New to the edge

Hey guys

Me and my girlfriend wanted a new pet and she had her heart set on fish

I saw the edge on show and bought straight away

we are currently running the first cycle , and have had the initial cloudy water issues , but we have done a 20% water change and gave everything another wash . and it looks to be clearing up

I have on order the following

25w fluval edge heater
fluval edge algea brush
fluval edge bamboo ornament ( to cover heater )
fluval edge digital thermometer

Do i need to add anything apart from dechlorination chemical to my water ? i see alot of people adding alot of other things ?

she wants to put fish in asap , but i dont want to do it unless its perfect

How can i tell if my water is ready ?

Cheers

Chris

Hi Chris and welcome.

I've had my Edge since the beginning of June and it now hosts 6x Celestial Pearl Danios (CPDs), 4x Neon Tetras and 4x Cherry shrimp (who love algae). I tried to keep all the creatures around 1" in size or below since the 23 litre volume and small 'air gap' at the top doesn't facilitate the survival of too many or too large fish.

I think I cycled my Edge for about a fortnight, using de-chlorinated water and also adding beneficial bacteria. I then added 3x Zebra Danios who were good guys but a bit too active and probably in need of a bigger tank....so I eventually replaced them with some CPDs. Only add one or two new fish every 10 days or so, this gives the beneficial bacteria time to increase to handle the extra waste from the new fish.

I had started off with plastic plants/decorations but have now replaced them with all with real plants (Anubais, Java Fern, mosses and grass) and a couple of pieces of lava rock. The tank now resembles (in my mind, maybe not the fishes ;-)) a shallow river bed where both the CPDs and Tetras hail from.

I spent a lot of time on various other forums reading up on the subject (eg http://forum.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/) before committing to anything...fishkeeping is one of these subjects where 'the more you learn, the more you realise how little you know'!

I've got my Edge positioned away from any windows, doors and close to my armchair (so that I get a great view...it's better than the TV most days!)

So in summary, one step at a time.

All the best,

Rick.

Chris,

I forgot to mention that you'll need to keep some form of water test kit to keep on top of the Edge water quality.....the 'Tetra 6in1' strips are OK to start with but you might want to graduate quickly to one of the liquid test kits which are more accurate.

Regards,

Rick

PS: I bought 'Setting up a tropical aquarium, week-by-week' from Amazon and it has proved very useful. There are loads of good books out there, that's just one that I happened to like the way it spoon fed a beginner like me.

Rick

Thanks for the handy information

been running for 6 days now with dechlorination chemicals and fish bacteria suppliment

water went a little bit cloudy so i did a 20% water change and that seems to have cured it.

Ill look into getting a book , we have got a very good guy at our local aquarium for any information

Cheers buddy

Chris