Don't Do These Beginner Mistakes - (We've All Done Them) — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00don't worry we've all been there we  were all that new guy at some point
2. 0:03and we made plenty of mistakes myself  included but why start from scratch
3. 0:08when we can learn from the mistakes of  others this video we're going to go over
4. 0:11the top 10 biggest mistakes that you make  when entering the aquarium hobby let's go
5. 0:22hey guys welcome back i'm kev from caveman  equality.com if you're new here this channel
6. 0:26has plenty of helpful information on the  aquarium hobby i put out a new video every
7. 0:30week so consider subscribing and you won't miss  any new content now i do get a lot of beginners
8. 0:35that watch this channel so bear with me if the  first few are a little obvious to some of you
9. 0:40but they may not be obvious to everybody else i  like to keep the new guy in mind looking for the
10. 0:44most basic information because sometimes that's  actually even harder to find so i'll start with
11. 0:49some very common mistakes but i promise to get  to the bigger less common mistakes that almost
12. 0:54all of us have made or are making so number one  is going to be adding fish to an uncycled tank
13. 0:59i know you've heard it before from your local fish  store guy from the gaia petco the your buddies
14. 1:06and you just can't believe it because it doesn't  make sense to you but it's very natural to want to
15. 1:12buy a fish set up your fish tank throw it in the  tank immediately you want to get going you want
16. 1:18to feel the glory of having a fish tank but it's  true what everybody says you cannot add a fish to
17. 1:25an uncycled tank you must allow your tank time to  cycle adding your fish to an uncycled tank is just
18. 1:32going to cause an ammonia spike you're going to  end up killing those fish you're going to end up
19. 1:35having to start all over again you're going to  wonder what you did wrong and you may even talk
20. 1:40yourself out of the hobby altogether so follow the  instructions from your local fish store watch some
21. 1:45videos on youtube watch more of my videos i've  got one right here on cycling your tank but it
22. 1:49is 100 accurate when someone tells you that your  tank needs to be cycled before you add fish number
23. 1:56two is going to be not using the chlorinator when  you do a water change i know this is very obvious
24. 2:02guys but trust me there's some people including  myself that when we start this hobby we don't
25. 2:07know about dechlorinating our water when you do  a water change your tap water has chlorine in it
26. 2:14chlorine is going to kill every living thing in  your tank going to kill bacteria it's going to
27. 2:19kill your fish it's going to kill plants chlorine  is a bad thing and we must dechlorinate our water
28. 2:26using prime using api stress coat there's a bunch  of decliners on the market pick which one you like
29. 2:33i'll put a link to one i use down below but you  must dechlorinate your water before adding it
30. 2:38into your tank number three is going to be too  much light now you may be surprised to find out
31. 2:43that the light in your aquarium is not necessary  for your fish that light is totally for you so
32. 2:48that you can view your fish be able to watch them  and enjoy them but it has no benefit for your fish
33. 2:55too much light can actually cause stress in the  fish too much light may even cause aggression
34. 2:59problems because they can see each other so well  it may promote attacking or fighting or aggression
35. 3:04too much light will cause algae growth in  your tank a general rule of thumb in the
36. 3:09aquarium hobby is that you want your light  on about eight hours or less if possible
37. 3:13number four is gonna be over feeding now i've said  this before in other videos and i'll say it again
38. 3:19if you're new in the hobby you're most likely  overfeeding you probably need to cut it in half
39. 3:25half overfeeding leads to overeating overeating  leads to more poop more poop leads to more nitrate
40. 3:31more nitrates in your tank are going to cause your  fish to stress out which is going to weaken their
41. 3:35immune system leaving them susceptible to disease  parasites bacteria this isn't going to be good
42. 3:41for anybody oh yeah parasites and bacteria are  in this tank right now and in your tank too and
43. 3:47the only thing fighting them off is your fish  immune system which is why it's so important
44. 3:52to not stress your fish out the least stress  they are the stronger their immune system is
45. 3:58to fight off disease bacteria and parasites  but if none of that made any sense to you about
46. 4:04overfeeding i got one that will overfitting  is going to give you ugly cloudy water
47. 4:10so don't do it number five is going to be don't do  water changes and clean your filters on the same
48. 4:16day this is going to disrupt too much of your bio  media at the same time instead what you want to
49. 4:21do is alternate between water changes and filter  cleanings if you do water changes every two weeks
50. 4:28then clean your filter the week in between if you  do water changes weekly then you'd want to do your
51. 4:34filter cleaning somewhere in the middle of the  week but don't do them together at the same time
52. 4:38because disrupting all the biomedia at the same  time can cause an ammonia spike and then you're
53. 4:43gonna have a bunch of problems in your tank  that's gonna lead us right into number six
54. 4:47which is don't clean your bio media with tap water  for the same reason that we spoke about earlier
55. 4:53the chlorine in your tap water is going to kill  all of your beneficial bacteria on your biomedia
56. 4:59which is going to cause an ammonia spike in your  tank and you're going to have a bunch of dead fish
57. 5:03so do not clean your bio media with tap water  don't even bother cleaning it too much actually
58. 5:09just rinse it off in tank water don't ever  replace your biomedia bio media is good for
59. 5:15years and years and years to come if you need  more information on beneficial bacteria and the
60. 5:20nitrogen cycle as a whole then check this video  out i'll make sure to link it in the description
61. 5:24below okay guys you stuck through the first six  which was geared towards the beginners i'm glad
62. 5:28you stuck around because now we're gonna get into  some mistakes that even some veterans are making
63. 5:34right now including myself as usual but i had to  learn them the hard way and now i'd like to give
64. 5:39you guys that information number seven is going to  be not having enough oxygen or surface agitation
65. 5:45now i know it may be easy to just buy a bubbler or  buy an air stone throw it in your tank and think
66. 5:50that should be good enough but with time we're  going to add more fish that's going to reduce
67. 5:55the oxygen we're going to add more nitrates  to the tank that's going to reduce more oxygen
68. 5:59so your best bet is going to be to get a good wave  maker a wave maker pointed at the surface of your
69. 6:06tank is going to create a wave all the way across  the surface and give you great surface agitation
70. 6:12this is going to make sure that you always have  a well oxygenated tank i've got a great video on
71. 6:17wave makers and i'll make sure to post a link in  the description below that's gonna lead us right
72. 6:21into number eight which is not having a backup for  your oxygen oxygen is so important that you need
73. 6:27to make sure you back it up in case there's ever a  power failure the livelihood of your fish in your
74. 6:32aquarium is relying on power and if you ever lose  power you're going to lose everything in your tank
75. 6:38but the first thing that's going to kill your  fish is a lack of oxygen so you should have
76. 6:43a battery backup that monitors your power  source and in the event that you lose power
77. 6:48the battery backup kicks in and supplies oxygen  to your tank until the situation can be rectified
78. 6:54i got a great video on that as well check it out  link in the description number nine is going to
79. 6:59be not having a redundant heater system yes i've  heard many horror stories of coming home from work
80. 7:06and you find all your fish have jumped out of  the tank and they're laid across your floor
81. 7:11because your heater failed and it stayed  stuck in the on position and basically
82. 7:15cook them so having a fail-safe system that  backs up your heater in case it stays stuck on
83. 7:20or doesn't turn on at all is very important  guess what i got check it out okay guys we
84. 7:28reached number 10 and number 10 is going to  be a oldie but a goodie big mistake in the
85. 7:33aquarium hobby is not quarantining your fish come  on guys you know you got to quarantine your fish
86. 7:38fish disease is rampant wherever you get your  fish from be the local fish store or you order
87. 7:44them online and they got shipped to you your fish  are going to be stressed out like i said stress
88. 7:49is going to weaken their immune system and they  can catch many diseases that are very contagious
89. 7:54if you put a sick fish in your main tank with  your main guys is very likely that whatever
90. 8:00they have is going to spread to everybody and  then you've got to medicate the whole tank for
91. 8:05weeks and weeks and weeks which is going  to be very costly you can easily lose fish
92. 8:11you can easily lose an entire tank by not being  able to control some parasite some bacteria that
93. 8:18has spread to everybody in the tank maybe you  don't even notice it and you catch it too late
94. 8:23very easy to lose an entire tank so definitely  quarantine your fish make sure they're okay
95. 8:29medicate if you have to watch them for a  couple of weeks make sure they're eating well
96. 8:34make sure they're not stressed anymore make sure  they're ready to join this tank of everybody who's
97. 8:39gonna be very excited to meet these new guys did  you make it this far okay then i got two bonus
98. 8:46tips for you good thing you stuck around right  for your new guys getting into the hobby don't buy
99. 8:52your first itty tiny little tank a small tank  is actually going to be harder to maintain
100. 8:59because you're going to have fluctuations in  water parameters and it's going to drive you
101. 9:04nuts it's harder to keep your ph levels the  same it's harder to keep temperature right
102. 9:10and it's harder to test for nitrates and ammonia  it's just harder in a smaller volume of water
103. 9:17so the part two of my bonus tip is to buy a bigger  tank obviously but what you want to do is buy a
104. 9:26second hand go on craigslist or let go or any of  those apps where people sell their used stuff you
105. 9:33can get a nice size 30 or 40 or 50 gallon tank to  start with and make sure you find something that
106. 9:40comes with the whole set they've got plenty of  tanks that come with the stand that come with the
107. 9:44filters that come with the heaters buy something  that comes complete as a set that way not only is
108. 9:50it going to be easier for you to maintain that  water maintain the fish maintain the parameters
109. 9:56but also if you feel that maybe the fish hobby  isn't for you because it does require a lot of
110. 10:02work it's not for the lazy ask anybody if you  feel that maybe you don't want to stick with it
111. 10:08you can easily resell it right back on those same  platforms that you bought it from and take a very
112. 10:15minimal hit on what you sell it for versus what  you bought it for so no harm no foul you were able
113. 10:22to get in you were able to have a good sized tank  and test it out and if you didn't like it get rid
114. 10:28of it all good nobody's mad at you now if my big  head was in the way while you were trying to get a
115. 10:34good shot of these fish then check this video out  on top it's a great video on the 10 things that
116. 10:40you must know about african cichlids or if you're  a beginner check this playlist out on the bottom i
117. 10:46put it together perfectly set up with information  for you to get going see you on the next one