Noob

Hi all, my name is bob and I live in Celbridge co Kildare. Have always had an interest in keeping fish. Had a small pond out my parents back garden years ago. Have had a couple of gold fish over the years but that is as good as it got, until a couple of months ago. My brother in law got a tank and then decided he couldn't look after it and it has passed on to me. We waited until all the fish he had were dead before we would take over. So 3 days ago we got our filthy aquarium. Now I have to say I have NO idea what to do or what to buy for it, Water quality, salt, chemicals or pumps filters. I have it in my shed until after christmas, and have spent a bit of time cleaning it and scraping the glass with a blade. It's a bloody big tank, it's a juewl corner unit but im not sure of the exact size.
As you can imagine I need any advice I can get.
Many thanks
Bob

I guess I should add I'm 37 and a dad of 2 very destructive kids. Hahaha only messing bit I will probably have to put a lock on the top or a lock on the sitting room = )

hi welcome to the forum, you've come to the right place to get you on your feet (or fins) in this hobby

firstly, make sure you have the right equipment and that it is working correctly:
filter
heater
lights

your tank should have a label on it somewhere telling you the name and you can google it to find the size/volume

i always find it useful to google a few fish, or if you see some nice ones in a fish shop then take down the names and google them or post up on here, for info on how to keep/care for them and how to set up your tank for them, as well as what other fish go well with them. a bit of planning and research will save you alot of stress and heartache

also if you have an idea of the finished set-up you want to achieve we (well mostly they) can give plenty of advice to help you get there

if you scout through the beginners section there should be plenty of threads about how to set up and cycle the tank so you lose as few fish as possible

again, welcome to the forum. fishkeeping is more than a hobby - its an addiction

Welcome to the site mate hope you enjoy it and you'll get plenty of good advice here. By the sounds of it your tank is a Juwel trigon 350 or a trigon 190. You'll need to find out.

Welcome along.You will get all the support here.Just ask for.Regards,Tim

hi there, and welcome
first off get a water test kit, water conditioner and a gravel vac from your local petstore (if your mate has none, that is). get a new bucket for use with the fish and the fish only. get the tank sparkling clean, tank, filter and bits and bobs. leave the glass sitting outside for a few hours full of water to make sure it's not leaking. then pick a nice spot in the house out of direct sunlight, as sunlight will promote algae growth. you will need to find out the size of the tank, grab a tape and measure it and the lads will be able to tell you. (deciding wat fish you want to keep can help at this stage but we'l go with a basic community) throw in your "well washed" substrate sand/gravel (i'd go with gravel as sand can be a disaster to clean as you have to be very delicate with the syphon/gravel vac when cleaning)) fill the tank up with water adding the correct dosage of a good water conditioner, i'd recommend start of with api stress coat or some other that clears chlorine and chloramines and nutralizes heavy metals, i use "prime" as it states it battles ammonia, nitrites and nitrates on top of the fact that you only use a drop of it per bucket when changing water although i have no clue if this locks up the metals (mental note, check that out). whatever you use add it now or as you fill. bang on the filter and the heater to 26c degrees(i never used the heater at this stage but it supposedly speeds up the cycle) "wat is this cycle i keep hearing about?" it's the nitrogen cycle, study it online, it is using bacteria for the`conversion of dangerous ammonia (created by fish waste and left over food) into nitrites and then into the safer nitrates which are removed with weekly water changes, all this takes place in your filter and the process can take up to 6weeks before fish can be added, there are products to speed up this process, filter boosts, the lads will know more as i only ever do things the hard and long way, plus if someone is close by ask them for the gank out of their filter this helps (begging for poo is not frowned upon in the fish world) but it is very important to establish a colony of bacteria to deal with the waste. ok tank is filled and running, throw in some food daily "but dar there is no fish, you told me not to add any and i'm not feeding imaginary fish, they'l lock me up and throw away the key" lol your not feeding imaginary fish silly, you're feeding the bacteria in the filter, remember left over food turns to ammonia etc etc.... now the fun bit test that water every day and monitor the rise and fall of ammonia and nitrites and when the nitrites are zero test the nitrates (nitrate levels can reach 40ish and be ok for fish) now do a water change 25% to spruss things up, next day test the water, and if all is well you can start adding fish SLOWLY (too many or too big fish will create too much waste and your filter will struggle, also very important to study the fish you want before purchasing them), test the water daily as you go "all this dam testing dar has me pee'd off" i know, i know but wen settled this is a weekly thing, it's not so bad it turns to habit and it turns second nature. so fish are happy water is stable all you do is change 25% of the water weekly with your water conditioner and get it as close in temp as the tank before adding it "how?" dump a kettle of hot water (where are the eco warriors) in the bucket first, add cold and add the conditioner and test the temp, some use the hot tap but i'd have a close look at the water mine does be very cloudy from the boiler, or you can (if you can) leave the water in a water butt of some kind sitting at room temp and add a heater. clean the filter once a month. "how do i do that dar?" ok remove the filter, and a bucket of tank water (never use tap water as the chlorine will destroy your bacteria) and lightly wash all the sponges and filter contents with the tank water and replace the filter, try do your filter clean and water changes on different days as the bacteria also hides in your gravel and removing to much will restart the nitrogen cycle killing off your fish. "dar how much and how often and wat do i feed them?" once, twice, three times a day, once every second day. lots of people have different ways, i mix it up as fish in the wild do not have a feeding routine it's get wat you can and when you can. again over feeding will ruin things so feed enough that everyone gets some and none is left to settle on the bottom, the odd day without food can actually do them some good. i feed a mix of flake, pellets, algae wafers, fresh blanched veg, chopped up prawn, frozen fish foods and the odd treat of live foods such as blood worms. "dar all this sounds a bit intimidating, i'm not sure i'd be up for it" listen it is hard to start with but as i stated it becomes second nature and is easy and very rewarding. "dar could you have directed me to a thread stating all the above?, save you writing it all" yes i could have and to a more informative thread too but i only realized that as i was near finished.

lads if i'm am leaving anything out or am incorrect on anything please correct me, it's too early and i'm too tired to remember it all

all the best, dar

pretty much on the ball there dar. you must have had a fair bit of coffee!

bob you may want to copy the page to a word document and use it for reference its a very quick step by step guide and the method dar is talking about with using the food without fish is called the fishless cycle. test kits are a necessity, you need to be able to test Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and pH. some people test the hardness of the water, but others dont

all the best setting it up, and post up some pics (like a photo diary) and the lads here can give you further direction

it seems daunting but setting up a new tank is fun for me, and you will get into the habits needed such as water changes without 2nd thought. its just getting it right first off wikll save time and a long learning process

welcome to the forum; i guess you have had much help from thr forum already do let us have some pics of your set up when its up and running!

regards;
andrew

Thanks a million for the warm welcome guys. Really apricate all the advice, and dar I will do exactly as you say in the list mate, thank you so much. I'm dying to get started now but have to wait for the Christmas tree to come down = ) Should I stick wit his (manky) filter or will I invest in a good external one? Also he never had a heater so what should I go for? Thanks lads sorry for the silly questions but I really am a very very beginner

there ar some nice fish that will do at room temp but you are better off getting a heater. try to get the approx volume of the tank (if it is a triangular type corner one, measure the 2 straight sides and multiply them. then divide by 2, then multiply by the height, all in cm. then divide the whole number by 1000 to get your litreage. its very rough as your corner tank will be boed at the front, so this will give you a lower than actual value but a good guide to go by

heaters generally are rated at (correct mem guys if i am wrong) 1watt per litre. ie if you have a 200l tank you should get a 150 - 200w heater. also invest in a good submersible thermometer, you will find the heaters thermostats are not accurate, and the stick on "digital" thermo strips are fairly inaccurate and peel off after a while. you want the tank at around 26c as most tropical fish (except discus) do fine at this temp

you can use the old filter, it might havem some surviving bacteria (doubtful) and try to get some squeezings of crap and/or dirty filter media from another keepr to speed up your cycle. and external is best and will give better water quality and allow you slightly higher final stocking levels, but get the old filter cycled and you can out an external on later and run the 2 of them

if it is one of those built in jobs i'd tear it out and get an external, again tank size is required, on the heater, i have 450 watts heating my tank, would size matter? too small and it will not heat up the tank* but would too big matter seeing as it will knock itself off at desired temp

*not advisable but i ran a 100w and a 50w under the outflow in my 100g through the summer and winter period and it did the trick, i'm open top and at full whack i was getting 26c if i needed to higher the temp i put the glass panel lids on one by one and i'd gradually hit as high as 30c more than needed, but if one of them popped its clogs i was in real trouble

I found a sticker on it it's exactly the same size as a price tag but it says 190 109 on it, should I take it that it's a 190L tank?

how long are the 3 sides, roughly?

Lads, I still have the tank in the shed, I have cleaned it as much as I can without using any chemicals or liquids, but I cant get it any cleaner. Would it be ok to use something as it will be about 10 days before I bring it into the house?

i would be veryt reluctant, you will have to rinse the arse out of it for ages. try a razor blade to scrape off any crud, and green scouring pads. physically removing stuff is much better than chemically removing it as there is little risk to the fish (a tiny drop of bleach or even bleach residue will play havoc in the water, both with the filter and killing your fish)

Well lads I started the tank off with 10 mixed tetras and today I got 2 silver catfish (can't remember the proper name) and 2 clown loaches. No losses yet thank god, I couldn't be happier and the clown loaches are pure class!

heres a link to a little article i did on starting up a tank hope it helps you
www.irishfishkeepers.com/cms/component/o.../catid,517/id,78327/