Recent content by Kvnr14

Before you stock it read up on the nitrogen cycle. You can either do a fishin cycle or a fishless cycle. Someone will post the links to the articles.

Nitrates indicate that the ammonia is being converted to nitrites then to the final product, nitrates. Then these nitrates are removed with water changes, and it sounds to me like your cycled or getting very close to being done with your cycle.

EHEIM Jager Aquarium Thermostat Heater 300w http://amzn.com/B003I5UC0W Cheapest heater you will find plus the best in my own opinion. The 300w is a bit over kill but it has free shipping and actually cheaper then the 250w.

I would do 6 .. They are schooling fish. Also in theory you don't have to put fish in periodically because you have already cycled your tank, meaning you can fully stock right away. As for water changes, you want to do them as much as possible to keep your nitrates below 40. I would say around...

Probably around 100 % .. Just make sure when your doing it, keep your filter media wet so you don't kill your beneficial bacteria. Hope this helps!

Your doing everything right just be patient, it will take around a week for ammonia to start being converted to nitrite. then around 3-4 weeks for the full conversion of nitrite to nitrate, completing your cycle. Just watch your pH, if it goes below 6 do a big water change, a below 6 pH will...

What kind of filter do you have? And what do you mean by filter pads? If your talking about the sponges, I have had the same sponges in my fluvel 304 for 6 years. Carbon pads need to be changed every month or so because they lose there effectiveness after this time. You really don't need to...

Yes it's fine to switch from distilled to tap with water changes. Just use the aqua safe. Distilled water is just purified so only the H ions and O ions are present, this is done by taking advantage of the fact that the other impurities in the water have different boiling points (I'm a pre-med...

Just use regular old tap water for waterchanges, just use your tetra aqua safe to make it safe for your fish.

Whoa man, to many chemical. Simple is better. 1) ammonia neutralizer - you don't need this, what you want is to cycle your tank so the beneficial bacteria can take care of your ammonia and nitrites. 2) ph buffer - I always so no to this because its hard to keep the ph constant, it doesn't...

I agree also, I run the foam on bottom then 2 bags if bio max in mine. You really only need carbon if you need to remove medication from your tank. Oh and I also throw filter fiber in the mix to keep my water crystal clear.

Do you clean the sand before you put it in? And if it was me, I would do a big water changes, should help with the cloudy mess. When I did play sand it did the same thing because it was so dirty.

Thanks, one more question for you aquaclear 70 gangsters, what do you guys put in it? I don't like using carbon so I replaced it with more bio max. What do you guys run?

Ok thanks, how low do you keep you water level?

I am currently setting up a 55g, just was wondering if the aquaclear 70 has enough gas exchange to make it where I dont need a air pump? I also want to point out that I don't like leaving the waterline lower then the rim of the tank. Idk if the filter is actually agitating the water surface...