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AqAdvisor stocks me at 86%. At the beginning of the month they're around 10mg/L and by the end around 20mg/L. My tank is planted so I don't vacuum deep, just debris from the surface. After vacuuming I replace about 10% of the water in the tank. Filter is serviced on the first Sunday of every month.

Well, ammonia is produced by decaying organic material and removed by proper filtration. So a large spike could in an established tank could be cause by a death in the family, filtration problems, or even a mischievous 6yo. What type of filter media do you use?

Noviceafter2yea: I sort of have to disagree with everyone here to answer you, but here goes: I lightly vacuum once a week to remove buildup of mulm and perform a 30% water change once a month. Changing the water is good, but removing detritus is better.

I've 100% success with API Super Ick Cure and recommend it for use. My tanks are typically clear within 48 hrs. Raising the temperature will hasten treatment but will also deplete oxygen in the water. If you do raise the temperature, you should also increase aeration with an air stone or by...

Is everyone you listed currently present?

Have you seen them eat? Usually before feeding, my fish see me coming and know what I am up to.

My Aquaclear stopped turning a few months ago so I panicked and that didn't help. After I was done with that, I read through the troubleshooting section in my user manual where they explained how to disassemble and service the unit. That did the trick, I didn't even need to tap it with a...

I would expect your nitrates to rise as your tank gets older. Of course you'll remove some of them with water changes. Live plants remove some nitrates, but their addition will not replace water changes. The down side of live plants is they require some form of maintenance.

Can you paint the areas that are exposed to the sun white? You may have to drain it down a few inches if those areas are normally below the water line.

+1 for replumbing with PVC cement

My local fish store carries it, try giving your LFS a call to see if it is something they carry.

I think your nitrates are zero because of the water changes and that your tank has fully cycled.

Nah, it wont hurt but the pH may swing a little. Plants only photosynthesize when the lights are on so carbonic acid will accumulate in the water and the pH may drop by 0.2 or 0.3 after the lights are off all night and the Co2 is on.

I created this thread because I am designing LED fixtures for my aquarium. I've a planted tank and am not ready to shell out the big bucks for an LED fixture, but more so because I enjoy this type of thing. My objective is to build a fixture comparable to the $100 Finnex Ray 2 (24" Model) for...

I used a standard to calibrate the spectrometer for irradiance. If I measure the irradiance at a given wavelength, then I can calculate the number of photons with Planck's constant. It's elementary Watson. It sounds to me like if I count all of the photons between 350 and 750 nanometers, then I...

I have a calibrated spectrometer so I can count selectively photons in the range between 400 and 700nm, but does each photon carry the same weight even though green photons are less useful for photosynthesis than blue?

I like EI because it's easy and effective.

Does siesta period mean time you have the lights off? If your lamps are off for 6-7 hours per day and are on for 17-18 hours per day, then I would recommend reducing the period that you have the lamps lit. Algae needs light to grow and 17 hours of on-time is at least 5 hours more than is...

How is PAR calculated? I've bought some lamps and observed them with a calibrated spectrometer. Now I would like to use that data I've collected to calculate the PAR value for these lamps. By eye, I can see that this lamp will not have a high PAR value.

Sometimes bettas just lay around, nothing to be worried about. It is good to become accustomed with their habits so you may identify changes in behavior as possible precursors to serious problems.

A 50W heater will do the trick, but it would be out of place in a 1.5 gallon. I recommend a 25W heater for your setup. You could use a 300W heater, if you could submerge the whole thing, and it would not make the water too hot. The have controls that shut them off when the water is at...

I've had my 6 gallon for a while now, and I want to change things up. It's currently half RO and half fresh water, with one viper shrimp and one ghost shrimp. I also had two pygmy cory catfish, but I moved them into a larger 30 gallon community tank. I also have a large community of nuisance...

There isn't a lot of information here to draw a great conclusion. It could be that your tap water has a low pH, or that fish waste has accumulated and lowered the pH. It could be a combination of a few different things. The crushed coral should help, but if you tell us more about your...

In my cycled aquarium, elevated NH3 and NO2 levels would prompt me to service my filter. After filter service, I would adjust the water level to ensure my hang on back filter is oxygenating the water adequately.

If the 49 gallon is another inhabited display tank, then I would try to avoid moving anything from this tank into it. If I were you, I would just treat the entire 7 gallon tank. It isn't a large volume of water so you wont waste much medication.