HI,

I am buying myself a baby Oscar for my birthday in a few weeks.
I just bought a used 90gal glass aquarium, stand and hood off of Craigslist. I'm hoping to clean and setup the new tank this week. In preparation for this, I had a few questions and was hoping for some pointers from all your experience...

I went out today and bought a 50ft Python "no spill" to make cleaning and water changes easier. (Plan to do frequent changes for the oscar).
I just tried it out on my 10gal danio tank... and am concerned about how to properly degass the new water. After doing more than a 50% water change, the tank is covered in tiny bubbles. I know that this is not a good thing and can cause the "bends" in the fish. I have an air stone going in the tank all the time.

What am I doing wrong? I ran the incoming water against the side of the tank, but can't get much pressure out of the siphon tube.

Also, I bought a sponge filter and added this to the 10gal in the hopes that it will be able to transfer the biofilter over to the 90gal once it is cleaned and set. How long does it usually take for the bacteria to colonize new filter media like the sponge?

Thanks, in advance, for any help. Any other advice and encouragement would be greatly appreciated.

Really excited to get the little guy home and into his new tank.

Welcome to OFL by the way. Have you thought about filtration. We would recommend a canister filter. You need a filter that will do 3x-4x the tank capacity, so 270-360 Gallons per hour. A lot of people will also add bio-wheel HOB filter for extra bio filtration. It takes 6 weeks to properly cycle a tank. I would get your filter and get your tank setup ASAP, and go throw some like 10x comets in there. If you dont have a master test kit you need to get one. I would recommend a API Master Test Kit.

When your running your gravel vac are you running it off your kitchen sink? If you are be sure to have as much water flow out of it as possible. I have a 50 ft as well and I had to go off my laundry tray, since I couldnt get enough pressure off my kitchen sink. Now Im not sure how even told you fish got "bends" but thats crap. Good aggitaion of the water surface is important to oxygenate the water. Those little bubbles on the side of the tank is from aggitating the water when refilling. If you dont want the bubbles dont stir up the water too much.

Here are some helpful links

oscarfishlover.com/tank-setup

oscarfishlover.com/how-to-cycle-a-tank

Thanks for the quick reply!

Was really concerned about the bubbles. One of the books I read made a point of mentioning that tiny bubbles in your tank after a water change indicate gas supersaturation, which has the potential to cause serious harm to your fish.
This produces a film of tiny bubbles all over the aquarium, the decorations, even the fish. The dissolved gases can enter the fish's bloodstream through the gills, after a short time causing embolisms.

Any way to avoid this while refilling with a siphon hose?

I have never heard of this, I have heard of gases getting trapped in sandy substrate. If your worried about the little bubbles try not to aggitate the water when refilling. The little bubbles being harful sounds like a bunch of crap to me since I see my fish chillen in the air wand. Wouldnt that put air directly on there gills? Maybe a more seasoned OFL'er could weigh in on this.

welcome to the site


the tiny bubbles your talking about are totally harmless to your fish and should all dissipate within an hour or two after the water change. it happens in my tanks and im sure others at every water changes and after all these years i have still to have any problems because of them.....

Thank you for the reassurance!

Will post a jpeg in the next day or so.
I know how important frequent water changes are and was a little concerned I was doing something wrong. The gravel vac off the kitchen sink was a lot more fun than the 5gal bucket brigade.

I've been lurking here and read a bunch of the articles. My LFS has seen me so much the past few weeks they are holding the oscar until the tank is ready.

Can't wait!!

necromancer4 wrote:


X2

They are just trapped air bubbles - nothing to worry about. If they are bothering you you can try putting the outlet of your hose into the water to fill it rather than letting the water drop into the tank. This may reduce the bubbles