14 replies to this topic

[Shellflake]

Hi!

I'm a brand new to the forum and just got our first fish tank second hand 400L.
We have absolutely no idea what we are doing, and of course listened to the (bad) advice from a pet store that said we could put fish in straight away, so we did.

After reading up a bit realised we did the wrong thing and are a stuck doing a fish in cycle. (I am sure you have all heard this story many times before)

Not going so bad, it's been running for a week now and we are trying to keep on top of the ammonia and nitrite levels by doing regular water changes. We're not sure how long it was left empty before we got it, so we are assuming all the good bacteria has long gone so we have to fully cycle the tank again. At the moment there is ammonia and Nitrite present in the water when we test it.

I was just wondering if, when we do the water changes, can we add water straight from the hose rather than via buckets? It would be much much easier if we could just pop the hose and the stress coat in rather than pretreating it in buckets. Is using the hose ok, or should we stick to buckets?

Thanks!

[choombies]

Straight from the hose

[Shellflake]

Awesome, much easier

Thank you!

[choombies]

Your welcome.
I have about 80 tanks running I would hate to think how long it would take me to do water changes using a bucket!!

Just a word of caution when adding your water conditioner you may need to dose for the whole tank volume rather than just for the water you have added.
Generally the label will tell you.

[Anka]

Welcome!

I did the same thing - killed like 10 fish because a chain store employee sold me the tank + fish etc knowing I was new and didn't even mention the fish cycle

Oh well - welcome to the forum and the hobby. Feel free to ask loads of questions as people are always happy to help

[Westie]

and when adding water from the hose, make sure you run the hose water for a good 30 seconds minimum first.

[choombies]

+1 what Jason said.

[Anka]

and when adding water from the hose, make sure you run the hose water for a good 30 seconds minimum first.

I've never done this... woops

[sandgroper]

It flushes out toxins in the hose, especially when left in the sun.

[FrontyKwal]

I bought 5 meters of vinyl tubing from bunnings and one of those shower heads with hose that can attach to most tap fittings, took that off the shower hose and chucked it on my length of vinyl tubing so now when I do water changes I just connect one end of my hose to the tap in the kitchen and put the other end in my tank and then add stress coat and occasionally some stress zyme every couple of weeks. Heaps quicker than doing bucket by bucket

[Anka]

My hose is left in doors and is drinking water quality rated.

Still required?

The way my tank and plumbing is set up, running water for 30 seconds before filling will be a massive inconvenience lol.

Water is first drained using the hose first, on second thought.

Edited by Anka, 05 November 2012 - 07:11 AM.

[Shellflake]

Your welcome.
I have about 80 tanks running I would hate to think how long it would take me to do water changes using a bucket!!

Just a word of caution when adding your water conditioner you may need to dose for the whole tank volume rather than just for the water you have added.
Generally the label will tell you.

Thanks for the advice guys

80 tanks!?! I don't think i'd even have the room for that in my house!!!

I think we might have finished the cycle now, No Ammonia or Nitrite in the water when I tested it today!!
So excited.

I am going to test it again tomorrow.
If there is nothing showing tomorrow am I all good to add more fish or should I keep testing for a few more days first?

[Nyghtfire]

for alot of tanks, you want to stack similar to how you see the tanks in the pet stores.
and to defend chain pet store guys. i try to explain the cycle 3 or 4 times a a day. i recommend doing it by chemical ammonia to the point where i have a flyer explaining a couple of ways to do a fishless cycle.
not one person has taken that advice yet. just a constant stream of it'll be ok i'll just grab a bunch of fish now. i'm on the verge of giving up trying to teach people about it.

[sandgroper]

My hose is left in doors and is drinking water quality rated.

Still required?

The way my tank and plumbing is set up, running water for 30 seconds before filling will be a massive inconvenience lol.

Water is first drained using the hose first, on second thought.

That's okay then, i was referring to a garden hose.