Tropical Fish Forum

Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => New Fishkeepers => Topic started by: brian c on July 11, 2014, 05:08:07 AM

Title: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: brian c on July 11, 2014, 05:08:07 AM
ok i have thought about it and here is what i think would work 2 50 gallon filters is for this. so now the stocking i think this might work 1 blue gourami 1 angel fish 1 fire mouth cichlid 1 synodontis eupterus and 12 red eye tetras so what do you think just tell me if its to much. also on the synodontis eupterus im not quite sure what kind he is though. and i am experienced i have 12 years of it so i can cope with the demands like the  two ten gallon water change and other stuff. and just so you know this tank will be planted one way or another....
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: Sue on July 11, 2014, 11:05:36 AM
I think I've said before, as long as the filtration is adequate, it doesn't matter how much extra you add, it's the fish that determine what can go in a tank and what can't. Having 2 50 gall filters doesn't alter the fact that it's still a 30 gall tank.
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: chris213 on July 11, 2014, 11:14:33 AM
all this talk of gallons gives me headache , seems i am certainly a metric man  :o
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: ColinB on July 11, 2014, 11:18:27 AM
all this talk of gallons gives me headache , seems i am certainly a metric man  :o

shhhhh - it's because Sue's old. We let her talk in gallons, feet and inches etc so as not to confuse her... poor thing!  :))
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: Sue on July 11, 2014, 11:24:02 AM
 :yikes:  I do talk in metric on a regular basis! It's brian c that started with gallons..........



30 galls = 113.6 litres (and it's always American galls in fishkeeping)
50 galls = 189.3 litres

Brian has a 115 litre tank and is running 2 filters each rated for 190 litre tanks.
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: chris213 on July 11, 2014, 11:30:40 AM
Quote
shhhhh - it's because Sue's old. We let her talk in gallons, feet and inches etc so as not to confuse her... poor thing!

dosent it depend on the size of the person in questions feet thow and if were going to use them to measure i hope there clean  ::)  .  ok bad jokes out the way time i did some paper work  :(
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: brian c on July 11, 2014, 11:55:18 AM
hmm.. i think someone does not approve of my stock...but who? :fishy1:
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: brian c on July 11, 2014, 12:12:00 PM
and the tank is not up im just spitball-in around some ideas  :fishy1:
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: Sue on July 11, 2014, 02:05:57 PM
hmm.. i think someone does not approve of my stock...but who? :fishy1:

It's not just 'someone' Brian, I'm afraid it's everyone who disapproves of your proposed stock.
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: brian c on July 11, 2014, 03:41:38 PM
oh... ok well i want the best for my fish what if i get rid of the fire mouth would that be ok and is twelve redeye tetras to much i can do 6. but the real thing that i want is to have is some peaceful cichlids i know of a few a ram and a keyhole cichlid. could this work and i will knock the 12 down to 6  :raspberries
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: ColinB on July 11, 2014, 04:04:27 PM
What are your Water hardness and pH values? Without knowing these it's impossible to recommend any fish for you.
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: brian c on July 11, 2014, 04:46:17 PM
i may be getting the fishtank stand to day we are leaving at 1 30 so i hope i get it going to petsmart
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: brian c on July 11, 2014, 04:46:58 PM
ok the tank is not set up right now
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: chris213 on July 11, 2014, 06:21:35 PM
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What are your Water hardness and pH values? Without knowing these it's impossible to recommend any FISH for you.

Quote
ok the tank is not SET UP right now

your water hardness and ph values are taken from your tap water and left to stand over night 
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: Sue on July 11, 2014, 06:44:39 PM
And do you know about fishless cycling?
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: brian c on July 12, 2014, 12:31:53 AM
ok i can maybe tell you that tomorrow or the day .and i know about fish less cycle buy im kinda gonna do fish less and with fish. see im gonna get a big molly and put it in a small bowl or something until it poos then im gonna put it in the tank do you get it?
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: brian c on July 12, 2014, 05:26:47 AM
yes i know about it  and im gonna use the poo from a molly to jump start the tank im gonna put it in a bowl til it poos then put the poo in the tank
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: chris213 on July 12, 2014, 07:20:53 AM
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yes i know about it  and im gonna use the poo from a molly to jump start the tank im gonna put it in a bowl til it poos then put the poo in the tank

first of all the poo wont make the cycle go any quicker , it will just add a source of ammonia to the tank which can be done alot safer and with alot more easier to control with a source of liquid ammonia

second when you say a bowl for the iam hopeing it will have a filter and that you dont mean you are going to just throw it into a bowl of water, what happens to the molly after

third do you already have a up and running fish tank?
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: Sue on July 12, 2014, 09:18:10 AM
Using fish poo to do a fishless cycle is worse than using fish food.
Will the poo decompose to make any ammonia?
How long will it take to decompose?
How much fish poo will you need to add to get an ammonia level of 3ppm?
How will you know how much fish poo to add to top the ammonia up to the right level during cycling?
Do you have a test kit to monitor the cycle?

If you don't want to buy ammonia, put a raw prawn (the kind you eat) in the bowl instead of a molly, let it go off and use that water to do the cycle. Again, you'll need a test kit to measure the amount of ammonia the decomposing prawn makes so you know how much bowl water to add to the tank to get 3ppm.
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: SteveS on July 12, 2014, 01:41:06 PM
A view from the naughty step: This is an interesting article: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_%28Internet%29) O:-)
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: Rich_D on July 12, 2014, 05:25:37 PM
A view from the naughty step: This is an interesting article: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_%28Internet%29) O:-)

Ironically I was thinking that, put it down to the rugby league forum I use as you get a few of those and decided he could be genuine but I'm not so sure  ;)
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: Diz1 on July 12, 2014, 05:43:38 PM
It was the phrase about being a famous icthyologist someday that made me think it might be genuine, but maybe I'm just very gullible. Like you Rich, I'm kind of wondering now O:-)
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: brian c on July 12, 2014, 10:32:14 PM
sorry i have not been on in a day or two i was putting together the tank. and so adding poo is bad and i meant after 10 days. but ok its not ok then ok i wont. and right now i am having to move my bed so the tank can be on a load baring wall. and if you knew my you would know i have 2 years worth of crap under it.and just so you know im getting 5 orders of 5-8 stems of anacharis  so yeah in a week i think so how fast can it cycle then with all of the plants.
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: brian c on July 12, 2014, 10:35:09 PM
and whats wrong with fish food?
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: chris213 on July 13, 2014, 08:37:44 AM
do you have a water test kit ?
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: Sue on July 13, 2014, 09:32:05 AM
Ammonia is needed to do a fishless cycle. Fish food contains very little of the substances needed to decompose into ammonia. Fish poo contains even less.
Using ammonia solution, you can calculate exactly how much ammonia you are adding to the tank. With fish food, you have no idea how much ammonia is made so it is impossible to know if you have grown enough bacteria.

I assume you are in the USA as you mention petsmart? Ace Hardware sell the ammonia needed for fishless cycling. You also need a liquid reagent test kit, the kind with bottles and test tubes, not the paper strips you dip in the water.

Leaving the tank for 10 days before adding anything is wasting 10 days as nothing will happen to get the tank ready.

Plants can help by using ammonia as food, but unless the tank is planted like a jungle you still need to do a fishless cycle.

In case you haven't found it yet, this (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,483.0.html) is how you cycle a tank.
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: brian c on July 13, 2014, 06:47:45 PM
guess what i got the tank set up right now! so far it is my biggest tank and i am so happy! and yes a jungle of plants are coming. and i have more plants on the way enough for a 55 gallon depending how you put them so yeah a jungle.
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: Sue on July 13, 2014, 07:36:15 PM
Even with a jungle of plants you still need to add a 3ppm dose of ammonia to test the set up.  If 24 hours after adding the ammonia you test and find there is zero ammonia, you will know there are enough plants to use that amount of ammonia. But if there is a reading other than zero ammonia you need to cycle the tank before getting fish as the plants will not be able to use all the ammonia made by the fish.
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: chris213 on July 13, 2014, 08:15:57 PM
something alse to consider aswell is that the fish will still need room to swim depending on what fish you have depends on how much.
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: brian c on July 13, 2014, 10:27:13 PM
i dont really ever bother with ammonia but can i put a molly in after a week to feed the things
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: brian c on July 14, 2014, 03:55:14 AM
you know what now that im not half asleep forget my last post im not going to add the molly. but i am going to get some ammonia soon at ace hardware and can the plants wait like a week after i add the ammonia. or does it have to be right when the ammonia is at  3 ppm and how much is that. and also where can i get liquid reagent test kit can i get it at ace hard ware or petsmart and i need to know before nine in the mourning. and i have seen a picture of one in a thread on another forum.
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: brian c on July 14, 2014, 06:27:25 AM
ok since i have found my fishy book i thought about i want and i am just thinking so dont go crazy on me. so i was thinking 1 african butterfly cichlid 1 keyhole cichlid 1 Panamanian yellow cichlid 1 panda dwarf cichlid 1 red flag cichlid 1 sajica cichlid 1 german blue ram.
so the new fish i am thinking about are 1 african butterfly cichlid 1 keyhole cichlid 1 Panamanian yellow cichlid 1 panda dwarf cichlid 1 red flag cichlid 1 sajica cichlid 1 german blue ram.
the ones im sure about the angel the blue gourami the syno.
if i have to i will part with the red flag cichlid and the african butterfly cichlid and the german blue ram. and do those test kits tell the ph and hardness because according to aqadvisor i use it as a guide line and i always add 10 percent stock if im for real with the stock on the site. i mostly use it to find out the requirements for tanks and that nature and they say the ph should be 6 and the hardness should be 10 - 15dh and what is dh
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: daniel_james_taylor on July 14, 2014, 07:40:02 PM
Hi Brian, welcome to the forum  :wave:

Been reading through many of your threads so thought I would jot down some advice  :)

In a previous post you mentioned you are getting loads of plants, just an observation ... plants like fish also have their requirements, have you thought about they types of lighting your using, substrate, fertilisers and if you going to use CO2?

Also I'm no expert on cichlids, infact the only cichlids I have ever kept are angel fish however some will eat/destroy plants, that's why you often see their tanks decorated with many rocks and a sandy substrate. Just double check.

My biggest piece of advice to you is you seem enthusiastic regarding your new tank which is fantastic! however slow down and take your time!!!
Research and plan thoroughly.
Work out which fish and plants will thrive best in your aquarium.
The list could go on ... but there is nothing worse and spending money on fish and plants, not understanding their needs and seeing them die, its not fair on their welfare and its frustrating for you. There is lots of experience on this wonderful forum and we are here to help, please take on our guidance and advice because we care about the fish you will be responsible for.

Regards,

Daniel.
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: brian c on July 14, 2014, 11:06:00 PM
i  dohnt need a lecture that i already know
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: chris213 on July 15, 2014, 05:59:00 AM
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i  dohnt need a lecture that i already know

seems rather rude brian , he was trying to give you some nice advice
Title: Re: stocking my thirty gallon tank
Post by: Robert on July 15, 2014, 07:22:16 AM
i  dohnt need a lecture that i already know

Brian - I've had enough of your rudeness - come back when you've matured a little.