Aquarium Newbie - Day 1

3/1/09 - Purchase and Setup of the Aquarium

I know a lot of people with Aquariums, I have always liked the idea of having a tank as a kid but I failed miserably. So I was at Wal Mart doing some shopping and stopped by the fish isle and had the sudden urge to try again after all these years, plus the kids would love it. So I go home and get the wife and kiddo's and head back up to Wally World. We perused (that means thoroughly searched btw) the tanks, stands, and accessories as well as decided on some fish.

We ended up buying a 10 gallon Aquarium kit with the filter, some food and water treatment all in the box for about $30. Picked out some blue substrate, plastic plants and decor to go inside. For the fish, we purchased 2 Glofish, a small Pleco, a Gold Snail, 2 Dalmation Mollys and 2 Ghost Shrimp. I set up the tank and rinsed the substrate thoroughly. Added 1 part tap water (room temp) and 1 part RO water until we filled the aquarium to within 2 inches of the top. Rinsed and set up decor and added the EasyBalance water treatment (1 1/2 capfuls) Let filter run for about an hour, put the fish into the tank in their bag and floated them for 15 minutes. I then let the fish out of their bag and into the tank. Yep, I know what you experienced people are thinking, tap water??? All fish perished within 2 hours except for the Ghost Shrimp, who are quite hardy. I figured the Chlorine killed them because I forgot to treat the tap water and didn't let the tank cycle for at least 24-48 hours. After this discovery, I added 1 tsp of Aquasafe water conditioner to bring down the chlorine and chlorinate levels to livable conditions.

So the first day was a real disappointment, especially for the kiddo's. I was not deterred though, I researched into the night on how to care for tropical fish...