heni Posted April 22, 2005 Report Share Posted April 22, 2005 Hi All, Just found this site and am glad to now be registered! We have just purchased a 90L tank and purchased our very first fish today - 10 neons and 3 guppies. I am new to aquariums, but my partner kept fish some time ago in Finland. :-) Nothing much else to say for now, but just wanted to introduce myself and say "Hi". Oh yeah, we filled the tank a week ago, and have had to wait until now to add the fish. (just in case you think we bought a tank and fish in one fell swoop) Cheers Heni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misnoma Posted April 22, 2005 Report Share Posted April 22, 2005 Hi and welcome Someone will mention that a tank sitting without fish doesn't actually help the cycling process, so I will (I learned this the hard way hehe) with that many fish added, you'll want to get (at least) an ammonia test kit, and test daily/do ~15% water changes if needed to keep the ammonia levels down - I'm not sure how much bio-load those fish will generate (I'm used to keeping large cichlids ) but it would be good to keep an eye on it till the ammonia hits zero, Otherwise welcome... I've found this site to be an indespensable resource of information and friendly people, so hopefully you will to. oh.. token "Come into chat at 9pm - because we all do" no really.. it's generally fun and we do occasionally talk about fish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heni Posted April 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2005 Hi Misnoma, thanks for the response. Sorry if I sound ignorant, but what do you mean by "cycling"? and we'll check out purchasing an ammonia testing kit. I really want to get a good "basic" type book regarding tropical fresh water fish, so any recommendations re titles would be most appreciated. We left the tank for a week as this was the advice we were given by the petshop from which we purchased the tank ... Heni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misnoma Posted April 22, 2005 Report Share Posted April 22, 2005 Petshops deserve to die for that advice - I was given the same lol Cycling is the name given to the process that happens when bacteria colonys grow in your filter/gravel etc that consume ammonia, turning it into nitrite. Then bacteria colonys grow, turning the nitrite into nitrate. Both ammonia and nitrite are poisonous to the fish, as is nitrate (but nowhere near as much), and it takes time for these colonies to grow. However without ammonia present, the colonies won't grow at all (hence the leaving tank empty for a week thing doesn't do anything). Once they have grown (generally 4-6 weeks after addition of first fish - someone correct me if I'm wrong - that was my experience) the ammonia and nitrites return to zero, and nitrates can be easily controlled by weekly water changes of about 10-15% Over the cycling process, if you have ammonia and nitrite testing kits, you will see ammonia spike for a bit, then as the ammonia drops the nitrite will spike a little (less than the ammonia) and then both will return to zero as the bacteria grow to be able to reach an equilibrium with the amount of waste produced by the fish. It's this equilibrium that a "cycled" tank lives in from day to day, almost an ecosystem in itself, where the fish waste is processed and deat with, and you generally only have to do a weekly waterchange of about 10% to deal with the nitrates (plants also thrive on nitrates, but that's a different story). Right.. that should do it for now... I'm sure others can correct bits lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted April 22, 2005 Report Share Posted April 22, 2005 Hi Heni, Welcome to the NZ Fishroom. Pretty confusing all this tech stuff... but you will soon get the hang of it. The shop possibly told you to leave it a week in order to see that things were going as they should... temp.. filters etc Look forward to your posts. Bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted April 22, 2005 Report Share Posted April 22, 2005 Hi Heni and welcome. If you do the water changes daily as suggested, I am sure your fish should survive the experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane Mac Posted April 22, 2005 Report Share Posted April 22, 2005 Hi Heni, Welcome My piece of advice is: You shouldn't change your water & clean your filter at the same time. Again because of the ammonia eating bacteria. :oops: Great to "meet" you in the chat room last night. :lol: Jane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phillz Posted April 23, 2005 Report Share Posted April 23, 2005 Welcome aboard....glad to have you hear & look forward toyour posts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve slack Posted April 23, 2005 Report Share Posted April 23, 2005 hi there heni welcome to the site Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PENEJANE Posted April 23, 2005 Report Share Posted April 23, 2005 Hi there Heni. I am from invercargill and I to have not long been in the fish business but boy is it a lot of fun :lol: I didnt' do what all these other people suggested (then again I wasn't registered with the site then). I had set my tank up and turned everything on and left it for a week then I added 6 guppies which I still have today. I don't know if it was just pure dumb luck or what but 3 days later I had babies so something must of been going right. My tank has been up for a month now and I have since added another trio (1M,2F) to the tank and are still having babies!!. I am sure that if you take your time and patience (hard I know) that all will turn out fine Good luck with your tank and welcome to such awesome forums Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heni Posted April 26, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2005 Thanks to Everyone who said "Hi" - this site has a really nice and friendly feel to it. Neat for a newcomer. Well, since my first post I've read up quite a bit on aquarium and cycling and all manner of other ins and outs. So far my fish are alive and pretty perky but I now understand what you have said - thanks especially to Misnoma, the whole concept of the ecosystem makes perfect sense to me. So, I suppose our new fish have had to bear with my lack of initial information - they seem fine though and they are all skimming all over the place in the tank. The male guppy seems very perky and attentive to the females, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. It's all very exciting, actually. We have 15 bunches of new aquatic plants arriving this week, so should be able to make a veritable jungle in there. :-) We initially used a product called Cycle, and from what I've read this would have helped but not nearly as good as doing the whole thing properly, allowing decent time for the water to cycle etc. Thanks again for everyone's comments. :-) Cheers Heni (another Jane) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeveus Posted June 5, 2005 Report Share Posted June 5, 2005 Hi Heni, sorry about the slow reply. I am also from Dunedin (andersons bay). I have a 130l marine setup and a 2 foot fresh tropical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted June 5, 2005 Report Share Posted June 5, 2005 Hi Heni, Must of missed you when you first came on. This site is fantastic, tanks of information and wonderful people always eager to help out. Toodles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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