Tony s

Bentley Pascoe was talking about this last week. Apparently for lower ph values, the test strips are just not accurate. It's in the way that they are testing. while the drops and 1 strip (?) that did a slightly different test remained accurate

Api master test kit is easily available at petsmart/petco. it's relatively cheap. I often switch back and forth when my readings make no sense. and I believe they're more accurate. but more time consuming. also, a bit more fun. you get to play chemist for a bit. sera makes liquid drops for kh and ph, which I definitely find more accurate

Absolutely true. I lost 2 large bottles that were shipped in winter, and apparently froze. took weeks for me to even figure that out. @Cjbear087 I believe they're both the same product, but the turbostart is like 15 times the concentration. I have used it before. I think it may give you a slight boost, but not much. Fritz says a week instead of 3-4. They may be right. I wasn't paying close enough attention for that one. And I'd be cautious when shortening that much

The first on has the outline of an aphid. With the 2 cornicles coming out the end of the abdomen. At the very least it doesn’t have the body shape of any predator I’m aware of. The second one. Sorry I can’t tell what exactly I’m looking at. The water and white background and dark foreground of the insect kind of blurs it out

@gabdewulf my apologies for that first post. It came off a little strong. Not my intention at all. I often post while at work. And apparently I was getting annoyed with my machinery at that point. I could see that working for water. It’s a bit of an odd code. Or older code. Most modern plumbing is usually pex at this point. We used cpvc when we built the house. There may be 2 45’s in the house and those were accommodate the subfloor layout. In the livestock buildings, there are no 45’s. And flow is fine. I think it all depends on what kind of flow it has. And several of those buildings have a constant flow rate of 50 gpm air is a bit different. There is no frictional stress. And any turbulence shouldn’t really do much. Unlike water. So it’s more dependent on the pressure than the pipe fittings. If you keep the pressure constant, it won’t make any difference what the fitting is. It’s not really pushing any different from spot to spot. More important would be the actual diameter of the pipe. It creates a larger reservoir of air to draw from. Making constant pressure easier to maintain.

Just to be on the safe side @Colu

Well about that... I don't have local codes😁. or didn't used to anyway. about 20 years ago the county hired its first building inspector. up until then houses didn't even need inspected. unless the local city had its own codes. which I know nothing about. and I believe dwv systems are designed with 45's integrated into the fittings

I'd maybe just keep an eye on it. If it spreads at all from that point, it could be bacterial. You could throw in a couple of catapa leaves. They have a bit of antifungal, antibacterial properties. but they will stain the water tea colored.

probably not the issue. all my angels are in hard water with no problems. ph of 7.6 gh of 10-12. he may be having a bit of a bacterial issue. if it's just the front pectoral, he may have injured it. anybody else showing that symptom? The reason I say possible injury. it looks like the whole fin. bacterial infections usually look a bit blotchy

simply stunning

Sorry to hear about your fish. But I'm think that maracyn is not going to do the job. I believe maracyn2 will. but there are some other things that can be done to help as well. unscented epsom salt baths or even epsom salt in the tank is a start. it acts to relieve some of the pressure. and then maracyn2 in a food mix if it's a bacterial problem. @Colu

I'm not sure the 45's make a difference for airflow. Running water I could see causing a small difference. All I can say... we run lines for household and building water, airlines for air compressors, liquid lines for liquid fat, and high-pressure lines for pressure washers. I don't think we've ever put in a 45 before in 50 years

I have never had a problem with it. It usually does a very nice job. In fact, I just got a new bottle Sunday. I did actually have a problem with a seeded sponge. Apparently the last one I used was completely clogged. Which doesn’t help cycling a tank. The guppies in there were acting weird. So I tried to increase the flow. It didn’t actually increase. I had a “you big dummy, clean your filter first “ kind of moment.

a couple of weeks for a new sponge would be best. gives the BB time to establish in the sponge. I have gone so far as to keep a sponge in anything 20 gallons and over. I find I love this way of starting new tanks as it's an almost instant cycle. so much more efficient than sitting around waiting for a month or two. And if you have any doubt, you could always supplement it with some fritz7. And extra sponges can be used in a quarantine tank for new fish as needed. Extra sponges are great!

Right. and if they can do any vertical climbing, they climb right through the gap between glass and net. Quickly. 🤣

@Colu

I’d start it with a sponge. Then I’d leave it in and add the canister. And use the sponge as an extra source of oxygen. You can never have too much oxygen And would allow you to setup a quarantine tank quickly if needed

For your last 2 questions. It will work in a bag, but much slower. Kind of like how wondershell works. It will be in a small static space. the thing with the hob, it's just a much faster way to distribute it. If you can put it near your sponge, it will dissolve slightly faster. If you are, in fact using a sponge filter, you really don't need any more biomedia. The greatest thing about a sponge is all the pore space inside that holds loads of bacteria. Otherwise, not a lot of use for a sponge filter. they're not at all good at mechanical filtration. but excel at bio filtration

I hope you have really good luck. They can be impossible to catch. Mine got behind a baffle in my Flex 15. it took me most of an entire morning to get them out. and there were no plants in the way. If you really need them out, you may have to empty most of the tank. it eliminates any vertical climb for them. Actually, what i ended up doing.

That's the other thing that I didn't like about buckets. 5 gallons sounds fine but hefting it to the top of a tank is absolutely no fun. And if you're not careful, you usually manage to rearrange something in the tank that you really didn't want to.

I use equlibrium all the time. Equilibrium raises only the gh. Seachem's other products, Akaline buffer and acid buffer adjusts kh and ph. using the acid and alkaline buffer together you can actually target a specific ph. depending on the ratios of alkaline to acid buffer. Adding more of either or both is what adjusts the kh values. I use a 2 to 1 ration of alkaline to acid. this gives me a ph of 7. and the amount of both i use per 30-gallon pretank raises the kh to about 6. The amount of equilibrium depends on the gh value you want. It actually can last quite a while. and can be easy to overdo it. It doesn't evaporate, so if you add it at every top off your gh will go through the roof. Mine was at 20 before I figured out what was going on. no deaths though. @cotasm kh does usually drop over time, organics in the tank cause it to be depleted. organics being more acidic. Excess organics cause it to fall much faster. Not saying you have excess organics. But most people do at some point This could easily be the source of the organics. My snails hatched in a 75g tank, so I didn't notice as much

Yeah, I did that for a while as well. I need about 30 buckets to cover everything. I now use a brute trash can and a submersible sump pump to get it upstairs. (hauling 12 buckets at a time finished that idea off 🤣) This is the second pump. the first pump only had 14 feet of lift. the top of the tank was at 14'6". I would have thought I'd get some reduced flow. but they are not kidding. 14' was max.

I haven't done it yet. It was a designer faucet with Mickey mouse shadows on both handles. Last I looked ebay had one for 1200$. Yes, my wife was less than pleased

I had this problem with a couple of mine when first starting. The way I figure it out is completely crushing the end of one. now we spend about 50x the cost of the python. 😪

as long as you stay on top of everything. low kh is okay. it allows you to keep a lower ph. with a lower ph you can keep fish I wouldn't try. Like apistos, german rams, discus, and wild caught south american. and allows you to breed fish I wouldn't be able to. I can keep most fish alive., but the fry need softer water than what I have. if I could actually use my water. I, on the other hand can easily keep live bearers, central americans, and africans. some very beautiful fish from both areas. But the key for you is going to be maintenance. If you let things slide (not that you're going to), you could get the ph crashes easily