Hello, New To This

Testing with tapwater is fine. There are no fish or filter bacteria to kill with chlorine/chloramine in tapwater. Once testing is over, you just need to add a dechlorinator to the water to cycle the tank.


Your AquaEl aquarium, tell me if I have it right:
40 x 25 x 25cm. That comes out at 25 litres according to the calculator on here, though some shops say it's 30 litres.
According to some shops it has a mini FAN filter, though as it's second hand it could have a different filter if the previous owner changed it. If you do have a fan mini, it is powerful enough for the tank and looks as though it has 'sensible' media (ie it's not got something like a carbon-zeolite cartridge, a very 'unsensible' medium that some small filters have)
If the heater is 25 watt, that's fine.
At 11 watts, the lighting is not very strong. Stick with synthetic plants or low light live plants like java fern or anubias. Both of those grow attached to decor not planted in the gravel/sand on the bottom or the roots will rot.


I've found it on-line selling for between £42 and £60. So £25 isn't too bad, if they'd take £20, even better.




Being a small tank you will be limited as to the fish you can keep. There are no coldwater fish suitable for a tank that size so you will need tropical. You have a few choices with tropical. Don't take any notice of what a shop says will fit. Rather than throw the list at you now, I can let you know later what will fit so you can decide what to get.

Have you read up on fishless cycling? There is a 'how to' thread in the filtration and cycling section. There's also another 'how to' thread on cycling with fish. Read them both to see what's involved, then you can make up your mind.

No, you can't have 13 fish unless they are very tiny. The trouble with saying 13 fish is that doesn't take into account how big the fish are. Using Thinkfish's calculator, you can have 25cm fish. That means you add up the adult length of fish you want and if it comes to more than 25cm, the tank is overstocked. To fit 13 fish in there, they would all have to be 2cm long when fully grown.
But there's more to stocking than just the size of the fish. You also need to take behaviour into account. Some fish need to be in a group of the same fish; some are fast swimmers so although they would fit they wouldn't have enough swimming room; some fish like some bettas (siamese fighting fish) won't tolerate any other fish so that would be the only fish you could have in there.

Small tanks should be stocked less heavily than big ones. With fewer fish, the water stays more stable, and when the water in a small tank becomes unstable, it happens very quickly and can kill your fish before you notice.


Here is a list of the only fish you can have in that tank. Just one from the list, in the number that the list gives.

Siamese fighting fish (Betta) 1.
Endler's livebearer (Poecilia wingei) 8.
Boraras Brigattae (Mosquito Rasbora or Chili Rasbora). 6
Danio Margaritatus (Celestial Pearl Danio). 6
Hyphessobrycon Amandae (Ember Tetra). 6
Microdevario Kubotai (Green Neon Rasbora). 6
Aplocheilichthys Normani (Norman's Lampeye). 6
Microrasbora Erithromicron (Emerald Dwarf Rasbora). 6
Microrasbora gatesi. 6
Microrasbora kubotai. 6
Microrasbora nana. 6
Microrasbora rubescens. 6
Boraras maculatus (Dwarf rasbora, Dwarf-spotted rasbora, Spotted rasbora, Pygmy rasbora). 6
Boraras merah. 6
Boraras micros. 6
Boraras urophthalmoides (Least rasbora, Exclamation-point rasbora). 6
Mosquito Fish/Gambusia
Aphyosemion striatum (Red-Striped Killifish). 1m 2f
Epiplatys Annulatus (Clown Killifish). 1m 2f
Nothobranchius Rachovii (Bluefin Nothobranch). 1m 2f
List pinched from another site

So one shoal of six OR a trio of the killifish at the end of the list.

Not all these fish are suitable for beginners, you should read up on them first. Take note of what pH and hardness these fish need, and find out what your tapwater is like. You will need a test kit whichever way you cycle the tank, and that will have a pH tester. Your water supplier's website should tell you somewhere what your hardness is. Choose fish that suit your tap water.


Fishless cycling is easier as you don't have to do daily water changes to keep the fish alive.
fishless cyling
cycling with fish

The filter will be fine so long as you make sure it is clean and not full of dead spiders.

Though I presume you mean more that there will be no live bacteria in it. That would have been the case anyway unless it had been running with fish in it right up to the moment you collected it. That's why I have told you about the two methods of cycling, and why I said it was OK to test for leaks etc with water straight from the tap - I assumed there were no bacteria in the filter that could be killed.


If you decide to do a fish-in cycle, the vast majority of the fish on that list are not suitable. They are almost all too delicate to survive it. If you want to do this method, I would get a betta, nothing else. But even a betta would suffer if ammonia and nitrite are allowed to build up.

New media might be the safest option. Is your filter the FAN one? According to Aquael's website, that just has a sponge so a new one will probably never need replacing.


But have a look just how clean the media is. If it is dirty, can you clean it by washing it in plain tapwater? At this point, tapwater is safe as there are no bacteria in the media that can be killed. But don't use any soap or detergent to clean the media as you'll never get the last traces out. You can use bleach - supermarket basics range bleach, the really cheap stuff, provided it has no perfume, detergent etc added (dilute 1 part bleach to 9 parts water). Or use babies' bottle sterilising solution (diluted as per instructions). Then rinse many times and finally soak in water that has been overdosed with dechlorinator - bleach is chlorine.

I forgot to mention earlier - yes, tetra aquasafe is a dechlorinator.

I jus though you might have a FAN filter as some shops are selling the AquaEl 40 rectangular with a FAN mini filter as those filters are made by AquaEl. When the original owner got it, it may have come with a different filter or they may have changed it.

I think Askoll filters are sold by Maidenhead Aquatics - you may have a branch near you. They are the only stockists I can find on-line in the UK.
Your filter appears to be this one - manual The Pure In S has the code C35001. According to the manual, it should have 2 sponges, a 'filtration sponge' and a 'carbon sponge'. On the diagram, they look like two cubes, one black, one white. The only thing is it looks like new media only comes as a set with a carbon sponge (coal filter), a plain sponge, and a cartridge containing something to remove nitrate and phosphate. The only thing is, the manual diagrams don't look like the photo on the box of media   
Does the media you have look anything like this ?

To be honest, you don't need the carbon sponge, and although the phosphate removing part of the cartridge may work until it is full, nitrate removing media often do not work. I would be inclined to buy an aquarium sponge, any make, and cut it till it fits inside your filter.


And ignore what the manual says about replacing the media. Yes, carbon sponges should be replaced every few weeks but they are not actually needed. And the plain sponges should never be replaced until they fall apart - usually after several years. I've never actually used a phosphate/nitrate removing cartridge, and the manual doesn't even mention them, so I have no idea why they are in the filter media replacement kit.

the tank is now clean with everything in except the fish..

....and bacteria. Don't forget you'll need to grow some bacteria, either by using fish to provide the ammonia (and doing water changes very frequently to stop the fish getting poisoned) or by adding ammonia solution for several weeks before you get fish (the tank looks boring but it is less hard work)

Wait 'till you start talking to it!! 

Help, I have found myself looking at bigger tanks....

Is this normal?

Help, I have found myself looking at bigger tanks....

Is this normal?

It is the main symptom of a well known condition called Multiple Tank Syndrome, or MTS (not to be confused with Malaysian trumpet snails). Bad sufferers have been know to remove furniture from a room  to make way for more tanks. After all, who needs to sit down? 

When you get to your new place, you take charge of arranging the furniture. That way you can make sure you have a space for a big tank