Recent content by alli.knight

pH is actually how acidic or basic your water is. So yes. Certain pHs can kill your fish. Most fish adapt to pH within a range but if the water gets to acidic (lower pH) or too basic (higher pH) it will kill your fish. However, if your water is hard, it has more buffering capability which means...

Maybe the units are supposed to be ppb?

That seems like a good idea. I'll give the city a call. Thanks!

Yes. It just has one little guy in it. He's about 2 inches right now. I just got him last week.

It's weird. I just looked up a water quality report for the city and according to it the MCL for nitrite+nitrate is 10000 ppm. The report was from 2010. Apparently the 2011 one isn't up yet. That's seems crazy high. I wonder if the units are wrong somehow...

I just looked that up and it looks quite complicated. I think I'll just try plants first. Thanks!

I like the look of the dwarf water lettuce. It's a floating plant, right? I've never had live plants before and for some reason they intimidate me. I'd love to give it a try though.

Nope. Just city water.

Hey everybody. I haven't been able to get my nitrates under 40-80 ppm (I have a really hard time telling the colors apart. They look so similar...) so I decided to test my tap water. It tested the same 40-80 ppm. What am I supposed to do about this? Am I just testing wrong? I follow the...

Oh, and I forgot to say the filters don't produce ammonia. They just provide a home for the good bacteria. Filters are great and do nothing but good for a tank. :)

+1 i drew a picture for you because I understand things better if I can see them. The fish, uneaten food, poop, etc put a toxic chemical ammonia into the water. This ammonia damages fish. However, a certain kind of bacteria lives by eating the ammonia. The bacteria processes the ammonia and...

Ok good. That's what I do too. Just rinse really well. Thanks to both of you for responding. Now I don't have to wonder about it :)

Ok. This may be a dumb question but how do you clean your hands before you put them in your tank? I worry about the residue from soap so I thought I'd ask and find out what other people use. Thanks for your input! :)

I just read this whole thread because I was so worried after the first little bit that I couldn't stop reading. Haha I'm so glad things are going better. I'm sorry you lost so many but I'm glad the rest seem to be ok :)

Hey, thanks for all your help. It's very useful. I'll let you know when I get another fish. Hopefully it goes better next time. :)