Water cleaner thingy

[cmw000]

Hi yall. I just bought a fish tank and some fish and I really don't know what I'm doing. It all seems pretty straightforward but I was wondering about a couple things.

I don't know what kind of fish I have but they're freshwater fish and I don't think they're too exotic. I got them at a department store.

1) At the store the water cleaner (I think that's what it does) dumped the water out above water so it splashed a little into the tank. When I filled it up at home, I filled the tank a little higher so the part that dumps the water out is submerged. Is this ok? I really know nothing about fish except that they like food and dislike flopping around on the ground.

2) The water cleaner (?) makes more noise than I care for. Are there silent ones available?

That's it. Thanks fish people.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Whew..

You mean the filter that hangs on the back of the tank? Yes its ok for the output to go slightly under water. Most filters produce quite a bit of noise, you get used to it.

Any pictures? Maybe we can ID the fish for you?

I'm guessing the tank was not cycled...

 

[MadridKid]

When your saying "water cleaner thing" I think you mean the filter...and if so, there is more silent filters out there you can use. Also, about number 1, you should have someone else answer that for you because I don't know if that is good or bad myself... don't quote me but I don't think it is too bad to do... Again though I wouldn't know about that.

 

[tom91970]

If you want a silent filter go for a Whisper. I have a Whisper 10i (which hangs on the inside of the tank) in my 10 gallon QT/hospital tank. I hardly ever hear it.

How many fish do you presently have and what size is your tank? Be sure to watch out for ammonia spikes in the very near future.

 

[MissFishy]

Welcome to the tank, you've come to the right place if you know nothing about fish. My first suggestion is to read through the entire link in my signature, beginning with "Tank and Equipment," then "Cycling a Tank," and then "How many Fish." You've got a lot to learn about caring for your new fish in order to keep them alive. Since this tank isn't cycled, you really need to read up on what you will need to do, otherwise your fish will start dropping like flies within the next few days from water poisoning.

 

[FroggyFox]

Welcome to MFT Like Cman said, you should be OK with the output of the filter being in the water. I agree that the sounds that HOB (hang on back) filters make drive me batty...so for my bigger tanks I make sure and have canister filters. What size of tank is it? If you dont know how many gallons it is you can measure the outside and tell us and we can figure out how many gallons it is.

 

[roark fishies]

I'm new to having a fish tank myself (about 3 weeks now). You'll find alot of good info here. One thing I didn't know about having a fish tank was testing the water. There are test sticks for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. Since you're gonna be cycling your tank with fish you need to stay on top of testing your water. I test 1-2 x's a day. You'll probably have to do lots of water changes at first or your fish will start dying. You can get the sticks at Wal Mart or any pet store.
Sorry I couldn't help with your filter question. Like I said, I'm still new to this myself.

 

[cmw000]

I'm at work now so I can't send pictures but my goldfish was looking pretty sad this morning. I think it's the tap water I used. Hopefully he won't be dead when I come home.

So what is cycling the water? And what should I buy at the store to test the water etc? Is there a good starting point to learn all of these things?

I checked out the tetra whisper filters. They look like what I need. My tank is pretty small though so I don't know what I need to get. I'll send pictures when I get home so you can have a better idea of what I'm talking about.

 

[d3sc3n7]

Wow...well, once again...MissFishy to the rescue!

Sadly, I see dead fish in the near future.

-Jay

 

[tom91970]

There are test sticks for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates... You can get the sticks at Wal Mart or any pet store.

I bought those test sticks from WM when I set my first tank up. It was surprising how far off the mark they were. I was registering 0 ammonia until I bought an API Master Kit (liquid drops). I quickly learned that my ammonia level was 1.0.

If there is a Petsmart near where you live you can print out the internet price and take it to the store and get it for about half price.

Trust me, it's a lot better than those test sticks.

 

[MissFishy]

As I said, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take the time to click on the link below in my signature and read the section titled "Cycling a Tank." This has a very simple explanation of tank cycling. Your "sad" goldfish is probably dying of ammonia poisoning.

 

[cmw000]

Hmm, I read the simplest explanation ever but I'm still confused. So anyway, I think my gold fish is dying. But it doesn't make sense that it's ammonia poisoning does it? It's only been three days and I haven't been ****ting in the tank. I work a lot so I haven't had time to go to the store and unfortunately it's not as easy as going to a pet store and asking the guy who works there because I live in korea. So I guess I need some ammonia and nitrate testers and a siphon. Here are some pictures.

How big do you reckon my tank is?
What kind of fish do I have?
And it sounds like it's ok to submerge the water output. (?)

*DRUMMER*

 

[roark fishies]

Hmmm...I'm guessing u have a 10 gal tank? That doesn't look like goldfish as you stated earlier. I'm no fish expert so I'm not sure what type of fish those are. I'm sure someone else will be able to name those for you.
Even though it's only been 3 days it most likely is ammonia. It builds up really fast at first(and the smaller the tank the quicker the buildup). I lost a guppy and all my ghost shrimp within 2-3 days before I knew about testing water and ammonia and all that other stuff. While cycling your tank with fish in you will likely have to do a 25-50% water change daily to every other day. Don't feel bad. I didn't know ANY of this a few weeks ago. Get you some test strips. Mine is the Jungle brand from Wal Mart. Someone stated that the drop test kits work better (instead of dipping a strip into the water you collect some water from your tank into a vial. Then you add some drops that turn the water a color. You then compare the color to a chart and it shows how much amm, nitrites, nitrates, etc that's in your water.). I'm sure they are more accurate but I've had trouble finding them. Just get what you can for now and do it asap. Oh yeah, go ahead and get that siphon too. Makes water changes easier.

 

[cmw000]

Cool. I wish I didn't have to work so much. I just want to stay at home and stare at my fish. Haha. I had another question I was hoping someone could answer too. How bad is it to turn off the filter for a few hours? My apartment is pretty small and my filter is loud so I'm shutting it off at night (~6 hours) so I can sleep until I get the tetra whipser. Is that killing my fish too?

 

[cchase85]

That tank is WAYYYY too small for what you have in there.

And no, that's not a goldfish. Not even close, actually. It looks like a parrot cichlid to me, but I'm no expert on the larger cichlids.

In either case, you need to be returning the fish immediately.

It doesn't matter if, as you say, you are "****ting in the tank" or not. Your fish are. And yes, you can have ammonia problems in a tank after 3 days, especially when you are grossly overstocked with an uncycled tank.

To try to explain the nitrogen cycle easily, just think of it this way. Your fish produce primarily ammonia in their waste. Ammonia is toxic to fish. Luckily, there is bacteria that exists in fresh water that converts this ammonia into nitrites, which is another nitrogen product (like ammonia). Nitrites are just as bad as ammonia to the health of a fish, however. However, there's another type of bacteria that then converts these nitrites into nitrates, which are far less harmful to fish.

In a new tank, there are negligible populations of these bacteria. That means that when your fish produce waste, straight ammonia is in your water, which is very bad for the fish. As time goes on, the existence of the ammonia in the water supports the multiplication of the nitrifying bacteria which then means that your ammonia levels drop and nitrite levels rise, as the bacteria convert the ammonia into nitrite. As the nitrite levels rise, the population of the bacteria that convert nitrites into nitrates rises as more of their "food" is available.

The tank is only cycled when the ammonia and nitrites are not measurable in the water and the nitrate levels have begun to rise. This means that all the nitrifying bacteria are at a level suitable to support the waste produced by the fish.

The only times this is tricky is when first adding fish, as the populations need to catch up to the new fish, and when you add new fish to an established tank, when the populations once again need to catch up to the demand, once again.

To answer your other questions. Turning the filter off is not a good idea, as the nitrifying bacteria live on the filter media. They typically prefer to live in a well oxygenated area (nitrites and nitrates are NO products instead of NH products) and need to live in an area with a current of water so they can "grab" the nitrogen products. In most tanks, this is in the filter. By shutting the filter off, you are likely starving the bacteria.

To me, your tank looks to be maybe 5 or 10 gallons or something.

And yes, your fish are probably dying of some kind of poisoning. Whether it's ammonia or nitrites, it doesn't matter as a dead fish is a dead fish.

 

[cmw000]

Ah. That was a good explanation. Thank you. About my tank being too small, how many fish of what size can I put in my tank? The tank doesn't seem too small. Do I need smaller fish or just fewer? And in my defense my fish is gold-colored so at least in one sense, it is a gold fish.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Yes thats a blood parrot. Other then your fish stocking choices, it really is a nice looking tank, great lighting.

 

[MissFishy]

That is a blood parrot cichlid and can grow up to a foot (12 inches) in size. It is NOT suited to your set up at all and needs to be returned to the fish store immediately. It also needs special foods and will not live on goldfish flakes if that is what you have been feeding. If you take it back to your store, you will likely be able to get store credit where you can buy your siphon and test kit with.

You need to do an immediate huge water change, even if you are just using a bucket to get some of the toxins out of your tank. It would help to size your tank if you could measure the length, width, height of it so we can do some math on how many gallons/litres it is, then we can help you with stocking. I'm not sure what type of tetras or barbs you have there, were they labled when you bought them? Either way, they look like they will be too large for your current set up. First things first though, return the poor cichlid, do a HUGE water change (treating the water of course), and then take some measurements on your tank.

 

[roark fishies]

I think the rule of thumb for tank stocking is 1" of fish per gallon. So in a 10 gal tank you could have 10" of fish. But keep in mind your fish are gonna grow. So when you're considering what fish to put in your tank use the ADULT size of the fish (another mistake I made, btw.) Cichlids get pretty big, I think. 6" or more. (So you would need at least 6 gal or more for 1 ciclid.)You may want to take Miss Fishy's advice and take some fish back. I suggest the cichlid. (I know you don't want to. Especially if u get attached quick like I do.) When your tank is fully cycled you could get add some more fish that don't get so big. If you want ciclids I would get a bigger tank.
As far as turning off the filter, I wouldn't do it. My electricity went out about 5 hours one night and the next day one of my guppies died. So far that was the biggest ammonia spike I've seen in my tank.

 

[roark fishies]

The tank is only cycled when the ammonia and nitrites are not measurable in the water and the nitrate levels have begun to rise. This means that all the nitrifying bacteria are at a level suitable to support the waste produced by the fish.

I'm glad you said that cuz I was wondering how you know when a tank is fully cycled.