Recent content by Rastus

Sorry- shouldve posted stats. attached is a pretty bad picture, bit you get the point. I'm out of ammonia testers but he's in with one other dumber snail (I forget the species, I don't like him anyway) and three Rosie reds. Gary is a blue snail (says the LFS) nitrate: 20 ppm Nitrite: 0 ppm Gh...

Hey all. Ive grown rather fond of my snail Gary. When I got him he had a little brown on the bottom front of his shell and the LFS said he was just growing. But whenit got bigger I was concerned. Now having paid close attention I can tell it seems to be deteriorating. Over the last two days the...

I thought as much. That's perfectly fine, the tank can cycle while my plants are settling in. :) The only potential problem I see with oil dri, then, is damaging the fish (loaches?) But then again, it seems loaches have their own view on aquascaping that conflicts with mine, so maybe it wont be...

So my gut was right. If I just but the bloody sand and add fertilizer there's no big issue. As far as light goes, I'm gonna build a light monster of a hood for the thing. It's 22 inches tall so I'm looking at 3, full length, daylight bulbs. Will post pics/specs when I get it done. One more...

Hey guys, I ran across a 55g tall tank the other day for a great price, and I had to have it. I've got everything pretty well figured out except for the blasted substrate. It seems like everyone and their grandma has something horrible or great to say about EVERY IDEA. So, here's the...

Does the fact that the tank has an under-gravel filter change anything?

Sounds like either; a kind of algae caused by something in your tap water, or something caused by the new fish. After Googling around a bit, it seems like lots of people have had similar cases, and washing the tank walls caused it to go away and never return.

That's really odd. I've heard of calcium deposits forming in particularly hard water, but those wouldn't move. Fungi type things can grow, and also can move with the current. Could also be from ammonia build up, id try testing your water and posting results. I'm not very experienced, but I have...

Hello again. My tank is looking great, aaaand now my mom wants one. She's dead set on the one gallon tank she has. Its got a "V" front with a half-octagon on the back. I'm having a lot of trouble looking for tips on stocking tanks that small. Everyone SAYS bettas are out, but I know a half...

Update: everything is going swimmingly (no pun intended) the nitrite is converting to nitrate already. Despite the wiser thing to do, I got two mystery snails (Gary and Larry, but I'm sort of concerned Larry is a girl..) I picked snails because I know they're pretty Hardy and, frankly, it was...

Roger..so the nitrites/trates are naturally low. Their rise and fall is a yardstick for the necessary bacteria growth. No, I'm using test strips. Seemed like it would be easier to get started with. Bad?

So, I've been going through the process. I've tested and tested my water, and before/stressin adding ammonia (4ppm) my test kit says nitrite and nitrate are at good levels. (Also chlorine, Ph, hardness..) everything is fine! I know something must be wrong. I even had my room mate check the...

Sivia, I'm currently doing a fishless cycle, but that guide had several things I seemed to be missing. Thanks! That also answers pretty much all my questions so far about getting started. I'm very excited about it all, even though it'll take a while. One thing the guide didn't mention is how...

Great answers guys. I really appreciate it. I'm a softy for pets and id rather not kill half a dozen before I get it right. xD If that light isn't sufficient, would I have to buy a different fixture enturely? It seems hard to nail down info on that.

Hey all, This is my first post. I'm not much for introductions. I just bought my first tank, its a 5 gallon, easy set up Walmart tank. Probably not the best way to start, but I'm simply not sure if this is a hobby I'll enjoy. That being said, I've set it up complete with light, filter...