Is it a good idea to use distilled water in a fish tank? I know the chlorine is bad for fish, so I figured distilled water was as non-chlorinated and pH neutral as I could get. Also I am thinking about just using a Aqua-Clear filter without any mechanical air filtration, good idea or bad idea? Thanks for any help, and sorry if this is too off topic.
Anyone Familiar with Aquariums?
- Thread starter JamesMJ2
- Start date
unclehobart
New Member
yo, puter... this guy needs ya.
(puter does the aquarium thing)
(puter does the aquarium thing)
Nah, you still have to pull Momma out pretty quick. I bred them for my Oscar. I'd get a few guppies, wait til a few of em got good and fat, feed the Oscar the rest. Then when the babies were born, I'd feed the Oscar the Mommas. Kept a pretty good cycle going in a 10 gallon tank to keep treats for Oscar in the 30.
Squiggy
ThunderDick
JamesMJ2, If you can, find a book that explains the nitrogen cycle in water. Its what cause the cloudy "new tank" syndrome when you first set up a tank. Some sort of mechanical filtration is necessary both for clarity and as a base for the anaerobic bacteria. Give us some details as to how large a tank, how many fish, size and type fish...It will all help us to help you.
Heh your guys are cool. I was a little worried about geting blasted for being a newbie. Yea it's my first aquarium, I want something fairly simple so I can learn as I go, but obviously want to get off on the right foot. Freshwater tank btw, 25gal. I am not sure what the optimum number of fish is for a 25gal tank. Maybe 6?, I like angelfish(had some as a kid) a fish that would eat algae,and a bottom feeder to help clean up debris.
Thanks again for the tips, anymore knowledge you would dispense with would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks again for the tips, anymore knowledge you would dispense with would be greatly appreciated.
My best advice to a new aquarium is to don't overdo it. Don't get goldfish either, those little bastards would live in the back of your toilet for a few weeks, get something small like swordfish, tetras, or even guppies and get the water conditioned, this can take anywhere from two weeks to a few months, depending on how much you play with it. Test strips are good for Ph, Nitrogen, and such, but don't add chemicals whenever it's not right on the mark. If you notice something rising, test it the next day, it may go back down naturally, and if you add chemicals, it will plummet the next day.
After you've got the water conditioned good, then get the fish you wanted to begin with.
After you've got the water conditioned good, then get the fish you wanted to begin with.
unclehobart
New Member
To me it always came down to prepping the tank for a few days prior to acquiring any fish. You have to get the water temp normalized and everything juuuust so.
The common guide is 1 inch of fish for every gallon of water, but that varies too. A 25 gallon could hold alot of small fish, but only 1 or 2 big ones like Oscars. Angelfish are cool, indeed, but can be rather sensitive too. Always figure the size they are going to get to, not the size you buy them at too. An Angelfish can get up aroung 6-7", you'd want to limit your tank to about 4 or those.
unclehobart
New Member
unclehobart
New Member
...and those brine shrimp 'sea monkeys' that you used to be able to order out of the back of comic books.Squiggy said:You're thinking of the jacuzi, unc....