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You are right NickAU. The whole idea of the inch per gallon "rule" was to help keep newbies from overstocking. It was never meant to be guidance for someone with a little experience who could actually judge the biological load of a tank. In your 20 +/- gallon tank I am thinking you are fully...

At 26ºC many fish are too warm. I keep goodeids that are known for not needing a tank heater in a typical home but some species of them do not do well without me using heavy air conditioning in the summer to keep the house cool. Needless to say I no longer try to keep those species.

Why not just suggest a larger aquarium without being nasty about it? There is no such thing, that I have heard of, as a goldfish that stays small so plenty of room is always a plus. If they are in a typical goldfish bowl why not suggest a 10 or a 20 gallon tank? That way the fish can grow a bit...

I need to ask, why are you removing the snails? I hope the only leaves you are removing are leaves that have detached from your plants. Do you have plants that are over grown so that you must trim them?

If you are going to use size, at least consider using body depth in it. An angel with a body length of say 1 1/2 inches is quite a large fish while a swordtail with the same body length is just a juvenile. The angel will require considerably more water per fish than the sword. The angel will...

Figure each apple snail / mystery snail you added as about like 2 fish. That population needs to get settled in and the filter adjusted to it before you add any fish at all.

Good for surface skimming but the hard water deposits you have been describing will not be affected by surface skimming. What it comes down to with hard water is that the water's mineral content is high enough that any water left behind as the water level drops contains enough minerals that the...

I usually avoid any chemical treatments, including pH buffers. Have you looked at stocking things like neons, angels, rams, corydorus and such instead of changing your water parameters? These fish are not necessarily compatible with each other but may give you ideas on a direction to go with...

A stable pH is indeed more important than a "correct" pH. The crushed coral is a chemical water treatment that you are using. Reducing it will help your tank be more stable. If you actually do have low pH very soft water, why not work with it instead of trying to raise the pH? That is where the...

I think this is the third post I have sen from you on this subject. Have you got your water chemistry under control yet?

So a big cold water change on Tuesday and you were surprised? If your Aeneas cats were well conditioned you got what you should have expected.

A sub-gravel filter relies on building the bacteria up in the substrate. It cannot be used with fine sand because that will not allow the free water flow that you need in your cycled substrate. If you toss that substrate you get to start your cycle on the tank from scratch. If I wanted plants in...

If ammonia and nitrites are staying at zero, it is time to back off the water changes a bit and see how you are doing. Otherwise you might be doing those huge water changes for years. If a 50% water change shows a bit of ammonia or nitrite showing up again, you are not quite there yet and need...

I think I would reduce the amount of material in your filter and let the pH drop closer to 7.0. You have very soft water so you will be looking for some of the "black water" fish from the Amazon as your main stocking. With the top area of your water already busy from the zebras, how about a nice...

I never knew this was a question. I read my tap water and try to keep my nitrates from doubling that number. It gives me what I need to judge things because a doubling means I am starting to get my chemicals concentrated more than my plants can remove. I worry not at all about nitrates as such...

My last purchase of fake plants was on E-bay. Someone was selling silk plants for about $1 each but in a bulk pack of about 20 plants. These days I use real plants so not much recent experience to draw from.

Note: I have not read this entire thread. There is no value of heater that fits a particular tank temperature. What your heater needs to do is raise the water temperature above the surrounding air temperature. If you keep your home at say 19ºC it will take a much larger heater to get your tank...

Not at all. A 2 gallon tank can easily support a half dozen neons if it is properly filtered.

I am thinking you are asking the wrong question. Just my opinion. If I wanted a sand substrate surface I would start with an empty tank. Next add flats designed for starting plants from your local nursery and fill them with potting soil, the cheapest they have. Cover that with your chosen sand...

Dump the supplementary chemicals down the toilet. Fish food does rot over time so it will feed your plants. Cories are not a cleanup crew, they are fish that do need to be fed properly. My first guess is that you fed too much. Skip feeding for a day or two and the cloudy water will be gone...

If that thing has a filter on it, how about a half dozen neons?

I have retired and am almost done building my own home so I now have a bit of time. My free time since retirement was hidden in my house build, my wood stove preparations and spending time with family. I now have a nice running chain saw and a good splitting area so that part still takes time...

An undergravel filter like you described is possibly the best kind once you get it cycled. A big step forward to cycling one would be to clean an existing filter in that tank and then follow the fishless cycling method. That part of your advice is right on target. On the other hand I cannot...

I use aquarium salt like they use in a salt water tank but non-iodized table salt would also work. In my house all table salt is iodized so I don't use it in my tanks. Most white spot treatments work fine as long as you follow the directions carefully. Don't forget that when the last of the...

If a new guppy fry has a yolk sac it is a bit of a preemie but it should be gone in a day or two.

The bacteria can double their population in under 24 hours so once you have a good start the time factor becomes quite small. Say you start with enough bacteria to serve for a 5 gallon tank, next day you have enough for a 10, next day enough for a 20, next day enough for a 40. You can see where...

If you have good chemistry on your quarantine tank and are still dosing ammonia daily, you have your own starter. Clean the filter on that quarantine tank in the larger tank and you will have introduced the right bacteria into that larger tank. Then it will just be a case of letting that...

6 month old molly fry that never saw salt.   The same fry at 33 days with their mother   Does that answer your question?

I have always used salt with some heat to eradicate ich but cories are one of the fish that are sensitive to too much salt. My cory only tank I keep at around 70ºF, 21ºC and the fish thrive in it. I also use mostly rain water in that tank because of the high mineral content of my tap water. No...

The absolute quietest air pump I have ever had was a small Rena. They are not cheap but they are adjustable and quiet.

Almost anything you add to a tank will add weight unless it is something that floats. That includes the substrate which is heavier than water. It sinks doesn't it? The submersible heater adds weight, the filter adds weight and hangs above the tank on a small tank but a canister filter sitting on...

If you want a small profit you can use things like aquabid to sell off breeding surplus fish or do what I and several fellow club members do and sell off the results of your plant growing and breeding at a club sales event, ours is an auction. I will never pay for my equipment but selling fish...

Your sump should work fine but consider increasing the size of the sump itself and reducing the size of the filtration areas. You want your sump available volume to hold the contents of your entire tank overflow system so that you don't end up with a flood with every power interruption.

If you make a spray bar, just be sure you have enough holes in it that the flow rate through each one can be slow. All of the turbulence will end up inside the spray bar instead of in the open area of your tank. If at first you find the spray bar is still stirring things up too much, make the...

I have been away from the forum for quite a while but found I have the time now to return. While I was gone I let my fishkeeping drop down to 15 active tanks while I used to keep 23. Last Sunday I resurrected my 120 gallon tank to house a new small breeding colony of C encaustus, barred...

Why tie up all of a 10 gallon for a single betta. They will get along fine in a tank of small fish as long as the other fish are not too nippy.  This guy lived in a 45 gallon endler tank for over 4 years and thrived in that environment. He used to eat the same flake food as the endlers and was...

If you have a nice high protein tropical fish flake food, use it. My guess is that is what he is accustomed to eating so will treat it as food.

Nitrate will not go up while you are doing enough water changes to hold down the ammonia and nitrites. Don't worry about it. Nitrates are an indication that the nitrogen cycle is completing in a tank that is not getting regular large water changes. That is not your situation.

6 month molly fry without salt:

Wait until you are ready to add the fish to make that filter swap. That way you start out more or less cycled.