Don't worry Jesnon, we all had to start once
The weekly water changes - 10% is a bit small unless the tank is understocked. I do 25% a week. Siphon out the water you want, and when there are fish in the tank, clean the gravel at the same time by pushing the wide end of the tube into the gravel. That'll suck up the fish poo and any uneaten food that gets stuck in the gravel. Push it in the gravel, wait till all the bits stop coming out them move along to the next bit. The first few times you do it, you'll not get round all the gravel before you've taken out too much water. Don't worry, like lots of things it gets easier with practice. Just do the next bit of gravel at the next water change. It might be an idea to practice with a bucket of water
Warming the water - you can do as Colin suggests or you can warm the water. How you do this depends on how your hot water is made. If you have a combi boiler, just add hot tapwater to the bucket to get it warm. If, like me, you have a hot water tank it can be iffy using the hot tap (you never know what is lurking in the cold water header tank in the attic) so I add boiling water from a kettle to get the bucket warm.
The temp of the new water doesn't have to be exact, feeling the old water and comparing the new with your hand is close enough.
With a small tank like yours, the way to fill up is with a bucket. Add the dechlorinator, then run water into the bucket - either hot and cold or cold and water from the kettle. Then pour slowly into the tank. With the Edge having a small hole in the top you might find it easier if you use a jug to scoop water out of the bucket and into the tank. I have a very cheap plastic jug for my water changes as I have been known to miss the tank when using just the bucket
Putting fish in the tank can be made to sound very complicated. Yes, float the bag to get the water to the same temperature as the tank, but don't undo the bag yet. Yes, net the fish out so you don't add very much shop water - the idea is that it stops you adding too many bugs that could be in the shop tank, though you always add some shop water even this way. But be very careful not to squash the fish. I usually add tank water to the bag every 15 mins for an hour, but a lot of people now say that's unnecessary if the water (pH, hardness etc) are the same in the shop and your tank.
When you get into fishkeeping and have loads of tanks and you get fish by mail order because your local shops don't sell the fish you want, then you have to use more complicated methods to acclimate fish, but starting off you'll be fine following the method in Colin's link.
The bacterial starter - what exactly is it? Some of them do have ammonia in them, if you tell us what you have I can try and find out what yours contains. Unless it is something really obscure, add the ammonia then add the starter as the bottle says.
The filter. I've looked at the manual on Hagen's website and that says you have three parts to the media: a bag of biomax (ceramic noodles); a sponge; and carbon/clean&clear.
The biomax is the main home for the bacteria. The sponge is the mechanical medium, that means it catches the bits in the water. But it will also house a lot of your bacteria. They only need replacing when the biomax starts to crumble and the sponge falls apart or won't go back to shape after washing. They'll last for years. Just wash them. But don't use tapwater to wash them or the chlorine will kill the bacteria. When you do a water change, use the water you take out. Squeeze the sponge gently to get the muck off and swish the bag of biomax. The sponge will never go back to its brand new look, don't try to make it
.
The carbon/clean&clear - I'm not sure what exactly clean&clear is, but the manual says that it is a chemical medium like carbon. Carbon does need to be changed regularly if you use it. It is a hangover from years gone by and isn't needed with modern filtration. I haven't used it for years, not since I discovered I don't need it. The reasoning gets a bit long, I won't go into it here, but you have a choice with this medium. You can replace it now, before you get started, either with more sponge or more biomax. Or you can use it and replace it every couple of weeks. Or you can use it but don't change it.
Although it is meant to 'remove impurities' from the water it also makes a home for the bacteria, just not quite as good as sponge or ceramic media. Because of the way it works, carbon gets full afer a week or so and stops working as a chemical medium. If you want to, you can change it every couple of weeks though that would start getting expensive. You could just leave it there, but if you ever have sick fish you would need to medicate. Although carbon that's been there for months or years would be full, there is a risk that the med could push the other stuff off the carbon and stick itself - and medication stuck to carbon doesn't cure fish. You could take it out for the duration of the treatment, but it would have a lot of bacteria by this time, and you wouldn't want to remove them when you had sick fish.
The pic in the manual suggests the carbon/clean&clear is quite thin. If you decide to replace it, you'd need a thin sponge or maybe another bag of noodles.
Sorry, I'm not being very helpful here, telling you that you have to decide.
If this was my tank, I'd replace the carbon with sponge, any make so long as it's the right thickness. Now is the time for that, before you start to grow your bacteria.
But if you'd rather leave the filter as the manufacturers say, use the carbon/clean&clear but don't change it. Ever. Untill it starts to fall apart.
Topic: What fish to get? (Read 32681 times) 101 replies
November 11, 2013, 02:52:18 PM
