Total Newbie with an empty tank

[ron101]

I will also add that you should really decide on what water conditions you are prepared to maintain. Fresh water can be soft or hard, and there is brackish.

As Cap'n mentioned there are different types of cichlids. South American cichlids like Angelfish and Discus prefer soft water while Africans usually prefer hard conditions. So even though they are similar species, you can't really maintain them in the same tank.

Water conditions in the BC lower mainland are predominantly soft (rain water). Hard water usually comes from well sources; it disolves and absorbs minerals. The good news is that it is quite easy to make softwater hard, whereas it is tedious to make large volumes of softwater from hard water.

BTW have you read up on cycling the tank?

It's a good idea to do as much homework ahead of time so to minimize headaches down the road. One last caveat: be very wary of information that you get at the pet store. Many stores that sell FW fish also sell other pets and may not know what they are talking about but will act like they do and steer you in very wrong directions.

[BullDog]

Originally Posted by ron101

I will also add that you should really decide on what water conditions you are prepared to maintain. Fresh water can be soft or hard, and there is brackish.

As Cap'n mentioned there are different types of cichlids. South American cichlids like Angelfish and Discus prefer soft water while Africans usually prefer hard conditions. So even though they are similar species, you can't really maintain them in the same tank.

Water conditions in the BC lower mainland are predominantly soft (rain water). Hard water usually comes from well sources; it disolves and absorbs minerals. The good news is that it is quite easy to make softwater hard, whereas it is tedious to make large volumes of softwater from hard water.

BTW have you read up on cycling the tank?

It's a good idea to do as much homework ahead of time so to minimize headaches down the road. One last caveat: be very wary of information that you get at the pet store. Many stores that sell FW fish also sell other pets and may not know what they are talking about but will act like they do and steer you in very wrong directions.

Oh yes, I'm quite aware of the misinformation given by petstores. I've found some are fairly knowledgeable and some, not so much...

About cycling - I googled it, and most of what I found was your standard formulas and such, the exact reason why I dropped out of Organic Chem :P...
From what I found, if you seed your filter media (I have some bio-media currently set up), it reduces the cycling time and loss of fish. Is this correct?
I guess the basic idea is testing for ammonia, and doing partial water changes, correct?

[ron101]

The basic idea is that a tank that is not 'cycled' will not support any but a small stocking level. 'Cycling' is the establishment of the beneficial bacteria that detoxify fish waste. To accomplish this your tank needs a steady supply of ammonia.

The classic cycling method involves a small quantity of fish (relative to tank size) and a lot of patience. If you put too many fish in, ammonia and nitrite levels will become toxic and fish will die. If you perform a lot of water changes it will be easier on the fish but the cycle can take longer.

I prefer to use fishless cycling. It's cheaper, more ethical, and arguably faster than cycling with fish. Here's a link: http://malawicichlids.com/mw01017.htm but you can google it and find many others.

What is this bio media that you have set up?