Complete newbie and clueless!

[Titchyfeep]

I’ve promise my kids fish and now that I’m ready to actually sent up a tank I feel very lost. I’ve tried research and given myself a headache. I’ve been to fish keepers to look at fish twice and got very conflicting advice from staff members and members of the public who seemed to be keen fish enthusiasts.

I already have a 58L ciano tank with a cfbio150 filtration system and 8kg of aquarium gravel but nothing else yet so I need to know what to buy.

I stupidly thought I could just add water with some dechlorinator, wait a couple of days and be good to go but I realise now I can’t do that, however when I try to find out how to cycle properly I get so confused.

I need someone to break down exactly what I need to do as if they are dealing with a child.

We don’t have our heart set on any particular type of fish and I also am unsure about what can be mixed well. I had wanted to get neon tetra but have been told these don’t do well unless the tank is well established. Someone suggested platy but I don’t want to end up with a ton of babies. The kids do want snails and shrimp. I had also considered a betta but again realise I probably can’t get this straight away. Would neon rasbora be any easier?

Any dumbed down advice welcome! Or tell me I would be better giving up before I even begin!

[Vale!]

Hello Tf and welcome!

I'm in the mood to help but I've only ten minutes before I have to start a long domestic task! So I'll just start things off then I'll have to run ...

You're in Scotland I think? Your tapwater is probably 'soft' so that knowledge will help choice of eventual fishies : platy, for example - bad ; betta and neon rasbora, for example - good, except a hungry betta probably means shrimp only for a short time! Anyway that final decision is a few weeks away yet.

You'll need some stuff. Will your immediate budget stretch to (say) £50? With that you could get some essentials :

A bottle of ammonia solution : something like Kleen-off that doesn't contain anything other than water and ammonia.
A bottle of dechlorinator (Seachem's 'Prime' is a great one to have)
Test kits for : ammonia, pH, nitrite, nitrate, and KH (in that order of priority assuming I'm right about 'Scotland'!)
At least one 5ml syringe (or other means of measuring small amounts of liquid with reasonable accuracy)

You're then pretty much set up to begin cycling. Do you know anyone locally with a set-up fish tank, btw?

[fr499y]

Have a look here

https://www.aquariumforums.co.uk/getting-started

[plankton]

Welcome to the forum.
The other two have put you on the right track.
Before buying the gravel, did you consider sand, as that makes it easy to decide on any "bottom feeders" you might want in the future?
I would drop the idea of a betta with other fish in a small tank (anything under 4') as it's more unlikely to work with either the betta eating small fish or the small fish nipping the betta's fins.
Try not to look at any fish that have an adult size larger than about 2.5", or fish that like room to zoom about (danios for instance). Check with us before you make your final decision.
Cycling looks a bit frightening until you start, but we'll be here to guide you through where necessary.

[Titchyfeep]

Hello Tf and welcome!

I'm in the mood to help but I've only ten minutes before I have to start a long domestic task! So I'll just start things off then I'll have to run ...

You're in Scotland I think? Your tapwater is probably 'soft' so that knowledge will help choice of eventual fishies : platy, for example - bad ; betta and neon rasbora, for example - good, except a hungry betta probably means shrimp only for a short time! Anyway that final decision is a few weeks away yet.

You'll need some stuff. Will your immediate budget stretch to (say) £50? With that you could get some essentials :

A bottle of ammonia solution : something like Kleen-off that doesn't contain anything other than water and ammonia.
A bottle of dechlorinator (Seachem's 'Prime' is a great one to have)
Test kits for : ammonia, pH, nitrite, nitrate, and KH (in that order of priority assuming I'm right about 'Scotland'!)
At least one 5ml syringe (or other means of measuring small amounts of liquid with reasonable accuracy)

You're then pretty much set up to begin cycling. Do you know anyone locally with a set-up fish tank, btw?

Thanks, yes I’m in Scotland. I have a list of everything I thought I might need to get and it pretty much matches what you’ve said and I have budgeted for it so at least I’m somewhat on the right track. I don’t know anyone with a fish tank.

I think my main problem is knowing what to do when and how I know when I can add the fish because it doesn’t seem as simple as waiting until all the readings are correct. I don’t want to accidentally kill loads of fish and upset my children. Makes me wonder how I managed to keep some danios alive for several years many years ago.

[mikeyboy123]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

A new tank is a sterile environment that cannot handle fish waste. You will need to cycle your tank by building up a population of bacteria in your filter before adding fish, or your fish will die from being poisoned by nitrogenous waste products.

This can take a while and sadly, fish shops are often terrible at advising their customers on this point.

Simply setting up your tank and running the filter for a week will not achieve anything. What you need to do is introduce a source of ammonia to your tank which will then lead to a population of bacteria that like to "eat" ammonia establishing themselves in your filter media. they will convert ammonia to nitrite. Then, as the nitrite levels rise, another group of bacteria that like to eat nitrite will colonise your filter. These bacteria convert the nitrite to nitrate.

Once your filter has matured with the necessary population of beneficial bacteria, you should have no detectable ammonia or nitrite, and the nitrate level will rise, but nitrate is relatively non-toxic and can be kept in check with regular water changes.

The source of ammonia can be pure ammonia, or you can use something like fish food that will rot and release ammonia.

Adding pure ammonia is generally seen as the safest and most controlled/reliable method. It's not something I've ever done, but I believe that there is a detailed guide on how to do this on here.

However you choose to cycle, setting your temp at 28C will likely speed the process up, but remember to change your heater setting to suit the fish when adding them.

There are also various bacteria in a bottle products that can help speed the process up. Some are better than others, but they are not strictly necessary as the bacteria will appear anyway if the conditions are right. If you know another fish keeper, getting hold of a little bit of their filter media and putting it in your filter will also help.

Once your filter is established resist the temptation to clean it too rigorously. You do need to clean it regularly, but clean everything in the tank water you are removing when doing water changes, and just give the sponges a bit of a squeeze to get rid of the gunk. It doesn't need to be spotlessly clean, or else you risk affecting the bacterial population.

From looking up details of your filter, it looks like it pulls water through a sponge and then through cartridges. Personally I would not bother with the cartridges and would replace them with something else such as more sponge or a dedicated biological media material, which are often made of ceramic or glass.

Here's a link which may give you some steer on improving the function of your filter.



If you do something along the lines of what is in the video, then your biological media need not be disturbed for some time, and you'll just need to make sure that the sponges/floss are cleaned and/or replaced as necessary.

Hope this helps.

[John Linklater]

I’ve promise my kids fish and now that I’m ready to actually sent up a tank I feel very lost. I’ve tried research and given myself a headache. I’ve been to fish keepers to look at fish twice and got very conflicting advice from staff members and members of the public who seemed to be keen fish enthusiasts.

I already have a 58L ciano tank with a cfbio150 filtration system and 8kg of aquarium gravel but nothing else yet so I need to know what to buy.

I stupidly thought I could just add water with some dechlorinator, wait a couple of days and be good to go but I realise now I can’t do that, however when I try to find out how to cycle properly I get so confused.

I need someone to break down exactly what I need to do as if they are dealing with a child.

We don’t have our heart set on any particular type of fish and I also am unsure about what can be mixed well. I had wanted to get neon tetra but have been told these don’t do well unless the tank is well established. Someone suggested platy but I don’t want to end up with a ton of babies. The kids do want snails and shrimp. I had also considered a betta but again realise I probably can’t get this straight away. Would neon rasbora be any easier?

Any dumbed down advice welcome! Or tell me I would be better giving up before I even begin!

Where about in Scotland are you?

[Titchyfeep]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

A new tank is a sterile environment that cannot handle fish waste. You will need to cycle your tank by building up a population of bacteria in your filter before adding fish, or your fish will die from being poisoned by nitrogenous waste products.

This can take a while and sadly, fish shops are often terrible at advising their customers on this point.

Simply setting up your tank and running the filter for a week will not achieve anything. What you need to do is introduce a source of ammonia to your tank which will then lead to a population of bacteria that like to "eat" ammonia establishing themselves in your filter media. they will convert ammonia to nitrite. Then, as the nitrite levels rise, another group of bacteria that like to eat nitrite will colonise your filter. These bacteria convert the nitrite to nitrate.

Once your filter has matured with the necessary population of beneficial bacteria, you should have no detectable ammonia or nitrite, and the nitrate level will rise, but nitrate is relatively non-toxic and can be kept in check with regular water changes.

The source of ammonia can be pure ammonia, or you can use something like fish food that will rot and release ammonia.

Adding pure ammonia is generally seen as the safest and most controlled/reliable method. It's not something I've ever done, but I believe that there is a detailed guide on how to do this on here.

However you choose to cycle, setting your temp at 28C will likely speed the process up, but remember to change your heater setting to suit the fish when adding them.

There are also various bacteria in a bottle products that can help speed the process up. Some are better than others, but they are not strictly necessary as the bacteria will appear anyway if the conditions are right. If you know another fish keeper, getting hold of a little bit of their filter media and putting it in your filter will also help.

Once your filter is established resist the temptation to clean it too rigorously. You do need to clean it regularly, but clean everything in the tank water you are removing when doing water changes, and just give the sponges a bit of a squeeze to get rid of the gunk. It doesn't need to be spotlessly clean, or else you risk affecting the bacterial population.

From looking up details of your filter, it looks like it pulls water through a sponge and then through cartridges. Personally I would not bother with the cartridges and would replace them with something else such as more sponge or a dedicated biological media material, which are often made of ceramic or glass.

Here's a link which may give you some steer on improving the function of your filter.



If you do something along the lines of what is in the video, then your biological media need not be disturbed for some time, and you'll just need to make sure that the sponges/floss are cleaned and/or replaced as necessary.

Hope this helps.

I actually watched that video when looking for more info on the filter (it was given to me 2nd hand) I don’t want to have to alter unless essential as I get really easily overwhelmed. Still haven’t started setting up as I need to get a multi socket before I can do anything.

[Titchyfeep]

I’ve promise my kids fish and now that I’m ready to actually sent up a tank I feel very lost. I’ve tried research and given myself a headache. I’ve been to fish keepers to look at fish twice and got very conflicting advice from staff members and members of the public who seemed to be keen fish enthusiasts.

I already have a 58L ciano tank with a cfbio150 filtration system and 8kg of aquarium gravel but nothing else yet so I need to know what to buy.

I stupidly thought I could just add water with some dechlorinator, wait a couple of days and be good to go but I realise now I can’t do that, however when I try to find out how to cycle properly I get so confused.

I need someone to break down exactly what I need to do as if they are dealing with a child.

We don’t have our heart set on any particular type of fish and I also am unsure about what can be mixed well. I had wanted to get neon tetra but have been told these don’t do well unless the tank is well established. Someone suggested platy but I don’t want to end up with a ton of babies. The kids do want snails and shrimp. I had also considered a betta but again realise I probably can’t get this straight away. Would neon rasbora be any easier?

Any dumbed down advice welcome! Or tell me I would be better giving up before I even begin!

Where about in Scotland are you?

I’m in glasgow

[John Linklater]

I’ve promise my kids fish and now that I’m ready to actually sent up a tank I feel very lost. I’ve tried research and given myself a headache. I’ve been to fish keepers to look at fish twice and got very conflicting advice from staff members and members of the public who seemed to be keen fish enthusiasts.

I already have a 58L ciano tank with a cfbio150 filtration system and 8kg of aquarium gravel but nothing else yet so I need to know what to buy.

I stupidly thought I could just add water with some dechlorinator, wait a couple of days and be good to go but I realise now I can’t do that, however when I try to find out how to cycle properly I get so confused.

I need someone to break down exactly what I need to do as if they are dealing with a child.

We don’t have our heart set on any particular type of fish and I also am unsure about what can be mixed well. I had wanted to get neon tetra but have been told these don’t do well unless the tank is well established. Someone suggested platy but I don’t want to end up with a ton of babies. The kids do want snails and shrimp. I had also considered a betta but again realise I probably can’t get this straight away. Would neon rasbora be any easier?

Any dumbed down advice welcome! Or tell me I would be better giving up before I even begin!

Where about in Scotland are you?

I’m in glasgow

Ah, not so good, I’m just outside Edinburgh or I’d have gave you some filter media.