Recent content by ryguy76

Tank size is only 6G, but my water parameters are good as far as ammo and nitrate is concerned.

Hi, I bought a german Balloon Ram 1.5 weeks ago, and the day he was introduced, he didn't seem very happy. Over the next few days he didn't begin to thrive and my son accidentally flipped the power bar switch while I was at work, making matters worse by cutting power to the heater. The tank...

Hi, I just got a German Balloon Ram a few days ago that's been hiding in the back of the tank near the heater zone. I noticed yesterday that it had a bump of white skin above it's top lip, and today I notice a few white patches on it's tail fin, and pectoral fin. is this most likely a heater...

Hi, I currently have a 6G tank with a Fluval Stratum bottom. If I move a plant, or take one out to clean it off, the re-planting is a nightmare. The water gets very messy as the stratum breaks down into mud in the area that it's disrupted. The plants are doing well, but the muddy water settles...

Thanks for the response. Is the API pH UP additive recommended, or should I stick with the CC/aragonite method. my pH has dropped again from 7.0 to 6.5 in 24hrs. not happy about that after that big WC. I work at a hospital and brought home some syringes yesterday for exactly what you...

I did a 70% WC and got the pH stabilized around 7.0 again. I'm dosing ammo to 2ppm now. Should I continue dosing to 2ppm until I can turnover the 2ppm into 0 within 24hrs? any remaining nitrates have been removed by the PWC, so I'm curious about how to best proceed.

did you test your tap water by itself? You could have nitrates inherent in your tap water. having said that, I'm cycling my tank and have yet to see nitrites.

Gotcha. I just ran another test, and sitting at ~2ppm ammo 0 NitrIte 0-5ppm NitrAte 6.4-6.6 pH I'm wondering if my plants that I planted last night have taken up the nitrAte, as i went from 40ppm (before filling from 3/4 full just after planting), down to close to zero in 24hrs. I'm getting...

Is the ammonia causing the drop in pH? I'll dose to 2ppm on the next go. My plans are a small 6-7 school of CPD's and a few shrimp and snails. I have 3 Anubias, a Java Fern, a Crypt, an Amazon sword and 2 small random plants. As far as temperature matching, I just do it by hand and fill my...

No seeded media. I started with a raw prawn, but when my ammo level went off the charts, I did a 50% WC to return the level to ~4ppm. Then gradually, the ammo started dropping, and still no nitrites for days. I had pulled the raw shrimp when I did the WC, so at this point, I added another...

I have a 6G tank, and have tested every 2nd day at the minimum, and recently, everyday.

I've been cycling for about 4 weeks now and am using the API master test kit. I have ammonia that keeps falling from 4ppm to 1ppm every 24hrs, and the nitrates are now building each day, but I have yet to actually see any nitrites, according to the test. it just stays the same light blue...

Ya, benefits of knowing the owner I guess.

I took the wood back because I had read in several places to avoid grapewood/grapevine after finding out for sure that in fact it was grapevine. I really liked it and it was going to fit my idea for my scape well, but unfortunately I decided against it because I don't want to chance having it rot.

Hi, I bought a piece of wood from my lfs today that was in the lizard section. The owner was told by the Hagen rep that it was safe for aquariums but needed to get soaked to stay submerged. I'm just wondering about rot over time because it seems like it's more of a "bush" wood then a hardwood...