Recent content by brimac41

Those of us that prefer gravel (in ten years) will be not stubborn old schoolers . I do not like the look of sand , plain and simple , so I use natural gravel . It has nothing do with something being easier (or harder) or too stubborn to use "new techniques" , It is MY aquarium and I use what...

Gemini , being new to the hobby you will make mistakes , we all have . But you are now on the right track coming here and doing research . So do not lose interest or get disheartened over the loss of the fish , I lost all the fish in my first tank many , many years ago before the days of the...

Without a test kit and giving us the full details/results of your water parameters , it will be hard for us to nail down what is going on in your aquarium . But as stated above , it is more than likely ammonia poisoning . Just a tip to save you some money, if you can , you can get an API master...

I have never had any problems with them bothering other fish with the exception of fry . I had zebras in with my Dwarf gourami and the zebras never messed with them .

If you live in city/town then just flush them . Municipal water treatment plants have several different stages of water treatment , the last stage is the chlorination tank which kills off any organisms/microorganisms before the water is discharged , it is set up that no deceases and other...

Zebra danio are awesome little fish . I love my Zebra and Purple Passion danios and can watch their antics all day long . My Serpae tetra like to nip , but found rather quickly that they are not going to keep up with the constantly moving danios and my swordtails pay them no mind .

+1 , I would go for both also . Cories rooting through the substrate (with the plus of watching their antics) and the Otos' cleaning the algae everywhere else .

I am also curios as to the answer you receive , as I have a Nova Extreme T5 HO light . Luckily I am at home most of the day , everyday .

Huh , I did not know this . The things people do , but nothing surprises me anymore .

Live fish for centerpieces ? Maybe it is because I am a dude and have never paid attention to that kind of stuff (but I guess being a fish guy I would have noticed live fish in the middle of my table) , but does this happen often ? Or was this someone being creative ? Sorry for being off topic...

I didn't mean the filter itself but the cartridges . You can buy the Aqua-Tech cartridges at Wal-mart much cheaper than the Marineland brand . They are both from the same company . When I still used Penguin and their cartridges , I just cut a small slit in the very top of the polyfiber and...

Yeah , those Penguin and their Wal-Mart equivalent Aqua-Tech brand are over priced .

Penguin cartridges have very little carbon in them and will be used up rather quickly . You can also purchase Bio-3 clam shell cartridges for Penguins that come with sponges and a separate carbon insert that you can through away and use a media bag with the media of your choice . Here's what...

It's all a matter of preference . I dislike the look of sand nor do I like using sand and prefer natural gravel .

It means that later on , if you move the bookshelf , you can fill the holes in the dry wall with spackle (putty) . Spackle is a product used to make small repairs of holes and cracks in dry wall .