Water cleaner thingy

[alter40]

I agree with Cichlidman in the fact that your tank does look very nice and has really good lighting. Once you get it cycled properly and have it stocked properly you will have a very nice looking tank. Just make sure to listen to these people here because they are very educated and you will learn a lot from them.
Good luck with the tank!!! *DRUMMER*

 

[cmw000]

Thank you for the continual advice. You guys are awesome.

"I'm not sure what type of tetras or barbs you have there, were they labled when you bought them?"

Like I said before, I live in Korea, so yeah they were labeled but....

I'm going to try and get everything straightened out today. I'll let you guys know what happens.

 

[cmw000]

Alright. I changed out the water today and I took back the blood parrot I couldn't find any test stuff for the water but I found some drops. I used an online translator and one of them is "Bacteria Activator" and the other one is "Shock Prevention." What do I do with these? Would a PH test kit help me? Does PH level indicate ammonia levels?

Oh yeah, and when I went back to the store they had a bunch of new really cool looking fish but the lady told me they were salt water fish. But they look soooo cool. How much more difficult is it to take care of salt water fish?

 

[Cichlid-Man]

I wouldn't say much harder, but i wouldn't say just as easy as freshwater either. Really depends on the fish, but to me it seems saltwater has a few more variables then freshwater does just in general.

I'd recommend starting FW for sure. A saltwater tank can cost an arm and a leg, and for someone new to the hobby....putting that much money down just to have it crash would just be devestating and turn that person away from the whole hobby.

 

[cmw000]

Hmm, ok. What can I do with these drops?

 

[cmw000]

I measured my tank. It's 35x25x30 which makes it a 7 gallon tank, correct? Which means it's full with my three little fish...

 

[MissFishy]

I'm not sure what the drops are that you bought, so I'm going to say they're probably worthless at this point. What you need are ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate drop test kits. Every fish store should have them. Ask the salesperson, if they don't even know what that is, run, the store has no clue what they're doing.

I love saltwater too, but at this point even I don't feel experienced enough to start investing so much money in a salt set up. I would hold off on doing saltwater until you get the freshwater thing down pat.

 

[roark fishies]

Alright. I changed out the water today and I took back the blood parrot I couldn't find any test stuff for the water but I found some drops. I used an online translator and one of them is "Bacteria Activator" and the other one is "Shock Prevention." What do I do with these? Would a PH test kit help me? Does PH level indicate ammonia levels?

Oh yeah, and when I went back to the store they had a bunch of new really cool looking fish but the lady told me they were salt water fish. But they look soooo cool. How much more difficult is it to take care of salt water fish?

All a pH test kit will tell you is the pH of your water (Some fish prefer different PH's than others. I wouldn't worry about that right now. Get the ammonia and nitrites under control first). That has nothing to do with ammonia.

 

[roark fishies]

Try this link to see what a bottle of test strips look like. Since you're in Korea this may not help much but will give you an idea. You may have to copy and paste if clicking on it doesn't work.

Virbac Mardel 5 in 1 Test Strips for Saltwater & Freshwater at PETCO

Here's another version:
Jungle Quick Dip Aquarium Test Strips at PETCO

 

[cmw000]

I'm having trouble finding the test strips but I'm going to keep looking. Can someone tell me what kind of fish I have?
http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/2539/onetwoandthreeli8.jpg

 

[Lotus]

I think they're tinfoil barbs. Pics here: Tinfoil Barb - Barbonymus schwanenfeldii (Puntius schwanenfeldii)

For the tests, you might have better luck using the chemical notation for the parameters. They're pretty universal for anyone who has taken a chemistry class. Maybe have a Korean friend write down what you're trying to find.
NH3 = ammonia
NO2 = nitrite
NO3 = nitrate
pH = pH

 

[cmw000]

Awesome! Thank you. On that website someone said they need a 70 gallon tank. (?) Is that true?

 

[Lotus]

It looks like they do. They get up to 14" (35cm)

 

[pearl_aqg]

depending on where you live in Korea, if you are affiliated with the US department of defense you can probably gain access to a military post. At least, when I lived in Seoul there was a pet store on post where we bought our aquarium supplies. might be more expensive than going local, but at the least you can take what you buy to local stores as a reference to see if they have something similar.

To go back to Lotus's note about universals, it's quite possible that the stores have scientific names of the fish, if not on display then somewhere in their records? If you have a Korean friend who can tell you how to ask for scientific names - or maybe bringing an example will help, since the italics and latin are pretty indicative - then maybe you could get some better information - just a thought.