Recent content by Allistah

Doesn't the salt help with ick though? I read somewhere that it has problems with the salt and helps it from doing it's thing. I've read that a combo of high water temps with the salt is a good combination to get rid of it. Now I hear that people get rid of it with just temp but the salt for...

With this first week of putting complete new water in it and since I'm treating the tank for Ick, should I be doing PWCs right now? I'm treating it with 86F water and conditioning salt. Maybe I should just wait until this is all over with before I start changing the water out which would lower...

Great thanks guys! How long would you expect the nitrites to stay at around 0.25? When they go down I would expect to see the nitrates go up right? I'll still keep testing every night when I get home to make sure it's doing what it should. Thanks for the input.. Much appreciated! -Alli

Ah ok.. When I was cleaning the sponge with tap water and I was squeezing it until there was no more green coming out. I guess I'll just rinse it gently untill all the major stuff comes out and leave it all green. I guess I was going about it all wrong. Opps. Ok, I'll get a 5 gallon bucket...

Hey all -- I want to understand the proper way to clean my AquaClear 100 HOB filter. For those that don't know this filter, it's got three layers to it. The big sponge-like section which is to catch the physical debris from the tank, then the chemical layer which can be charcoal or other...

Hey all -- Since I've recently replaced 100% of my tank water and washed the gravel, I want to make sure that I understand how the whole process of ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates work. The first day before I put the fish back in after there was a 100% fresh water and cleaned gravel back in...

On Sunday a complete water change was done and all the gravel was washed so the tank was 100% clear and clean with new water. The water going in the tank has a Ph of 8.0. Ok, I also lowered the water level a bit and the HOB filter is now giving more air to the tank. Lots of tiny little...

@nickb: I mean the Tronic ones... The ones with the LCD display on them. All of th model numbers have E in front of them. The one I have is a 200w heater so it's the Fluval E200. Here is a picture of it the E50 model (it had the best pic):

A little more input on the Fluval E series heaters.. I set mine at 86 from 79 and it raises the temp really slow so you don't have to worry about it rocketing up really quick. I like how slow it is. So like right now I'm fighting Ick, I can just set it at 86F and not worry about doing it in...

When I got home the pleco was dead. :-( He had huge white areas on him about the size of a quarter on his head. All the others look to be going ok though. The catfish is still alive as well. The tank temp is at 83 currently and the target is 86. This Fluval E200 is nice because it raises it...

Thanks. I'll target the temp to 87 for about 10 days I guess then. The salt that was added was on the light side (1.5 cups) for a 55gal tank with substrate and rocks. We'll see how it goes in the next day or so. I'll post here with updates. Thanks for following my thread - I really...

I just wanted to chime in and say that I just bought a Fluval E200 heater and I love it so far. The LCD display is really nice and it's really nice to have a LCD to set the temperature to the 0.5 degree increments. It has a microprocessor so it monitors a number of things besides temp.. It...

I called the fish store that I buy my stuff from (Aquarium Concepts in Dublin, CA) and they said I could put the salt in to help calm the fish and de-stress them a bit. I had my girlfriend mix the salt and she is in the process of adding the salt solution to the tank a bit at a time. She said...

My girlfriend said the fish are all hanging out in the bubbles and scratching all over the place. The temperature is set at 82, and currently at about 80. I have to say, the Fluval E200 heater is sweet. I know exactly what temp it is to a 0.5 degree and it raises the temperature slowly. When I...

That was a great article. Looks like Ick cannot live in water above 86F. So I will target my tank to 87F for a couple of weeks. I will also lower my tank water level a bit so that the HOB filter airates the water a bit more due to the higher temps lowering the oxygen levels in the water. I...