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Last summer, we had a family vacation at a mid Atlantic coast beach. We brought home some barnacles on a small piece of driftwood. It's neat to watch their little feeding appendages come out and forage for microscopic food in the water. Are barnacles benifical in a SW tank ecosystem...

I have cycles in my SW tanks where lots of small sponges 1/4" to 3/4" long grow up and then die back (or are cleaned out by me). Are sponges good, bad, or indifferent in maintaining a healthy SW ecosystem?

This red stuff sponaneously grew up among my macroalgae. I really like the color that it adds, but i'm wondering what it is, and whether there are any harmful side effects

Lots of these appeared mysteriously in my SW tanks. They look like elongated whitish tubes that anchor on things. At the same time these appeared, my macroalgae started shrinking instead of growing. Are they sponges? Are they harmful?

I have been considering getting some loaches to fight snail outbreaks. I even wanted to consider beeding them I went on Loaches.com and my findings so far have included: 1. Most loaches seem to grow too big for tanks: Clown loach: 16 inches, Weather loach 10 inches, Yoyo loach 6 inches...

I really like my water sprite because it grows and reproduces prolifically. I can use it to fill in my tanks. But I have a problem. It grows up vibrant and healthy and then, at seemingly random times, and in random tanks, the vibrant stalks die back. They die back and new healthy ones grow...

I have a guppy fry tank with diatoms. The diatoms are starting to cover some of the plants. Can the guppies benefit from the diatoms by eating them or hiding in them? Do the diatoms damage the plants in any way other than shading them if they grow too much?

I have well established tanks that never have diatoms. I have newer tanks where they get on the walls and on some of the plants. Why are newer tanks prone to getting diatoms, and is there any way to speed up the process of getting to the clearer diatomless tank?

My favorite tank is my 72 gal bowfront. It's been a well cycled thickly planted community tank and crystal clear for over a year. I put some new LFS fish in it too soon and Ich showed up after a couple days. To fight the Ich, I gradually raised the temp to 86. The water got cloudy. Does...

I've tried Red Temple two times now and both times it has gradually turned to mush instead of taking root. The first time it was in fairly poor condition from a mail-order purchase and I attributed it to that plus insufficient experience. This time I got healthy steams with roots starting to...

I read Jack Wattley's column in TFH where he recommended Discus beginners to get a variety that is more hardy for a starting place. I've had a lot of aquarium experience but have never had Discus. I'm thinking of getting a set of 6 juvies to raise up in a 55g and see if I can get them to pair...

I bought this feeder: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=4464&Nty=1&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=All&pc=1&N=0&Ntt=rondomatic&Np=1 It had a fatal flaw. The bracket that attaches to the tank didn't fit any of the standard tank sizes - 20 gal, 55 gal, etc. The part...

I had problems with plants dieing and found out it was from dosing with excel. I did a little research and here is what I found on some plants that are and aren't sensitive. Does anyone have anything to add to the list? Excel Sensitive Plant Pond use Notes N Rotala...

I followed a recipe that used garden dirt, vermiculite, and osmocote under a top layer of sand. It worked well for about a year, and then the plants began to get sparser and sparser. I figure the substrate is getting compacted and the roots can't breathe in addition to the substrate ferts...

I mail-ordered 4 maroon clownfish for my 46 bow. When they came one was twice as big as the other 3. Since day one, the big one has been continually on a hunt and kill mission and goes throughout the whole tank destroying his buddies. He's killed off two and was working on the 3rd when I...

I heard on the forum that certain plants are sensitive to Excel. The ones I heard about are Anacharis and vals. I have both. I was dosing Excel every other day and my Anacharis were turning white and all the leaves were falling off from the base toward the tip, till only an inch at the tip...

I really like the reviews tab in the new UI. Maybe it was always there in some, but I never knew it till the forum switched over to this new software. The question I have is about participating in reviews. I tried it and it said I didn't have permission. How does one go about getting...

I was thinking of ways to preserve the main filter longer between media changes. If I had an inline pre-filter with a pad that could be changed in seconds, it would eliminate a lot of janitorial labor associated with the hobby. Has anyone ever heard of such a product?

I'd like to generate some discussion on filtration. It seems to me that all the biofiltration product designs are centered on degrading the organic material that your filter filters out. You change the physical filtration media periodically, but the rest of your filter's "catch" is supposed to...

I read Jack Wattley's article in the Jan 08 issue of TFH. He recommends 40-50% WCs daily. I have been thinking about trying Discus in my 55 gal, but I can't imagine manually doing that level of WCs. So I'm working on a method to automate it. So far, my plan is to drip drain 1 gal per hour...

I have some Java Ferns where the tips of new sprouted leaves (last 30% of leaf) look water logged being a darker color of green from the rest of the plant. Does anyone know what this is a symptom of, or if its a healthy thing?

I have some Java Ferns with new plantlets sprouting off the leaves of the parent plant. The sproutlets have roots some 2" long. Do I cut the new plant off the old leaf or do I have to wait for it to fall off before I can plant. Any advice on how to effectively propagate these would be very...

I've been a long time user of Tetramin flakes. Recently I tried their Tropical Crisps. I hoped there would be less tiny crumbs that don't get eaten tending to foul the water. But only the very biggest fish could eat the crisps and I had to break them up. Then there were too many crumbs from...

My anacharis and my saggitaria get white while right beside them, the water sprite stays healthy and grows. Why? Params: - 55 gal - 6 angels, 1 cory, 6 small guppies - Ph 6.4 - Temp 75 - Tablet fertilizer around bases of all plants - Lights = 108W T5 HO Regimen -Lights on 8h/d - Flourish...

I'm planning to scoop out this algae, but I was wondering what it was and if there are any tricks to control it. Params: 150 Gal tank 300W 8h/d (130 of the watts are actinic) Excel every other day Flourish once or twice per week Extremely light fish load, about 20 guppy fry Filstar 3 canister...