Recent content by robertiv

I have a fairly established (1.5+ years) 38g community tank, a few months back tried to introduce cories into it. They just weren’t happy from the beginning, hiding out & not a ton of activity. Most of them (IIRC there were 6 or 7) died within 10 days. A while later I tried getting more for the...

How are those typically used? A mixture of spring/tap and the RO water?

My local well tap water is both very hard and according to my recent testing has a pretty high nitrate load (20+ ppm give or take) right out the faucet. I had previously been doing a 50-50 bottled spring water & tap water in my tank, but with those nitrates I feel the tap should be avoided...

I've had a 38g community freshwater tank for about a year and a half. One of my centerpiece fish is a black red-tailed shark who to my observation has completely stopped eating over the last couple months. It's possible he's eating at night when lights are out, but since beforehand he fed freely...

Thanks for the reply. And no - I haven't noticed any rubbing, although he's pretty shy & stays under cover a lot of the time so it's no guarantee. What level of concern should I have about either of those causes? Any other advice?

Hi all, As described in the subject, I have a Red Tail Shark with a couple white spots/patches on his gills - left side only. I'd noticed a little white coloration a month or so ago but it was faint then, much more noticeable now. This is a 38g community live planted tank. I'm a beginner to...

Thanks! And yeah, my water is on the hard side. For changes I've been doing 50% tap & 50% bottled spring water (which gets expensive unfortunately), and the GH winds up around 100ppm or just over. But just to be clear - although I'd happily accept species recommendations, in this thread I'm...

Hi all - I'm relatively new to the hobby, have had a 38 gallon freshwater setup going for the last couple months. Community tank, live plants, all the fish seem pretty healthy & happy, water tests consistently are well within target parameters, etc. It's been super fun to gradually learn about...

Thanks both of you for all the advice, and yes, on further research I'm going to take a pass on the softeners. One more (yeah right!) newbie topic - algae. I'm noticing a little algae growth on the glass. Questions being: 1. What sort of item/product do you use to simply scrub the algae off...

The stabilization mixture is supposedly composed of various bacteria to accelerate the cycling for new tanks. This product: https://www.seachem.com/stability.php As for the hardness issue, the GH/KH test kit (API brand) I used recommends another product - API Water Softener Pillow...

Thanks for the detailed replies everyone! When purchasing the tank last month I had a salesperson take me around & explain the basics of the different components, about the nitrogen cycle, etc, but it was basic. I do wish they'd mentioned testing the water. While I purchased both a...

Hi all - over the past month I've started putting together my 1st freshwater aquarium from scratch. Pretty excited! Community tank, 38 gallon, AquaClear 50 filter, basic Aqueon 150W heater, live plants, etc. Filled the tank & let it sit for a while, then about 6 days ago got my first fish (6...