Appreciate Some Advice When You Have A Moment (Please)

Hi,

I've been reading the newsgroup messages all morning and wished I had found
them 6 months ago. My son brought a Goldfish home from school, put it a big
bowl, we both fell in love with it, felt bad that it didn't have very much
space to move around, $1,200 at the pet store that evening, and here we
are.. =)

We've learned that they get pretty big and are happier with lots of space to
move around. So our goal was to purchase one fish per month for six months.
So six months later we have three fish in the tank, which is why I decided
to do a little more research.

The pet store delivered the tank and set everything up for us the first
time. I asked them to set it up as if it was their own and that we were
more concerned with the health of the fish the cost of the equipment. They
installed an under gravel filter with four power heads and a 4" gravel bed.
That didn't work out very well as the tank was always dirty with particles
floating throughout the tank.

So I went to another pet store and heard that I had an out-dated setup. He
sold me the two Fluval 404 filters and said that would solve all of my
problems. He told me to take out the power heads and under gravel filter as
they are no longer needed.

A friend stopped by a couple of months later and said that I needed to
purchase the air pumps and air stones. So I did and the fish play in them,
which is fun to watch.

I feel like I'm still missing something as the fish get sick. This is my
normal routine -

Feed them twice a day - morning and night (although I now know I feed
them too much)
30% water change every two weeks
Clean the filters every two months

Here is what we have -

Tank and Equipment

(1) 125 Gallon Standard Design Tank
(2) Fluval 404 - 340 GPH
(2) Penn-Plax AirTech 2K4 Air Pumps
(2) 10" Airstones
4" Gravel Bed

Equipment Not-In-Use

(4) Penguin 1140 Power Heads - 300 GPH

Goldfish

Orange Oranda - Dora
Orange Lionhead - Nemo
Black Moor - Darth Vader

Questions based on what I've learned from the newsgroup -

1) Should I remove all of the gravel in the tank? I now understand why
I should, but should there be anything on the bottom of the tank
(decorations, plants?)

2) Are the two Fluval filters enough?

3) Do you have advice on what type of media I should place in the
Fluval filters?

4) Should I use the four Power Heads in the tank? If so, should I
install them at different depths, or at the top pointing toward the top of
the water?

5) At the moment I do not have a heater. Should I purchase one or two
to bring the tank to 82 degrees F? Can you recommend a brand that works
well?

Thank you for your time,

Brian & Adrian (my son)

Aha! Newbie questions :) They would also be adequately answered by most
books on the subject, or some websites with beginner info (anyone know
some?).
Here we go.

> Questions based on what I've learned from the newsgroup -
>
> 1) Should I remove all of the gravel in the tank? I now understand why
> I should, but should there be anything on the bottom of the tank
> (decorations, plants?)

Not necessary. Cleaning is easier without any clutter but it looks
really boring. To clean, use a siphon, the kind with a bell at one end
that swirls gravel (should be cheap: you spent a lot already, may be
consideration). The underwater vacuum type costs more and you should
always change water anyway. Not too much in your case, your fish load is
quite light--try 15% per 2 weeks.

> 2) Are the two Fluval filters enough?

With your low-ish fish load (and water changes mentioned above), yes...

> 3) Do you have advice on what type of media I should place in the
> Fluval filters?

....and standard sponge works. Don't wash with raw tapwater, use aquarium
water when doing water changes.

> 4) Should I use the four Power Heads in the tank? If so, should I
> install them at different depths, or at the top pointing toward the top of
> the water?

Notice how fancy goldfish are quite bad swimmers? Don't give them very
turbulent water, even if otherwise extra movement is good for oxygenation.

> 5) At the moment I do not have a heater. Should I purchase one or two
> to bring the tank to 82 degrees F? Can you recommend a brand that works
> well?

Not really in a centrally-heated home. Golfish can take rather low
temps. Some people think high temp *harms* goldfish (not quite: see my
post "golfish vs tropical"); no need to worry if your temp never falls
much below 10* C (what's that in F?).

Sebastien

PS
You can discuss it more by email with me if you want, change domain from
neuf.com to neuf.fr