My first 4foot Adventure

Oky, As all of you know by now ( i hope) i Began with a 4foot tank on 22 Februarie :bigsmile::bigsmile:. I had many problems with fish dying,tank cloudyness and all that stuff.:cry:
Everything started to get better since last week and i decided to open a thread about my tank from now on. I did lost three fish suddenly yesterday morning, but could not determine the problem.:wondering: it can be the pvc pipe i added or the water change i did that shocked them because the water was much colder from the tap than in my tank, i removed the pipes and did a water change with warmer water (used my kettle) Everyone seems to be healthy and going on like always.

I'm Planning to Start off with photos from what i have for filtration to plants to foods to fish etc.

I'm going to upload a few photos tomorrow because i don't have them with me now.

I want to share what i experience with my tank through the time and advice will be appreciated.

Thanks so far to everyone that gave me advice so far, it really helps a lot.

Thanks

 

This is great Javei, just a tip. Get a small extra heater to put into your bucket of water. You want the water to be the same temp as your tank water. Fill your bucket and leave the heater in, until the temp is the same. Then, if you are using tap water, don't use it straight from the tap. Remember that the City council puts chlorine, flouride and a few other chemicals in the tap water to kill germs, so that we don't get sick! This stuff also kills fish and that probably was what made your fish die. Go to Pet Stop and ask them for a bottle of "Prime." Tell them you want to add it to your tank water to neutralize the chlorine. They will know exactly what to give you. Sommer ask Them to work out how much you need per liter, then ALWAYS add the Prime to your bucket as you are filling it. You should be fine with your water changes after that. Don't ever forget to neutralize the tap water first.
Ok, now we need photo's... Lots of them!


Sent from my iPhone using 100% recycled words!

 

+1

 

Good luck, Pics Pics Pics!

 

This is a bit of advice i got when i started my tank this year.

Get a nice big bin at Crazy plastics and buy a heater for the bin as well as a small pump and a pipe that fits on the pump and is long enough to get to your tank (i got my pump and pipe at builders warehouse,heater at pet city)

Fill the bin 2-3 days before your next water change and turn on the heater,once full add prime to the bin and let it stand until water change day.When it's time to do your water change you can turn off the heater,add prime again,fit the pipe into the pump,drop the pump in the bin and turn it on once the other end is in the tank.Wait for the tank to reach desired volume and turn of the pump,you can either leave the pump in the bin or put it back in it's packaging for the next water change.Repeat from start.

 

Good advice...
Just remember to buy an extra thermometer for the binned water... You want the temp in the bin, to match the temp of your tank. Also, it is unnecessary to add prime a second time. Once you've added the correct amount. It completely neutralizes the tap water and makes it safe. Adding a second dose, wastes your prime as there is nothing for it to neutralize any more.

 

hehe oky cool, sorry for taking so long with the photos, i will upload a few just now

 

This is my 2 Internal Filters Rated 500 l/h Each.


300Watt heater

Tetra Ex1200 Canister filter rated 1200 l/h

 

Gravel i used but replaced them with pfs (pool filter sand). The cories hated the gravel and loves the sand

 

Mother snail and baby.

My filter Medium

 

will take a few shots tonight of my tank and a few fishies. (They don't want to pose for the camera)

 

Those ViaAqua pumps are grate,I have 3 F130 and 2 F300. I only have a problem with a old F130 I got from a friend, the impellar stops now and then but all I have to do is hold it sideways and it starts again.

 

Cool man you got that rocky media from Petstop SA I also got about 1 1/2kg of it.

 

jip, @Barry.M told me about the medium.

 

my tank's temperature is on 26-27 degrees, is that fine?

 

What fish do you have in the tank?

 

Yeah,that's about the norm.

It's recommended to have atleast 2 heaters though in case one goes and you don't have time to go a shop.Whether you keep one in storage or whether you run both at opposite ends of the tank. (having 2 heaters on each end does stabilize the water temp better though)

Try opening up the pump and remove the impeller (it's held down with strong magnet but it's easy to get out if you can get your fingers under the impeller near the middle)

Just clean out the space where the impeller was in and pop the impeller in again (make sure to align the middle when closing it up again)

 

o yeah my fishes i have is:
*5 Corydoras (1 albino and 4 bronze cats)
*2 true SAE'S
*1 eel
*4 kuhli loaches
*3 neon tetras
*3 glowlight tetras
* 2 robin dwarf gourami's
*3 sword tails (1male and 2 females)
*9 platies( i think its 4 males 5 females)
*12 mollies(4 males rest females)
*3 golden apple snails and 5 babies that survived
*12 guppies(6 males,6 females) i should increase the females(anybody have some realy big females they want to sell?

give me advice please, what should i increase/decrease?

i had a golden algae eater. yesterday i removed him and 1 leopard danio because they are nipping my guppies and cories

 

i cleaned out one of the impelleers a while back, it was full of sludge

 

Out of interest,how long did this tank cycle and how much time did you wait between adding fish.

Just curious...

Edit:What eel do you have,most of them get pretty big.