Recent content by Bettabuddies

Thankyou Byron, I feel confident leaving it in now, at least til I get the planter box filter in. I was going to caulk in 3 compartments for the box, but have seen many that dont even bother with that. I think I will just have the intake tube run over pads in a basket, then allow the rest to...

I have a 40 gallon tropical freshwater with around 7 plants submerged, but several plants emerged also. I made a diy air driven sponge filter with ceramic pieces to add more beneficial bacteria until i finish my over the tank flower box filter. My question is... am I getting rid of beneficial...

Wow, thanks. I tried researching this plant stuff, but you explained it much more clearly than what i have read elsewhere.

Hmm, i hope my new plants arent going to suffer by doing such a drastic water change. I think it is good to have at least 10 ppm nitrate for them. Any suggestions for the first fertilizer to buy for low tech java fern and moss, anubia, large amazon sword, anacharis, 2 other plants i dont know...

Ok, thankyou so much for all your help. My hubby will be glad to see he has another 20 gallons of water to take out of the livingroom when he gets home from his night job.

So, if i did it correctly, these are my readings ( my scout son was messing with a theremin he just built, sooo...yeah.) Ph=6, amm=.50, trites=.50, trates=10.0 So, yeah, going to do a water change. But how many gallons of my 40 should i change?

Hmm, spent the $30+ on the api test kit, and it says the minimum ph it can read is 7.4. I had the lfs test the water and it was around 6.4 and was told we had soft water in our area. Which i guess is good since i have angelfish and dwarf guoramis. Probably not great for plants, but I will be...

Ok, i will get that test kit today, after doing some fishing for bottom feeders in a tall bowfront 40 gal tank.

Well, it will cost over $200 to have our well water tested. What have i gotten myself into? I just wanted a planted tank with pretty fish!

And, return this little dude, too, since the fish store only had the one.

Ok, just saw your post, i will return the clown, the shark and the angel, buy the 5 gal. For my betta and spend money on a test kit to find out water hardness. I have well water in western nc. I do have a large piece of wood in the tank, does that affect hardness of water?

I was going today to buy a 5 gallon for my betta currently in the 3 gallon. Perhaps put the angel in it until reintroducing into the big tank. I am going to go broke returning fish!

So, now i am confused. Apparently i did not do enough research before buying my second angel for my 40 gal. Tall tank. Had to seperate the smaller aggressive one, at least until i finish planting. I shouldnt have gotten the clown loach or the red fin shark. Any suggestions on what fish i should...