Recent content by kc27

Thanks everyone. I am going to go with two 200 watt heaters, just for the redundancy that a few others mentioned. The tank has platys and danios in it, and they were in 60° F water for at least a day, maybe more. I put a borrowed heater in the tank and let it bring the temp up to 74° - the...

My 55 gallon freshwater tank is in a mostly unheated basement that can get down to around 50° F in the winter. I previously had a 300 watt Marineland Stealth Pro heater that Marineland recalled last year and replaced with a 300 watt Visi-Therm heater. The Visi-Therm heater just died (the...

The filter is an Aquaclear 200 with sponge, charcoal and bio module inserts. The platies are 1 male and 2 females (that is the ratio the store recommended, and that is if they sexed them correctly - I cannot really tell them apart). The platies have only been in the tank since last week, and...

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I'll start with more plants. and see how that goes. I like the idea of going from 6 to 12 neon tetras just to get them moving, and for the effect of a larger grouip, but it seems like that 20 gallon tank will then be awfully crowded.

Thanks for the reply. The five cory cats are peppered cory cats.

I have a 20 gallon long tank with a sand bottom. It's mostly open with one decent sized Anubias plant in the back and a couple of aquarium ornaments. The tank has six neon tetras, five Cory cats, and three red velvet platys. Is this too big a load for this tank? The platys are a recent...

Thanks for the advice. I will just stick with rinsing the media and if needed, replacing the mesh pads. The AquaClear 110 also includes a media called BioMax that looks similar in appearance to the Eheim Mech "tube-like in appearance". It also has a foam component that I rinse, but do not...

I have an Eheim 2028 filter in a 55 gallon tank. I also am running an AquaClear 110 filter on this tank. It had previously housed 3 gold fish, it currently has 7 platys in it. What is the recommended maintenance schedule for replacing the media in this filter? The Maintenance section of the...

I've checked my tapwater a couple of times, and each time the test showed zero nitrates.

Garfunkel, the cycle hasn't completed - I'm still holding with ammonia being processed and nitrites remaining at high levels. I add ammonia once each day to get the ammonia up to 2 ppm, and that is processed to zero within 12 hours. Nitrites are still "off the chart" according to the API test...

Thanks for the advice. The tank is processing ammonia, only now I add enough ammonia each day to get to 2 ppm instead of the 4 ppm that I was doig a few weeks ago. I added a pinch of fish food and put a sponge filter from an established tank. The API nitrite test solution turns purple as...

Here is where I am now. The tank is processing ammonia. It goes from 4 ppm to 0 ppm in 24 hours. Nitrite level is still high. API test kit turns purple as soon as the drops are added. Nitrate is at 20 ppm According to the fishless cycling directions I am following, I am to keep adding...

I am away for five days. I guessed and added a "pinch" before I left. The nitrite processing portion of the cycle seemed to stall last week, with a high nitrite level over several days, and then eventually a halt to ammonia being processed. When the tank was drained and refilled the ammonia...

ammonia is .25 not 25 OK, so don't add ammonia, add fish food. Since the ammonia was nearly zero, (it probably is by now) should I add some fish food now since I'm not going to be around after tonight to add ammonia once it zeros out? And if so, how much fish food are we talking about?

After 24 hours: Ammonia: 25 ppm Nitrite: 5 ppm (supposed to be a false reading, see excerpt from the directions I am following below) Nitrate: 5.0 ppm So ammonia is being processed, but the nitrites are not yet being processed - which is where I was earlier in the week when the ammonia all of a...