Doing a fw tank right

[TMartinez]

My sister has a 14gallon tank setup she bought from walmart. She has three ryukin goldfish. She had a pleco but it died yesterday. She basically has gotten tired of it and let it slide. She hasn't done a water change in 4 months or change the filter media in just as long. She would top off the tank with tap water without any conditioner. She said she didn't want to bother with it so she offered it to me...

Well I don't want to be rude

So I did a 50% water change today and added Stress Coat. I changed the filter media. Fish seem happier. pH was like 7.6 so I am gonna check it tomorrow and see if it is still high, if so I'll add some pH down.

She has a Aqua-tech filter that I am going to replace. Prob with a AC20 unless there is anything else someone would recommend.
Her substrate is that think decorative blue gravel. Should I go ahead and replace this?
I know the goldfish are going to outgrow it so either i'll donate them to the lfs or try to sell them. What to get? I would like to do a mild planted tank...

 

[brich999]

a few small tetras and maybe some shrimp always look classic in a planted tank

 

[fishmamma]

a few small tetras and maybe some shrimp always look classic in a planted tank

Shrimp might become snacks for the goldfish.. not sure though..

Maybe a couple of Emerald Cory cats.. considering the goldfish will need another home soon.. the cory cats can have the tank all to themselves.. but I imagine there are many options..

 

[aclockworkorange]

My sister has a 14gallon tank setup she bought from walmart. She has three ryukin goldfish. She had a pleco but it died yesterday. She basically has gotten tired of it and let it slide. She hasn't done a water change in 4 months or change the filter media in just as long. She would top off the tank with tap water without any conditioner. She said she didn't want to bother with it so she offered it to me...

Well I don't want to be rude

So I did a 50% water change today and added Stress Coat. I changed the filter media. Fish seem happier. pH was like 7.6 so I am gonna check it tomorrow and see if it is still high, if so I'll add some pH down.

She has a Aqua-tech filter that I am going to replace. Prob with a AC20 unless there is anything else someone would recommend.
Her substrate is that think decorative blue gravel. Should I go ahead and replace this?
I know the goldfish are going to outgrow it so either i'll donate them to the lfs or try to sell them. What to get? I would like to do a mild planted tank...

Don't mess with the ph, and on FW tanks you don't have to replace bio media... It will actually screw up your cycle. If it is a cartridge based filter, I'd replace it with something you can re-use, like an aquaclear.

 

[TMartinez]

I didn't replace the bio media, just the "floss" and activated carbon which comes in a replaceable cartridge.

Like I said I was gonna switch to a AC20 (Aquaclear 20 gallon). Or sould I go with one bigger? I have an AC110 on my 30g salt tank and i like it.

Why not adjust pH... I know if it's close just to leave it as to not swing the pH a lot but with it being so high?

 

[TMartinez]

Shrimp might become snacks for the goldfish.. not sure though..

Maybe a couple of Emerald Cory cats.. considering the goldfish will need another home soon.. the cory cats can have the tank all to themselves.. but I imagine there are many options..

I'm gonna get rid of the goldfish before adding anu other fish. I like the idea of cory cats.

I know plecos will get too big, are there any other algae controlling fish or inverts I can put in the tank (other than snails)

 

[aclockworkorange]

I didn't replace the bio media, just the floss and activated carbon.

Why not adjust pH...

Cool. You don't really need the carbon also.

Adjusting ph with products like ph down generally just stresses out fish with the swings a lot more than it would be to just have a constant ph that's slightly high. Unless it's an extreme blackwater species or something, almost all freshwater fish will do just fine at 7.4 ph. It's more important to have a stable environment.

 

[TMartinez]

Cool. You don't really need the carbon also.

Adjusting ph with products like ph down generally just stresses out fish with the swings a lot more than it would be to just have a constant ph that's slightly high. Unless it's an extreme blackwater species or something, almost all freshwater fish will do just fine at 7.4 ph. It's more important to have a stable environment.

Sorry I edited my reply...

 

[aclockworkorange]

I'm gonna get rid of the goldfish before adding anu other fish. I like the idea of cory cats.

I know plecos will get too big, are there any other algae controlling fish or inverts I can put in the tank (other than snails)

Some Cory cats get pretty big, a good small species would be panda corys. They also prefer sand over gravel...
If you could track them down, some LDA025 plecos only get a couple inches and are great algae eaters.
The most common small and best algae eater would be an otocinclus catfish. Avoid anything like "Chinese algae eater" or anything like that... Most of those fish get large and aggressive.
Another great choice is algae eating shrimp... Amano shrimp are probably the best for algae control.

Although... You shouldn't have algae problems if your tank is balanced (a small amount of algae is normal in a healthy established tank).

 

[erk419]

Unless you breeding, have fish like aficans who need a higher ph or your ph is really high or really low its best to leave it alone. Most fish will adapt to the ph that you have its much better to have a stable ph then ones that is constantly changing. Using ph chemicals is asking for trouble because they don't last. Plus there's better methods to change your ph without chemicals but for most fish are not needed. So to sum it up leave the ph as it is. Seeing how you replaced the floss in the filter and it would have housed some of the BB leave the gravel in there for right now or you risking going into a mini cycle. After a week or two it will be safe to replace it if you want. I would suggest rehoming the goldfish seeing how one they will out grow the tank and two there coldwater fish and you will more then likely want tropical. I would suggest buying a master liquid test kit that will test for ph, nitrites, nitrates, and ammonia so you know were you are on your water stats. API makes a good one make sure it tests for all those and make sure its the liquid test kit not the strips. Ill let some of the other members chime in on some stocking ideas for you. Welcome to the fish keeping world and be prepared to be bitting by the bug in a month or so you'll probaly be posting how your getting a 125 gallon or bigger lol.


Sorry if I repeated somethings others mentioned those posts weren't there when I started this

Posted on mobile.monsterfishkeepers.com