Recent content by macphyter

Well, now its official.  The shrimp are all gone!  I usually see 2 or three during feeding time, but a few days ago I was only seeing one during feeding.  Now, I'm not seeing any come out during feeding time, so I'm thinking they're all gone now.  That pesky Dwarf Gourami must be snagging them...

  Wow, I had no idea that the DG would eat shrimp.  They are bigger than his mouth, so I would love to see how that happens.  I've noticed some shrimp exoskeleton lying on the bottom, and I just figured that it was from molting.  Maybe its actually leftovers. :)  Seriously, I would love to watch...

It would make more sense that the Dwarf Gourami is eating them, since he is much larger.  I've been feeding them once a day, sometimes twice.  Are the shrimp more likely to get eaten if the fish are not getting fed enough?

   I have a 20 gallon tank about 6 weeks old, populated with 1 dwarf gourami, 3 red wag platys, 6 neon tetras, and in the beginning I put in 8 ghost shrimp.  The ghost shrimp seemed to hide a lot, except for feeding time.  Now I think some are missing.  During feeding I only see 2 or 3 of them. ...

Well, it finally happened.  My tank has finally cycled- 44 days after switching to hard water and 62 days overall.  It processed a full dose of ammonia down to 0/0 in 24 hours.  I had processed so much ammonia during this period, that of course my nitrate was sky high...  I had to perform a 50%...

  Am I reading this right, you are ADDING ammonia to a tank with fish in it already?  If so, then stop it!  The fish create enough ammonia on their own, you are only harming them by adding more.

pnyf-   I had a similar problem, and the reason turned out to be the water from my water softener.  Once I switched to the hard water, taken before it entered the softener, I suddenly got a nitrite spike.  Not sure if you have the same situation, but I thought I'd mention it.   Also, how often...

Well, I wish I could say I'm all cycled and stocked with fish now, but I'm still struggling.  I can't decide if there is something wrong, or if I just need to be a little more patient.  Here's where things stand-  I've reached the point in the cycling guide where I add a full dose, and check to...

annaw123-    From what I can see, your nitrite may have pegged the top of the chart.  You should perform a dilution test to find out your actual nitrite level.  Here's how I do it:   Take a clean cup, and fill the test tube with 5 mL of tank water, and then pour it into the cup.  Then fill the...

  I've been using Aqueon Water Conditioner.  When its all used up, I will probably switch to Prime since that seems to be the preference by many.

  Once I had some actual nitrite in my test samples, I noticed that when it was high the first drop would show some purple, and after 5 drops, it was obviously purple even before shaking.    In my earlier comments, I was referencing a video by Dr Tim, where he tested an extremely high nitrite...

Yeah, I expect them to become fish food as soon as I add some fish.  I've read all sorts of stuff about the micro-critters that grow in aquariums, and I'm not concerned about them at all.  I realize there's a huge number of different types of organisms in an aquarium, but I've never read...

I've got a 20 gallon aquarium that is just a few days from finishing a fishless cycle.  It was a brand new aquarium, and filter.  I used gravel from the pet store, and put in some ornaments and plastic plants also from the pet store, but there are no live plants.   Anyway, I've been watching it...

  Impossible?  Perhaps.  Maybe it would just take much MUCH longer, but who has the patience for that.    Daize-  I never paid any attention to your avatar pic until my 8-year old son pointed it out to me.  Very clever.   Speaking of my son, he's been helping me with this whole process, and...

So, it looks like my nitrite peaked, and then dropped to zero.    3 days ago: 1.5 / 4.5 2 days ago: 0.5 / 2.5 1 day ago: 0.25 / 1.0 today: 0 / 0   I re-dosed it up to 3.0 ppm tonight, and then I'll measure again in 24 hours to see if it dropped to 0/0.  Ever since I did that water change and...