Recent content by ElanaJoy

Yay! that is exciting! Who said this hobby didn't require patience?! Totally on the right track. Have you read this post? It's gold. http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/the-almost-complete-guide-and-faq-to-fishless-cycling-148283.html

Thanks guys! Yeah, I think someone said I should buy distilled to cut my water with. I was buying spring, but it just kept creeping back up to 8.2 no matter what I did! It's a small tank, so I won't mind buying water. So it's okay for that stuff to get scrubbed off and into the water? I...

Hi! I have a few pics to show what I am wondering is mold or not. The tank water is low now (too complicated to get into at the moment) and at one point some of the black spots were not covered in water. Does mold grow when submersed, or just wet? Is there any way to know what is is by watching...

strange. When it gets a little bigger, maybe post pics in the "planted aquarium" section, folks there may be able to identify!

CUTE! and nice tank!!

not too sure about this: but perhaps starting out at 4ppm with no seeding material is too high? You should also try tiny amounts of crushed fish food, it will help add nutrients to the tank... less sterile of an environment. Don't bother testing anything other than the ammo until you see it...

can you use a small net and rest it near the top of the tank? like a fry box?

5 gallons is a happy tank for a betta. You can lower the water level and there is still plenty of swim space! :)

I imagine a very lightly sanded tank is similar to BB but with the "softer" look. I changed out my gravel for pool filter sand, but then was worried it was raising the PH (it wasn't) and took it out. I left a light scattering, and you can just swirl it around a little (I have a small 5 gall and...

Well I know that male bettas will have have long fins and female bettas will have shorter fins and females are smaller usually. But my last female was big! The most sure way to tell is if they have an "egg spot". But the most important part here is, you can't just throw 2 bettas in together and...

Why not put it in a separate container for now and see what it turns into? Maybe someone could identify now, but it will only get easier to identify when more mature.

warmer water couldn't hurt, but not sure it's going to be the difference you need. Maybe someone else can chime in, but in the time it takes to cycle the tank, maybe any potential cooties from the pet store will not be a concern. For instance, velvet needs a live host or dies in 2 weeks (If I...

it would go faster if you can get score some filter media from an established tank. That will help "seed" your tank. I have a local fish store guy I trust, and he gave me a huge gross wad of filter floss and it really helped with my fishless cycle. Also, I only caught a nitrite reading ONCE a...

lol! :fish2:

Thanks. I had a week of fish death, but I am just starting up and it was week ONE. I acclimated them slowly (about 6 hours) because it was going from 7 to over 8 and I had read that a jump in PH that big is dangerous in too short period of time. I just want it to be stable and start over with...