Kinda long post, but hear me out..
Heres the deal. Right now i have black and dark blue gravel in my tank. Only problem is, the gravel itself is rather large, and its becoming SUCH a pain replanting fake plants and ornaments, because its almost imposible to get them under the gravel and look nice. It also restricts how many fake plants i can put in, and my aquarium is looking kinda bare.
Anyway, once my tank is fully cycled (which it isnt yet, even though its been about 10 weeks now, ive had some problems along the way*, and just noticed the other day the water i was using had nitrites in it, (if youve read my other posts, you know my water issues
)) i want to use real plants.
I want to keep my color scheme, and what i was thinking of doing, was getting seachem onyx (this is just as good as flourite, correct?) since its very fine, and then buying some fine blue gravel, and mixing the two.
Finally the question: 1. will mixing onyx and regular gravel be fine, and 2. what is the best way to change gravel once a tank is cycled, OR since im still having problems, should i just change it now, and then finish up cycling?
*Since i got the tank ive had ich once, which kinda messed with the bacteria, then i switched to using salt, and that worked perfectly. All the while ive ben putting bottled spring water into my tank, because my well water (i dont have tap) is horrible, and im not willing to spend the money on a filter, and replacment cartridges to bring the hardness and everything down. I found out the other day, the spring water has a good amount of nitrites in it. Is this why its been taking my tank so long to cycle? Luckily, my dad owns a restaurant, and i am now able to get regular city water, which i am using now.
Heres the deal. Right now i have black and dark blue gravel in my tank. Only problem is, the gravel itself is rather large, and its becoming SUCH a pain replanting fake plants and ornaments, because its almost imposible to get them under the gravel and look nice. It also restricts how many fake plants i can put in, and my aquarium is looking kinda bare.
Anyway, once my tank is fully cycled (which it isnt yet, even though its been about 10 weeks now, ive had some problems along the way*, and just noticed the other day the water i was using had nitrites in it, (if youve read my other posts, you know my water issues
)) i want to use real plants. I want to keep my color scheme, and what i was thinking of doing, was getting seachem onyx (this is just as good as flourite, correct?) since its very fine, and then buying some fine blue gravel, and mixing the two.
Finally the question: 1. will mixing onyx and regular gravel be fine, and 2. what is the best way to change gravel once a tank is cycled, OR since im still having problems, should i just change it now, and then finish up cycling?
*Since i got the tank ive had ich once, which kinda messed with the bacteria, then i switched to using salt, and that worked perfectly. All the while ive ben putting bottled spring water into my tank, because my well water (i dont have tap) is horrible, and im not willing to spend the money on a filter, and replacment cartridges to bring the hardness and everything down. I found out the other day, the spring water has a good amount of nitrites in it. Is this why its been taking my tank so long to cycle? Luckily, my dad owns a restaurant, and i am now able to get regular city water, which i am using now.
