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OK, OK, I use it to, the question is... has anyone ever done any tests to see what it actually does? I think it would be nice to know the exact chemistry of the activity. I guess I am a bit suspicious of aqua-chemical claims, as I recently tested some bio-filter additives and found that the...

What a coincidence. I have had a goldfish for almost two years, and having just put it into a tall tank that permits much better viewing than the short/long out-of-the-way tank before it, I noticed that there is a smaller member of the goldfish fleet that has a deformed mouth. It is only pushed...

You may not have seen my test results... I try to base my opinions on some factual or experiential foundation, so I just had to know. The results are not far reaching, and is only a first cut at more work, which I might eventually get around to, but: I compared Tetra Safestart, Microbe-Lift...

Seachem... Seachem seems to really like to think that they have products that take the various nitrogen compounds to N2 gas. ;) I told them that in test that I did recently of some bio-filter additives, their Seachem Stability did not show any nitrates in the test beaker. Their guy said that...

This one looks to be a common pleco, but I am not sure. I am sure that he is an algae eater. I will step up the feeding a bit, and make some algae-on-rock to feed him, as he seems to like algae. The tank he is in now has a much bigger footprint than the tank he was in, and given his tendency...

I have had a 7 inch Plecostomus in a small aquarium with guppies. He has been fed Hikari alage wafers (one/day), all the algae he could find in the tank (not much), and most of a small zucchini every week or two. He did not seem thin, nor did he seem particularly in a hurry when food hit the...

One way to find out... For me, the time to deal with the filter, if I have not done so already, is when I notice the flow looks a little lower, so I take a look and see if there is junk on the intake prefilter, and if not I pull the basket on my Aquaclears and see if there is some stuff gumming...

Something doesn't track here... Makes no sense. Paraphrasing, with insightful modifications: "I have too much nitrogen in the water, so I do lots of PWC, and now my nitrogen is low, should I add nitrogen?" Poop is a great fertilizer, better than nitrate additives because the poop degrades...

Agree, and more... Something is up with the NO3- test, for sure. Maybe you should just let things settle in for a while, no more ammonium hydroxide for a while. Plus, my recent experience with cycling a large-ish tank suggests that big tanks are significantly harder to do than small tanks...

I heard that too... but I tend to want to take such advice as vague guidance, rather than reality. I am not a naysayer by nature, its just...well, you know, I think people should be a bit more careful about the evidence that they gather and what they can conclude from it. For instance, given...

While I was "cycling" my new 35 gallon tank I thought that I would do a comparison of some leading bacteria additives for establishing the bio-filter. I had a fair bit of NH3 in the tank, almost 5 ppm, and a fair amount of substrate sediment in the water column, which I figured the bugs could...

Clouds be Gone... I would first worry about what has made the clouds. This is slightly concerning. Are you testing the NH3, NO2-, NO3- ?? Second, water changes to dilute WTF is going on. Third, I just used Seachem's "Clarity" to clear up a new tank that had lots of substrate dust, heavy...

I was at the LFS, looking for some Seachem Stability, and the girl behind the counter said they didn't have Stability, carry Cycle but didn't really like it, and finally handed me some Microbe-Lift Special Blend, their "preferred bacteria solution". I had never heard of it but decided to give it...

Prime... To my knowledge, there isn't an amino (ammonia-group) in the Prime product. I would look elsewhere for a cause, perhaps. Do the tests: Test tap water for ammonia Treat water with Prime and test for ammonia All shall be revealed...

Good Article... but for real beginners, particularly those that are not chemistry-comfy, it could be a bit overwhelming. I don't know what to do about that. They should just learn, I suppose.

I have wondered about the continuing health... of the other components of the filter--specifically the bio-media stuff. I do clean it, but there is so much crap in the water, I wonder if the pores get plugged. I do recharge the Purigen--I have several in rotation at any given time. It is...

Well that makes sense... I certainly don't have underpopulated tanks, but I do keep them clean enough that there are not NH3 or NO2 problems, or algapaloozas. No doubt there is quite a bit of nitrification at work, though, so those pesky protons are probably to blame. I could easily do more...

Response from Carpus... The Purigen bags just drop into the filter basket. Some large baskets would be too big and I don't know what I would do with those, maybe lay two bags diagonally? With smaller baskets like the AC20 has, I sort of squish the bag up a bit and it fits. Remember that you...

Another reason for having multiple filters on goldfish is that if efficiency on one drops (and you don't notice it)--due to shifting of components, blockage, whatnot--you are spreading your filtration load over two units. Plus with goldies it seems like you cannot filter too much. I have used...

A thought or two... I am putting some smaller Aquaclear HOBs on a large tank, and I thought of having one of them draw water from near the bottom of the tank, through an extension of the intake tube. I would have the other draw from about half-way down in the tank. This would give better mixing...

Anyway, I am newish here, but have lurked, and maybe was active before. I don't recall... I do have one question: my tap water, which I age and condition, has a pH of about 7.8. My tanks are all in the upper 6 ranges, like 6.6, or 6.8. I put shell bits in to add some minerals to the water. Q...