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I was cleaning/pruning my 55 gallon planted tank today when I felt some stray voltage in with my hand in the tank! I don't turn off anything except my filters when I do waterchanges, normally. I know that safety always says to unplug everything, but I like to keep the temperature up when...

I'm glad they are doing great. Keep up the good work! Sorry for the hijacking!:OT:

Quite right, quite right! Didn't know that most other kits did this. I've also used a Sera Ammonia Test kit, and again, never saw any ammonia using Prime, Tap Water Conditioner, Amquel, or Stresscoat. Ya learn something new every day! :idea2:

Wow, nice thinkin' Joe! Would have never thought of that. Just for the record, I am having a hard time getting used to the new name. I agree with whoever it was that told you that your "legendary" name had a ring that 125gJoe doesn't carry! I don't want to bust your chops or anything, just...

Ok, maybe I'm misunderstanding what she was saying. :confused: I thought what she was getting at was that she had such a high concentration of Chloramine in her water that even after treating and nullifying SOME ammonia, there was still SOME LEFT in toxic free form. Does her test only give the...

You know the saying: "the proof is in the pudding"? There is a flawless way to tell if you are stocking too quickly. It is to use test kits. If you have detectable ammonia or nitrite, then you need to get things under control, then let them remain there for a week to be sure (my opinion), then...

You are doing exactly what you need to do. You have a pretty hefty bio-load in that 20 gallon tank, especially for being un-cycled. It generally takes anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks to fully cycle a tank (considering normal conditions, stocking, feeding). I personally would cut down to VERY light...

Personally (my opinion) I would call your tank "moderately planted" at the moment. To get it to being heavily planted (IMO) it would need plants covering 75%+ of the total bottom surface. Your rocks and driftwood (I know you are going to add some more on the driftwood) have a bold presence in...

I'd agree with djLen and Carpguy. They pretty much covered the info on actual planting. I have the same book Carpguy was talking about by Peter Hiscock. It's a great all around book for planted tanks. It even has a plant ID,info, and picture section, as well as a few bio-tope ideas for...

Gosh, Dahlia, you sure got yourself a pickle there! I wouldn't know where to begin with figuring out what happened then. That low fish load, and frequent partial water changes (couple a week or better) would lead me to think that a pH crash wouldn't be the culprit. Ammonia in the water is a...

Wow, you have been on a ride lately, huh? I really hope you can get things worked out correctly. Hope I can help some. RTR hit many of the issues, but I'd like to offer what I would do in this situation: Long-Term Suggestions- First: DON'T ask that lady at your LFS for advice on anything...

I would have to come to the conclusion that you don't have enough bio-filtering capacity, if I just had to guess from what I'm seeing written. I've left uneaten food in tanks (including beefheart) for about a week until the next water change. In fact I've left foods until they were no longer...

This is another one of those topics that everyone has their own opinion on. I use Seachem for the most part. My pH test is a simple AP liquid test, since Seachem's is for salt water (too high of a range).

Congratulations! What an encouraging find! Thanks for sharing.

You and me both! Thanks for the input.

Sounds good, but you only mentioned using Sodium T. in water with Chlorine only. Does it work for Chloramines? I have these in my water. Thanks for the info that the "neutralizing heavy metals" only means that it chelates them. This is a good thing for planted aquaria. My other part of the...

Here is something that I found since I bought 5 bags of Flourite instead of trying this stuff: "Something totally new from Red Sea...an Aquatic plant substrate that actually benefits the plants and the aquarium. A new innovation in formulated substrates. Flora Base has been scientifically...

Personally I would have done EVERYTHING OPPOSITE of what you did! I would put the Goldfish in the pond, with the Plecos in the tank. But even with the current choice I would have grabbed the driftwood firmly with both hands, carefully lifted it out of the tank (lifting with the legs, not the...

I just read an article talking about being careful about which water conditioner you use to treat your tap water. They said it's best to use a simple dechlorinator in planted tanks because if the conditioner binds heavy metals, it can make them unavailable to plants. Anyone found this to be...

I think that perhaps another contributing effect to dwindling plant growth is the fact that regardless of what substrate used, plants will eventually become root-bound and stop growing as well. A solution to the problem is to remove the plants from 1/4 of the gravel and do a thourough gravel vac...