Recent content by ManicPenguin

I put a betta with shrimp and snails in mine.

Even if it is a bacterial bloom, the floss will help.

Use some kind of filter floss. I just use the polyester batting that you buy at any craft store like Michael's or Jo-Ann's. I usually buy the fluffy stuffing like what would go in a cheap pillow rather than the flattened batting used for quilts. Either would work though. Change the filter floss...

I have a basic 20g tanks with amazon sword and java. The light fixture is for 18" bulbs, but the only bulbs that size are 15watts. My java is barely hanging on, and the Sword lives, but doesn't really grow....at all. Please, someone tell me I don't need a $90 light fixture. Cheers!

I don't like just dumping all this water. I have a 10G and a 20G and I do 50%/wk water changes. That is 15g/wk that just gets dumped. I usually throw the water out into the lawn, but I am wondering, can you water houseplants or garden veggies with it? I have read about aquaponics so it seems...

Raise it slowly. at 86F ich cannot reproduce, at 89 it dies. ich cysts can survive in the gravel for 2 weeks. so keep the temp up to at least 86 for at least 16 days. that should be enough to end the ich. it should take almost a week to get to 86 and almost a week to come back down. i leave my...

I had the same problem. I raised the temp to 89F and in a week all the ick was gone. Now I keep my tank at 86 and I have no problems at all. RCS, Corys, Betta

I have thought about putting a fish aquarium on my desk at work, however, there is no way I could take care of an adequately sized fish tank in cubeville. So I thought about a plants only tank...maybe with a few nerite snails or shrimp. Here are the questions....as I am relatively new to...

you only need to cut if you want to remove the runner, or put plants in other tanks. If you want them to grow in this tank, just wrap it where you want it on the botto and weight it down gently. Be careful not to crush the stem or everything down from the crush point may die or get infected.

you can cut the connecting stem and plant the roots to have distinct plants. Alternately, you can weigh down the whole stem and the roots will dig in to the substrate. you have at least 4 viable young plants there if you just cut and plant in good soil/substrate.

Removing the carbon should have no effect on bacteria. the BB are sticky and coat all the surfaces in your filter, especially the fiber mash of the filter itself. Sure, some is probably stuck on the carbon, but it will be a small percentage of your overall colony.

Well, all 4 mollies kicked off last night. :-( One looks emaciated, but she just gave birth so not a huge surprise considering they had stopped eating. No pinecone scales, but some red bloches...not sure if that was infection, or pigment since they had a bit of orange on them when i bought...

How would I sink a background? I don't want to silicone it to the back of the tank because I want to be able to remove it. Any idea on other material I could make it our of? Maybe PVC pipes?

can either fiddler or hermit crabs go in a freshwater tank? Full fresh water as I have fish that are not salt tolerant.

I'll bet if you use Prime, you could put the fish right in....just check your parameters 2x a day for 3-4 days.