Recent content by monaro_gto

RO/DI water no unless Discus are involved. Water parameters are all going to be dependent on what fish you plan on keeping. My GH and KH are very bad and to keep my platty's and Molly's happy I add baking soda ever week in my water change to bring it up.

Oh and I was going to run a power head but that made it's way into my saltwater qt tank :) I think my Tetra's would appriciate a bit more flow but my plants dont miss it. I started with 6 pieces of dwarf sag and now my whole lower layer is covered with it.

My setup is 40b with a glass top. Marineland C220 canister filter (would go bigger next time) Hydor inline 200w heater so there is nothing in my display. Current USA LED+light fixture that does a great job at this height. I only run full daylight for about 4 hours. Black diamond blasting sand...

I run a 40b low tech setup, feed twice daily, excel once a day, flourish twice a week, once a week small water change, once a month hair cut, glass clean, filter clean, 3 month root tabs and it is going great. This for me is about as minimal maintenance as it gets.

now that you have your liquid test kit what does it say for you Ph? Make sure your Ph has not crashed causing a stall.

how log have you been cycling for?

what have you done so far? Have you seen any Nitrites and any stage? Have you seen any ammonia? Your trates look very high as well, I would start with a PWC.

Here is my 40b

keep a good eye on PH. I was focused on ammo, nitrite and nitrate and stopped testing ph. I didnt know this at the time but my PH crashed and stalled the cycle. Probably added an extra 2 weeks to my cycle.

That can vary, im going to guess around 5mil as my 40g took 7 mil to dose to 4ppm. Try dosing 3mil, wait 30 minutes and test with your liquid test kit. If your short add some more.

Cycling a tank (fish in or fishless) is going to take time. It requires patience and fish in you will need to do water changes when ever you see ammonia which will most likely be daily. If no one is eating the algae wafers in a timely matter I would not be adding them at all, they will only help...

Is there any media left in your cycled tank? You dont want to start a mini cycle in it as well. If you dont plan on putting this media back in I would cut it up and place it in your filter. This is exactly how I started my 10 gallon.

ok guys so I tank bred 5 sunburst platies and at 5 months i decided I didnt want any more fry so I would split them up. I took the two males out and let the 3 girls alone. I then moved the 3 girls to a bigger tank and a week later I look in and there are two females and 1 male. Did i screw up...

im more worried about the air return and sizing right now. Down the road I would like to add some coral but not over board. Stocking I have not decided yet.to an extent it will depend on size of tank.

Yep thats right, I need help choosing a tank. I am researching all the in's and out;s of starting a saltwater tank, im researching lights, skimmers, ro/di units etc etc but my main concern right now is the placement and the tank. I really only have one place I can put it (or want to put it)...