pixlweaver

Ok thanks so much for your advice! The API test should arrive today or tomorrow so very curious to see what it says.

So it would not be safe to use the RO water as is? This RO system is our drinking water, so I wouldn't want to mess with it by adding a cartridge. Nor do I have any experience with plumbing... or aquariums for that matter. Also definitely don't have space under the sink, since the RO system has 3 cartridges and a tank under there. If it's not safe to use, then my other options is distilled water or adding chemicals, is that correct?

Hello! Would it be bad to use RO water that has passed through a water softener first? Water softener is salt based Rainsoft system. I'm thinking about how to lower the hardness of the unsoftened tap water I'm using in our aquarium. The test strips I use show hardness as bright purple, 300ppm +. I just ordered the API GH test kit to see if that's more accurate. Our city's water quality report from last year claims 181 for calcium hardness, 260ppm for total dissolved solids. If it's safe, I plan to mix in some of the RO water with the tap water during water changes.

Hello again! It's almost been 2 months now. There's probably about 30 baby ramshorn snails now, and the frogbit takes over really fast. I've had to pull out excess frogbit and trim the roots 3 times already (because they get down into the substrate and make a mess of it). I have not touched the water other than to test it. Ammonia has been 0 for a month, but no sign of rising nitrite or nitrates. Could it be that there's too small of bioload to even make nitrate? And if it is made, it's getting absorbed by the plants? A couple weeks ago I did read that ph being too low could impact bacteria growth (the tank was lower than 6), so I brought it up to around 6.8 with Seachem Neutral Regulator. Pretty odd that the ph in the tank got so low, because the water from our tap is more like 8. Should I keep waiting for nitrate before getting fish? What about water changes - do I wait to do those until nitrate rises?

Ok thank you all for answering my questions!

Hello again! We have a Fluval Spec 5 gallon that we started up almost 2 1/2 weeks ago. Added a heater and added foam over the flow to slow it down. The guy at the fish store told us to use a whole bottle of FritzZyme 7. We did that, and then a week later I did a 50% water change, not knowing that we shouldn't touch it. There are snails that came in on the plants and I thought cleaning out the poop would be a good thing! The ammonia level has yet to go down. It's maybe around 0.75 or 1 and has been that since my water change. Algae is growing pretty well. Snail poop everywhere. Some of the plants have been showing new growth. Frogbit is SUPER HAPPY. 1) Do I not clean up the poop until the ammonia is at 0? Doesn't the poop add to the ammonia after a while? 2) At what point do new tanks ammonia go down? When is it safe to add fish? 3) My husband would ideally like to have a betta, some neon tetras, and some shrimp. Is that too much for a 5 gallon? 4) When we do get fish, is it ok to just put them all in at once and then use a general cure in the tank? What medicine do you recommend? Thanks all!

Awesome pics, that's quite a variety! Thanks for sharing! I'm having a hard time deciding what color mine is but maybe a bit more on the purple side?

I would love to see pics! It has been 13 days. Algae is definitely kicking in but the ammonia is still really high. Trying to resist the urge to clean it! Beautiful tank pic! Thanks all for the responses! I feel better now, sounds like something I can manage. Will keep the snails for now and see how it goes. And if shrimp do eat snail poop, that will be an extra bonus!

Here's pics!

Hello! My husband and I started our first tank a couple weeks ago. 5 gallon Fluval Spec. Picked up some live plants, substrate, driftwood and some rocks. Added the water and a bottle of bacteria starter stuff. And now we have snails! And those snails are having babies! From what I can tell, the 2 big snails are ramshorn and bladder. The babies are way too small yet to tell. Is this going to be a mistake later? The tank is only 5 gallon, and we want to be able to put a few shrimp and 5 or 6 tetras. Are the snails going to take over?

I'm brand new here (and to the hobby) and this is the first post I saw! I'm in Leander! I can't answer though if there's any groups here though. I haven't looked.