Recent content by sammybelle

I was wondering if Textile Aquarium is still around! Every time I go by, it looks like it closed up shop a long time ago!

fort384, thanks for the lighting advice you gave me about lighting my 55 gal tank for decent plant growth. I'm almost ready to order the T5-HO lighting fixture from Fishneedit.com you mentioned in one of your replies to me, but there are some choices they give on the order that I have no idea...

I've had a 55 gal tank running now for about a month. While all water parameters have been just fine, the water looks like it has a lot of "dust" now for the past several days. About 1 1/2 wks ago I tried cleaning the filter cartridges (pretty gunky now) by rinsing in old aquarium water, and...

A fungus, perhaps? Try Methylene Blue, an ages-old, inexpensive treatment for fungus. You can use it as a "dip", meaning you can just put the affected fish into a container with the medicine, then remove the fish and put it back into tank. Better than treating whole tank; you don't have to worry...

I would boil some water and then siphon it through the tubing. Put a rubber glove on your hand so you can dip your hand into the boiling water without burning it as you start the siphon.

Great advice from everybody! Thanks to all!

First, a heartfelt thanks to everybody who helped me to cycle my tank, in particular jlk and Librarygirl, without whose help I'd have fallen into various newbie pitfalls and would have become very frustrated with the whole aquarium setup! :thanks: So now that I'm cycled and have fish, some...

I practically had my coat on to go fish shopping when... ...I checked water parameters one last time. At 6:30 a.m yesterday I had dosed my tank with 5ml of ammonia (which has been consistently making my water read 4ppm ammonia, although I didn't check it this time) and figured I'd check 24...

I have heard of aquadvisor. Heard mixed reviews on that, too. Maybe the best thing is just good ol' fashioned experience!

Came across this "compatibility calculator" quite by accident this morning. Might be a good place for newbies or others to get a general idea of who gets along with who! Tropical Fish and Aquariums Compatibility by Name

Yes, it's really for light junkies, I guess! Way down at the bottom of the article, though, are a few tips for simple tank lighting, if I recall correctly. Good luck! I wanted to put just a few low-light plants in my tank so asked for advice on this forum. I was told by a knowledgeable person...

That's exactly where my tap pH is 7.6-7.4! But I had three rather large pieces of driftwood in my tank and the pH would consistently fall down into the low 6's. I considered putting only one piece in there, but I think I've finally gotten my pH to stabilize without it, so I'm going to continue...

Yes, I believe 78 degrees is a minimum temperature for most fish.

Yes, I'll make sure they are zeroing in 24 hours. The 0.25 readings were done only after about 9 or 10 hours after dosing. About the aragonite: are the 2 tablespoons I added good forever, or does it have a limited life? If limited, how often should I put new aragonite in there?

Careful with driftwood...it's beautiful but I had to remove mine because it kept making the pH drop!