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That's quite normal. Just let it grow.

Hi. I have these moss balls. The name of this algae is Cladophora aegagropila. It grows very slow. You have turn it at times otherwise the side which is lying on the ground dies. Shrimps like to search in it for something to eat- lots of sediments get stuck in the network. You can clean...

I don't think that the plant on the photo is Riccia. Riccia needs good lighting, especially when it is fixed to stones and so on.

Hi. Try to get Echinodorus tenelleus. ;)

Hi. Depends on the quality of your tap water. Here the water has high quality- no need to prepare it. You should have a look on the water analysis of your supplier. PS: You can remove chlorine bei venting the water before you put it into the fishtank. ;)

@blue ram: yes, there aren't true full spectrum lamps which have the same light like the sun. However, they have more luminescent substances which cover the gaps, so they get closer to it. The 9xx also aren't called full-spectrum, but De Luxe. Special tubes for fishtanks are nearly the same...

Hello. Full-spectrum tubes (example: Osram 9xx) have approx. 20% less light efficiency than tubes with 3 peaks (Osram 8xx. Sorry, dunno the english word). However, they have a better colour rendition. For my 240l tank, I'm using 2x38W with reflectors. The plants grow like weed. I'm planning...

Well, depends one the temperature of the room in which your tank is standing. In a heated livingroom 200W are more than enough. I have a 240l tank (~70gallon) with a 200W heater. It heats 10 minutes per hour maximum. Even a 50W heater would be sufficient in my case.

Hello. Have you ever tried "normal" tubes, for example a combination of Osram Lumilux 830 and 860? :huh:

Hi. I'm keeping them. Here they are quite popular.

I use 280g sugar, 1,5l water and 2 teaspoons yeast.

Hi. Just clean it with tap water- you don`t have to worry about chlorine because it will be gassing out fast. BTW, you can get the chlorine out of water just by aerating it. I have to add one thing: These rocks hydrogenate your water. So check the KH.

Hello. 0,25 is still a little bit high, but not very dangerous. If you can keep it on this level until your tank is cycled, it's ok. A tap test will have a low result. The limit value for drinking water here in germany is 0,1. That's right. Yes, but don't worry. Nearly everbody who has an...

Hello. Sounds absolutely normal, most people have this during the cycling. Have you also got real plants in your tank?

Hi. It's better to change more water to get the nitrite as low as you can. 2,0 mg/l is still too much. What do the fish do? Are they hanging at the water surface and gasping? If you have got one, an air pump can be useful. Oh, I forgot one thing: Also try to get some mud from a filter of a...

Hi. Another warning: Such a bubbling thing drives out the CO2 of your fishtank. The consequence could be that there isn't enough CO2 for the plants and they get deficiency symptoms.

Hello. No, you don't restart a cycle. There are only 10% of all bacteria in the free water, the rest is in the filter and in the substrate on the floor. So the bacteria you are taking away by changing water are not important. Changing only 10-20% or even 50%+ a day wouldn't make a big...

Is it the Nutrafin BioCO2 system? If yes, you can build it yourself. Costs: Some dollars.

Hi. Here an explanation of the nitrogen circle: Organic mass (fish, plants, food etc) contains nitrogen (in proteins). When this organic mass is decomposed, the nitrogen gets free in form of amminia (NH3) or ammonium (NH4). Below a ph of 7,0 there will be the in low concentrations harmless...

Hi. Below ph 7, there is ammonium, not ammonia. Ammonia (NH3) is very toxic, ammonium (NH4) isn't. Ammonium is used by the bacteria nitrosomonas to produce nitrite (NO2), nitrobacter turn it into nitrate (NO3).

Hello. In a breeding tank for Guppies there is usually no decoration etc. This makes it much easier to clean the tank. In a tank in which the adult females get their babies there should be stuff for them to hide like fine plants because often guppies eat their own babies.

Hi. I agree on this. Furthermore, the moonlight can help some fish defending their brood at night.

Hello. Depends on your plants, but usually 6,6 is very good for most plants. If your water is too hard, you can add water with low GH and KH, for example destilled water.

Hi. I think so. I know somebody who ordered Bettas from Thailand to Germany- no problem.

Hello. Please don't buy more until your problems, especially the nitrite peak, are gone. This takes 2 weeks minimum after installing the aquarium. Before you buy more neons, please check your water- as I already said they need soft water.

Hello. There are nitrate filters, you also can build them yourself. I know them as a method to reduce nitrate, when your tap water already contains lots of nitrate. They aren't an alternative to change water- nitrate isn't the only thing which concentration is changing in the fishtank... A...

Well, I tried to find the names... :dunno: The difficulty is that most of them aren't in my dictionary.

Hello. You can build such a CO2 system with some very cheap materials. I'm sorry, I only know german websites with instructions, but all you need are some PET bottles and some hose (this one for the membrane air pumps). The Nutrafin systems work with water, sugar, yeast and gelatin which...

@pathagor: Is it right that you got a fishtank last weekend and already hav fish in it? Have you never heard something about the peak of NO2 (nitrite)? Also the choice of your fish is bad, guppies need hard water, neon tetras need soft water.... :/

Hi, I'm from Germany, 19 years old and have aquariums since 1997. At the moment, I have got 5 aquariums from 20 up to 240 litres. My fish are Pterophyllum altum (angelfish), Hyphessobrycon erythrostigma, Pelviachromis pulcher, Trichgaster trichopterus, Ancistrus dolichopterus, Xipophorus...