Recent content by TBallad

I don't remember - a friend with a tank scooped some gravel out of her tank into a ziplock bag, which I brought home and dumped into the tank. It was probably at least damp, but not submerged in water. Total time from her tank to mine was less than half an hour.

That was my thought - it seems like there are no bacteria. I'm using the filter that came with the tank. It's an Aqueon. Aside from slipping the filter media inside the actual filter mechanism and briefly I had a water softener pillow in there (on the advice of the LFS), I haven't done any...

It's been a couple of weeks since I added gravel from an established tank and I'm still getting identical water tests - high ammonia, high pH, zero nitrites, zero nitrites. Any clue what else I can do? Thanks!

Found someone with an established tank - how much gravel do I need? Just a handful will do, or quite a bit?

I'll ask around for some used gravel or filter media - someone in the local homeschool group is bound to have an established tank. I appreciate the offer, but we won't be up near Chicago until sometime next month.

a couple of quick questions - how much ammonia should I add to a 14 gallon tank to bring it from 2.0 to 4.0 ppm? And should I remove the decorations, plastic grass, etc first? I'm wondering if the ammonia would damage them....

Thanks everyone! I may try the raw shrimp method (although watching it rot in the tank isn't my idea of a good time) if I can't find pure ammonia.

Just did my first full water test - results are below. I'm thinking the high pH and ammonia coupled with zero nitrites and zero nitrates indicates that I just don't have any/enough bacteria in the tank? What can I do to encourage bacteria? I've cranked up the heater on the tank as suggested in...

Define "atrocious" ;)

Hi everyone, I found this site as a result of a desperate Google search for any and all solutions to the mess that is my son's new 14 gallon tank. In one day I've learned more about chemistry than I did in a year of high school chem class. We've had a lot of problems with ammonia, and since...

Thanks - I appreciate the help I've gotten so far! Our son has wanted a fish tank for quite a while and I would hate to see him give up now. I've learned more in the couple of hours I've spent reading these forums than in the past three weeks of carting water samples to the fish store and...

The filter is rated to 20 gallons, so should be fine for our 14 gallon tank. I've been doing partial water changes (1-2 gallons) with RO distilled water, adding PRIME at each change. I've only been adding 1-2 gallons dosage, not the full 14 gallon dosage at each change though. Does RO water...

It's an Aqueon filter.

Thank you for pointing me in the right direction! I will pick up a master test kit this afternoon (I already have the ammonia kit). Would you suggest emptying the tank (no fish in there currently) and starting with fresh distilled water, or just testing and trying to figure out where we are...

Hi everyone, We got our son a 14 gallon tank for Christmas, and have had nothing but problems so far. I'm really hoping someone here can give us something new to try! We started the tank out with plain old tap water (bad, I know that now!), some colored gravel and a couple of decorations...