Recent content by Solarris

I am thinking about adding a wave maker to my tank for airation. I have a 800gph wave maker but am afraid that's too powerful for platys and I want to add some guppies also. What size wave maker should I get? Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

It only took a couple minutes after adding the air stones for my catfish to move back down to his usual spot. I did the water change, about 50%, then tested nitrites again. They were at zero that time. Unfortunately I have lost one of my platys during this. The others all seem to be ok though...

The only fish in there are my upside down cat, a small pleco, and 6 platys. My husband says that I didn't account for adding oxygen to the water after taking off the hob filter so we just added a couple airstones. How do you oxygenate the water with just a canister filter? I've never used a...

This morning I took the Emperor 400 HoB filter off of my 55 gallon tank and swapped all the biomedia in it into a new canister filter that I've had running for 5 weeks on that same tank. After that I did a water change of about 40 percent. This evening I noticed my featherfin catfish was...

Tap water has 0 nitrates, I checked this morning. How long do I have to wait between water changes? Would it be ok for me to do another this evening even though I did one this morning? I have to go out of town tomorrow. I will do one tomorrow morning but won't be here to do another till Sunday...

I took a water sample to the local fish store and they said it had really high nitrates too. I came home and did another 50 percent water change, my third in 48 hours, and vacuumed the gravel really good. I then tested again and got the same result, 160 ppm. I then tested my tap water to be...

No, no dates on the bottles either. Thanks to everyone for all the advice. I will definitely keep y'all posted.

I didn't realize these test kits would expire. I have had this kit for several years now. In fact I think it's the same age as the tank, 6 years. I can't find an expiration date on the box. Guess I'll be looking for a new test kit tomorrow to make sure. Thanks.

I did a 50 percent water change about an hour ago and just now decided to check my nitrates out of curiosity. The nitrates are testing at the same level as before. Is it too soon for the nitrate level to have gone down? Does it take multiple water changes before you see any difference?

I haven't checked my purigen. I just put it in about 3 weeks ago and didn't think I needed to check it yet. It just occurred to me that when I did my water change yesterday I did a much more thorough vacuuming of the gravel than usual. LOTS of debris came out. I guess I'll need to keep doing...

Just retested. The color had changed to the 160 level before 2 minutes were up, didn't have to wait the full 5, and that's as high as the test goes. Heading to do a water change now.

No unaccounted for fish. I have 1 full grown upside down cat, 1 3 inch pleco, 2 bamboo shrimp since one has died today, and 3 platy. The tank isn't planted. I'm planning on adding some plants, I even bought an anubias yesterday, but I haven't put it in yet. I only did the test once and maybe...

My tank is 6 years old. Ammonia and nitrites are both 0. Nitrates are 160. When I tested 2 weeks ago ammonia and nitrites were both 0 and nitrates were at 20. I can't figure out how they would have gone up so quickly. We haven't been having any rain here at all so I don't think that could...

I have a 55 gallon tank. I've never had problems with my levels till this week. My ammonia is 0 but my nitrates are extremely high. The color matched the highest level on the API test kit! I did a 30 to 40 percent water change yesterday before I realized my levels were so high. At the...

My feather fin catfish's top fin is looking really bad. A large part is gone all of a sudden. I'm not sure what is causing this. He had a couple white spots on his belly but they are gone now after using Pimafix and Melafix. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Sent from my iPad using...