geleen

On the positive side you would have to quit your job to maintain them :thumbs: IMO only large fish would make sense,tetras would be lost. You could raise trout as well.

Welcome :welcome: John

:welcome: Careful now! My tanks breed like r.....b....ts went from 1 to 5 in a year....please beware. John

The balance between light, nutrients and waste is off. I am not an expert, but this is what I would do today The algae needs to be starved off, I would try the following: 1./Check how much you are feeding, not feeding for a day or 2 this week, not a bad idea. 2./Turn of the light for a few days. 3./ Do a 40- 50 % water change and gravel vacuuming, today and again tomorrow (treated water) 4./ Change 20-25 % water weekly 5./ Temporay use of UV works well but is expensive but then so is diatom filtration John

Being fairly new at this fish (obsession?) :shifty: I hope this is not too stupid a question. I am looking to purchase an additional, new (or perhaps used) 60- 70 gal, primarily to be used as a discus tank. Basically a rectangle used as a room divider. My questions are if there are any know quality issues that one should consider. Such as glass quality and thickness. Are some manufactures better than others? Is the longer footprint better ( 3 or 4"?) My wife is very worried about used equipment, how great is the danger in springing a leak ? Thanks for your thoughts John

Most water softeners are run with regular salt (sodium chloride), but you can use potassium chloride salt instead. Potassium is preferable for health reasons, and is also better for the environment (especially if you have a septic tank.) If you have a planted tank, it's instant fertilizer. An Alternative to Softening with Sodium Wow! This is so helpful, glad you guy's are taking the time. I will see if it is available. John

Thanks folks for you replies. I decided to: 1. bypass the softener 2. empty the hotwater tank and then refill, wasting a tank full of hot water or have a bath 3. fill directly from the tap with the water from the heater which should now be sufficiently ( mostly) diluted with regular tap water. As long as I remember to do the reverse all should be well. thanks again J

Hi, we have a softener installed. (I believe salt ion exchange) Is it possible to use the softened water from this unit directly, or would one have to bypass it? Would be nice to run it directly from the water heater into the tank(s) at the right temperature I would still add Prime before use. Thanks