You might have noticed me asking a lot of questions im new to this business so yeah :D I decided to cycle the tank with a goldfish that I will keep, I really don't want to inflict him any pain so I would be on a good look out for all the bad stuff, I will need to do a lot of water changes I assume even with a filter? I need to treat tap water before I put it in the tank with what ever the thing that removes chlorine and heavy metals how long does the conditioner need to be in the water can I just pour the conditioner in a lets say a bucket give it an hour and then put the water in the tank. The tank will probably be 20 gals. And a fancy gold fish or maybe just a normal one.Water change question?You seem to have a good grip on what you need to do.
First advice...get a good test kit.Drop-style prefered.
Next...read and understand this...
http://www.theoscarspot.com/viewtopic.ph
...now you know why the test kit.
Dechlorinators are fairly instantaneous these days....and good you're going to do it in a bucket before putting it in the tank...so the water is ready to use almost straightaway .Good idea to let it sit a while though,because when water is heavy in chloramines the bond between the proteins/chlorine has to be broken for the chlorine to out-gas (usually pretty quick though...I'd think 15-30 minutes).
As far as the water changes...use that test kit we talked about earlier....
You want ammonia 0/nitrite 0/nitrate 10(or less)...change as much/as often as necessary to maintain those readings.
Research your Goldfish...pick a variety that gets probably no more than 5%26quot; max.You will still be doing a lot of water changes...but good filter choices will help cut those back some.
Since you will probably use a hang on back powerfilter....shoot for one with 200gph (or more flow).Don't fall for the %26quot;rated up to xx gallon%26quot; crap,actually read the box to find the flow number.Water change question?you'll probably want a fancy goldfish. i believe they stay smaller than the common goldfish. you'll only want 1 for your twenty gallon tank also. you can pour water conditioner into the bucket and add water.. this water is ready to go into your tank (you dont need to wait a certain amount of time) assuming the water temperatures are the same. have fun :)Water change question?When cycling a new tank you don't need to do a water change. Because when you take out 25-30% of the water, then you are taking out the things that is helping get the tank cycling. You will get dead fish from this.
Saltwater Ex.
A guy came into my friend's fish store and bought a fish. Two days later, he came in saying he was doing the water changes when he was trying to cycle is tank, then he put the fish in to early. Just leave it be, get you a test kit, ect.Water change question?Read the following guide for cycling with fish. When it comes to messy fish it's going to be far harder to keep any parameters stable enough to keep the fish healthy during the process compared to smaller less wasteful fish. I advocate fishless cycling with pure ammonia as that gets it done in a fortnight with toxic readings that would kill fish, but absolutely fine without!
Nevertheless you've now got the tank and fish yes? In which case read this:
http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?show
