Recent content by danio

Not that it makes a huge difference, but you should be able to find them even cheaper than that if you have any dedicated aquarium stores in the area. PetSmart seems to mark the prices up quite a bit on hardware compared to other places. I usually see 10-gallon tanks around $7.50.

It helps oxygen enter the water. To name a few options, you can use an air pump with an airstone to create bubbles, place the filter outlet above water level (obviously not quiet), place the outlet below water level and aim it upward toward the surface, or use a separate powerhead to do any of...

You mentioned dropping some food in. Even though you stopped, there could have been just enough decaying food left in the tank or filter to maintain a small amount of bacteria until you started adding ammonia. That's my guess. As far as the nitrites, that sounds pretty close to what I saw...

State: Ohio City: Willoughby (Robinhood Drive) Store: RMS AquaCulture Variety/ Selection: 9 Cleanliness and Quality: 7 Staff Friendliness and Knowledge: 8 Smiley Rating: :beer: I see that one of the other RMS locations in Ohio has been covered already. This shop has an incredible selection...

I can't tell you exactly what it is, but it's most likely not from anything added to the wood. I collected and sterilized my own driftwood for my tank, and ended up with the same type of translucent white mold while it was cycling. The stuff disappeared on its own after a while, probably from...

That's usually a sign of stress from disease or water quality, but I know some types of platys also happen to have a normal red coloring around the gills. Did they look like that when you bought them? And are they breathing rapidly? Never hurts to check the ammonia and nitrite levels if you...

I can understand the colored, epoxy-coated gravel and other special types costing a bit more to produce, but the natural pea gravel and river stones labeled for aquarium use seem to sell for 8 times as much as the equivalent stuff you can find in a home improvement store. Aside from the fact...

I'm 27, and I have been keeping fish for about a year. I always thought of aquariums as one of those mysterious hobbies I would never understand, but then my wife talked me into starting a tropical tank, and next thing I knew, I was researching plants, building custom lighting and filters...

I can't read the numbers in that picture, but it looks like it matches the third color bar. If your test is anything like mine, the yellow for zero ammonia is very obvious when it finally shows up.

Hope the treatment works out for you. I had a similar situation after adding 3 zebra danios to my tank. Something didn't look right about the new ones the next day (slight redness, rapid breathing, no eating,) and all three were dead within 36 hours. The morning after that, I found one of my...

I can't replace any of the filter media in the established tank at the moment, but I will work something out. And thank you for the advice. You're very patient people to answer so many similar questions in here.

Sorry for the confusion. There are no fish in this tank right now - the droppings came over from a different tank along with the pouch full of gravel. I was waiting until I saw some kind of change in these ammonia and nitrite levels before trying anything else with it. Edit: Even when it's...

I will be adding more plants very soon. This is my first real planted tank, so I wanted to get some research and decent lighting taken care of before I put too much into it. Aside from the fish droppings and a small amount of uneaten flakes with the old gravel, no, I haven't introduced any new...

I'm somewhat familiar with the cycling process since I already have one mature tank, but I'm not sure what to make of the readings on the new one I've set up. It's going to be a planted tank, and it currently has one java fern, some duckweed, and a piece of driftwood in it. The filter is brand...