Recent content by bbay

Dear fellow fish-lovers, I have a 63 litre aquarium with a pleco and some minnows, the hood has gone and I'm wondering whether to buy either a replacement hood (£63) or an entire replacement (identical) aquarium (£82). So here's the question: if I buy a new aquarium, rather than setting it...

Hi. Can anyone advise me how often to a) rinse and b) renew the various pads in my filter? I have a 50l Juwel tank with a built-in filter system, inside there are two thin white pads on top (about 5mm thick) then a couple of thicker stiffer black ones (each a couple of centimetres thick) then a...

Will do. I did check the water company water quality report like you suggested, it was actually really easy to find online, they reckon they tested the water 79 times and it averaged 23 (min 10, max 33) so i guess it must be my testing that's wrong. Hey that probably means my fish are in good...

Thanks Lynda, that's very interesting. I'm not at all sure, but it's def 40 at the very least. My wife's had a look too and we estimate from the colour chart that it's around 80. I have watched the you-tube video of the guy smashing bottle number 2 against his leg, and would say that yes I do...

Hi All. My ammonia and nitrite are 0ppm, but nitrate is - difficult to tell actually, my API Masterkit is def red, at a guess I'd say it's at about 80ppm. The instruction manual that came with the tester kit says "a nitrate level of 40ppm or less is recommended for freshwater aquariums" but on...

Yeah good point! Thanks though, 5 cm is a useful ballpark estimate.

Thanks everyone for the replies, but the other original question when I started this thread was: can anyone tell me how long they will get when fully grown, or do they stay the same length?:)

Thanks for the reply. My parameters are: ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 80, pH 8.2 (I'm slowly adding buffer to get it down a bit). I agree the size of the tank will def be too small if I get 40 minnow babies!! Photos attached - what do you think? :thanks:

Hi there. I have a 60litre aquarium, 5 months old, with a goldfish and four minnows (White Cloud, I think). Trouble is, the minnows seem to be getting longer. Also, two of them have swollen bellies. So two questions: firstly, how big can I expect them to get? And secondly, are the bellies...

Thanks! Thanks for that - a splash of water from the kettle it is then. Incidentally, the Tetra Aquasafe says that it also binds heavy metals, is there any particular advantage of the Prime?:thanks:

Thanks Mumma for the quick reply! Um, both, I guess. I wasn't sure if there was any problem with using the hot water (does it pick up heavy metal going through the boiler or anything?). If i can just add some hot to bring it to the correct temperature than I'll do that. And given that I'm adding...

Hi everyone. Can anyone advise me how long I should leave a bucket of tap water between taking it out the tap and using it for a PWC? I did a PWC this morning, having left the water for 24 hours to come to room temperature, but it was still significantly colder than the water in the aquarium...

Thanks - will do! Thanks for the advice. We did also take some of our tap water into the shop to have it tested, I didn't get a proper look but the pH was definitely high, though not as high as the aquarium water. Also we had not let it stand for any time. I'm gonna test the tap water properly...

Thanks - what should I now do about the pH? Many thanks Alyxx and Jim for your replies. Sounds like good advice - I have just ordered the API Master Kit you recommend. Yes the guy in the shop did do the test in front of us and show us the results, so now that I know the pH is 9, what should I...

Hi everyone, just decided to join up today, all my goldfish are dead or dying and I really need some help. Have learnt a lot from reading various posts, and am now convionced the guy at my local aquarium shop has been giving me the wrong advice. I have a 60litre Juwel tank, the type with a...