Recent content by Mr Tomato

Hello back. I've kept every kind of Barb since 1976. Recently I bought 10; Odessa Barbs. Within a week they all went Belly up but before that showed classic swim bladder problems..within three days of tank entry. All water parameters were good. Feeding was varied.. tank was heavily planted. 1...

Making me itchy. Yep.. wood out..and complete teardown. Or maybe just put up with them?

Ok.. undergravel filters are the future. "Hang on..I was told that by my local pet shop owner 1976. And my five Convicts made short work of it. Argh" dug up the gravel every day to see what that plastic white thing was..lol

Hi .. Over the years I noticed sponge filters suffer from reduced flowage due to the usual. But none were impacted as much as those tanks containing bog wood or driftwood. Thought I'd look into it. Extracting some Tanin ladened scrapings from the four week old sponge .. I found under the...

If you wanna keep an eye on ammonia but are a little busy to get test kit out ..Seachem do a nice little inserted device with a type of visible colour chart on the front..called ammonia alert. I know some who've used them and say they work quite well. They last about one year I'm told.

Have you thought about HOB or overhead trickle filters? I've found these types of filters so useful and easy maintenance since I swapped over from canisters. No leaking No crouching Fast cleaning Low noise.

It's amazing how controversial this subject has become. I watch with interest. As the Vacs Vs the anti Vacs.. collide. Even back in the 60s this was going on. Personally, I eventually settled for an even keel approach, that being..a little vac is helpful if readings get out of control, testing...

Question later, but first.. Everywhere in the hobby it's said over n over.. gravel vac. But the strangest thing is.. when we see on YouTube.. Dan Hitshew, ..Father Fish, and a few others, not gravel vac-ing, and there are the fish, shrimps, snails, all thriving and breeding sucssefully too...

Looking for ich

Typo. Meant white . The red light was to lure them out. Does it make sense now lol

Too bad. Terrible bad luck. Still that bleach can be Horrific stuff. Especially the double strength concentrated stuff. I've been in the hobby since 1976 and believe me, to this very day, still learning. Marine Biology is such a vast world and as soon as we even begin to catch-up it takes off...

I mean.. white

Yep I get that and as a rule I don't either excepting when I have a suspicion of possible ick or want to see if the fish are healthy. Having lured out the shyest critters out into the open I can zap the light to red and get a better eyeball.

Hi..well...I had to.. I'd place it just in front of the outlet of the filter. A suspicious must better than no heater. But that's just me.