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I'm only a newbie but what I found was that unless your tank results are matching your tap results across the board then it's best to do lots of smaller regular water changes. This minimises the variation in the tank results. I do approx. 7% (as this is a bucket) every night and since I started...

I also believe that glass is also a liquid and gradually the bottom gets thicker and the top thinner. And my tank is actually made of a type of "perspex". ;)

Not sure how your filter works but the other day the end cage part of my external filter came off and unfortunately sucked one of my gourami's up into the pipework. :( . Hopefully yours are just hiding.

Thanks for that and totally understand. Is it a Sailfin and should the FS have know this?

Thanks to everyone for their input :thanks: I now have another fish that I would like help identifying. I bought 3 Dalmatian Mollies a few weeks back, however I now think they are Lyretail Sailfins. They have also turned black. And I bought 3, 2 females and 1 male, and I actually have 2 males...

Thanks to everyone for all their input on this topic and whilst I'm still only a newbie what I've learned so far is that it makes total sense to try and replicate any fishes natural habitat as closely as possible. This includes but is not limited to water flow, PH, Hardness, temperature, the...

@Byron The only info I can find is this AQUARIUM SILVER SAND – 150 µ to 250 µ. This is a link to the brand owner https://www.unipacpet.co.uk/aquatic/aquarium-sand/ I've just looked at a recent thread about Argos play sand and if I had not already ordered the unipac stuff I would probably have...

Thanks, I think that the barbel damage was done pre purchase as my other 3 are all fine and my nitrate levels are quite low, around 5ppm.

@Byron Those tanks look amazing! :D Do you know if that is a larger grain of sand than Unipac Silver Sand? It almost looks like very small gravel on the photos.

@itiwhetu Thanks for your post. The general consensus is that they are s hybrid of a thick lipped Gourami and that they will probably grow a little bigger than a Honey. However your post tends to suggest they are not a community fish, where as others have indicated that they are more peaceful...

@Byron Thanks for that and it makes total sense. :) I'll be prioritising increasing the number of my shoaling fish. I must admit that when I went from my 2 Pandas up to 4 their behaviour improved dramatically. @Stan510 Thanks for your comment and I take on board what you are saying but at the...

:lol:

@Byron Thanks for the help again :thanks: I was planning to get some more corys and neons but not up to the numbers you suggest. Info on the web suggests a minimum of 4 corys and 6 Neons but I assume your figures are much better than simply sticking to the minimum. For the Corys can I mix the...

Thanks all. @DragonScales+Doubletails - What are gobs? @Essjay / @DoubleDutch Am I correct that they will grow much bigger than the Honey Gouramis? I bought them thinking they would only grow to 5cm.

Hi, Can anyone help me to confirm what these fish are please? I think they're Red Robin Gouramis but I bought them as Red Honey Gouramis. Are they the same thing? Thanks, Marks.

@wasmewasntit - Thanks that's a good idea :D. I could use some pipe and a funnel at the top.

@AdoraBelle Dearheart Thanks for help, it's much appreciated. I did not consider the fact that the bacteria lives in the substrate but now informed I suppose it's fairly obvious. I already do daily water changes as standard so that's not a problem and I already condition my tap water using...

Hi all, I am considering changing my substrate from gravel to sand and I wanted to check if I this is going to be a mistake / harmful to any of my fish. The reason I am changing is that I have corys and I am concerned about damage to their barbels as 1 has lost one side, however it's a new fish...

One post I was reading from another forum suggested that it was far more useful to use the water suppliers data rather than self testing.

I have an NTL test kit that includes tests for the KH and GH, however am I correct that the TDS is a different reading as it includes solids that the KH and GH do not? If so is it acceptable to still use the GH to decide if water is soft or hard?

Whilst roaming the web I came across this article, pH is not important , and I thought it may be of interest and discussion.

@Byron Should I be letting my water settle/stabilise for a period before adding it to my tank?

@Byron Thanks for the clarification. Once I am confident that I know what my permanent tap water pH is then I will rehome any unsuitable fish regardless of how they "appear" to be.

@Essjay Aquatic Finatic does look a little far but Horizon Aquatics is not too far and does look quite interesting so I may take a trip down. I've done a google and found these shops in the local area that look worth a visit.. https://tropical-supplies.co.uk/ http://www.chiltonaquatics.co.uk/

So my water supplier are likely to be adding something that is raising the pH to protect the pipes etc and once we know what it is we may know if this should dissipate. That's obviously why you asked me to wait overnight before testing the water, I think it's all starting to make a bit more...

If I manage to speak to someone at NW I will try and find out. PS any good fish shops in your neck of the woods? Thanks, I will see if I can get that info. Is it your water supplier who adds the soda ash and just out of interest do you know why?

@Essjay Here is the link https://www.nwl.co.uk/globalassets/sharepoint-documents/think-digital-documents---all-documents/W201.pdf Hope that helps.

@Byron Thanks again for all of the help. I understand that the tank will find it's own level but my main concern is that if my tank pH is 6.5 but tap water is 7.5 then as I have a very low KH that a water change will increase my pH rapidly. Also the water authority are stating an upper reading...

My tank is consistently around 2 dKH and my tap water readings have varied from <2 up to 8. In post #18 I provided my local water authority results (table below) but I was not 100% sure I had read them correctly. My tanks dGH test readings have varied from 4 to 16 but I think some of this...

Thanks for your reply and I have just read your post #19 again. Since my #18 post where I stated my overnight water was 6.5 I have tested my tap water on several occasions direct from the tap, before and after primed and also overnight covered and uncovered and they all come out at around 7.5...

Hi all, It's approx. 2 weeks since the last post on my thread and in this time I have not lost any more fish (2 Panda Corys had previously died). I have changed to doing daily "primed" water changes of approx. 8%. I am now happy with my tank readings for Ammonia and Nitrite (both zero). My...

Hi @Salt I'm just coming back to keeping tropicals after a lengthy absence so I'm also on a fast learning curve. Here are a few ideas that may help. Somewhere for your fish to take cover, like an artificial cave or just some black pipe. Some floating plants which help to remove ammonia and...

Update... I took the advice of @Slaphppy7👍 and left a cup of tap water overnight before testing it. I also ensured that I was not over dropping ( Thanks @Byron ). I also checked Northumbrian Water's most recent yearly report. These are the results along with my original tank and tap water...

Thanks for all replies! Total sense and very useful to know, I am primarily using it to dechlorinate the water. I believe that the only thing in the tank that may change the parameters is the bogwood. I was told that it would lower the PH. Other items are gravel, plastic decorations., and...

Hi all, Quick update and a couple of more questions... I did a 30% water change last night and doing another today. Using Seachem Prime to dechlorinate the water but also says it neutralises ammonia / nitrites / nitrates. Have not tested the water again yet but I'll keep on doing 30%'s for the...