Hi - first thread, first aqaurium experience, first fish deaths................

Just bought a fluval chi from my local store - they declined to tell me how to set up a new tank and my forst 4 fish died from ammonia poisoning - horrible and I feel terrible about it.
I went back to the store and they sold me a $40 testing kit - some API ammonia lock and some PH powder. I have thoroughly cleaned the tank after the fish deaths and filled it with clean water - I put in 1/2 packet of the PH powder and also the correct doseage of ammonia lock (NO FISH IN AQUARIUM YET). I waited 2 days and tested water - PH is pretty much neutral but ammonia is still high - not dark green but light green.
My questions are this:

I want to have maybe 4 fish, a betta, 2 platties and a bottom feeder - possibly 2 more platties later ( my tank is a 6;6 gallon fluval chi) Is that a good amount of fish?

How often should I do a change of water?

What do I put in the water to reduce ammonia - for example say I get the levels correct and thn add my 4 fish - what happens when I test say in a weeks time and the levels are high - what do I do at that point and what do I do now to reduce the ammonia - is there some sort of stuff I can put in the tank now prior to putting fish in?

I am absoloutly terrified of killing more fish - I am an animal lover and feel awful - wish I had never bought the aquarium now.............

thanks for your help - my local pet store is only interested in geting money out of me I think.

First, you need to let the tank go through the Nitrogen Cycle. Do NOT use Ammonia Locking products! They totally screw up the cycle. You need an ammonia source (if you want to do a fishless cycle, you use straight ammonia) and you dose that each day until you see the NitrItes rising. Then you can dose every other day. Eventually, the ammonia will disapear and the NitrItes will start to fall and the NitrAtes will begin to rise. Once you can dose the tank with 4ppm of ammonia and it shows 0ppm Ammonia and 0ppm NitrItes in 24 hours, then your cycle is done. (You will be taking NitrAtes out of the tank when you do water changes - but you don't do them during the fishless cycle.)

Also, don't use pH chemicals. They just cause more problems that they're worth. If you acclimate your fish properly (see the sticky in the forum on "Drip Acclimation") your fish will be acclimatized to your pH and do just fine.

For a 6 gallon aquarium, you should only put a Betta and maybe a few snails in there. It's not big enough to house much more.

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Yet another fish store that their people really don't know what they are doing.

You should have no more than 1-2 fish in there to get this tank through the nitrogen cycle. Once it has finished, you might be able to add 2-3 more without the risk of overstocking. It is small though and think your plans are slightly ambitious. Better to play it moderate until you get the hang of things and the art of keeping fish healthy.

The advice for the ph and ammonia products is sound. What makes you believe you need a certain ph level....I assume you were shooting for 7.0?

If you already have fish and that is the way you plan to go about the nitrogen cycle, the best way to get the ammonia down is by doing water changes. Glad they sold you a decent test kit, although hate to say they are about half that online. Test daily and do a 25% water change if your ammonia or nitrite gets to 1ppm or above. If it hits 3ppm or higher do a 50% change.

You really need to read up on the nitrogen cycle. Small tanks can be tough to manage, only made worse by putting too many fish in them.

Test and post your results here and we can help you decide what to do. If you do it all without fish, no water change necessary.

Ben and Holly both suggested you read up on the nitrogen cycle and Ill go ahead and echo that advice.

There is no need to mess with your PH,not in such a little tank.Also,thats way too many fish in there.I would do the betta and thats it.Maybe if you plant it well then some shrimps will fare well but dont count that as a definate.

I really feel I am repeating others,lol.The tank is neat though from pics on the net.Never seen a real one.

Anyhow,good luck and keep us posted.

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"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

If you are in a hurry to cycle your tank, ask around if any of your friends keep freshwater tanks with similar hardness and PH values. Taking the water from a cycled tank during a water change is something I do when I establish a new tank. You can almost always have a fully cycled tank in 1-2 weeks (assuming under 30 gallons and 1/3 of water added is already cycled). Doing 1/3 cycled to 1/2 cycled water and 2/3 or 1/2 tap water + tap water conditioner is usually the way I go depending on the size of the tank being started and # of fish being added.

Water will not make much if any difference. It does have nitrates in it, but there is very little beneficial bacteria in the water column. If it has helped you, probably a coincidence. Gravel or ornaments from a cycled tank will have attched bacteria. Keep it wet and get it in the uncycked tank, then you'll make a difference.

Ok - my tank has no fish in it at all. Do I now need to empty and refill to get rid of the ammo lock and PH soloution I put in?
Can someone just tell me what name of product I need to put in the tank to make it ok for fish. I was planning on buying osh at the weekend but now I get the feeling I have to wait longer.

Thanks

There are no products you "need" to add to the tank.

Your tank has to go through the nitrogen cycle and when this occurs, values for ammonia and nitrite usually spike because nothing is established in the tank. If there are fish in the tank you need to do water changes to help them survive it and keep the levels low. Once your tank is established, not so much of a concern. There is nothing you can do to avoid this process.

You can either do this with fish in it or no fish. Without fish there is no need to do water changes and typically it is a little faster process because of this. This method uses ammonia bought at the store. Adding plants, or more plants, could make it much easier on you as well.

Which method do you want to use? From there we can give you a better idea of what you need to do.

Hello - I would like to do this prior to adding fish - right now my tank has been up and running for 3 days with just water and filter running - its a tad cloudy the water and my master test kit says the ammonia is a bit high but much better than before. I have the fluval chi plastic plant thingy in it that comes with the kit and thats it - I have tested for PH and its good.