creekbottom

Bleach resistant - learn something new everyday. Mine is just plain old pantyhose.

Do you take it out of the little pouch, or leave it in? I have mine in a nylon baggy I made myself, just worried about the bleach eating it eventually.

Great, thanks!

Anyone know where I can find this in Edmonton? I even tried T n T supermarket but no luck.

In my experience excel has been very bad for moss and crypts, something that I have alot of!

I've been running these tanks for almost a year now, so I'm pretty sure everything should be settled down. Water parameters are always stable and the fish are happy. first tank: 20g tall, planted, eheim 2215 DIY CO2 diffused through a tom aquatics dive clean mini internal filter Odyssea T5HO lights 2 bulbs silver tip tetras (mean little buggers) blood fin tetras microrasboras oto's pH - 7.8 gH - 18 kH - 11 ammonia - 0 nitrite - 0 nitrate - 40 TDS - 476ppm I get alot of hair algae, grows on the glass, in my moss. Is this BBA up at the top? I don't get this as much but it is always present. second tank: 10g, planted, whisper 20 HOB DIY CO2 diffused through a tom aquatics dive clean mini internal filter Odyssea T5HO lights, only one bulb running. ember tetras pH - 8.2 gH - 23 kH - 14 ammonia - 0 nitrite - 0 nitrate - 40 TDS - 578ppm This tank is mostly hair algae, it's not too hard to clean it out cause it all comes out in one big clump. I tested these numbers as I wrote this, it's been about 2 weeks since my last water change, and when I sign off here I will be doing one! I fertilize with the PPS Pro system. I haven't done the EI method because as you've read I'm not exactly weekly with my water changes. After testing the water, maybe I'm fertilizing too much? I've been putting in what is recommended for my tank sizes. I'm also thinking of adding more flow to the 20g, I have the eheim running through the wide jet outlet pipe not the spray bar. I have a hydor pico 800 (200gph) that I can throw in there to help circulation at the bottom of the tank. I'd really like to get this figured out so that I don't have to pull wads of algae out of my tanks all the time, what am I doing wrong!? I use city water treated with prime, and it usually ages before I do a water change. I can't think of anything else right now but ask and I shall do my best to answer.

Jro, thanks for that. I'm pretty sure that is the problem in this tank. My little experiment is running and the sand container is staying stable. The 'lace rock' container keeps climbing. kH and gH are climbing and the pH is following. At least I won't have to remove the sand from the tank, just the rocks.

Yup, that sounds like the smell. Although the 5 gallon doesn't stink. I am thinking that the black sand is not the problem as other people have used it. But I'm testing that too now. Will lace rock increase kH like say limestone would? Or is it more or less inert?

Oh, let me clarify. The tank smells fine, the experimental container with the lace rock in it smells bad.

I have a 5 gallon tank, it's planted with alot of crypts. Using exo-terra black desert sand and lace rock. It's in my journal. Water parameters are unstable to say the least. The pH has been consistently high, and pond snails are the only thing that will live. I tested water tonight: pH - 8.8 that is as high as the API test kit goes ammonia - 0 nitirites - 0 nitrates - 0-5 gH - 12 kH - 6 As an experiment I have some lace rock sitting in water in a seperate container and have been testing that for about a week. pH started at 7.8 and has fallen to 7.5 and is staying there. kH started at 7 and has risen to 12 so far gH started at 11 and has risen to 14 so far. And there is a pretty nasty smell coming from that container! I'm going to throw some sand in a container and start the same experiment. These numbers make no sense to me, why one tank is so high and the lace rock is consistent even though the kH is rising.

I believe it was $20 for the bag at Petsmart. Maybe closer to $30, it was a while ago. Thanks jvision!

Anyone using this in a tank? What is your experience with it? Any problems? I'm having problems with a tank and trying to narrow down causes. Thanks

What are good, average water parameters here in Edmonton? Using tap water, with prime? kH? gH? pH? TDS? And what pH is too high for a community tank (tetras), or a shrimp tank (red cherry)? If there's a link, that's great. I couldn't find through search.

The filter is finally, and reliably, fixed! If I unplugged it, for tank maintenance, and then plugged it back in, it would go back to cycles of quiet and noise until it stopped making noise. Still annoying. I finally changed the impeller, shaft, and bushings. WOW, that made a difference! I don't know what was wrong, I can't see any scuff marks or anything different about the new parts, but it's back to normal!!!!!

I have a 20g tall planted tank. I glued some java fern to some driftwood, and put it on the bottom of the tank. That was in November. The original rhizome is just starting to unfurl a new leaf, and watching paint dry goes by quicker! But... The tops of the original leaves are COVERED with plantlets, that aren't so tiny now. The plantlets started to appear almost immediately after putting it in the tank. How, or is it possible at all, to get the leaf to stop making plantlets? I would like the original rhizome to get going, and now maybe it is. Also... will the 'roots' find their way into the sand? Or will they just continue to grow on top the sand, until they take over my tank, like some black mossy looking thing? And lastly... what is happening when a leaf starts to turn color? first yellow, then brown, then eventually black, obviously dead. Old leaves, or something else? They are always the largest leaves that do down. And I do fertilize!

I'm not a superstitious person... ususally. But I'm pretty sure that screams "Take me home! Take me home!" LOL

Thanks guys! I use tap water only, was a full grown shrimp both times. I don't have any babies in there yet. Would something like oyster shell work if I put some in the tank?

What does a cherry shrimp require to molt? I have a 5.5 gallon tank, black reptile sand, lace rock, plants filling in. I've been adding cherry shrimp from a different tank. What I have noticed is that when I add the new shrimp to the tank, they molt. However, I lost one to an incomplete molt, he couldn't get out of his shell. This morning I noticed another shrimp had molted, but was curled up a bit more than usual. When I returned home it was dead. Any suggestions?

I am watching my individual stems of Lileaopsis mauritiana try to turn into a carpet in my shrimp tank. The stems have done a pretty good job of rooting in and spreading out. Since putting in some MTS cause it's a sand bottom; I keep finding plants uprooted and floating at the top of the tank. Is it possible to a groundcover and MTS? Or am I going to have to pick one?

I have shrimp in the tank! and they're living! lol. I've been moving them over from a different tank for the last week and they are doing well. Molting even. I've decided not to put any fish in this tank, I'm going to just grow shrimp in this one. And snails... The pond snails are exploding in here, It's getting a little crazy but I'm sure once they've eaten everything they'll level off. The Lileaopsis mauritiana is doing well, and spreading a bit. I have since added more MTS to replace the ones I killed but I think they are uprooting the L. mauritiana? I keep finding bits floating in the tank. Is it possible to have a ground cover like this with MTS?

I have a 20 gallon planted tank, running DIY CO2. There is some algae but it's mostly under control. I have an abundance of that white yucky stuff coming out of my CO2 diffuser and I heard somewhere (here somewhere) that oto's love this stuff. The tank has 10 bloodfin tetras and 2 amano shrimp. What kind of Oto is commonly found in Edmonton, or what is a good one to get? Or do I need to get more than one? I have done some reading and it won't be the zebra oto. I was also looking at BN pleco's but those things are ugly (sorry for those that like them.) thanks for any suggestions.

An update. I have removed media, done a thorough cleaning and it was still making noise. I looked to see if the impeller blades were impacting anywhere but there was no scuff marks or anything visibly wrong with them. The shaft is still intact and the bushings are snug and tight. I bought a new shaft and bushings kit plus a new impeller, I thought I would try that and see what happened. However, the pump would start to have episodes of complete quiet! Still pumping just as good as before but alternating between that really annoying noise and nothing. So I left it. After a day like that it is now completely quiet again. So I have spare parts and a quiet filter, and no idea what the problem was in the first place. Oh well, it's working. Thanks for the help and suggestions.

Fisher, your advice has been stellar, thank you very much! I pulled out a bunch of media the other day, the canister is only about half full right now. But I'm pretty sure the constant noise is from the pump head. I looked at the impeller and shaft/bushings, everything is still there and when all assembled and I shake it I can't hear anything moving around. I even pulled off the motor cover just to see, there's nothing under there! Instead of describing, I'm showing you the filter and it's noise. I hope this works.

Ok, it sounds like something is loose inside. I took out the floss, rinsed the media, and didn't put it all back in. All the media is between the lattice screens. The impeller and all the moving parts look good. I'm pretty sure I've gotten all the air out of it.

Well it's been a while and life has finally calmed down a bit... I made it! The tank has been having some problems and I've held off on putting anything in it. I added a few more plants, it was looking kinda bare and I couldn't wait any longer for things to fill in. I put in a cyprus and some crispus. I'm sure these will get way too big for this size of tank but I have other places I can put them if that happens. I added a moss wall on the back. I got the black stuff from Michael's put some moss in between and then spent some time sowing it shut! I couldn't think of a bette way to attach it to the tank so I just glued it on with some cyanoacrylate. The tank is definitely cycled now, I've been testing water weekly to make sure and everything looks fine. I haven't been fertilizing yet but maybe I should start. There is a layer of something growing on everything but I think it is starting to come under control. I'm limiting light right now in hopes that it will go away. This was before I cleaned the plastic! I couldn't see in anymore! Now to my problem... I'm not sure if it's the sand I used or maybe the lace rock but the pH is pretty high. Last week it was at least 8.4, today I see it has come down a bit to 8.2 Because it is a sand bottom I put some MTS in the tank to help stir it up but they all died within hours of putting them in! This was after testing the water to make sure there was no ammonia or nitrite, and even nitrates are pretty low. I haven't tried adding more yet, that was at least 2 months ago. I've been throwing in pond snails and ramshorns from my other tanks. These are making it in this tank, and laying eggs everywhere! I don't really mind cause hopefully they'll start eating all that purple stuff and now I can at least keep something alive in the tank! This is supposed to be a shrimp tank but I'm not sure I want to put them in here if I can't even keep snails alive. Curiously, the fissidens fontanus that I had attached to the rock all died, along with the hornwort I had in at the beginning. The hornwort lost its leaves and fell apart, not sure what caused it. The Fissidens splachnobryoides is doing great and I'm really happy with it.