the cycle..
The main job of cycling a tank is to remove Ammonia and Nitrite from the tank..
These come from the waste products from fish, uneaten food and decomposing plants. First Ammonia (NH3/NH4) is produced and changed to Nitrite (NO2) byNitrosomonas bacteria. The Nitrite is then changed in to Nitrate (NO3) byNitrobacter bacteria. Nitrates are generally a lot less harm full to the fish and are quite safe if kept to levels of 20ppm or less..

Anyway this method requires the adding of ammonia solution to the tank. You build the Ammonia levels to 5ppm over three days then added daily to keep the level at 5ppm. You will decide this by taking in to account the Strength of Ammonia and size of tank. I usually count up the ml of Ammonia or for smaller tanks drops of Ammonia over the three days to get two 5ppm then add half of this total every day till the Nitrite level starts to show when tested. Then cut the Ammonia level added in half again till both Ammonia and Nitrite levels test zero.. This can take any where between 20 days to 28 days and then your tank is cycled, no fish are stressed out due to the cycle..

I am going to cheat though and this is how I am going to do it..

My elder brother has kindly offered to give me a couple of filter sqeezes from his filter media..If you squeeze filter media from another established aquarium into your own filter media, bacteria are passed over into your filter giving you an instant bacterial colony and therefore kickstarting your cycle thereby making the process a lot shorter and cycling the tank in a week to 10 days rather than a month, quite a time saver I think you'll agree..And well worth doing if you know someone with an established aquarium..

Anyway onto the pics now which feature the process of setting up the tank ready for cycling..

One empty Fish tank..ain't she a little beauty..

Looks good from both angles too..

Lighting unit in situ and ready to go..

Aquarium cabinet looks good too..

In goes the substrate very fine pea gravel..

Then in go the lava rock, Coral stone and spiderweb rock..No rolls though..

There we have one tank ready for water..

In goes the wet stuff.. Are you all paying attention..

Water slowly trickled onto a saucer just to keep everything nice and clear, don't want it getting to cloudy now do we..

Water in and bubbles forming on the inside of glass with the tank now heating up..

Powerhead filter doing its job and everything looking good...No leaks..Time to sit back and have a cuppa I think, actually I think I'll make that a beer..

I hope you all enjoyed reading and I will keep you all abreast of developments in the tank when it has cycled and is then ready for some tropical fish..

See you soon..

 

[Ian]

Funny you mention this, but we've been thinking about getting a tropical fish tank and that sort of size would be perfect. I don't know if we could get one quite yet, as our rent contract says "no pets" so I need to check.

Our friend downstairs has been setting up a tank over the last few months (a big 250 litre thing) and I didn't appreciate how much work it was until I help him set parts up. He's now got a shrimp (?), 2 clown fish in, plus some other type of fish in a quarantine for a bit.

I'm really looking forward to seeing your tank progress Any idea on what sort of fish you will add first?

 

[Rush]

A couple of mad Oscars should keep you entertained m8

 

[Taffycat]

This is a very interesting thread Crazylegs I've often wondered about the ins-and-outs of keeping tropical fish (not that we could here, no space and four cats ) but still interesting to read about. Your tank certainly looks very fine

One thing I really have to ask is, how do you transport tropicals from the store to your home without them getting cold? I can't imagine that it would be in a polythene bag like some poor goldfish... or is it? Are there special insulated containers similar to a flask, but with air vents..?

 

[floppybootstomp]

Interesting stuff, Mr Legs

I had an aquarium once, cold water fish, but the (ex)wife insisted I get rid of it

If I'd known then what I know now, I should have got rid of her instead

After all, the fish were much more fun....

Stoppit, Tony, stoppit

I hope to be moving house soon, in which case I will probably revisit this thread with a view to undertaking a similar project

 

[Rush]

Tropical fish do come home in plastic bags..inside a brown bag..then you place the unopened plastic bag into your tank so it gets to the same temp then you place some of the tank water into your fish bag and gradually you introduce them to the tank...at least thats what i used to do

 

[crazylegs]

Funny you mention this, but we've been thinking about getting a tropical fish tank and that sort of size would be perfect. I don't know if we could get one quite yet, as our rent contract says "no pets" so I need to check.

Our friend downstairs has been setting up a tank over the last few months (a big 250 litre thing) and I didn't appreciate how much work it was until I help him set parts up. He's now got a shrimp (?), 2 clown fish in, plus some other type of fish in a quarantine for a bit.

I'm really looking forward to seeing your tank progress Any idea on what sort of fish you will add first?

Glad you liked the thread Ian..

No pets usually means ones that wee and poo on the carpets and ruin furniture by scratching and biting, Dogs, cats etc..Never heard of anyone being turned down for a fish tank, so you should be ok there..

And on the fish I want to stock its going to be a couple of African Brichardi Cichlids from Lake Tanganyka and a couple of Bumblebee Gobies and maybe a synodontis petricola or two..

 

[crazylegs]

This is a very interesting thread Crazylegs I've often wondered about the ins-and-outs of keeping tropical fish (not that we could here, no space and four cats ) but still interesting to read about. Your tank certainly looks very fine

One thing I really have to ask is, how do you transport tropicals from the store to your home without them getting cold? I can't imagine that it would be in a polythene bag like some poor goldfish... or is it? Are there special insulated containers similar to a flask, but with air vents..?

Yes Taffycat they do put them in very large polythene bags filled with oxygen and placed in brown paper bags to keep the heat in, normally the fish can usually be transported for a few hours this way with no harm to the fish..

Then the bag can be floated as Rush has already mentioned to bring the water into the tanks temp range, and a little water can be added to the bag so as the fish get used to the new water in the tank and then it doesn't come as too much of a shock when the fish is introduced, thereby lowering the stress factor on the fish..

By the way used to know someone years ago who had cats and Tropical fish tanks, and there cats used to love watching the fish through the glass, they used to paw the glass when the fish came up close and the fish never batted an eyelid, Cats also used to lay on the tanks hood and sleep because it was so warm on there...They never lost a fish to there cats ever..

 

[crazylegs]

Interesting stuff, Mr Legs

I had an aquarium once, cold water fish, but the (ex)wife insisted I get rid of it

If I'd known then what I know now, I should have got rid of her instead

After all, the fish were much more fun....

Stoppit, Tony, stoppit

I hope to be moving house soon, in which case I will probably revisit this thread with a view to undertaking a similar project

Hey Flopp's glad you find the thread interesting..

Hey when you do move and you need any aquarium advice mate just pm me and I'll always try and help where I can..You know that Flopp's..

 

[crazylegs]

A couple of mad Oscars should keep you entertained m8

Nahhh I see what they done to a mates tank hood one night whilst trying to leave the tank on an unauthorised excursion..I honestly thought his roof had fell in or something it made such a bang, and his tank hood was wrecked..

 

[crazylegs]

Fishtank Log update no.1 (Ongoing)

The update quicker than I anticipated..

After nipping over to my brothers house this evening and half inching some of his filter media squeezes, and bathing my filter sponge in his tank water I have been able to kickstart the tanks cycle..Big time..

Less than 20 minutes after getting home my tank looked like this..

A serious sewage problem...Nah its about a million bacteria or more in my tank for housewarming party...Or should that be a Tankwarming..

Anyone for Soup..Home made of course..

Looks awfully murky in there but after 15 minutes the tank is slowly clearing..

Half an hour and a cup of coffee later and we see progress as the tank looks much clearer..All those lovely bacteria all congregating in my filter..Now the party's really getting started..

http://s112.photobucket.com/albums/n165/crazylegsdude/?action=view&current=0aaa9e2a.pbr


Hope you enjoyed the pics and info in this update and of course many thanks to my brother for supplying the Bacteria, strangely he didn't supply the Beer though..See you soon...

________

 

[muckshifter]

As I've said before, I once had 13 different tanks with different setups ... well, Nettie & I had them between us.


A lot of work looking after them tanks, good fun though.

I got to the stage that I was 'selling' my fish, in exchange for fish food & equipment, back to the fish shop ... no, no chips.


You seem to know your stuff crazylegs.




ps, made this a stickie ...

 

[Taffycat]

This is all really interesting, and thank you for answering my "fish transportation" query CL (and also Rush)

So in the event of a power-cut (heaven forbid) do you have to fix up a secondary power supply of some kind? I'm thinking of snow or something, which knocks out the power for a long-ish time

Ps - re cats and fish-tanks, I wasn't so much thinking about them catching fish, as knocking things over as they play and dash about sometimes - particularly our beefiest-built cat. Ah but sadly, we still lack enough space. Enjoying sharing your experiences though

 

[crazylegs]

As I've said before, I once had 13 different tanks with different setups ... well, Nettie & I had them between us.


A lot of work looking after them tanks, good fun though.

I got to the stage that I was 'selling' my fish, in exchange for fish food & equipment, back to the fish shop ... no, no chips.


You seem to know your stuff crazylegs.

ps, made this a stickie ...

13 Tanks thats a days work just there..

Made sticky status..way to go..

 

[crazylegs]

This is all really interesting, and thank you for answering my "fish transportation" query CL (and also Rush)

So in the event of a power-cut (heaven forbid) do you have to fix up a secondary power supply of some kind? I'm thinking of snow or something, which knocks out the power for a long-ish time

Because its a large volume of water it would hold its heat for quite a few hours before it got worrying, but any longer than say 12 hours and then I would be pacing...

Snow here...

 

[crazylegs]

Mini update no.2 Tanks Crystal clear this morning

Back to normal this morning with the powerhead filter obviously doing its job, I now hopefully have a colony of bacteria living inside my filter sponge..

Will start testing in a day or so to see if they have started work or whether they be on an extended vacation..

As you can see the tank is crystal clear this morning, thats what I like to see..

Nice and clean again..

I could have sworn I saw Disco lights coming from inside that powerhead filter last night..

 

[Rush]

Brilliant stuff m8..a question peeps have probably overlooked is ..

How much for the stuff so far ?

I had two Angel fish and actually started to teach them when "Tea" was ready by tapping on the glass , strange but ..they actually did start to learn. As for the Tank lids i had some crazy Barbs once (name escapes me) but in a aquatic Jurassic park kinda way they seemed to flock and swim into the filter so they got sent back at 100mph so many times i picked them off the hood ..and they did make a noise. Didn`t realise for ages that my fish stock was not being depleted by old age or poisoned food but by "Cichlids" ..who put them in their ?...me the Angel fish ...nearly choked..they looked so harmless..until that is Lights Out

 

[crazylegs]

Ah yes the price..

Actually less than you might think


£76.00 Aquarium and cabinet, Hood and Lighting + powerhead filter
£9.99 Aquarium heater
£1.69 Substrate
£13.00 Rocks and stone (£2.50per kg)
£2.95 Gravel cleaner and water syphon
£1.10 Small net
£0.75 Bucket
£1.99 Aquarium Thermometer
£1.95 Tropical fish Flake (Mine given to me by my brother)
£24.99 Nutrafin Master water test kit
£0.27 Cleaning cloths
£3.49 4 socket 1 metre extension lead

Grand total £138.17 all in...If you payed full price for everything

I did manage to get the aquarium and cabinet, Hood and Lighting + Powerhead filter for the princely sum of £60 though, and got the Substrate and Rocks and stone for £10 and the water test kit for 18.99 but thats because my negotiating skills when it comes to bartering sellers down, are legendary.. just ask me Bro..

I actually only paid £111.48 saving myself £26.69 for being a cheeky monkey...I never pay full price if I can help it...


This price doesn't include the tropical fish so with the particular fish I have in mind costing approx £30 to £40 it looks like the full setup from start to finish is gonna be in the region of £140-£150 which I think is a great price, and superb value for the amount of enjoyment you get from keeping your own tropical fish tank..

Its a great talking point and the subdued lighting it gives off enhances most living rooms and of course gives an air of tranquility and peacefulness thats very hard to match nowadays..There is also nothing like sitting back in the evening relaxing in your favourite chair watching your fish move around the tank, they all have there own characters and you can be proud knowing you was the one that made their home, and shaped there habitat and that you are solely responsible for keeping these lovely and sometimes strange creatures alive..

 

[Rush]

By Crazylegs

There is also nothing like sitting back in the evening relaxing in your favourite chair watching your fish move around the tank, they all have there own characters and you can be proud knowing you was the one that made their home, and shaped there habitat and that you are solely responsible for keeping these lovely and sometimes strange creatures alive..

What words ...100% agree m8 . Have been there...wow am i brooding or WHAT (lol)

hmmm you got a sticky ....

 

[TriplexDread]

Wow what a difference that filter made in such a short time.

I saw a plate at bottom of tank and then Click lol

To stop the water filling the tank spreading the gravel...Very good impressed