You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly. You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
Recent content by octopuscats
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Do I need to cut the PH if my tank water regularly tests at 8.0? I don't even quite understand how the happens, but I'm assuming maybe it has something to do with my sand substrate changing the balance?
And thanks for the encouragement! I'm a bit worried because I'm going to be out of town for...
Haven't been home the last two nights so the tank has been untouched since I did my last measurement (no WC, no NH3 added). Here's my results from tonight, which unfortunately isn't showing a shift from nitrites to nitrates. Is it normal for that bacteria to take so long to develop?
PH 8.0...
I'll definitely do a PH test of my tap water and let you know tomorrow what the result is.
New tank results, 48 hours after dosing the ammonia up:
PH 8.0
Ammonia 0.20ppm
Nitrite >3.3 (off chart)
Nitrate >110 (off chart)
Based on how quickly the ammonia dropped, do you guys think I'm good to...
It's probably closer to 8.0 because those are the readings I usually get, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was higher. My city is notorious for having very hard tap water.
Not quite 24 hours, but I just did a test again. Here are my results:
PH 9.0 (might be lower, had difficulty reading this)
Ammonia >1.34 (off the chart because of the PH increase, based on how the chart works I'm going to assume it's ~2.00)
Nitrite 3.3 (again, off the chart)
Nitrate 75 (had...
Yeah, in the past I always dosed up to 4ppm (as in, not 4ppms worth every day). I have a hunch my tank is cycled too, but I wanted to confirm with you guys first before throwing fish in. Anyways, I'm following your advice. Just did two 50% water changes, here's my results after waiting a bit for...
I usually test within about 20 minutes of adding the ammonia so it has time to distribute throughout the tank. I haven't been adding ammonia lately though because I've been trying to manage my nitrates/nitrites. Should I still keep adding it? When I do add it, it's usually whatever I can pour...
I'm mostly wondering where to go from here. I set up my tank about three or four weeks ago and have been doing fishless cycling. Unfortunately I haven't been around very much lately, so I haven't been able to stay on top of my readings like I should have. Here's a sample of what they've looked...
Yeah, the weather's almost at freezing temperature nowadays. Not good for fish transport.
I went to the LFS today and they just got a great stock in! Now I just have to decide what I want. Not only did they finally get ADFs in, but they also got chili raspboras, cherry shrimp, and Glofish...
Thanks a ton, guys! I haven't even heard of most of these fish, so it looks like I have a lot of research to do. Very excited to see which ones my LFS has in stock.
I got a Fluval Chi not too long ago (5 gallon, the manual doesn't say how many litres the filter pumps). Originally I wanted to get two African Dwarf Frogs for it, but my LFS seems to be really flaky with stocking them and I'd rather have something in there sooner than later after I finish...