Recent content by LizzyBeth

As to why I have to 'prep' my water before I use it: I have to run cold water out of my tap unless I want to end up with all the stuff that's been sitting in the bottom of our water heater for years. Then I have to let the water sit in a barrel for a couple days to warm up. I said in my last...

I did 50% water changes on both tanks on 5/24. The most recent water change I did was on the large tank was ~75% on 6/6. I am planning on doing water changes tomorrow (takes a bit to get water ready). And I definately went through the nitrite spike. The nitrites were unreadable for a bit...

I started a different thread on my first fishless cycle(s) but it seems to have died. It can be found ->here<- I am running two freshwater tanks. One tank is 29g (large) and the other is 10g (small). I started up the small tank on April 19 and the large tank on April 18. I had no seeding...

Thanks guys. This helps a lot. :thanks: I did know about the types of filtration (mechanical, biological, and chemical), but I wasn't sure on how to go about setting up a new diy-type mechanical filter. Also, I wasn't really sure if there was a distinction between foam and sponge filters, so...

From what I understand about cycling (admittedly I'm new to it), you will know you are cycled when both ammonia and nitrites stay at 0 for at least a week. So it sounds like you aren't quite there yet, but very close.

Thanks. I was thinking buying bulk would work and cutting things to fit. Another couple questions: How does the mechanical filtration differ between sponge media, foam media, or simple pad media? Or are these all the same? :confused: Is one better than another? Are there advantages to...

So I'm currently running Aqueon hob filters with the activated carbon inside them. (I know these aren't the best filters ever, but they're what I've got). I know that the carbon isn't all that necessary (unless you're trying to filter out medicines or the like), so I'm considering a diy sort...

So a couple weeks later, here's an update and some questions: Large Tank: pH 8 ammonia .5 (dosed up to 4 after tests) nitrites 0 nitrates ~80 (a nice red, instead of red-orange, but not deep dark red, see attached: it's the right vial) Small Tank: pH 8 ammonia .5 (also dosed this up) nitrites...

Tis freshwater tanks. I feel stupid for not mentioning that. :whistle: I believe my small tank is indeed almost cycled, but I think it needs a bit more time to be able to convert more ammonia as it doesn't convert all the ammonia that I add. Yesterday I did a huge water change on the large...

So an update: I'm warming some water up currently. Because of our water heater we have for our tap water, if I want to use water that doesn't have all kinds of gross stuff dragged up from the bottom of the water heater I have to use cold tap water for fish tank things (so yeah, it takes a bit...

I've been dosing up to ~1ppm (or a little higher) about every other day (that's how much it's taken lately). I guess maybe I'll try to dose to ~2ppm. I will carry out some water changes. (It'll take a day or two though to raise the temp of fresh/new water.) I was thinking that that'd be good...

+1 on pleco size Yup I have to agree about common plecos getting huge. We just had one that was 2ft long die recently of old age (he was nearly 19 years old).

So I'm doing my first cycle(s) (on two tanks) and as nothing has really happened for quite a while, I'm wondering if I'm stalled out or almost there. I'm cycling two tanks. A 29g and a 10g. (Started the large one up on April 18 and the small one on April 19.) I had no seeding materials; so I...

I'm just really getting into the hobby and I'm wondering what fish stores are good in the Denver area? I looked at the Fish Den and was fairly impressed with their stock and cleanliness of the tanks. Anyone have any experiences with the Fish Den?

So I recently saw a tank with cherry barbs in it and I sort of fell in love with how they look. When I first started researching fish, I read that barbs in general were notorious fin nippers, and so I didn't look into barbs. But having seen the cherry barbs (and saw that they left the golden...