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My tank is blacked out in the back and on two sides. Only the top and the front get light. I keep the blinds in the room closed but the tank light is probably on longer than it should be - which I can change now. So when I black out totally, does that also mean the top, as well as keeping the...

Hi everyone, I've been away for a while since things have been going well with my fish and tank. However, for the past couple of months, as I've been vacuuming the sand, because there has been green stuff at the bottom, which I thought was a lot of fish poop (which it was), but after doing the...

So outside of reducing light, and adding a floating plant, what should I do? Will this go away eventually on its own? Are my fish in any harm now? Are they able to breathe? Will more frequent water changes make it worse or better?

Actually, I've been feeding his fish with his school schedule, and we coordinate to ensure we are not both feeding, and I have learned the correct amount of food after trials and errors of earlier this year. I can say that I know that his tank DOES have diatoms, because in another thread I...

I have two Fluval SPEC 5 gallon tanks. Mine is a few weeks more cycled than my son's and mine is doing well. His on the other hand, has cloudy green water. I've taken measurements many times and they always come back the same. Nitrate and Nitrate are 0. pH is 7.5 and kH is 120/180 and gH is 180...

Well, I did it again. I killed another fish. My son's 5g tank, with the guppy and the cory, was getting extremely full of algae. So, I decided to scrape the algae off the walls, like I've done before. I have done this a number of times, but I've never been able to get the brown algae that sits...

I did plan on buying a high-end heater. I took a picture of it with my phone, so I'd remember the name to see if I could get it online cheaper than the store, but the picture was blurry. It was I believe 150 watts and rated for a 30 gallon tank. It was $40 or $50. So Marineland is not in your...

Our light from Fluval tanks

We had planned on the regular, since the place we plan to put it is exactly the size of the regular. Right now, the ONLY place we have for a tank is literally in his bedroom. I have the other in my office, which is a converted bedroom. Less outside light into these rooms. Our first floor is like...

Also, what do you mean by fast-growing algae? We probably have to clean the algae off the tank walls about once every 7-10 days.

It must have been diatoms on my son's plant. However, one of the leaves looks like it is dying because the "brown" didn't wipe off.

I have had the crypt (thanks for identifying my plant... still learning) for about 2 months. The sword for about a month.... (both estimations). Are diatoms bad? It's just algae right? I know our tanks are too small. This was part of the "too-late, already got fish" learning process. So... I...

My son and I both have 5g Fluval SPEC tanks. My plant seems to be browning around the edges of the plant, but still seems okay maybe, but his plant was perfectly green when I bought it and now it has major brown spots. Is this normal? Bad? What can or should I do? Thanks

We are going to keep in the hobby. I am currently looking at the Aqueon LED 20 gallon all-in-one kit, but not rushing in, because while it has many good reviews overall, I have heard that the filter and heater are maybe not totally adequate, so I have to research and decide on whether to get the...

The main tank is also a 5g. Looong story. But it is what it is for right now. Again. We're new(ish). Since last December. Made every mistake in the book. Plus more. We are currently investigating upgrading to a 20g tank. But I'm not jumping right in so to speak. Before I do jack or squat, I want...

We have one cory yes. And that was a rookie mistake we will have to live with for now. The black sand is incredibly fine. I wish I would have never purchased it, but again, rookie mistake. We do have live plants and hiding places for the fish, a few small rocks, but since it is a 5g, we can't...

Since I'm still learning, I'm taking from what I read here. According to Byron "black should always be avoided" "it will stress fish" "it is unnatural", and because my cory is mainly tan "fish which attempt to blend in cannot and that is stressful". Sorry, not trying to offend Byron, but this...

I put black sand in my son's 5g tank... we didn't know all the downsides of black sand. Originally, we had guppies in there. One died, so a couple of weeks later, we got another. The current inhabitant started getting aggressive with the new guppy we added, so we did a swap from of the...

It's funny, because the much smaller guppy was picking on the bigger one. Since we have two tanks, I did a fish-swap. I moved the aggressive guppy to my tank with the much bigger molly, and the cory from my tank to my son's. So now my tank has the aggressive guppy and the molly. His tank has the...

I feel like you are not joking? That's kind of funny if that's actually true.

About a month back, after cycling our 5g tank, we added two male guppies. Both seemed to take on the new environment well. However, after a few days one of the guppies got caught in the filter and died. Tragic. After a couple of weeks, we went out and bought a new guppy. That was yesterday. The...

Just an update. The molly and cory are swimming very close to prior to this incident. The major water changes appear to have worked. However, I'm not counting my fishes until they're hatched, so another day or two of water changes to be certain. But signs point to good. Thanks everyone.

I could be wrong here, but not all clay pottery is glazed. I'm fairly certain this is just simple, baked clay. I knew not to put stuff with chemicals in there. I've read a while back that it is okay to use simple baked clay, provided no coatings, no other previous use, no paints, etc.

The algae was about equally bad in the front of the tank, at the back of the tank, and on the side of tank (which is next to the plant), and also on the fake rock feature. It seemed equally dispersed. When you say "filter media", are you referring to the charcoal? Currently, my lingo is...

Thanks. I kind of got the feeling, and of course nothing against you, is that as I've been explaining some of my crazy problems here, a lot of people wouldn't know exactly why something was going wrong, but only what to do right, which is of course a good thing!~. I'm working my way to that...

I'd say I've taken advice for sure! :) However, a lot of it has not been very good advice that I got originally. I've most certainly employed what I've thought to be the best advice given my intellect and discernment, but some information there is just no way to know until something does go bad...

I think I caught this information from another thread, about the variety of fish needing different water hardness. Not something I learned from any of the fish store people! There are just so many little factors that one must be aware of! I bought the cory on the recommendation that as a bottom...

New question. If the only chemical I'm supposed to use will be Prime, moving forward, and if I'm using it properly, what would one do when using a test kit and measurements are outside specified parameters? Since the test kit only measures and tells you what is right or wrong, what would you do...

I do not plan to add any more fish to this tank. I plan to get it stable for another couple of months at least, and then upgrade to a 10 gallon. If I can, I'll try to get a 15g, but not sure our space can accommodate. At this point, I've learned well enough my tank is too small, and I've made...

After I rescued my cory from the other 5g tank (that's described in another thread) and had him in a hospital "tank (bucket)", and added him to mine, he was SUPER HAPPY. He was swimming around throughout the tank, playing, nipping at the sand, etc.. It was great. This was for about 12 days. So I...