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Running a tank with or without carbon is a person preference. Most people in this forum are on the no carbon until needed for removing medications side of the argument. i have ran tanks with and without carbon. The key to carbon is the quality. Without going into a big chemistry lesson, low...

Sorry did some quick google searching. Found the info about Betta's breathing at the surface: Bettas have a special respiratory organ that allows them to breath air directly from the surface. In fact they inherently must do so. In experiments where the labyrinth organ was removed, the fish...

If it is the medicine I am thinking of, I think you are suppose to put 1 tablet for 10 gallons (how big is his tank/bowl?) Then you do a 50% water change after 72 hours and repeat if required. Do you know the brand of the tablets that might help with getting directions? Not the best at...

Gray around the head, could have been a fungal illness. I had one that did that. But he had a lump on his side. I was treating him for a parasite, started to look better for a couple of days, than started looking gray around the head. Never found out what the lump was, I think it was a...

Yes and no, with what you have a fair amount in your tank. The snails alone will be creating a fair amount of ammonia. The Prime is helping definately. But ammonia even at .25ppm is enough to harm a fish. Truthfully 15% water changes even for a cycled tank is not sufficient. The...

If your going to be gone for a couple of days here is what I would suggest. Set up your new tank, filter etc. Go get the mature media and add it. Dose the tank up to 4ppm of ammonia, that should be enough to sustain. Unless you are filling your entire filter with nothing but mature media...

I know it is hard to accept, one impatient person to another. But 10 days really is not anything. I believe it took almost a month, maybe 3 weeks, to get an ammonia drop in my first tank. I was starting from stratch, had no mature media, and it took for ever close to 3 months to fully cycle...

I wouldn't worry about it if you are doing a fishless cycle. I mean you could do a water change if you really wanted to but if you don't have any fish in the tank I can't see it hurting anything.

Basically you did not cycle your filter before adding fish. There are 2 methods to cycling a filter, fish in and fishless. You are essentially in a fish in cycle. Basically that means you are going to have to do daily water changes if you don't want to loose any of your fish, and even then...

Pond snails won't do the same thing and the will just cause an infestation in your tank, and they are really hard to get rid of. If you want loaches, then just hold off til you get this straight, and go with the loaches. Stiring the sand up a little when you do your water changes is really not...

stiring the sand is not hard at all. All you really need is your fingers. But a small sand rake, or I used bamboo sticks. Just give it a quick stir during cleaning and that is it. But if you don't want to buy anything special, just run your fingers through it.

Hello, sorry about your fish. I can't really add much help. If it is a lump that appears to be on the inside pushing out then unfortunately there probably is much you can do. Possibly a parasite, or possibly a growth of some kind. Without cutting it open really no way to tell. You could try...

Other than being lethargic and not eating, does he look ok. Any swellings, redness, scales look funny, cloudly eyes etc. If he does not have any of these it might not be an illness (though I am no expert on illnesses). Some suggestions: find out what type of food they were feeding him at...

Hi, the tetra medicated fish food should have an expiration date on it somewhere. And if it doesn't throw it out cause the bottle is too old and the date probably rubbed off. To be honest, in my opinion, just throw it away anyway. If your fish had finrot, just go buy prober antibiotics I...

Hello, I am sorry for your frustration, this forum is great and I am sure someone will have the answer for you. I don't know much about live plants and fertilizers. But I am pretty sure it takes a very big dose to overdose on the dechlorinator. So I don't think it is that. I do know that...

Hello all, I know I have been away for a while. I was in trainning for the Army, and am now back amongst the living, with internet again. So I got posted here in Germany. I have opted to sell my tanks back state side because, although I could move them with the rest of my household goods, I...

Hi, no I don't believe it was anerobic sand, I stir religiously every week, and there was no smell to the water. I thought about the "natural causes" which I suppose is possible, but it would be weird for 6 fish and 2 snails to all die with in 24 hours of each other if it were just "old age"...

Agreed, go with your first thought. However, if you are planning to add additional fish do it slowly because your current filter only has enough bacteria to handle your current fish load. If you add too many too quickly you could end up in a mini-cycle situation. I know you mentioned you were...

I know it is very odd, the second snail died the next day, but the 2 remaining Harlequins are still doing fine. I moved them into my big tank and completely stripped that tank down. I was planning on tearing down that tank anyway so no big deal in the loss of the physical tank, but loosing 6...

I realize that. I had purchased the tank used, the snails were already in the tank and the substrate, plants, decor that I also purchased used with the tank. I had not put the tank into use it came that way. Sorry PSUalum didn't mean to hijack your post, back to your orgional question. If...

Oh no don't get me wrong, I wanted snails just not an over infestation. I really have no idea what type of snails they were I was told they came in on plants and the person i purchased the tank described them as "pest snail". There was probably at least 60 of them at first, I pick a bunch out...

i am not saying it will for sure, but I purchased a used tank that had a snail problem. Even though i removed everything cleaned the tank really really well, they were still there, however by the time I finished my cycle they were gone. I think it was after the 3rd or maybe 4th dose of ammonia...

If you are fishless cycling your tank the high amounts of ammonia that you are adding should kill them off. I know that sounds horrible, but it should do the trick. If you are planning a fish-in cycle then you can go ahead and add some salt to the water now, before the fish are in, then do 1...

Well the filter and heater arrived, they have been up and running now for about 6 hours now, and so far I absolutely LOVE IT. The fact that the heater attaches to the filter and replaces in the intake valve is awesome, so much les cultter in the tank. :good: And the heater heats so quickly...

Well he is all moved in gravel in place and tank now in the living room rather than the computer room. He seems to be enjoying the new tank. And his new filter/heater combo is working great. I absolutely love this new filter, so far it is awesome, although it is a beast of a filter (size...

Hi I had the theo heater 25 watt on my 5 gallon as well. I had slight problems with it, but it is because i had a faulty heater. Hydor was great to deal with, and the second heater I got had no problems. As for the filter I used the Aquaclear 20, it is rated for up to 20 gallon, overkill for...

Thanks Lilly Rose, right now he is by himself. Not sure if or what I will add. the pants are all silk, the vines are plastic, but that is true of all silk plants. All but the 2 really big plants came from his 5 gallon tank and he has had no problems with them. But good point, plastic is not...

So far yes but it has been only running for about 30 minutes :hey:

Hello, I purchased the rena smart filter and smart heater. The heater can replace the filter intake and run as a type of in-line heater. So far everything is going great however, I have one question regarding the heater (using as a filter intake). I hope someone here can help. I am using the...

Thanks guys. I have started to do some research, just seems so overwhelming. Nice to know you are all here if I need help.

Thanks ... got the smart filter and heater in today. Man the Rena smart filters are HUGE!. I was a little worried about not having the freedom with my media since it came with a "Cartridge" but the cartridge is really just a sleeve that fits over the frame. I choose not to use it at all (have...

Thanks for the information Kat. I have never kept live plants so i am always at a loss when it comes to the plant side.

Hello, I have been keeping fresh water tropical tanks for approximately 5 years now and would realy like to convert my 55 gallon to a salt/reef tank. Fisrt of is this possible to do with a standard 55 US gallon tank? Second I have absolutely zero knowledge regarding marine/reef tanks, so what...

I can't really help with the non cycled plant filter idea as I don't know much about keeping live plants. However I can tell you that neon tetras are very particular about thier filtration, they generally don't do well in new tanks, they perfer mature tanks, generally 6 months cycled or longer...

It really depends on the chemistry of your tap water. If your tap water is at 20ppm I would be inclined to do smaller changes more frequently. However, I remember reading something a while back that you want to do a water change once the nitrates hit 15-20ppm above your tap water (providing...

First off, never change your filter cartridges because you will loose a large portion of your bacteria. I had the same filter at one point but got rid of it for an upgrade. All filter manufactuers say "change your filter cartridge ever 4-6 weeks" They say this for 2 reasons, first they want...

I have kept zebra danio and nerite and mt snails along with a few other types of snails over the years and have never had a problem. I have never seen any of my zebra danio even bother with the snails at all. I would have to agree with the previous post, possibly some sort of copper got into...

If it were me I would leave things as are. Let the big tank finish cycling. Then if you want you can remove the media you were given and put it into the smaller tank. But that is just what I would do.

You are correct on both questions. The high pH is a continuation, if you every hit the top level on the regular pH test run the high pH to get your correct pH. So you are right the low pH is not the problem. Here is a link to a good cycling post (recent just added yesterday) on this fourm...

Unfortunately no they are not. Although it is possible that there may be some MTS snails in the mix the snails you are seeing on the plants and in the LFS tanks are what are called mystery snails ... or more commonly known as pest snails. Do not make the mistake I made, I was looking for MTS...