just started my tank up today

Question
QUESTION: okay, my sister gave me an old tank. I cleaned it with tap water and killed one of those fish that suck on the tank and rocks. i didnt know that tap water was bad for fish and found out with a 6 dollar fish. well i cleaned everything out, got purrified water from my friends parents and started all over. its been sitting for about 4 hours now. should i wait or should i put in some fish now or wait for the cycle to start? and also i want to know if shark can live in my new 10 gallon tank? oh, and i need tips on how to keep up with the ammonia, nitrite, and ph levels. just some tips on what items i should buy.

ANSWER: Hi Danny
Sorry you found out the hard way, but yes tap water is bad for fish.  It's mainly the chlorine or chloramine the water companies use, that's what kills them off.  

My advice, take your time, and do this slowly, you'll be happier in the end that you did.  It's much easier, less expensive, and better in the long run to do it this way.  I would recommend doing a fishless cycle.  Cycling a tank with fish stresses, kills off, or damages the fish which causes them to be sickly(more money in the long run from replacing dead/dying fish to disease treatments).  

The whole cycle process takes roughly 6-8 weeks to complete.  Get some pantyhose/nylons, cut out the foot/leg part.  Put a cocktail shrimp in there and knot it up.  Drop it in the tank, and let it rot....That'll produce your ammonia for you(the nylons keep the icky stuff in one place as opposed to messing up the tank).  Your ammonia will spike, then go down, nitrites will spike, go down, and eventually they'll both read 0 ppm, and your nitrates will be high.  Remove the shrimp, do a water change to get the nitrates down to 20 ppm, and add your fish-slowly only a few at a time.  

You'll need:
A good test kit to test for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and ph.  I recommend one of the dropper test tube kits as opposed to the dip stick test kits, they're more money but more accurate.

Water dechlorinator-to remove chlorine, chloramine, heavy metals, etc. from your tap water.  You'll use this whenever you do a water change/add new water to the tank.  I use a product called Prime by Seachem, again, expensive, but a large bottle lasts for 2500 gallons of water-a long time.

Possibly a heater, depending on what kind of fish you intend to keep.  Most tropicals need about 78 F for a temp, I recommend a heater that is adjustable not a preset one.  If you need to raise the temp for disease treatment, you can't with the preset ones.  Again, more money for the adjustable ones, but worth it...

A gravel vacuum/syphon to clean the substrate/do your water changes-and these are fairly cheap :)

That's all I can think of at the moment for must haves.  Eventually, I'd pick up a bottle of MelaFix and PimaFix to keep on hand.  They're excellent herbal disease treatment/remedies.  A lot of times using one of those at the onset of a possible disease can cure it a lot quicker.  

For the shark, no go on that.  I can't think of any that would stay small enough for a 10 gallon tank.  I would recommend going with community/tropical fish.  If you go with like guppies or platies, I'd recommend strictly males.  Your tank is too small to be dealing with breeding mamas, you'll be overrun very quickly lol.  You could also think about a few dwarf puffers.  But they're not good with community fish, or other fish for that matter.  Just something kind of different.  See what's available at your fish store, and what you like, then go home and research the fish before buying them.  That way  you won't end up with a fish that will get way too big, or isn't compatible with other fish's you may have.  

Hope that helps, and good luck with your new tank!  Let me know if you have more questions!

Christy

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: lol, thanks for all the help....i also wanted to know how to safely do a water change. i understand that doing a water change obviously i do change the water but how and why do i do this? i just want to know why so i can understand more. and i also hear that i only change about 25-50% of the water. and how do i know when to do a water change.

Answer
Hey Danny
The best and easiest way to do a water change, is to get one of those gravel vacuums/syphons & a couple of buckets.  Read the instructions on how to start it, it's suction and gravity etc. and dig it into the gravel to remove uneaten food and fish poop and other junk that accumulates down there.  While it's sucking all that out, it's also sucking out water at the same time.  You can leave the fish in while you do this.  Dump the water out of the bucket, and then just replace the water you removed-using the dechlorinator in the new tap water.

The reason for the water changes, is basically to dilute and remove some of the toxins that build up.  Ammonia buils up from uneaten food, dying plants or animals, fish poop, etc.  A bacteria develops that converts ammonia to nitrites, also toxic to fish.  Another bacteria develops and converts this to nitrates-not as toxic.  Here's a couple links that explain the cycle process if you're not familiar with it, need to copy/paste to your browser:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/233464/the_nitrogen_cycle_process_of_a_

http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/startupcycle/Step_5_The_Cycle.htm

That first one is an article I wrote on the topic, just a real basic, hopefully easy to understand article explaining what happens during a fish tank cycle process.  A lot of the articles you find are so technical, and almost scientific lol.  But that's, in a nutshell, why it's important to do water changes, to remove the toxins or help dilute them.

I usually recommend doing the gravel vacuum and changing 25% of the water, once a week, unless the tank is overstocked, you need to do more like twice a week.  That's not an excuse to overstock a tank though lol.  I would recommend researching fish before buying them.  Pet stores are notorious for mislabeling fish, and you end up with a huge giant of a fish in an inadequate sized tank.  Not good....When I had an oscar in a 75 gallon tank, I used to change his water twice a week, because they're messy fish.  When you have good water quality, it helps prevent diseases, parasites, or other common infections.  Usually most diseases and parasites and such, show up when fish are stressed-from poor water quality, or overcrowded conditions.  A lot of times when fish are ill from whatever cause, a simple water change(and then kept up from there) will help them cure on their own.  

As for when to change the water, like I said, I just automatically do it once a week.  I mentioned the test kits.  For a newer tank, you'll want to test the water quality a bit more till the tank is really established.  If it shows a level out of whack, then do a water change. A small ammonia or nitrite spike can kill off some fish quickly.

Good luck!!  Let me know if you have more questions :)

Christy