Recent content by Bonsai_girl

Thanks Ludwig, I appreciate the bump and agree with your sentiments regarding artificial chemicals. Yes, it's possible, and water companies achieve it (in the UK, at least) by adding sodium hydroxide (or similar). This doesn't last once in the aquarium, though. Very specific types of inverts...

I'm wondering if there's any way of achieving soft water with high pH, without adding artificial/manufactured chemicals. Any ideas, anyone? Thanks in advance :)

That's why I asked if you'd bought a hydrometer yet :) A hydrometer (or more expensive refractometer) is used to measure salinity :)

Have you bought a hydrometer? :)

That is a very nice bike - I'm extremely jealous :P

<even_more_pedantic> Preferably parts per million or practical salinity units (PSU) </even_more_pedantic> Neither of which is gonna help a complete newbie :D

Hehe, don't worry - here's a potted version :) Salinity is measured in specific gravity (SG). The more salt > the higher the SG. Freshwater is basically 1.000 SG. Low-end brackish is about 1.005 - 1.008 SG. It's recommended that GSPs are kept in water with an SG of around 1.015 (high-end...

Sounds good - minimum of 30 US gal tank needed per GSP :) Remember to acclimatise the GSP properly when you get it home - either match the salinity of the LFS (assuming you're lucky enough to find one that keeps their GSPs in brackish ;) ) or drip acclimate. Most people get ones having been...

I keep ghosts in their own tank, and the cherries with ramshorn snails :)

Yep, most puffers like shrimp. I breed my own cherries and ghosts for this purpose :)

I'm the other side of Surrey, near the Hampshire border. There're quite a few live rock suppliers online, but reading on here suggest they're a waste of time as it's no longer live when you receive it :(

Hi, As a marine newbie, I've got a couple of questions about live rock. I noticed in a pinned thread that you can't order live rock online - I'm assuming this is true, but has anyone found anywhere that ships live rock properly at all? Or is it just a big waste of time and money and impossible...

Anyone know of any quick mixing techniques for mixing saltwater? Thanks :D

Cool! :D It sounds like you've got a good plan there. You might wanna think about protein skimmers in the future too :)

Hijack away! :D I currently keep freshwater, but have had brackish in the past