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Thanks! I'll pick up some yoyo's. I have water testing for Nitrites and Ammonia, but no Nitrates. What other test kits do I need?

Hi everyone, I have a 15 gallon tall planted tank with 40w CF for lighting. I have a small CO2 system on it as well. The good news is that my fish seem healthy and my plants are growing nicely. I do have two slight problems that I'd like your input on though: 1. Snails. This wasn't a...

Hi there! I have a couple of easy ones: - Water testing. Do water test kits go bad after a year or two? I tested for ammonia and nitrites on my new tank yesterday and I'm pretty sure they're really high, but the test said 0 ppm for both. I did a huge water change anyways. (I'm cycling) -...

Fortunately, this tank is a 15 gallon - if I have to I can drain 40% and slide it. My other tank is a 125. I'll make sure it's perfect before I put water in it this time :-)

Have you ever been frustrated by air bubbles on your background? Places it doesn't stick to the glass? Me too! Here's what I did: You'll need: - a sponge or paper towel - some soapy water (not very soapy) or petroleum jelly - scotch tape - your background, cut to size - a credit card The...

Does it ever stop clouding? I have a small tank and I've rinsed and stirred a million (okay, not quite) times and it still keeps clouding. Any hints? Or just keep rinsing? Thanks!

Sorry, it's a tall 15 gallon. I'll be starting slowly with 2-3 fish, then increase the load after watching for ammonia and nitrite spikes. Thanks for your input!

Hey all, I'm pretty experienced with aquariums, but have never tried this before. I am running RO water on two new aquariums and setting them up one at a time. So I'm starting from scratch with no cycling done. A friend of mine has an established 20 gallon, so yesterday we put my Bio-Wheel...

Wow! Do you need to boil it for that long? I would think that a 10 minute boil would kill off anything living on it. I'm new to this, but am really interested in the answer as well.

I saw that on the light yesterday, but wasn't sure about usability. I think I'll go with the stock bulb initially to see how it goes and swap out for a better bulb down the road. The 15 is a tall tank so I don't know if 1.5 wpg will be enough. For the big tank, are the 30 watt standard...

Hey all, I'm not new to aquariums, but am new to plants. I have two tanks, a 125 gallon and a tall 15 gallon. I'm looking to run low to mid-light plants, probably not too dense to begin with. Here are my questions. Lighting. On the 15 gallon I'm running this light...

Thanks for the help! I'll go for the loaches and stay away from snails for my cleanup crew. The loaches will also kill off any snails that come in with my plants; major plus. I'm hoping to make a trip up to the north shore sometime in the next couple of weeks on a driftwood hunt! I'm hoping...

I had several large cichlids that I had to get rid of while my house was rebuilt. The timeframe wasn't short enough to house them temporarily, so they had to go. I used Craigslist to give them away. I found them a great home with a bigger tank and a family that actually knew how to care for...

Hey all, I'm putting up my 125 gallon tank pretty soon - I've had several tanks for a few years but had to take them all down completely while my house was refinished. I'm going to be doing a community planted tank, but my question is one of basic compatibility. I've always wanted Clown...

Thanks for your input! I'll look into the Flourish Excel for sure. I haven't done much research in the last 4-5 months, and I didn't hear anything about it back when I was doing that reading. I'll have to get up to date. I'm hoping that I won't have to mess with ferts too much for a while...

Any ideas for low-medium light? If you run med/med-high light for shorter periods of time each day can you simulate a lower light tank? I really don't want to get too high light because I don't want to mess with CO2. Thanks again!

I re-sealed an older 125 gallon a couple of years ago and it's worked fine. I concur with everyone else on the scratches though - they get really annoying. Now that I've got a little more money I'm going out to replace the 125 with a scratchless (new) tank.

Oops! I edited the original. It's 18" high, 20" wide, 10" deep. Thanks!

Hey all, I'm just getting started on planted tanks. I have two aquariums right now, a 125 gallon and a 15 gallon. I have 196w of CF ready for the 125, but don't know what to buy for the 15? It's deep - 18" H x 20" W x 10" D. I have basic gravel for substrate, and can supplement it with...

Thanks everyone for your replies! I like the idea of white paint, and I've worked with silicone a lot so doing the joints with it should be easy. I really don't want to use poly in there if I can avoid it, I think it'd leak a lot of fumes at higher temperatures. Malkore - I'm not planning on...

Hi all, I'm just about finished with my DIY Canopy. I've got some pics on my web site, and will do instructions if anyone wants when it's finished. I framed it with 2x2's, and faced it with oak and some trim. Sealed the outside with Poly and will put a couple coats of gloss on, it should be...

I have two Oscars with my Jack Dempsey in a 125 and they all get along fine. The Jack is one of the more mellow fish in the tank. There's also a Green Severum in there, and there were a couple of convicts... but when they started breeding, they were too aggressive for the rest of the tank...

Keep the filter media wet - the last time I moved a tank I just put my filter media in a seperate 5 gallon bucket of water from the tank. That worked well. Also, for the actual tank - if you keep the gravel in there, just slip a piece of 3/4" plywood under it and lift from that. That way...

That's great to know for the future. I'm currently in the process of breaking down my tank and bleaching everything to kill off the dreaded BBA. My tank is not planted yet though; it will be when it comes back up. I'm changing over from a SA Cichlid tank to a planted community, and have been...

I don't know what I'd do without the miter saw! It really makes a difference on those 45 degree angles. Mine doesn't sit too far above the water line, just looks that way because the trim hangs over. The actual height is 11", but the trim makes it look more like 15". The bottom 2" or so...