FishyStuff.net

Changing out activated carbon for all new used to be a concern because it can raise pH. Maybe we were worried about it in FW tanks more than SW.

bluwtr wrote:And be sure to run FRESH GAC. That will absorb anything that may get in the tank as well.

IIRC, all new activated carbon may effect an undesirable rapid pH change.

Buy and use low VOC latex water-based paint (assuming that's what's already on your walls and ceiling). Cover the tank with plastic or whatever to keep paint from physically dropping on it while painting. Shut off air pumps while painting and for a few hours thereafter. Open windows and ventilate ro...

In a shallow tank, the air pump requirements for a sponge filter are minimal. Spend the money on a quality small to medium pump, rather than a large cheap one.

adding one note to what Doug said, it is not instant filtration, those nitrifying bacteria are gonna take about a month+- to establish before the filter works at its best Hence my earlier suggestion to keep one running in the back of the tank your breeders live in. A new sponge filter will cycle qu...

Air rising in the lift tube causes water to be drawn thru the sponge, in the same way it does in the box filter and with an undergravel filter. (Yes, before there were powerheads, UG filters operated on air pumps.) Nitrifying bacteria colonize the sponge just as they do the gravel in a UG filter. So...

The wholesale operation I ran had over 600 tanks, all running Jungle Dirt Magnet filters, "senior" size, 2 per tank. Density in these 15-20 gallon holding tanks was usually the equivalent of 75 adult swordtails.

Box filters were just simple mechanisms that used air to draw the water thru filter floss and carbon. Back then it usually wasn't even activated carbon, but what we called "cheap charcoal", and its usefulness was dubious at best. Even so, many breeders used them successfully, if they under...

As aquarists, we are primarily limited to diagnosing disease based upon what we can observe externally. Parasitic spots, abrasions, cloudy eyes, fungal fluff, wasting, bloating are the most we have to go on without an autopsy post-mortem, which would be more costly than the specimen lost in most eve...

I don't know, but you can bet your wrasse Gerwin will.

See my post on page 2 of this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=772&start=15

You say you are checking levels, and that's good, but perhaps you need to check your instruments to make sure they're reporting accurately.

My research on this was a few years ago, and for a slightly different reason-- building a hydroponic system. I wanted everything safe b/c all the nutrients and plant roots were going to be in constant contact with all the different plastics. IIRC, plastics marked 1 or 2 are OK, and look for the NSF ...

Front: "I went to Just Fish in Biloxi and all I got was..."
Back: "...THIS!" (above stunning graphic of marine fish/invert/tank/whatever).

how do you vote? If there is a cut-off date for entering, and the number of entrants is fewer than 10, a poll could be added to the first post in the thread, containing each entrant's name and short tank description. Votes could then be cast by responding to the poll, which would allow only one vot...

I was made aware today that the forum was exhibiting a certain unexpected behavior when attempting to use the IMG tag to place a photo from a Picasa account album inline in a post. An error was being returned that image size information could not be obtained, and the posting would fail. It used to w...