# A newbie with the question all newbies ask.



## Mechanicalleon (Mar 29, 2009)

Hi guys, I'm new to aquariums, we did it because my wife always wanted an aquarium.

Anyway, Could someone point me in the right direction to find some info, in specific, I need the parameters on the chemistry in a freshwater tank, like hardness, nitrates, and all, and how to control them, so basically a guide to mantain our tank.

We got a tank with fish and all from a good friend of mine, but he's always traveling so it's hard for me to ask him questions (I have questions all the time, lol) and so far the fish seem fine, but we already became attached to them, so I'd hate to see one or more die.

Thanks, BTW, my name is Leo, and I'm glad I found this site. :fish-in-a-bag:


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## 4dashorties (Mar 25, 2009)

Some of the parameters depend on the fish you want to keep. 

If you tell what you have for equipment and what types of fish you want...you're in the right place. I've seen lots of good info right on this site.


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## woodyg3 (Mar 24, 2009)

The pH and hardness is important for a few species, so we ould need to know what fish you have. For most freshwater fish, though, the most important thing is simply clean water. Plenty of water changes and don't overfeed.


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## aconrad (Apr 30, 2008)

We would need to know what type of fish you are planning to keep. If you give us more info about the tank/filter we can point you to some fish that are best for you. I can recomend larger tetras to start out as they are very hardy, but NEVER neons, neons will very rarely survive. You need to do a 2 week nitrogen cycle, which means you DO NOT put any fish in yet. Two weeks is a general, you need to wait for your levels to go up and then back down and stable. You should purchase a kit that contains a ph, amonia, hardness, nitrates, and nitrites charts. I recomend using the drop kits instead of the strips, because the strips seem to not give right results a lot of the time.


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## Monk11876 (Mar 20, 2009)

Here is sight that has some really good articles: 

(edited due to link not allowed)

that site also has a good section about the different kinds of fishes.


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