Sunday, June 29, 2008

Onnnnnnne is the Loneliest Number....

I'm now down to one lonely little neon tetra in my tank. The smallest of the batch of seven is now the only survivor. According to the guy at the pet store the likely culprit is my pH. With no contaminates to speak of in the tank, ammonia/nitrites/nitrates, and it coming on too fast to be neon tetra disease I have no explanation for it so I'm gonna go with him.

The long term solution with a tank my size is to use about 50% reverse osmosis (RO) water for my water changes and 50% tap. That should soften up the water enough to keep everyone happy. Unfortunately RO water is a buck a gallon and I'll need five to ten gallons of it a week, that tab will add up fast. Using peat, the stuff in bogs, is another option to decrease the pH, the down side is it'll look like my fish are swimming in tea. It's probably not the end of the world, but I'd rather not, I think. Heck I may try it just to see what it looks like and if I can live with it. I can buy a lot of peat for the price of an RO unit.

Until I figure out what I'm doing long run I'm using buffering salts to drop the pH. Results so far are good, todays dose took it down to 7.8 from 8..0. Hopefully tomorrows will knock it down to 7.6 and the day after I can have it down in the 7.4 to 7.5 range.

Amazingly enough the catfish, supposedly the most delicate fish I own are flitting about happily rummaging through the sand.

Losses

Unfortunately I lost four of my neons overnight. Three were motionless, laying on the sand on their sides not breathing, not responding to the food added to the tank and not responding to the net or being picked up. Dead. The forth was floating aimlessly. He'd flick his tail occasionally but he was tumbling through the tank out of control. His breathing was ragged and with three confirmed dead and only three still acting normally I didn't think I could take the risk on him snapping out of it.

Unfortunately one of my three remaining neons has a slightly ragged spot on the lower lobe of his caudal fin and he's not staying as close to the other two as I'd expect. Could be nothing but I'm paranoid now.

Time to see if my fish shop has some kind of guarantee.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Second Fish

Angela's folks saw my fish tank today and felt it needed more fish. Who am I to argue?

These two guys are panda cory catfish. When I put them in the tank for the first time they both found some cover and stayed hidden for a couple hours. They didn't stay hidden though, before two long they found one another and immediately got busy prowling the tank. They've been pal-ing around all night, rooting through the sand chasing one another around.



When we were at the store buying the neons Angela spotted a tank with orange mollies and what are called mickey mouse platies. Well I figure it can't hurt to have some fish in the tank that Angela likes. So in a blatant attempt to get her engaged I picked up a lone platy. Don't worry, unlike my herds livebearers like her platy don't mind being solo. Well unlike my timid little fish Angela's gets put in the tank and immediately starts cruising about like he, yes it is a he, owns the place. Figures. Apparently he wore himself out though because right how he's hiding in the tank's caves and not being very photogenic.

My neons have gotten out of their corner and are schooling about the tank checking things out. Apparently they like the air stone's bubbles and play in them from time to time.

I'm now pushing the limit on fish I can put in an uncycled tank, maybe even a bit over it. I'm going to be keeping close track on my ammonia and nitrite levels so if things start to get out of hand I'll be able to do a water change or add some ammo-lock.

First Fish

Today was a big day. THis morning we went to the pet store and picked up our first fish, a small group of seven neon tetras. We brought them right home and started to acclimate them to our water.

Here you can see Charles giving me orders on how to take care of the fish.

They look pretty small don't they? Well they are, they won't get much over an inch in length even full grown.

After an hour of small water changes the neons are ready to go in the tank for real.

Our little characins immediately started to shoal together but went right for the one place I didn't think they would, to the back of the tank by the air stone, heater, and by the filter intake. As soon as they got in the big tank their color perked right back and they started to swim about enthusiastically.




I'd imagine their new home is a bit overwhelming, they were kept in the store in a tank with no decorations, not even a substrate, now they're dumped into a huge tank full of plants, caves, and sand. Hopefully they'll settle down and start to explore soon. They'll get their first feeding tonight.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Care and Feeding of Fish

Your new aquarium looks cool right? Awesome? Your little fishies are swimming around and happy. Congratulations, you are now responsible for pets that are more dependent on you than any other creature save perhaps an infant. That's right, these aren't cats and dogs that you can put out some food for and let outside once in a while and be good. Nope, these fish and their little environment will require constant care and attention from you. You're about to face the problem every zoo keeper in history has faced, how to manage an ecosystem and not kill the inhabitants.

Unlike dogs or cats your fish don't get the benefit of a natural ecosystem to sustain them. Where as dogs and cats can breath the air outside, chase other animals and roam around your fish are confined to that little box of water you dunked them in. They are cut off from the natural processes that provide even the most basic needs for them. You have to watch out for those needs.

Don't worry, its not as scary as I'm making it out to be. I'll assume you read my last post and your fish have a good filter, heater, and other such devices. If you took care of all that you should be good to go in most respects. I'll break this down in to simple categories. Stuff you have to do to get started, then what you have to do daily, weekly, monthly, yearly.

Initially

1) Buy Fish
Sounds stupid but hey, it's step one. First off you have to educate yourself about fish. Don't rely on the minimum wage employee at Petsmart to tell you what you need to know about the fish you buy. Take charge of your own education and PLEASE, do it before you buy a fish. Here's a few tidbits to illustrate why.

Goldfish, cute huh? Well they're really just shiny carp. Those little inch and a half suckers in the pet store will grow to be a foot long, easy, maybe more. They can live 30 years. They're also messy, a 20 gallon tank is just big enough for one goldfish, period. My 55 gallon tank could hold about 4 or 5. The rule for goldfish is 20 gallons for the first one, 10 to 15 for everyone after that and that's just to have enough filtration to keep them from dying, forget having enough room to move around in one fully grown.

Tetras, they shouldn't be kept in ones and twos but entire schools. Tetras of all kinds do best in large schools, six or so minimum. Less than that and they are timid and stressed, likely to die of disease. Serpaes will especially be a treat if you buy them singly. Their natural nippiness will get targeted on your other fish rather than members of their own school.

Guppies, flashy and showy right? Well unless you have fish that will eat their fry (baby fish) your tank will be overrun in sort order as they breed out of control.

See why I say you need to know about your fish before you buy them? Here's a list of the important things to know about a fish before you buy it.

a) Temperament - Are these fish mild mannered like a neon tetra, or is it just a shiny piranha that will clean your tank out for you? How does the temperament vary? Many fish are placid, until they have kids, then its a fishy horror movie as they kill off other tank inhabitants to protect their kids. Does their temperament change as they age? Chinese algae eaters start off placid foragers, once they bulk up a bit they start to kill everything else.

b) Schooling - Does the fish like to be kept in large schools or can it not stand the sight of another of its own kind? Guppies require a 2 or 3 to 1 female to male ratio or the horny little guys will hound the females into an early grave. They don't care though about other members of their species, so you can keep them in ones or whole large groups, just either have enough girls or none at all. Tetras and cory catfish need to be kept in schools, but a red tailed black shark or a betta will fight another of its own kind. If a fish does need to be kept in a school, do it. They're much better off and more fun to look at.

c) Water conditions - What temperature water does this fish do best in? Goldfish like cold water, tetras like it hot. Someone will be unhappy if you keep them in the same tank. Even similar kinds of fish like different temperatures, panda cory catfish like the temperature in the mid 70's, most other corys like it in the high 70s or low 80s. You can usually find a happy medium with most tropical fish. Also know what kind of pH they like. While most tropicals in the pet store are likely raised in the same kind of tap water you have at home some fish are caught wild and aren't acclimated to it, and still others just can't tolerate pH differences. African cichlids need hard, pH 8.0+ water, no exceptions. A discus needs soft pH 6.5- water. Putting them together would make one or both unhappy and eventually dead.

d) Feeding - While most fish will eat fish flakes just like people they need a varied diet. Are they carnivores, omnivores, herbivores? It matters. Find out what they like and plan accordingly. This is important, why? Well you know angelfish? They're carnivores. When they're small they're too small to really do anything, but when they get larger they will kill and eat smaller fish. Yes, angelfish.

e) Size - Remember what I said about goldfish, they can grow to over a foot long? Well they aren't the only fish that get big. Remember pet stores sell young fish, they're smaller, easier to transport, easier to display, and easier to feed. Almost every fish you see in the store will get bigger, some much bigger. Know what you're getting yourself into in regards to size. While your 20 gallon tank might be plenty big enough for that oscar now it won't be in a year when he's over ten inches long and can barely turn around.

Something to be aware of is how many fish will be in your tank. There are all kinds of yardsticks and just as many people who say they don't work. The biggest consideration is how good is your filtration. Good filtration can sustain more fish and bad filtration can't. Personally I'm going to have about 40 to 50 fish in my tank when I'm done. They're all small 2 inch or less fish and I have a filter big enough for a 75 gallon tank.

2) Put them In
Sounds simple enough, just dump the new fish into your tank and go right? Nope. Fish are delicate or at least more delicate than you think. The water in the bag you brought them home in is not like the water you're about to dump them into. A significant temperature/pH/nitrite level/etc change can harm a fish, in extreme cases it will just kill them outright. So what can you do? Get them used to your water slowly.

When you get home take out your fish bucket and empty the water and the fish into it, gently. Now if your bucket is too big you might need a smaller one to do this. Just remember to make sure its never had cleaners in it, in fact just go buy a new bucket, a small one. They're like a buck you cheapskate. Now that the fish and their store water are in the bucket its time to start acclimating them. The idea is to slowly dilute their water with your water until its pretty much just your water. Add small amounts of your tank water, straight from your tank, into the bucket. Do it slowly, the less at once the better. A few table spoons at a time and once every five or ten minutes. Yes, this is slow and mind numbing. Deal with it, you bought a fish tank. After you've throughly diluted their water with yours, even going so far as to fill the bucket once then drain it and do it again, maybe, you can introduce them to your tank, scoop them out one at a time with a net and place them in. Once they're all in then dump in the water you took out. The key to the whole process is taking it slowly. The slower the less stress on the fish the better the chance you didn't just waste your money on a kitty snack. For a really good hands off way to do this google "Drip Acclimation". Or just click here: http://www.aquaria.info/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=379&theme=Printer

3) Wait
The biggest mistake you can make in adding fish to your tank is to add every fish you want all at once. Too many fish making ammonia and not enough bacteria converting it equals dead fish. You have to increase the ammonia load slowly so the bacteria have time to grow and keep up with the fish. There is no way around this, don't waste your cash on products that claim to add bacteria immediately. It's simple biology. To survive an extended stay in a bottle the bacteria would have to be hibernating, to hibernate it'd have to be very cold. Did you buy a bottle at room temperature? Then you just bought a lot of bacteria corpses. Some people have said the stuff that is actually refrigerated actually works, I dunno. What I do know is if the bottle isn't cold its useless. Back to the fish.

Your first few fish should be hardy, and preferably cheap. I've heard a lot of people recommend zebra danios. Personally I'm going to use neon or cardinal tetras. Add your first few fish and then wait. Test your water daily. If your ammonia levels start to spike dangerously high do a water change to take them back down. If your nitrite levels start to spike congratulations you've got first stage bacteria turning ammonia into nitrites, but if the nitrite levels spike do a water change. Ideally you don't want the levels to ever reach danger territory because removing ammonia and nitrites from the water slows the process. When your test starts showing nitrates you know you've got both types of bacteria working away. Once ammonia and nitrites reach zero your tank has enough bacteria to keep your fish alive and its ready for more. Your test kit should indicate which levels of ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates are harmful. If your fish show signs of distress then a water change is probably in order whether your readings are dangerous or not. Once things settle down, chemical wise, you should be ready for more fish. Be patient, patience is rewarded with fish that live instead of fish you have to replace. Keep up this process of adding fish then testing and waiting until all your fish are in. Take heart, as you gain more and more bacteria in your tank it will take less and less time to cycle it if you keep your fish additions small.

That about covers what you have to do initially, so now lets cover the daily stuff.

Daily

1) Feed
Have a good quality flake food (if appropriate) to feed to your fish daily. Give them only as much as they can eat in 2 or 3 minutes twice a day. If they can't finish it all in that time give them less the next time. Fish are opportunistic feeders meaning they will eat everything they can when its available so you can easily overfeed the fish and make them sick. Don't do it. Once or twice a week supplement their flake food with a diet appropriate treat, some fresh brine shrimp or worms for your omnivores and carnivores or some fresh lettuce for your herbivores. Maybe algae wafers for your bottom feeders. Mix it up a little bit.

2) Inspect
Every day you need to give your tank a good once over.
a) Fish - How do your fish look, any tattered fins, weird looking spots? Are any of them behaving abnormally? Does it look like any of them are harassing one another? Remember, if you catch a problem early you can fix it before it causes too much damage.
b) Temperature - Check your thermometer, is the temperature within half a degree of where it should be?
c) Filter - Is your filter running, does its output look consistent? Any odd build up? You shouldn't have any problems if you keep up on your filter maintenance but if something goes wonky you want to know about it immediately, not when your fish start going belly up.
d) Air Pump - If you have one is it running, any leaks in the line? Are your air stones putting out consistent bubbles or are they starting to clog? Just like the filter you want to know if something is wrong here before it starts killing fish.
e) Decor - Any algae growth on the decor, anything fallen over? Fish are stronger than you think, and dumber than they look.

It sounds like a hassle but most of it can be done while you feed your fish or in a quick look over. The inspection of your fish and decor can happen when you're just sitting there admiring them.

Weekly

1) Test
Test your water once a week or if your fish look to be in distress. A cycled and well maintained aquarium shouldn't have too many problems with water quality but like anything else you're better off catching it early and fixing it. Testing will only take a few moments.

2) Vacuum
It's hard to give hard and fast rules about vacuuming your gravel because so many things can influence it, most especially how many bottom feeders you have, the more you have and the less you over feed the less vacuuming you'll have to do. What is getting vacuumed up? Fish poop, uneaten food, anything too big to remain suspended in the water and get taken out by the filter. This gunk can be a source of disease and ammonia spikes. The good thing about vacuuming is that it gets your water change started.

3) Change the Water
No not all of it. While those bacteria take out ammonia and nitrites they produce nitrates. Unless your tank is heavily planted with real plants your nitrates are going to build up and in large concentrations are lethal to fish. To keep them under control you need to remove part of the water in the tank and replace it with fresh DECHLORINATED water. If your nitrates are 40 ppm a 50% water change will reduce them to 20 ppm, that's the theory behind water changes. How much should you change is up to your test kit. If you're testing your water on a weekly basis you can figure out how fast nitrates are building up and how much water you need to change to keep them at safe levels. The idea should be that you do a water change before the nitrates get dangerous and to do enough of one to keep them safe until the next change. Some people only have to do a 10% change per week, some have to do 50%. It just varies but if you need a starting place try a 20% change and see how it goes.

Monthly

1) Filter Maintenance
Do it. Read the manufacturers instructions and follow them. Just make sure to do your maintenance in a bucket of tank water. This increases the chance that the beneficial bacteria in the filter will survive the process. If you have a two chamber HoB filter like a Penguin 350 alternate which cartridges you change out to maximize the amount of bacteria you preserve.

2) Clean
Even the best tank will get algae on it. Use an algae scrubber to clean the glass on the tank and keep it clear. If any of your fake plants or decorations are growing it on them take them out and rinse them in tank water. If the algae is really bad use a mild bleach solution to clean them then rinse them in tank water and allow them to sit out until bone dry.

Yearly

1) Change the Lighting
Change out your light at least once a year. This is far more critical on planted tanks but still important on non-planted ones.

2) Redecorate
This is probably more on the order of a every six months thing but once a year works. Redecorate the tank, most the plants, caves and decorations around. It provides some stimulation for your fish and it also breaks up older established territories and encourages the fish to make new ones.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

How To

First off, take everything I say with a grain of salt. While I've been doing all the reading and research I can lately on setting up and running an aquarium I still don't have any fish. In fact I'm still getting all my sand into the tank. However I'm still going to try and distill what I've learned down and pass it on, but with a strong encouragement to do your own research, come to your own conclusions, and run your own tank.

I'm going to try and run through this like a shopping list. Start with the most basic, tank size, and move on through the really big important things to consider. I'll talk about fish specifically later.

1) Tank Size

If you're reading this and taking me seriously you probably haven't had an aquarium before. Heck I've barely got one, one without fish. So what's a good size tank to get. Like so many things in life moderation is the key. Really small tanks are difficult to manage, with so little water volume variables can change rapidly, maybe too rapidly for an inexperienced fish keeper to keep up with. Big tanks on the other hand take a tremendous commitment in terms of resources. Something in the middle will usually work best for new people, something in the 20-30 gallon range. Something in that range is large enough to change not too rapidly, but not so large that it eats your lunch.

Also consider weight when you think about what size tank you plan on getting. Water weighs 8lbs per gallon, rock significantly more. Its not a bad estimation to figure each gallon of tank weighs ten pounds. That means a 30 gallon tank could weigh 300 pounds, maybe even more if you pile in lots of rocks and substrate. Take a look at where you plan on putting the tank, if you're not comfortable with the idea of two full grown adults standing on it you don't wanna put a tank there. If it rocks you really don't wanna put a tank there. If you're not sure, buy a tank stand or even build your own.

Finally, fish tanks are freaking expensive. I priced out a 20 gallon set up and before I even put in many decorations or a single fish it was going to cost $200 if I bought stuff new. Be open to snagging stuff off of craigslist or ebay.

2) Salt or Freshwater.

Everything I'm writing assumes freshwater. Saltwater is a much larger investment and more complicated. Since I'm doing freshwater that's all I'm talking about here.

3) Filtration

This is a biggy. First off there are three kinds of filtration, mechanical, chemical and biological. Thankfully their names refer to both what they remove and how they remove it. Mechanical filtration is the removal of suspended particles from the water. Sand, grit, scales, fish poop, etc. If you can look in the fish tank and see it floating then mechanical filtration is what is supposed to take it out. Mechanical filtration is usually taken care of via a sponge or filter. Sponges look exactly like what they sound like. Filters in this case look much like your AC filter only denser, or polyester fill. The idea is to create passages through the material small enough that water makes it through but suspended junk gets hung up in it. Every tank needs mechanical filtration.

Chemical filtration is just that, removing unwanted chemicals from the tank. The most common way to do this is via activated carbon, or charcoal. In some filters its kept in its own separate container, in others, like mine, the carbon is packaged with the filter in cartridge. This is a rather savvy marketing move because filters don't really wear out but the carbon is deactivated in two to four weeks. So every two to four weeks they can sell you new carbon and a new filter. Slick huh? I'll talk about how to get around that later. Now there is some debate on whether or not its worth it to have carbon in the filtration system. For the moment I'm going to play it safe and use it.

Biological filtration is the most complex filtration. Get ready for a biology lesson, but I'll keep it simple. Ammonia is lethal to fish. Fish waste and decaying biological matter (food that wasn't eaten, dying plants, dead fish) both produce ammonia. The ammonia must be removed from the aquarium water or very quickly your fish will die from ammonia poisoning. We're in luck however. There is a type of bacteria that is plentiful in nature that eats ammonia and turns it into nitrites. The downside is that nitrites will kill fish just as dead as ammonia. We luck out again because there are more bacteria that eat nitrites and turn them into nitrates. (It's a chemical thing, there is a difference.) Well nitrates are not good for fish either in large doses, HOWEVER, unlike ammonia fish can tolerate certain levels of nitrates in the water and be none worse for the wear. That means we can keep nitrate levels under control through water changes and our fish will be fine so long as we don't neglect them and let the nitrates go bonkers. Biological filtration is the act of encouraging these beneficial bacteria to grow in our aquarium, don't worry they are invisible and you'll never know they're there except by their actions. These bacteria live all over your tank but primarily they live in two places, the substrate of the tank (gravel usually) and on the filter material and bio material in your filter.

While plenty of them live in your filter material its a good idea to provide an alternate place for them to live in your filter. You see those mechanical filters need to be cleaned out from time to time or they clog up. The act of cleaning them, even just squeezing them out, isn't good for the bacteria. The best way to get biological filtration in your filter is by providing a bio media. There are a couple different kinds. In my filter its a "bio wheel" essentially a waterwheel made out of porous material that allows the bacteria to alternately contact water, cleaning ammonia and then the oxygen, giving them a boost in effectiveness. In other filters, including mine, you can add bio media to it. This media is often in the form of porous ceramics(pellets, rings, rubble) or plastic mesh balls. Both provide a huge surface area for the bacteria to live on and a place for them to live that you won't be disturbing constantly.

Now that we've spent all this time talking about theory lets talk practicals.

There are several different kinds of filters. I'll talk about each of them and their benefits from the stand point of the three kinds of filtration as well as other things such as ease of use and cost.

a) Undergravel Filters. Just what the name says, they are filters put under the gravel, sand need not apply. The gravel in your aquarium sits on top of perforated plastic plates. A tube or tubes in the corners is set up to draw water down through the gravel, to the plates, and then push it back out into the tank at the surface. The UGF uses the tanks gravel for biological and mechanical filtration. Some newer models make provision for the installation of carbon inserts to add chemical filtration. These aren't bad filters, but they do require a lot of maintenance and can be a pain to fix. First off since you are using the gravel for mechanical filtration you need to vacuum it regularly to keep it form becoming too full of gunk. Second there's no way to clean the area under the plates without tearing the tank down completely. Finally decorations can create low and no flow areas reducing the effectiveness of the filter. They aren't bad, but technology has improved.

b) HOB (Hand on Back) Filters. These filters... hang on the back of the tank. Aquariums seem to be a lovely hobby where things are what they sound like. Anyways, these can be further refined into two categories. Bio Wheel filters and Power filters. Biowheel filters have bio wheels, power filters don't. Both filters draw water up out of the tank, pass it through filtration media, then spit it back into the tank, they just approach it differently. These filters are excellent for multiple reasons. First they are inexpensive. You can get a HOB filter for a 70 gallon tank for $50. Second they are easy to maintain, everything is right there in its own little box, not stuck down in the tank or anything. Finally they have just one motorized moving part which makes them rather bullet proof and easy to fix. The big two in this area are Marineland which makes the Penguin and Emperor series of bio wheel filters, and the Aquaclear brand power filter.

c) In Tank Filters. Filter that literally sit in the tank. Great if you don't have the room for a HOB, but I have trouble imagining a situation where you're that pressed for three inches of space behind the tank. These are similar to power filters just more of a pain to maintain, and they take up real estate inside the tank.

d) Canister Filters. Filters in canisters. A uptake tube and a return nozzle are the only evidence of a filter in tanks with canister filters. These filters usually sit under the tank in a cabinet to keep them out of site. These are usually the best filters you can buy because the slow flow through them encourages excellent filtration. They also tend to be the most expensive filters.

How do you size a filter? Aside from reading the box, its usually printed right on it, is to look for a filter that can move your water 4 to 5 times an hour. Multiply your tank capacity time four and that's the lowest gallons per hour rating you should look for. If you aren't sure go the next size larger.

4) Heating.

Say it with me kids, tropical... tropical fish. 95% of the fish you see in freshwater aquariums are tropical fish. This means they come from warm climates. These fish are used to water temperatures from the mid to high seventies to low eighties. The modern American home stays somewhere in the mid to low seventies. See the problem? What would happen to your fish if you kept them at these temperatures? The same thing that would happen to you if you wore shorts and a t-shirt and kept the thermostat at 63 degrees. You'd survive but you wouldn't be happy, you'd also be more prone to getting sick. So buy your fish a heater.

The best kind to buy are called heaterstats. These are combination heaters and thermostats and they're so good because rather than just heat the water they heat it up to a point and then stop. This way you can keep your tank exactly where you want it. Where do you want it? Research your fish. Figure on needing 3-5 watts of heater per gallon, less if your tank room stays at a reasonable temperature, more if it gets chilly.

Finally get a back up thermometer, not one of those stick on things you put on the outside. Get a simple mercury thermometer that will stick to the glass on the inside or a digital one with a probe for the water. It's a backup to ensure your heaters are doing their jobs.

5) Test Kit

Aquariums are like pools. You have to monitor the water and make sure it stays within certain parameters.

6) Lighting

Fluorescent. Now there's all kinds of different bulbs and applications and I'm not going to get into it because I'm not yet to that point. What I do know, and what I've seen, is that you want fluorescent lights. Incandescent just don't show off your fish to their best, and I've yet to see an incandescent replacement bulb for sale in a fish shop.

7) Aeration

Oxygen in the water, fish need it to survive. The enclosed environment of a fish tank denies the most common methods of getting oxygen into the water so we have to take responsibility for it ourselves. The good news is that if you have a UGF with bubblers, a HOB filter, or a well placed canister filter return you're probably already aerating the water plenty just from the turbulence of the return water. If you really want to make sure you can buy a small air pump (don't worry about the ratings, those are for running UGF's off them, for the purposes of aeration just about any will do.) some tubing, a check valve, and a air stone for about $12.

8) Substrate

Aka that crap on the bottom. Gravel is a common choice for a bottom covering and its a good one. It provides plenty of area of bacteria growth and is easy to maintain. Your main consideration should be that that stuff has rounded edges, not sharp, and that you rinse it thoroughly to get out the grit.

An alternative is sand. Sand is easier on bottom dwelling fish and has a different look than gravel. It requires more upkeep, it needs to be agitated regularly and takes forever to rinse clean. It offers just as much if not more area for bacteriological growth.

One thing to keep in mind about substrate, you don't need the fancy stuff from the pet store. A 20lb bag of gravel from Petsmart runs about $14. A $50 lb bag of the same size stuff from Lowes costs $3.50. Sand is the same. Don't bother with the pet store or aquarium store, just go to your local home improvement warehouse for your substrate.

9) Terrain

While every fish differs there are some things that you can be pretty sure of, one of those things is that they like cover. Things like caves, driftwood, and rocks give fish places to hide, make your tank look good, and just improve your fishes well being. Make sure that any cave decoration gets rinsed before you put it in and is intended to be submerged. I'd avoid using rocks you find in your yard since some can throw your water chemistry out of whack and they can carry nasties. You typically want things like igneous or metamorphic rocks. Avoid ones that look to be rusting or are shiny like metal. Sedimentary rocks are a no-no. Make sure you clean any rock thoroughly before you put it in.

For driftwood its even more complicated. Again buy stuff from dealers who sell driftwood, stuff in your yard will cause you more problems and take more time to make safe that it's probably easier to pay a few more bucks for the genuine article. First, the wood needs to be boiled to prevent it from leaking tannins into your water. Tannins will lower the pH (not always a bad thing) and give the water a golden hue. Some people want this, most don't. Boiling the wood several times will remove most of the tannins and disinfect it. Next make sure it sinks. Not all driftwood sinks. Some of it isn't completely waterlogged. If your wood floats you are going to have to soak it. This can take days or even weeks. Either anchor the driftwood down in the aquarium or do it in a bucket but keep it there until it won't float.

10) Plants

Real plants require lots of care, and equipment. Things like CO2 injection, fertilizer, and appropriate lighting. I'm not touching that yet.

Fake plants come in two varieties, plastic and silk. Silk is slightly more expensive, maybe about 25%, but it's more lifelike and softer. This is important with certain kinds of fish who have long flowing fins and like to hide in plants. Plastic plants can slice up their fins where as silk will preserve them. Personally I'm getting silk where I can find them but they're still only about a third of my plants.

As with anything rinse them off well before putting them in the tank.

11) Gravel Vacuum

This is used for vacuuming up debris in your gravel. Get one, use it. It can also be used as a siphon for water changes.

12) Bucket

Yes, a bucket. For your water changes, fish introductions, gravel vac and just general use buy a new bucket specifically for your fish tank. Fish respond poorly, ie roll over and die, in the presence of most household cleansers. Get a bucket just for your tank and label it fish only. Never use it for anything but the tank. I got a 2.5 gallon bucket at Target for $2, at Petsmart it would have been $6.

13) Dechlorinator

All tap water has a form of chlorine in it. Either straight chlorine, unlikely today, or chloramine, most likely. Back in the day you could dechlorinate water by letting it sit for an hour or two before putting it in the tank. Chlorine is volatile and would evaporate. The water companies switched to chloramine specifically because it acts like chlorine but doesn't evaporate off. Chlorine is much like ammonia, not good for fish. Any water that goes in your tank should be treated with a dechlorinator. Most of them now market themselves as "water conditioners" just be sure that somewhere on the package it mentions removing chlorine and chloramine.

14) Siphon

Also known as a plastic tube. Your gravel vacuum's tubing will likely suffice, but have a length of plastic tubing you can use to siphon things with. It's also not a bad idea to have a length of airline tubing to use as a small siphon. That plus a valve will help you acclimate your fish to the tank.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Assembled

My tank is finally all put together. Sand in, filled with water. Dechlorinated. Everything is running and all my decorations are in. As you can see the bottom is rather busy but not much is going on up top, this is a result of buying decorations with a 20 gallon tank in mind. Chop seven inches off the top of this thing and it'd look pretty full. I'm still tickled to death to have everything together and running.

Now for fish.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Sandbar

I'm still working on my tank, it's just taking a while. Rinsing the sand is a time consuming process, taking half an hour to forty five minutes to wash 15 pounds of it. I was concerned about how it was going to look since the sand was clumpy and hard to smooth out so tonight after dumping another load of sand in I went ahead and put in about eight gallons of water. I didn't have anything to worry about because as soon as the water hit the sand everything smoothed out and it looked spectacular. I've got about 20 more pounds of sand to rinse and I'll be finished so hopefully tomorrow it'll be done and I can put in enough water to start loading up decor.


Sunday, June 22, 2008

Decorations

Tonight I used the slate that came with my tank to make some decorations for my fish... if I ever get any.

Send money.

Anyways these were built tonight with the aid of a hammer and some aquarium silicone. The first is a large cave, hopefully my red tailed black shark will make this his home, I made it large specifically for him.


The second is a large... pile that I put together. Initially it was just a pile, then I added the long piece of top and made it look like cattle.


Next is a lean to. I tried to add some extra support but nothing really fit without filling up all the space in the middle. The silicone seems to be holding it well and I'm going to bury it a half inch in the sand, at least.

I built these two just for the heck of it.


What I'm really going to need though is something vertical. My tank is ~20" deep and most of my decorations are 6" high, tops. Some of my plants are taller but not most. What I really need is a piece of driftwood or something that will project upwards through the water column. Unfortunately the fake stuff at Petsmart that's the right height is like $40 or more. Oh well, this is obviously a work in progress.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

IT'S IN!


My cleaning is almost done. The tank is in the house, on its stand, and with the hood. Now I am going to start rinsing the sand for it. I've got two fifty pound bags of play sand to get rinsed and clean, this could take a while.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Even More Cleaning

I spent an hour cleaning even more tonight. As it stands right now everything is cleaned and ready to go save the tank. Tomorrow my wife and I will carry it out back and I'll hose it down and clean it out. Once that's done its into the house and time to start setting things up.

Unfortunately a few last odds and ends managed to wipe out my fish cash so this weekend I'll have a tank fully set up, and no cash to buy any fish. What finished me off was a 100W heater, a 6 pack of filter cartridges, some Fluval ceramic rings and some aquarium silicone so I can turn that slate into some caves.

Oh, I also used my water test kit to see about my tap water. The good news is I won't be fighting any ammonia or nitrites right out of the tap. The bad news is that my water is hard as a rock.


Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Filter Progress

I made some good progress today with the tank. I cleaned up the Penguin filter and one of the power filters. I used some vinegar and hot water and scrubbed them both clean, or as clean as I could get them. The good news is that all the parts are present, I just have to rummage through and match up the lift tubes for either filter. I'd post pictures of them except that our camera died at the hospital tonight taking pictures of Isabella so until it recharges no luck.

Tomorrow I'm going to clean up the gang valve and gravel vac then get started on the tank itself.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

It's Here!

My fish tank arrived today courtesy of my grandparents, to put it mildly I'm excited. There's a lot of work to be done but it can get started now. Before I get started though I wanted to give everyone a quick overview of what I got.

First up, the tank and stand themselves.


We'll talk about the junk in it shortly. The tank itself looks to be in good condition. All the seams look to be good and there are no cracks or anything. It does need a good cleaning though. My first step will be to research what is a cleaner I can use inside the tank without turning it into a fishy gas chamber. The stand is a simple metal angle iron stand. A good dusting and a piece of plywood for a lower shelf should be all it needs.

Next up the filters. First the bio wheel.


This is the filter I really want to work, its the better of the three, well four. There's a cover for it and all the pieces are there. It's a Penguin 300, not an Emperor 400 like I thought. The bad news is that its out of production, the good news is that really doesn't matter because aside from the pump there's nothing too complicated about this thing. Just like everything else it needs a good cleaning.

In addition to this filter there were two regular power filters included.


These are a back up to the biowheel. I'm pretty sure between the two I can cobble together one working filter, probably two but we'll see. I'll hold onto one just in case the bio wheel ever pukes its guts. There was also an undergravel filter but since I'm going to have a sand substrate its useless to me.

Lighting looks to be in good hands. I have two choices, a single 48" long unit or paired 24". With just one cord and one piece I figure I'll go with the single piece light. I got multiple hood pieces, I plan on using the least dirty. I'm not sure if the bulbs are the best for the tank but right now they make light. At some point in the future I'm going to replace the bulbs just to be sure they're right.


I got a big air pump with the deal, it looks to be in good condition. It also had a nice gang valve as well. It's way over sized for what I want it for, to run a few bubble makers but hey, I've got it. The tubing that came with it is iffy though so I'm going to get rid of it and buy new stuff.


I also got a gravel vacuum, in need of a cleaning like everything else.


On a really good note I also got a ton of slate rocks. With a little aquarium silicone to hold it together I can turn this slate into some decorations for my fish, stuff like caves.


Now onto the not so hot. Fist off is this big tub of gravel I got.


I'm pretty sure its quartz and for me its useless. My catfish can deal with gravel if its nice and smooth, this stuff is like broken glass. Oh well, sand for me.

Unfortunately I didn't confirm the wattage of the heater when I was talking to the seller. It's all of 50 watts for a 55 gallon tank. That's at least 100 watts shy of what I'd need to keep the water warm. So I'm going to have to spring for another heater before too long, and by before too long I mean before I can put fish in the tank. If I had the cash to swing it I'd just buy two 100 watt heaters and toss out this thing. As it stands now though I'm probably going to have to spring for a single 100 and use this for as long as it lasts. When I save up some more cash I'll toss this thing and buy another 100 watter.


The truly good news I suppose is that I'm ready to go. Now I've got all the gear, all that stands between me and getting things going is a couple days of hard cleaning and a second heater. My next update will most likely be talking about cleaning that biowheel filter up and putting it back together.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Plans, Big Ones

Being an engineer I can't do anything without a plan. The first thing I did when I found out I'd be getting an aquarium was to go to the library and check out three books on them. Reading all three cover to cover and then visiting some local fish stores I had my plan.

I'm doing a simpler freshwater aquarium using mainly tetras, small hardy fish.

First off, I'll start with a school of neon tetras. They're schooling fish so I'm shooting for 8+ to begin with. They're dirt cheap and hard to kill, so win for me. They're bright and shiny so my son Charles should get a kick out of watching them swim around.


After that come some bottom feeders, panda cory catfish. Again, they don't get too big, about 2" at most and like the tetras they're schooling fish. I figure on 4+ of these. They like to root in the substrate for food so they'll help keep it clean.


Following on their heels come the rummy-nosed tetras. A little bigger than neons, they are also more active. Again they're schooling fish (hmm, trends?) and I'll start with around 8+.


The final members of the tetra horde will be some serpaes. These are the fish that convinced me tetras might be the way to go. They're a lot fancier than the other tetras and look awesome in a tank. Schoolers, 8+ you know the drill by now.


Well that was the end of the small fish horde to begin with however a 55 gallon tank can hold A LOT of small fish. So I plan on adding a school of harlequin rasboras as well.


Last, but not least, is my center piece fish. A lone red tailed black shark. There is some, ok a lot, of disagreement on this fish's temperament and what kind of fish it can be kept with. While everyone agrees that they are aggressive with other members of their own species no one seems to agree if they are with other fish. What I've been advised and decided to go with is to add the shark last and to get the smallest one I can. If the shark is added last she won't immediately stake out the whole tank as HER territory and if she grows up with the other fish she's likely to ignore them when she's full grown. RTBSs are gorgeous fish and I can't wait to have one swimming in my tank.


Well that's the plan so far. With the much larger tank and how small the fish all are I can probably increase the numbers of the small fish I have or maybe even pick out another impressive looking loner or two.

Incoming

Several weeks ago my wife gave me a choice, I could either get an amazon gift card, or a fish tank.

Obviously I picked the tank.

She's known that I've talked about having an aquarium for a long time but I've just never done anything about it. She knew I'd love an aquarium and I do. I loved it a little too much however as I went out and bought a brand new 20 gallon set up and promptly blew my budget big time. After a little soul searching and an introduction to craigslist I returned the 20 gallon set up and picked up a 55 gallon set up for $75 off of craigslist. Well technically my brother picked it up, the woman selling it was in Lakeland.

So now I'm waiting for my brother to get a chance to come over and bring my tank and equipment. Waiting anxiously because I've been anticipating getting my tank started for almost three weeks. Sometime this week it'll arrive and I'll finally be able to get started.

I can hardly wait.