Recent content by Ketso

I've read elsewhere that it is a crap shoot. Some folks have gotten 3+ years out of theirs. While others get 3 months. Your call. Roll the dice or walk away from the table. Personally, I would add a few bucks to it and get a quality filter from Fluval or similar that will last possibly 10 years.

Seem to recall mixing baking soda and vinegar causes a reaction. I would opt for water.

I've always heard for years, carbon really shouldn't be used in a planted tank as it captures the nutrients in water that plants need.

Keeping them separate shouldn't be a problem, IMO. Would they be happier mixed up? Most likely.

Straw is not the answer. It will rot and just add to your troubles.

Sounds to me like something has drastically changed with your tank parameters. Could be the water hardness or pH level. But something is different and they don't like it.

Never mind. Got answers somewhere else. Have one on the way.

Hopefully this is in the right place. Need an external pump pushing 750 (ish) gph at roughly 7'. Want to turn a 120 gallon tank at least 5 times per hour (600 gph minimum). On a bit of a budget and looking to stay under/near the $100 USD mark. And as reliable as possible for the money. I know...

Do research on fin rot. Research cycling a tank. Change water daily if not more. If all you have is a bowl (no filter), your fish is swimming in a sewer.

I know that in Ohio it is illegal to transfer a game fish from one body of water to another. I guess the question would then become, is an aquarium a "body of water" in the legal sense? Aside from that, striped bass are cold water fish (I believe) and would probably require a few thousand...

People have been leaving bubblers, power heads and filters running 24/7 for decades.

Not sure what your idea of "heavily planted" is. But if it's what I think of as "heavily planted", my opinion is you'll be overstocked. Here's my thinking. Taking into account the substrate and that you can't fill a tank to the very top, you're probably in the ballpark of 40 to 45 gallons of...

See the list above. All good options. All plantable. Generally the only thing you need to do is wash it. I use pool filter sand. Its a light to medium tan. And was fairly clean to begin with. Still needed a good washing though. I have no experience with the others mentioned.

Put a small piece of lettuce in the jar. They'll most likely be all over it in no time. Then move the lettuce to their new home. Its what I would try anyway.

I agree. Nobody "needs" a uv sterilizer. Other methods worked just fine before the uv sterilizer was invented.