Molly Help

[nmonks]

Hello Terry --

Under most circumstances, carbon is not neccessary.

I wrote a little FAQ on the different filter media which you can read here. Scroll down a little to get to carbon. Carbon is basically a hangover from fishkeeping decades ago, when people didn't do water changes because "old" water was thought to be best. Carbon removed the organic compounds that made old water turn yellowy.

Nowadays, carbon is one of those things manufacturers sell for no particular reason. A 10-50% water change every week or so is a much better way to remove organic compounds. So, no, forget the carbon, and replace it with just regular filter sponge, wool, or ceramic media. Whatever suits your budget (they're all good, just some last longer than others). Filter wool is cheap, can be rammed into any shape filter, and does a great job of cleaning the water. It does need to be replaced fairly frequently though. You can clean filter wool, but you have to do very regularly otherwise it gets "too far gone".

Cheers,

Neale

 

[Terry0982]

I have now added aquarium salt and the mollys seem to be very happy, thanks.

I have just one more question to ask if I may.

I have a wall aquarium that measures about 56" Wide 16" High and 5" Deep. How many fish could i put in there without overcrowding it?

Thanks

 

[WILDER]

How many gallons is that, crap at working it out, lol.

 

[Terry0982]

If I use the inner dimensions of the tank I get just over 7 Gallons.

My lfs says I can put up to 12 fish inside but I just wanted to confirm this here first. I don't want to introduce this amount of fish to the tank if it's going to do them any harm.

Thanks.