Recent content by Jimthefish

The only fish that need salt in their water are brackish water or marine fish. Salt is sometimes recommended as an aid for treating various diseases but if there is no disease and no brackish or marine fish, why add it? Many soft, acid water fish are intolerant of salt. That is most tetras...

I find the problems with snail treatments are 1 they're not always very effective and 2 the ones that are effective can kill an awful lot of snails. The snails you see in your tank tend to be a fairly small proportion of the total snail population. Effective snail killers get them all and this...

The mature filter WOULD work but I reckon the pump size would turn the tank into a jacuzzi. Why not just put the fish in the empty tank until the new one is ready?

Fine, just ensure that there is some water movement past the heater. Can you adjust the out flow from the filter in this direction?

Two tubes would be fine for both but add reflectors for the 18 gall. You could even go for one tube in the 18 and concentrate on plants that need less light like java moss and fern, anubias and some crypts. :hyper:

Sword plants in all sizes from Major to Tennelus (a dwarf. lawn forming plant) You could also use Vallis, either straight or twisted. The angels natural markings, vertical bars, is camoflage for this type of environment. ;)

Onion plants are gross feeders with an extensive root system. They need lots of fertilizer in the substrate to grow well. Yours may be showing signs of iron deficiency even if the dissolved iron is fine for other plants. By the way this thing can grow leaves 6 feet long! Too big for most tanks...

Water changes every three days? Your fish may be stressed out with the amount of interference in the tank! You could reduce the pH to about 6.8 by increasing the proportion of peat filtered water you use but I would cut the water changes to 25% every two weeks. Angels tend to be either tough...

Over stocking can cause very short lived but none the less stressful ammonia and nitrite spikes. This could be your problem. These spikes may only last for a few hours os you can test and test and still miss them. Once the fish are stressed they're subject to every ill going. -_-

Sounds like a bacterial bloom. Sometimes as the filter matures the bacteria go into overdrive and produce free floating bugs. These will gradually disappear as time goes by. Cut down on the feeding to every second day and DON'T PUT FISH IN IMMATURE TANKS!!!!!! :grr:

Try a store with a different supplier and/or go for bigger fish. Some strores sell very small, very young fish which actually don't travel well. Moving from breeder to wholesaler to store to your tank can be too much for little angels. Also if the breeder, supplier or wholesaler has a problem...

Your new filter won't be doing its main job yet, BIOLOGICAL filtration. Fish produce ammonia as a waste product. Sadly ammonia is poisonous to fish. You need filter bacteria that EAT ammonia, producing nitrIte as a waste. This is still poison but there are a second set of bacteria that eat...

On a general basis, change 20-25% of the water every two weeks. Use a gravel vac on the syphon pipe to clean the gravel when you do. Only use the water you've taken out of the tank to clean the filter - this preserves the filter bacteria. To clean the glass, use agreen nylon pot scouring pad...

Hi Aquaman You don't need an air pump and diffuser to add oxygen to water. Gases exchange at the surface. All bubblers do is take bottom water to the top. Your Fluval will do the same. Set it so the outlet is just at or below the surface. Live plants do add oxygen during the day but not at...

Cichlids ARE dirty and they WILL grow so go with the larger external filter. It will stand you in good stead for ANY fishkeeping needs in the future!! :D