setting up an aquarium

[Thunderchild]

We bought an aquarium and relative bits (infact looks like a few more bits than needed), but its been a long time since my dad had an aquarium and just want to make sure we don't fry anything. We have what seems to be an airpump its a little box (uses 2 W) it has 4 rubber feet and what looks like intake hole on the bottom and a little tube on the side, we have a decorative wall thing eith a pipe going into it and assume that this attaches to said device, does the electrical unit go under water ?

also a tank heater, this has a volume style temperature contron on top, does the whole thig go in the water or does the top need to be out

[icemaiden]

Oh dear....I think you really need to read up about this a bit more.

Lots of questions.

How big is the tank?

Are you having Tropical fish?

If so, you may need a more powerful filter/pump?
Did you buy all this from an aquatic shop? If you did why didn't you ask for advice?
Is the tank second hand?, if so, you really need to give it a good clean.

And yes, the heater needs to be fully submersed. I think the best thing for you to do is read a really good book or look on the web as there are lots of helpful websites.

Good luck, I think you will need it!

[Thunderchild]

thanks I've figured out that the air thing probably does not go in the water, my dad used to have fish (just gold fish we aren't into anything complicated) we got all the gear at a car boot sale so are assuming it was all sized up in the firt place. its about 20 litres

[icemaiden]

Its not a big tank so I personally wouldn't put anymore than a couple of goldfish in there.
As it is second-hand, I would suggest you give it a good clean, you can buy disinfectant especially for this purpose in any good aquatic shop.

The air pump sits outside the tank but if you are going to have it below tank height then you will need to put a "Non-return valve" in the airline. This will ensure that if you have a powercut or the pump stops working, then no water will return back to the air pump and cause it to stop working.

And if you are having just goldfish, then you won't need the heater. As I said before though, please do read up about it, you really need a filter too, a visit to your local aquatic shop will probably be the best thing to do. Tell them what you have and they will advise.

[Thunderchild]

right yes the heater is probably unecessary, there is another electrical thing that has a basic looking saponge filter in it looks like its a sort of pump with filter but i sespect thats just to protect the pump and the fish.

[blanx]

Hi
This is quite an old posting so don't know if this will get read. What I would do is fill up the tank and chuck in loads of aquarium salt. Stick in the filter, that's the thing with the sponge in it and run it for a few days it will help agitate the water while you leave it for a few days to kill off any potential diseases lurking. If the tank has been sitting dry they are unlikely to have survived anyway. Disconnect everything empty it out and give it a good clean out using an algae sponge available from aquarium shops making sure to remove all the water because of high salt level currently in there. Do not use any detergent or bleach or anything that isn't designed for an aquarium.

Go to a good aquarium shop (NOT a Pet department store manned by students with no knowledge, they will tell you anything) and buy a brand new filter, pump and heater suitable for a tank of your size (which is considered very small). The reason I am saying get a heater is because you should not keep goldfish in a tank that small because they need about 20 gallons as they grow really really quicky and you will need to find them a bigger tank or a goldfish pond really quickly - but you could keep a few small tropical fish in the tank (5 or 6 small danio's?)

You will need to cycle the tank before you put any fish in it or they are very likely to die of ammonia or nitrite poisoning while the tank matures. The best thing would be to buy a book about keeping tropical fish first - or look at a good website online about the nitrogen cycle.

[blanx]

There are also other things that you will need to buy:-

You will need to buy some bacterial product to help start your tank filter maturing.

You will also need the appropriate chemicals to add to the tap water when you do your fortnighly water changes when the tank is up and running.

You will need a brand new bucket that has never been used for anything else and a gravel syphon to suck out debris and some old water from gravel and tank, and to replace the fresh water.

You will also need to buy a tester kit for ammonia and nitrite and then once the tank has matured, you will also need nitrate and PH testers to test your tank weekly to make sure that the water is still safe for the fish.

The square vibrating box is an airstone. A tube runs from this to the tank and puts air bubbles into the tank and oxygenates it. The sponge box is a filter which filters out the fish waste products. This sponge needs to be washed in the aquarium water that you remove from time to time while doing water changes. The heater of course, keeps the water at the optimum temperature for the fish and should be either completely immersed or at least have all the glass immersed.

You will also need gravel and plants.

Find yourself a reputable aquarium shop and speak to them about it.

If you think you won't be bothered to change the water regularly please don't get any fish, coz it's cruel just to let them simmer in their own juices in a tank filling up with algae.

Have fun

Blanx

[Thunderchild]

thasnks Blanx most useful

[blanx]

You're welcome. I hope you get started and enjoy it. Once you've got the initial outlay overwith it doesn't cost much - except most likely you will end up wanting to get a bigger tank. I've ended up with 3 tropical !!!! and I only started with 2 goldfish (one is now massive and living happily in a pond) - sadly the other died due to my ignorance in the early days.

I should have read my previous post before I submitted it. The vibrating box is the pump and the end bit that puts bubbles into the tank is an airbrick and you can get some really nice ones that put a hole line of gentle bubbles along the back of the tank.

Hope you get into it and enjoy your fish

Kind regards,

Blanx

[blanx]

3 tropical tanks that is!!! not 3 fish :-)

[Thunderchild]

Well I used to live in Italy and we had a big pond which was made out of cement and was built by my grandfather many years ago. we ended up with a goldfish 8 inches long and what a job that was to empty and clean and refill again