Recent content by NDPTAL85

Another thing to consider is the fish may have been sick before you brought him home from the LFS. I have a separate 5 gallon tank that I use to quarantine new fish in and proactively treat them with medicine. I use Metronidazole as my QT tank now has plants in it but if there are no live plants...

I know the difference between Nitrite and Nitrates. The test strips showed that both were either zero or near zero. The top most pad on the 6-1 is Nitrate, the second pad is Nitrite. I was a bit suspicious of the low readings because of what everyone says about test strips so I also did tests...

GodFan, I have been doing something similar to what you are attempting. I still use my filter though as it provides expanded surface area for nitrifying bacteria. I have extensively planted my tank to absorb the ammonia and nitrogen produced by the fish. I don't use any special lights, just...

Microbe-Lift is great, cycles your tank immediately. It's just bacteria in a bottle, no chemicals. As for the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels that can be kept in check with extremely fast growing plants like Hornwort. I use it myself and all 3 of my levels are down to undetectable levels. I...

Sure. Here you go! It is the bushy looking group of plants.

Here's something cheap and simple you can try. Plant some Hornwort. Its an extremely fast growing (1-3" per day in optimal conditions) waterweed that sucks up ammonia and nitrates like a vacuum. Regular aquarium lighting should suffice unless you have a super tall hex tank which may require some...

Plant Update I wanted to give you guys an update on my experiment with plants. I got impatient waiting for the Pothos to take root so I added a bunch of Hornwort. Man does that stuff grow fast. In just 3 days time its already reduced my Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates to 0. That's lower than...

flitabout, Great looking tank. You definitely have way more plants than I do lol. You can see my tanks here. Photos aren't up to date. Flickr: ndptal85's Photostream I have since removed the non-aquatic fern that the Petshop gave me for free and I have moved the swords to the 5 gallon tank. My...

What kind of fish do you have and in what size tanks?

Have you tried increasing your lighting on the Pothos? To an extent, more lighting = more photosynthesis which = more nitrate uptake. Also try adding some Anacharis. Its an extremely fast growing aquatic plant. If the conditions are right, you'll have to manually remove some everyweek to keep...

Golden Pothos Hello, I have found that if you plant Golden Pothos in your aquarium the high growth rate of the plant absorbs most if not all of the ammonia and nitrates in your tank, depending of course on how stocked your tank is. Its a common house plant, you can propagate it by cutting part...