Recent content by vasu4ual

The results from the tap confirm the water authority. However, after leaving the strip out for a while, the pH faded towards 7.8. Should I trust this value or the value that I got initially from the tank?

After running a strip through my tap, I got the following: GH 300ppm KH 120ppm pH 8.4+ I checked the tank again and this time I swished the strip around, getting the following: GH 300ppm KH 40ppm pH 6.8 (hard to tell which)

I live in St. Louis county and the water here is supposed to be very basic (makes sense, as the water hardness of my tank is so high anyway). Whenever I test from the tap, and even in my old tank (which had no peat, only rainbow gravel) I get values of 7, sometimes 8 from the tap. I haven't...

I have a layer of peat moss underneath my substrate, could this be an explanation for the pH being lower than expected?

I have a layer of peat moss below my substrate which could be the explanation for the pH reading.

My pH is 6.8-7.2, alkalinity is 80ppm, and my overall hardness is about 300ppm (my region has pretty hard water). The water temperature hovers in the 78-80 degree range. Any other suggestions for centerpiece fish, particularly cichlids of some sort?

Thanks for your help, I was always considering a gourami but my mom wants me to get angelfish really bad so I just wanted to make sure. As an alternative, how good would Bolivian rams or GBR work as a centerpiece fish?

After a mass-die off of guppies in my 29 gallon planted tank, I've made the decision to restock the tank in a few weeks and I really want a pair of angelfish in the tank. However, I also have 2 platies and would like to add a few more of them to have a small school of fish in addition to the...

I don't change water that often, about once every week or two weeks. I seriously doubt that the cycling/ammonia is an issue because none of the other fish in my tank are affected. The cories hide during day but become really active at night, and the platies swim around regularly. The snails...

UPDATE: I just checked on all the fish and the ones in the tank seem to have recovered. They're swimming around now and they don't stop at the surface as much. The two fish I quarantined definitely have a swim bladder problem. They keep falling upside down and sideways only to struggle up again...

Hi everyone, So just yesterday my fish were all swimming around happily in my 29 gallon planted tank. I got this tank a while back, cycled it for two to three weeks, and just added the fish two weeks ago. The fish I had were: 6 guppies from my previous tank, which was running for four months...