got an aquarium

[.dsaavedra.]

got an aquarium yesterday for christmas. its awesome! i love it. i can't wait to get it runnin'.

i have the gravel in it now, and i'm going to get some more decorations tomorrow

[Other.]

Aquariums are a lot of fun. I have a 28 gal and once my mom gets new flooring in the basement I will set up a 20g planted tank. What size is yours?

[burleytog]

Quick, someone call PETA and give them Dave's address!

[Gatorbassman]

That's great man. How big is it?

[.dsaavedra.]

i'm hoping PETA won't have to intervene  :-[

if anyone has any tips and advice or help to offer, i'll gladly take it

the tank is a 55 gallon.

[Sam]

Dave,

Great news.

I know you can find minnows, crawfish and small bream for starters and then add a dink.

Feeding your bass goldfish is a great adventure and super to watch.  You can see how the bass inhale their prey.

Don't forget structure and cover as the fish need places to hide and rest.

Send us some pics when you have it setup.

Happy New Year.  

[Gatorbassman]

I just set up a 55gal tank a few weeks ago. I got it when I was your age and it's been at my parents house since I graduated High School.

One word of advice. Rinse your gravel before you put it in your tank. Use a colander and a five gallon bucket. I know that the bag says pre-washed but it still need to have the dust knocked off.

[Micro]

i have the gravel in it now, and i'm going to get some more decorations tomorrow

How about some of that stuff you found in the creek?

[Bassin_Fin@tic]

i have the gravel in it now, and i'm going to get some more decorations tomorrow

How about some of that stuff you found in the creek?

Such as the jaw from the raccoon that he shot the previous year with his daisy? ;D

[BestNetManAround]

go slow with the set up and adding of fish it takes if I remember for fresh water about 28 days to cycle.

this means add gravel water and decor and a pinch of fish food every other day for a week

add some small but tuff fish cheap ones like danios ect...

only about 5 of them for your 55 the first time continue feeding them every other day and a bat cycle well start as the food and wastes get broken by nitrifiying bacteria.

Is a 3 stage process 2 of the 3 are deadly to fish but dainos are hardy and cheap enough that it won't hurt the wallet.

after the 28 days check your water ph ammonia are the easiest ones to test and if one is off them you know somethign is up.

Ph in a fresh water tank is perfect at 7.0 and you want no trace of ammonia but seeing its just starting you might notice a little bit of a result in the test no worries it will work it self out.

quick pointers

1) dont feed daily and only an amout that the fish will eat with in mins of adding it to the tank you can feed them twice in that day or give treats to larger fish like krill ect...

2) every 3 weeks no more than a 25% water change to get rid of what the bact cant get the gravel vac out and stir up a little bit of the substrate to take out waste.

*you can do this weekly with about 10% for a cleaner better tank that 5 gals a week.

3) keep lights on only for the time you'll be in watch of the tank unless you plan to go live plants where items 12&3 will change.

alot of people leave the light on to long over 6 hrs is not needed a timer works great with this and stops the chance of green film algae growth

4) and you filter this is a good but bad thing there are alot out there make sure it is turning the tank over 10 times an hour so in your case you want something pushing around 600 gph

In your case in a 55 its not a bad idea to have 2 300 gph cleaning the system and you can alternate the changing of the cartrages with out chancing a spike.

how this helped if you have anymore questions post here and send pm as I am sure all this will help others.

It has been a while for fresh water tanks but salt is what I usually do.

None going atm but I mostly do Nano reefs ;D

[Pond Hopper]

Dont tell Russ if you put any bass in!  ;D

[bigfruits]

take your time adding fish. dont rush anything. dont buy an undergravel filter. dont overfeed. join an aquarium forum. reefcentral is great if you decide to do a marine tank.

ive kept salt and fresh water tanks all of my life. feel free to pm me with any specific questions. good luck!

BestNetManAround - i was thinking of setting up a nano when i get back to the states with zoas, softies and lps, t5 lighting. do you recommend any of the all in one tanks? (refugium in the back?)

[.dsaavedra.]

thanks guys.

bestnetman, your post was very helpful

i planned on cycling the tank with some golden shiners from the creek, because they're in the carp/minnow family, and they're in the same family as goldfish, which are normally use to cycle tanks. golden shiners look cooler anyway

as for the filter, i got a power filter and an undergravel filter, but i'm going to return the undergravel filter because i dont think it will be necessary or very helpful. my power filter cycles the water at 500 gph.

i found some really neat big rocks down in the creek, huge chunks of quartz and some other smoothed out stones, i'm going to go down there and bring em back for my tank. i'll probably stick them in boiling water for a few minutes before i put them in my tank to kill any kind of bad organisms that are in/on the rocks.

sam, that is exactly what i planned on doing with this tank! i dont plan on buying any living organisms to put in this, they'll all be caught wild.

i do plan on putting bass in it, and i'm not going to argue with anyone over it, because i know those topics get heated  

i washed my gravel thoroughly before i put it in  

here is a pic of my tank now, the two decorations are just thrown in there, thats probably not where they will stay.

[Dan:]

That is awesome! I like your chair too, I have one just like it.

[Bassboss]

I just set up a 55gal tank a few weeks ago. I got it when I was your age and it's been at my parents house since I graduated High School.

One word of advice. Rinse your gravel before you put it in your tank. Use a colander and a five gallon bucket. I know that the bag says pre-washed but it still need to have the dust knocked off.

Yes wash it!

Did not do it once, the water was like mud!

[BestNetManAround]

bigfruits what size nano nanos are usually 1 gal - 30 gals

I would state it also depends on what type of lps and softies you would be tryign seeing how some can out grow your choice of a smaller system.

I also just so happens I have some stuff I would be looking to sell soon 250 mh de pendant hob refue skimmers ect...

Just start a tread of what you are thinking and I can hook you up with info

I would also say that the smaller systems most of the $$ goes into lighting and your sump.  

I would recomend encrusting sps's and zoos with small lps staying away from the softies they get big fast.

If anyone has any questions on Herps(reptiles and amphibians) or fish questions fire away by pm and I'll tell ya what I know or help find the anwsers.

As to Bass in a 55 gal system this is just a small system for them the lenght of 48" is nice but the width of 12 " is a little shy of what they will need in the 2+lb range 75 90 or better yet 125gal systems would be a better choice

And instead of a regular largie I would say something like Cichla ocellaris (butterfly peacock bass) would be a difrent more colorful choice and there mean in the feed too.  You can get them from your pet store there refered to as Lukinie Cichlid's

[Other.]

If you are going to be putting rocks you get from outside into the fish tank you should get some kind of vinegar. Put a few drops on the rock and if it bubbles or fizzes it is probably not a good idea to put that rock into your tank.

[Mobydick]

If you are going to be putting rocks you get from outside into the fish tank you should get some kind of vinegar. Put a few drops on the rock and if it bubbles or fizzes it is probably not a good idea to put that rock into your tank.

What does it mean if it does bubble or fizz?

Is it because of a chemical reation with a chemical that may be harmful to the fish?

                                                            Thanks,

                                                                Ian

[burleytog]

If you are going to be putting rocks you get from outside into the fish tank you should get some kind of vinegar. Put a few drops on the rock and if it bubbles or fizzes it is probably not a good idea to put that rock into your tank.

Household vinegar isn't strong enough to elicit that type of reaction.

If the pH of the water is low enough to cause a reaction with any sort of rock, then the fish are dead already.

[.dsaavedra.]

i got $123 worth of stuff for the aquarium today, including a master test kit and a bunch of decorations, including a cool log and really big plants fake plants.

the rocks i got from the creek go well in this tank

[SuskyDude]

As to Bass in a 55 gal system this is just a small system for them the lenght of 48" is nice but the width of 12 " is a little shy of what they will need in the 2+lb range 75 90 or better yet 125gal systems would be a better choice

And instead of a regular largie I would say something like Cichla ocellaris (butterfly peacock bass) would be a difrent more colorful choice and there mean in the feed too. You can get them from your pet store there refered to as Lukinie Cichlid's

What he said.

Except I would reccomend a pair of small sunnies, like pumpkinseeds or longears. Alot easier (and cheaper) to keep fed, plus they are much more attractive anyway!

If you do get the bass, then I would say ditch the HOB power filter and be ready drop a few hundred on a canister filter, or you'll being doing ALOT of water changes to keep the water parameters safe and healthy inside a 55 gal. Bas eat alot, and they poop alot.

Also, whatever you do, don't release whatever you keep in the aquarium  back into the wild. Its not a good practice. Kill it, flush it, eat it, whatever....just don't put them back, its not worth the risk of possibly spreading a disease, or maybe releasing it into the wrong body of water where the species may not belong and may cause harm. If you take 'em home, don't put 'em back!

[.dsaavedra.]

i'm not really sure what i'm going to put in it. definitley either bass, bluegill, warmouth, or something like that.

QUESTION

how do i set up my powerhead? im thinking it gets submerged, and the air hose is out of the tank, and it draws in air from the top and water from the bottom and shoots them both out of the side? but when i run it, there are no bubbles coming out of the side, just water. is this right?

[.dsaavedra.]

got it filled and runnin!

[BestNetManAround]

The powerhead is there just to push water no bubbles are needed its just to cause a current ect...

Look into fun stuff like silver arrowanas red tail cat fish there fun but most fish will out grow that system sorry to say looks great

[Sam]

Beautiful.

You did good, as usual.