[mulder]

so i picked up a 10 gal with ALL the fixings, at a garage sale for 20$. water test kits and all (though i experimented since there's no instructions lol). anyhow, it's an aquaclear mini filter, with sponge, charcoal, and amrid. it will be freshwater, i want a boogley eyed goldfish. my question is: does the order go

sponge
charcoal
amrid


OR....

amrid
charcoal
sponge


i talked to my bro in law whom has two tanks (im not sure of his competentcy on this) said i had it right. but the beginner pamphlet i'm reading, i think, says otherwise. right now i have sponge on top, but reading the box for the sponge and amrid (it came with new unused ones yay!!) i think say sponge goes on the bottom. of course i have it all set up and running, no fish for another 2-3 days, we were busy today and are going to the ottawa sens red mile tomorrow, so the earliest im getting a goldie is tues, so don't worry about that. right now i just have it set up becuase i remember hearing about it having to run a while to get the cycles going. i'll take pics soon right now i'm just trying to figure this out. thanks for all input!

 

[VanillaRat]

I don't know about that brand of filter,but I am sure you will get some advice soon!

I just wanted to say congrats! Have lots of fun with it.Fish are awesome.I miss my "boogley eyed goldfish"...love how you worded that! He just passed away last week.

 

[VanillaRat]

I look forward to pictures!

 

[mulder]

lol thanks, i've called them boogley eyed forever hahahaha it just seems to fit. i'm excited about it as well. personally i haven't had an aquarium since my folks had one when i was a toddler. it was gone by the time i was 5-6 i believe. i forgot how absolutely beautiful they are! even without fish in it! lol it will be something i keep up in future. love the furries, but other than mice and dogs, i think i'm becoming an aquarium person, i just feel the stress being sucked out of me when i stare at it

 

[Sasami]

Congrats! Oh, and AquaClears are awesome =). For a goldfish I would recommend getting a second filter if you can since they are so messy, lol.

I have the sponge on the bottom on mine. I can confirm where everything is tomorrow . By charcoal do you mean activated carbon? I hope so since charcoal isn't too helpful. Activated carbon tends to come with the filters so that's probably what it is. Remember to replace it every couple of weeks or it can start leeching stuff back into the water. I don't use the Amrid but those kinds of things tend to go on the top with the carbon in the middle.

Oh, and please cycle your aquarium before getting a goldfish and remember that it'll take a couple weeks. If you are impatient then pick up some Bio-Spira...it'll cycle the tank overnight .

 

[mulder]

yay sasami! lol thanks for confirming the "order" of the filter contents. i call it charcoal cause it's black pebbles in a sac, i'm sure it's activated carbon tho lol. i'll switch it up. i'm thinking of getting a little CYCLE product i read about, to help with getting the cycles going. i'll only be getting 2 goldfish, or one goldie and one algae eater fish, it's a ten gal and 2 fish is enough for me, less to worry about IF we move later on. this aquarium is almost an experiment for me, since i've never done it before. i have basic understand of life cycles, being a science geek. but applying that knowledge to an aquarium is something i'm new to.

 

[Sasami]

yay sasami! lol thanks for confirming the "order" of the filter contents. i call it charcoal cause it's black pebbles in a sac, i'm sure it's activated carbon tho lol. i'll switch it up. i'm thinking of getting a little CYCLE product i read about, to help with getting the cycles going. i'll only be getting 2 goldfish, or one goldie and one algae eater fish, it's a ten gal and 2 fish is enough for me, less to worry about IF we move later on. this aquarium is almost an experiment for me, since i've never done it before. i have basic understand of life cycles, being a science geek. but applying that knowledge to an aquarium is something i'm new to.

Hehe, no problem. I wouldn't recommend any of those crappy "cycle" products you see in stores...they barely do anything and are a waste of money. The only one I'd get is Bio-Spira which needs to be refrigerated. It's the only one proven to actually cycle overnight...I've used it on three different tanks . You add it directly to the filter at the same time you add fish.

You can get Bio-Spira here: Bio-Spira

Unfortunately the place I used to get it doesn't stock it anymore. You may be lucky enough to find it locally...call a bunch of stores and ask. Don't let them sell you a different product .

Or, if you know someone with a cycled aquarium you can ask for some gravel and/or filter media. That'll help a ton too.

Oh, and I don't know if you know this already but it's not recommended to have more then one goldfish in a 10-gallon. Actually, it's best to have 20-gallons for the first goldfish and 10-gallons for each additional goldfish. But you could probably pull off keeping a goldfish in a 10-gallon as long as it's your only fish and keep up on water changes.

The thing is, goldfish are very messy and it's hard to maintain good water quality with them unless you stock lightly. Contrary to popular belief, goldfish are not really "easy" fish. You need to perform lots of water changes, have a good filter, and feed a varied diet. They are prone to many health issues (especially the fancy varieties which are the ones you should be getting...commons tend to be too large for most aquariums), and produce a ton of waste. Oh, and they'll eat live plants too . They are great fish...just very misunderstood and more difficult then you'd think.

Personally, in a 10-gallon I'd go for some small tropical fish like neon tetras or guppies. You will have far better luck with them and they are more suited for a 10-gallon .

Bettas are nice too . Hehe.

 

[chachi]

Dont use cycle it is crap and doesnt work and I agree your gonna need another filter to keep goldfish

 

[Zack_the_Mouse]

it goes
amrid (top)
charcoal
sponge(bottom)

 

[mulder]

all righty so no goldies, but a betta is ok? i like them and have had them in bowls (yes i know) in the past. is a betta and an algaw eating bottom feeder ok? my bro in law upstairs has 2 tanks, one with a massive 10 year old goldie, the other has some tropicals. i don't have a heater, and i cannot afford to buy one, so i want to stick to fish tha tlike room temp. also, can i take a cup of his tank water and put it in mine to start the cycle?

 

[Sasami]

all righty so no goldies, but a betta is ok? i like them and have had them in bowls (yes i know) in the past. is a betta and an algaw eating bottom feeder ok? my bro in law upstairs has 2 tanks, one with a massive 10 year old goldie, the other has some tropicals. i don't have a heater, and i cannot afford to buy one, so i want to stick to fish tha tlike room temp. also, can i take a cup of his tank water and put it in mine to start the cycle?

Bettas are great fish for 10-gallons . But they are tropical so you'd kind of need a heater =/. Unless the tank stays above 75 degrees all the time without one. So you could check with a thermometer and see. I actually have one tank that stays at 78-80 without a heater o_0. I think it's from the lights but I have more tanks with the same lighting system which are cooler :lol:. Most "algae eaters" are tropical too. For a 10-gallon I'd look into bristlenose plecos, clown plecos, and oto cats. For the latter you'd want a group of at least three. Don't be fooled into buying a common pleco or another large species even if the store says they won't get that big. They probably will . Most plecos can get to be over a foot long.

If the tank doesn't stay warm and you really can't get a heater then check out white cloud minnows. They are one of my favorite fish species. They don't need a heater since they like cooler temperatures (but can adapt to warmer ones), they are small and peaceful, they school which is neat, and they are really pretty. A school of like six would be perfect . Keep in mind they tend to nibble at live plants so either keep non-edible ones or fast-growing ones. I've found that they don't eat as many plants if you feed them vegetables or grow a plant just for them to eat.

Zebra danios would work out well too but I don't like them as much . They are nuts. But like the minnows they enjoy cool temperatures and don't get too big.

A cup of tank water probably wouldn't help too much with the cycle but I suppose it's better then nothing. You'd be better off asking for a handful of gravel or better yet a used filter cartridge (bury it under your substrate). Or getting Bio-Spira.

 

[mulder]

ok thanks sasami, ii have all those fish types written down (lol i'm taking notes). i also wanted to say that as of right now the tank's been set up and going for 24 hours, and the water is slowly getting cloudier (i fixed the filter content order) and i want to know why this is? my plants are fake plastic ones i washed in hot water and rubbed with my hands (i know about the no soap rule). the water isn't really cloudy, but it's noticeable. what do i do now to fix this, or is it good?