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cool plants!!! And thanks for the idea to test tap water for pH after it sits out for 24 hours. It is sitting out to be tested tomorrow night.

Thank you for the input. I will let the tap water sit out and then see how it reads. That would be a wonderful and easy solution if that brought it down just a bit! I'm a bit nervous to use live plants. There is already so much to learn about water, types of fish who will live together IN...

I am cycling a new tank so don't yet have fish. I am planning to add tetras, rasboras, corys, and other soft water fish. While my water is soft (81 ppm or 4.5), I tested the pH in the tap water and it is 7.9 which is higher than most soft water fish prefer. Will they do OK and "get used to it"...

I hope they eat a lot of algae! I have no idea how to give a snail spinach. Or any food actually. Seems everyone else would eat it first.

I would like to add just 2 or 3 snails as part of the new tank once it is fully cycled and I begin stocking. I will probably get one each of 2 or 3 kinds that don't breed with themselves so I can keep the numbers down. My question: I have soft water and all of the sites recommend a harder water...

I noticed they have the algae wafers and also these: https://www.hikariusa.com/tropical_folder/sinking_wafers.html Do you know the difference? Seems these are designed for corys?

I found this: https://www.seachem.com/garlicguard.php

I will order Dr. Tim's online, just to be safe. Would hate to miss something if I bought it at the hardware store and do damage. Thanks!

Thanks! Have you ever soaked them in the pre-chopped garlic that comes in a jar? We use so much garlic we stopped buying cloves and use that. I CAN buy cloves for the fish pellets if needed, otherwise it would be easier just to use what we always have on hand in the jar.

That is correct. I just have ornamental ones.

I'm thinking I will do 2 minute feed of flakes/pellets in the morning and then each night do 3 minutes or so of something frozen (alternating in a schedule each night from frozen brine, frozen krill, frozen bloodworms, frozen daphnia) and then an algae wafer every other day for the corys and shrimp.

I would not have thought about crushing up the flakes beforehand. Thanks for that tip.

Fish stores don't sell Ammonia in my area. They all just say use the Stability daily and let it run and it will cycle and come around. I will have to order ammonia off the internet or just keep using the Stability.

Thank you, everyone, for all of the help. I will add one more dose of the Stability tonight and then purchase some of the Dr. Tim's and start that tomorrow. Then I will stop the Stability and just follow the guide from there. THANK YOU for helping me figure out my next steps since I didn't first...

Do you have brands of flakes and pellets that you feel have the better nutritional quality than others? Do you have any brands that should be avoided? For frozen "live" food, does brand matter? Thank you!

Thank you, @Ch4rlie for the direction. One question, if I start using the Dr. Tim's, do I stop using the Stability?

Thank you! Do I keep adding the SeaChem Stability each day? Or do I just let it all just sit there and it will do its thing on its own? What does "keep cycling" mean? Just leave it alone or keep adding the Stability?

So I am cycling a new tank and am still early but need guidance please. I did not find this forum until I had already started the cycling process. I had started by filling the tank and then following the instructions of the SeaChem Stability. Yesterday ended the one week cycle instructions that...

OK. If I drop the skirt tetras and replace them with a school of Celestial Pearl Danios (very small but beautiful), does that work better? Do they all get along at that point?

OK. So keeping softwater fish in mind and enlarging the schools a bit, how does this sound? The AqAdvisor.com calculator said this would put me at 104% capacity for my tank so it's pretty close there. How does this sound once the tank is cycled and ready? 3 Strawberry Skirt Tetras 2 Blueberry...

Thank you EVERYONE for the responses and guidance thus far. I truly appreciate the feedback and the friendly non-judgement responses. THANK YOU! I got the "official" water report from the water company this morning. I have not yet tested the water in my tank (I will go purchase a testing kit...

This is my first post so I'm excited to have found this forum! A little bit of background. I grew up with a tropical tank, had one in college and the first few years of marriage. Then didn't have anything for about 10 years. Then I had a saltwater tank for about 5 years. And haven't had any tank...