hello all i have just registered and thought i would pop in and say hi.
i am a newbie to this oscar game so i am going to need a lot of help over the next few weeks.
i have had a 18 gallon tank with neons and 2 angel fish in for a long while and now i have decided that i just love the tiger oscar my mate has and i want one too.
so i now have just got a huge tank around the 90 gallon mark.
this was got today and is still empty so over the next few weeks i (with yours and penns help) am going to slowly build this tank up to accomadate one oscar and maybe one cat fish.i am not in a hurry just one step at a time so i can hopfully get it right.
with any luck i will take photos stage by stage and have a record of my start up in the oscar world.
i am in the uk, yours fred

Welcome to the forum Fred. This website has only been running for just over one month, so we haven't got hordes of people using the forum just yet. Nevertheless, I/we can certainly help steer you in the right direction so that you get it right first time. You certainly sounds as if you have got your head screwed on. A word of advice, don't look at fish just yet, save that until you are ready. That way, you don't fall in love with something when you're not ready.

We are always here for help, so just post away

well now this is my first post as a member but the start of this post was by me before i joined.

day 2 of the start of my oscar life and today the fluval 405 filter has arrived in the post.and would you believe it, i popped out to the local shop for the morning paper and there in the window on an ad was a second hand fluval 205 for £10 so i went straight round and had a look at that wow it looked hardly used so i got him to stick it on his tank and watched it work .i brought it there and then.
( i am hoping that if i stick that on as well at the other end of the tank then that might help keep the water cleaner.)

question

before i run these filters ( should i give it a soak in a bucket of water from my smaller tank as the water in the smaller tank has been stable for around 13 months.?

if its a yes to the above question then how long ( a few hours or even 1 or 2 days.

i am thinking that maybe if i get the time i might put the water in tonight .
i will keep you posted fred

That's great, what a bargain, wish I could come across those. Okay, what sort of media have you got in your established tank? I assume it is working with fish? Assuming that you are using sponge in the media, then the filter off and take the sponge out and squeeze it into a new media in your new filters. If there are any bits of crap, include those as well. This way, you will be seeding the filters with bacteria out of the existing media. Don't take too long about it and don't go too mad. I have just got myself some seachem stability today. According to the guy I know who runs the tropical fish shop, he reckons it's really good enough, he settled for his new tanks in his new shop using it. You can always get some and try it. They actually reckon that you can add fish straightaway using this stuff.

They forget to treat the water. If you don't, you will kill the bacteria of straightaway as soon as you turn the filters on.

Good luck