# water care



## neil bailey (Nov 2, 2007)

i have a 50 gallon tank 5 red bellys 4" plenty of plants and bog wood what best temperature, ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings feeding them beefheart, gamma fish and krill and could anyone tell me what growth rate will be and what environment they prefer e.g lighting as im just starting out keeping red bellys!


----------



## the_skdster (Aug 15, 2006)

I'd get a bigger tank when I can. If you don't want their growth stunted later on.
78-82 temp
6.5-7.5 pH
0ppm ammonia
0ppm nitrites
~20ppm nitrates. The lower the better. People have trouble with this though due to insufficient water changes/cleaning.

They will get used to any lighing situation given time. Try not to feed them beef heart more than once every 2weeks. P's were not meant to eat mammalian meat.

Welcome to the Obsession!


----------



## SDThondas (Oct 29, 2007)

From what I've heard from talking to people from this site. The tank that you have is too small for that many Reds of that size. It might be able to handle them for a little bit but very soon you'll need to get a bigger tank. Also you should have let the tank cycle for a while and let the beneficial bacteria grow, keeping in mind enough so it would be able to support that many fish. Your ammonia levels and nitrite levels should remain at zero, or very close to zero and the nitrate levels need to be check multiple times a week.( I forget how to control nitrate levels, I think it's with sea salt but don't hold me to that.) Also the amount of time you feed them will contribute a lot to the ammonia levels. you should be feeding them only every other day if not every three days. As for PH, I'd keep it in between 6.6 to 6.8. I hope that this will shed some light on your questions.


----------



## scotty (Oct 3, 2007)

the best way to keep nitrates in check is to perform regular water changes. and try not to overfeed the beefheart.
welcome to p-fury and good luck with your fish!


----------



## neil bailey (Nov 2, 2007)

the_skdster said:


> I'd get a bigger tank when I can. If you don't want their growth stunted later on.
> 78-82 temp
> 6.5-7.5 pH
> 0ppm ammonia
> ...


made miss calculation tank is 70 gallon 48" x 21" x 28" tank is not long set up approx 4 wks ps been in for a wk and doin fine eatin well when should i do my 30% water change have 2 ehiem 2213 external filters 1 new so i knw filter bio wont be built up yet am i best leavin water changes for wk or 2 my ammonia reading is 3.5 nitrite 4.0 and nitrate 4.0! i have heard that you can keep neons & tiger barbs with rbp is this true? thanx very much for your advice as im from northern ireland there isnt much places for information on ps thanx again cloud


----------



## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

if those are the dimentions its 120g not 70

in inches multiply the LxWxH then divide by 231 for gallonage


----------



## neil bailey (Nov 2, 2007)

sean-820 said:


> if those are the dimentions its 120g not 70
> 
> in inches multiply the LxWxH then divide by 231 for gallonage


thanx mate for advice if that is gallonage i have 5 4" rbps would it be possible to add another 3 same size i have plenty of cover plants and bog wood the 5 i have were together in pet shop so not to sure if they would like 3 strangers enterin their territory so to speak lol


----------



## the_skdster (Aug 15, 2006)

cloud said:


> if those are the dimentions its 120g not 70
> 
> in inches multiply the LxWxH then divide by 231 for gallonage


thanx mate for advice if that is gallonage i have 5 4" rbps would it be possible to add another 3 same size i have plenty of cover plants and bog wood the 5 i have were together in pet shop so not to sure if they would like 3 strangers enterin their territory so to speak lol
[/quote]
If you do that, the 8- 4" rbp's will quickly grow into 5 and 6inchers soon enough.
You will have a ton of fin nipping going on, they will be all probably be stressed out as well.
More cover and plants/bogwood in a 4foot tank mean less adn less space for them.
Stick to the current 5 you have and get a larger tank when possible. Or thin the shoal.
Good Luck!

Oh, and get some Seachem Prime water conditioner. Will help with the Ammonia problem until tank is fully cycled.


----------



## neil bailey (Nov 2, 2007)

the_skdster said:


> if those are the dimentions its 120g not 70
> 
> in inches multiply the LxWxH then divide by 231 for gallonage


thanx mate for advice if that is gallonage i have 5 4" rbps would it be possible to add another 3 same size i have plenty of cover plants and bog wood the 5 i have were together in pet shop so not to sure if they would like 3 strangers enterin their territory so to speak lol
[/quote]
If you do that, the 8- 4" rbp's will quickly grow into 5 and 6inchers soon enough.
You will have a ton of fin nipping going on, they will be all probably be stressed out as well.
More cover and plants/bogwood in a 4foot tank mean less adn less space for them.
Stick to the current 5 you have and get a larger tank when possible. Or thin the shoal.
Good Luck!

Oh, and get some Seachem Prime water conditioner. Will help with the Ammonia problem until tank is fully cycled.
[/quote]
thanx mate appreciate your advice think i will just stick to the 5 i have as i said just startin out and dnt want to f**k it up i not good at working out gallonage all i know is its a 48x21x28 bout 4ft


----------



## the_skdster (Aug 15, 2006)

cloud said:


> if those are the dimentions its 120g not 70
> 
> in inches multiply the LxWxH then divide by 231 for gallonage


thanx mate for advice if that is gallonage i have 5 4" rbps would it be possible to add another 3 same size i have plenty of cover plants and bog wood the 5 i have were together in pet shop so not to sure if they would like 3 strangers enterin their territory so to speak lol
[/quote]
If you do that, the 8- 4" rbp's will quickly grow into 5 and 6inchers soon enough.
You will have a ton of fin nipping going on, they will be all probably be stressed out as well.
More cover and plants/bogwood in a 4foot tank mean less adn less space for them.
Stick to the current 5 you have and get a larger tank when possible. Or thin the shoal.
Good Luck!

Oh, and get some Seachem Prime water conditioner. Will help with the Ammonia problem until tank is fully cycled.
[/quote]
thanx mate appreciate your advice think i will just stick to the 5 i have as i said just startin out and dnt want to f**k it up i not good at working out gallonage all i know is its a 48x21x28 bout 4ft








[/quote]
Whoah, thats one tall 4foot tank!
It's deeper than a standard 4footer by 3 inches at 21" so you are probably safe with the 5 you currently have for some time to come.
You'd be set at 4 piranha for life in there for sure.
See what happens when they grow and decide on the stuation then.
Good Luck!


----------



## neil bailey (Nov 2, 2007)

the_skdster said:


> if those are the dimentions its 120g not 70
> 
> in inches multiply the LxWxH then divide by 231 for gallonage


thanx mate for advice if that is gallonage i have 5 4" rbps would it be possible to add another 3 same size i have plenty of cover plants and bog wood the 5 i have were together in pet shop so not to sure if they would like 3 strangers enterin their territory so to speak lol
[/quote]
If you do that, the 8- 4" rbp's will quickly grow into 5 and 6inchers soon enough.
You will have a ton of fin nipping going on, they will be all probably be stressed out as well.
More cover and plants/bogwood in a 4foot tank mean less adn less space for them.
Stick to the current 5 you have and get a larger tank when possible. Or thin the shoal.
Good Luck!

Oh, and get some Seachem Prime water conditioner. Will help with the Ammonia problem until tank is fully cycled.
[/quote]
thanx mate appreciate your advice think i will just stick to the 5 i have as i said just startin out and dnt want to f**k it up i not good at working out gallonage all i know is its a 48x21x28 bout 4ft








[/quote]
Whoah, thats one tall 4foot tank!
It's deeper than a standard 4footer by 3 inches at 21" so you are probably safe with the 5 you currently have for some time to come.
You'd be set at 4 piranha for life in there for sure.
See what happens when they grow and decide on the stuation then.
Good Luck!
[/quote]
thanx m8


----------



## the_skdster (Aug 15, 2006)

Oh, and throw us a tank shot whenever you can!


----------



## neil bailey (Nov 2, 2007)

.jpgquote name='the_skdster' date='Nov 6 2007, 03:00 AM' post='2055063']
Oh, and throw us a tank shot whenever you can!








[/quote]






not great pic took it with fone as you can see its still very cloudy put water conditioner in it but hasnt worked







any suggestions?







cloud


----------



## StryfeMP (Apr 26, 2007)

when the tank isn't fully cycled yet is what causes the water to be cloudy at time so just wait it out and it should clear up. just try to keep the ammonia and nitrites in check so that your fish don't get poisoned by them. welcome; good luck and have fun.

sweet looking tank btw


----------



## neil bailey (Nov 2, 2007)

thanx im just startin out & had to put ps in new tank as other smaller 1 was leaking also with having to get xtra filtration which r new i know my tank isnt fully cycled yet so as u said just have to wait lol i got my ammonia down to 0 frm 3.5 tho my nitrites r 2.0 tho they were 4.0 but got stuff to help with all that again many thanx







cloud!


----------



## the_skdster (Aug 15, 2006)

Wow. Thats a great looking setup! Wish I had that ingenuity.
Give us your readings on all water parameters.
Oh, and seems like you've just started cycling your tank?
People here are going to bash you but if you can't do anything like temp storage your reds in someone's cycled tank then the best solution is this.
Go and buy yourself a 250/320/500ml bottle of Seachem Prime water conditioner.
Not only does it de-chlor the water but it also neutralizesd harmful ammonia in your tank.
Pour in 1/4 the recommended dosage every day until the tank is fully cycled.
That way the ammonia will have no harmful affects on your beloved P's.

Ammonia is what kills most people's fish in new tanks because they did not cycle beforehand.
Hope everything works out well!


----------



## neil bailey (Nov 2, 2007)

thanx m8 i did have the tank running for bout wk or so before putting ps in i got stress zyme which is a biological filtration booster to speed up development of the bio filter also i got some amquel+ which removes nitrate nitrite n ammonia, chlorine & chloramines as i said my ammonia is down to 0 my readings yesterday were ammonia 0 nitrite 2.0 and nitrate 5.0 the day before they were ammonia 3.5 nitrite 4.0 and nitrate 4.0 as i live in northern ireland the bloke in the fish shop i bought products said that, that seachem stuff is u.s so sold me u.k version think its just a matter of time dnt you agree? cheers 4 the tank compliment







cloud


----------



## StryfeMP (Apr 26, 2007)

since your tank isn't fully cycled yet, you wouldn't want to remove all of the ammonia and nitrites, these things are what your biological filtration feeds off of, so like skdster said, use only a 1/4 to a 1/2 dosage so that there are still some left but not so much that it will affect your fish


----------

