Hello

[blue fin]

Hi, my name is Dave, I am the new proud owner of a 75 gallon freshwater tank and about 34 fish that came with it. I am doing my best to care for the fish and am learing tons every day. I have lost a few guppies that I purchased to make a stable tank to put the fish in while I was balancing the new tank but so far haven't lost any of the fish that were transported with the big tank. Unfortunately, due to my inexperience, I'm having a heck of a fight with algae.

Nice to meet you all.

I hope to be a decent fish-keeper soon and I'm fairly sure the information on this site will be my best resource.

[Lady Hobbs]

Oh Oh. Do you have all those fish in an uncycled tank?

Please get yourself a Master Test Kit asap as you will be getting very high ammonia readings and will loose these fish. Also, please see if you can get some Bio-Spira at the fish store. It's keep refrigeratored but is an all natural bacteria and may help get this tank cycled much faster.

Welcome aboard!

[Incredulous_Ed]

Welcome Dave! you should read the ebook at the left hand side of the website. It's loaded with tons of info =)

[kimmers318]

When you say you are now the owner of this 75 gal, along with the fish...is this a setup that was previously running well at another location? If you transported the tank with any of the decor and set it back up immediately you may still have quite a good bit of the good bacteria you need. Otherwise, you will be running into problems as Hobbs mentioned going thru your cycling process. Algae issues are common in new tanks, which makes me worry that you set this all up with new or cleaned decor etc. and later brought the fish home. Give us some more details...do get your test kit, and I am sure everyone here will make sure you get on the right track to end up with a great tank:19:

[jman]

welcome to the forum dave!

[blue fin]

First: thank you all for the welcome.
Hobbs; no need to worry, I have testing strips and an ammonia alert tab hanging in the tank. I've been diligently testing for all and I'm in the good range on all counts. The ph is around 7.2, ammonia is good, nitrates and nitrites are a bit low but within normal range, water is a little high for heavy metals but still acceptable. As Kimmer assumed, this was an established tank. My step-father was able to bring 39 gallons of the original 75, kept the filters moist, saved the gravel, and transported the fish in a small mobile tank to get things rolling. Unfortunately he was good at overfeeding the fish and the tank has a real algae issue. I'm fighting a substantial bloom currently, I have had the tank set up for over 2 weeks and have made 2 water changes of 25%. I didn't realize how dirty the gravel was or I would have cleaned most of it before setting up the tank, but to attempt to fix the problem, last night I removed about 2/3 of the grave, agitated it in clean water, and rinsed thoroughly and replaced the gravel. Today I installed some filter floss and performed my second 25% water change, then replaced the air hoses with cleaner, new hose. Unfortunately the water is clouding rapidly again, I am going to let it stabilize for a couple of days and test the water again. If it doesn't seem to be clearing I have read on this site that some of the members recommend frequent water changes to combat excessive algae so I was planning another 25% or higher water change. I have already tried algae control agents but they don't seem to even slow it down. I removed all of the tank decor and cleaned it because it was all covered in a light coat of bright green algae. Do you recommend I leave it out until I get the algae under control or are there benefits to having it in the tank while I am fighting the algae?
Incredulous, I have been reading the ebook, it is full of good information, thank you. I also have aquariums for dummy's but I think it came up short with my current situation.

P.S. All of the fish that came with the tank are " knock on wood " still doing well.

[Lady Hobbs]

White water means New Tank Snydrome due to excessive cleaning. You could have vacuumed the gravel since it come from an established tank. The bacteria coats it so that would not have hurt. I believe your algae is probably coming from the high nitrates.

Leave it go and your tank will clear in a few days but to really get good water readings, the test strips are most unaccurate. And expensive, really, since you don't get many in a box. The Master Test Kits are the best and sold at PetSmart for $14.

I would do no cleaning of filters or decorations at all. The good bacteria coats all of these items.

[jeffs99dime]

hello dave. welcome to a.c. and merry christmas/ happy new year!

[blue fin]

Thank you for the advise. What do you recommend if the algae doesn't dissipate after a few days?

[Lady Hobbs]

When that tank is finished cycling, it will go away with regular maintenance or you could get some catfish. Just wiping the tank down and scrubbing the decorations in de-chlorinated water may be necessary but for now, let that tank do what it's doing and it will soon be fine.

A test kit would help you a lot if you could really see just what you have for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.

[blue fin]

Anyone have a recommendation on a resonable test kit that can be fully trusted and where to obtain it? This is for freshwater.

[jeffs99dime]

AQUARIUM PHARMACEUTICALS-- MASTER FRESHWATER MASTER TEST KIT. it's a liquid test kit that tests for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph. most members here including myself use it. most lfs (local fish stores) carry this. petsmart and petco definitely carry it. here is what it looks like.-- [Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

** also, if you print out the invoice for it on the net., they will price match it at the store. some people save 50% or more when they do this.--jeff

[blue fin]

Thanks for the advise;

I have 3 catfish and 2 pleco's so I suppose I should be ok there, thanks for the advise, I'll get a master kit the next time I make it to the store and do a proper test, water changes are still ok to keep levels in check right?

[jeffs99dime]

yes. but please get a test kit as soon as possible so that you know what your water parameters are. also, when you get the kit, also test your source (tap water) too. doing this will enable you to see why water parameters ultimately change once in your tank.--jeff:ezpi_wink1:

[Abbeys_Mom]

Welcome to the forum :)

[blue fin]

I'll get the test kit asap.. thanks for the advise.

Hey REALLY LOUD, how about sublime?

[jeffs99dime]

sure thing!!!!!thumbs2: