Tony s

@Whitecloud09 Oh. I don’t know if you noticed. I did a bit of my own overthinking/ overreacting yesterday. On the guppies. Never had them before and never bought imported fish before. And my 8yr old doesn’t respond well to losing animals. But they’re in. Doing well. Just gorgeous

You need a couple of snails. They help tremendously. And low nitrates

Yes. But not as much. It completely eliminates my gh through the softener. My kh ends up like 2dkh. Ro eliminates everything. All trace minerals included. That’s why mixing with unsoftened water is best. Keeps the trace minerals intact. Well, at the % of the mix anyway. I was thinking about discus yesterday. Seachem makes a discus trace additive. I wonder if that’s a good idea or not. If it works well with Ro straight, my wife might get her discus

Well, technically you did actually as for our favorite underrated fish. You got that in spades 🤣. Now if you want our favorite fish, that may be a different topic altogether.

If you’re intending to breed your multis. You’ll want a species only tank to maximize your fry. The problem with trying to sell multis is the numbers you’re going to get. You can easily overload your market. Happened near Chicago. But you have other options. Live bearers would sell well. Other African species would work well. Kribensis, julidichromis, lot of other lamprologs. And plenty of African rock dwellers as well. Could even try hap and peacocks if you’re up to it. Lots of African cichlids are mouth brooders, much easier than doing some of the egg scatterers. I’d hate to say what to try as you’ll need to scout your local market and find the needs. And really, you could still do lots of South American species as well. It all depends on what your area wants. And what you would like. And wouldn’t worry so much about the hard water. It’s perfectly normal for most of us. And Fish have a good deal of adaptability as well. Clean water is more important than hard water. Good luck

Your softener is going to strip the gh elements out of your water. Or at the least, depending on the softener, the calcium parts will be gone. The kh will remain to a lesser degree. The problem there is if you want to raise your discus in a higher gh, you will not have a source of gh to mix your ro water with and would have to add gh back in. Seachem equilibrium would work best for this. But if you’re going to go down that road you might as well do straight ro water. I know, when you’re trying to figure out how to get the water you want, it can be a pain until you figure it out. One change leads to another change. It’s all interconnected. I have the same issues. And if the softener runs out of salt. Then everything is back to hard water and changed again. That’s why I try to get people to use the water they naturally have. And mix in the ro. Instead of making all of their water with supplements. And with the discus, you’re going to need a ton of water.

That is correct @Mercfh The only other thing is if seeing the unlevel water line annoys you or not. You could put thin shims under the legs if it does. If it doesn’t. You’re good

Right before you add the meds. Gives a better chance to carry the medication the duration. And like @Guupy42 I haven’t used it. I had it as a newbie. Used mostly salt and high heat. And still lost fish. Not knowing what to do. But you have a fungus so completely different anyway. There is a way to change water if needed. But it involves adding more ichx than required to bring it’s level back to where it needs to be

Yep. Very good idea. I didn’t know if you had any more. Flexes are decent aquariums, but limited in some ways. It’s just an odd way to configure a filter system

I like this idea. I just use a floating plant to give him cover. But what @Cjbear087 is doing is putting a full-sized sponge filter behind the left side compartment to be available to use in a quarantine tank when needed. I think they've probably got enough flow to get it seeded with beneficial bacteria. But I'm very sure they'd like all the input they can get.

yeah. coop has it on their site. or lfs. means you have been lucky and haven't seen ich yet. which is a good thing

For new keepers that's the absolute hardest part. figuring things out by yourself. believe me, I have been there before. I think that's what this site does better than any other. It doesn't just give you a checklist of things to do. ie... follow a+b+c. when it works right, it gives you people who can understand and relate. Possibly tell a bit of their own story for that situation. I hope your fish is doing better. Honestly Cory's video kind of bummed me out too. I haven't had the chance to raise goldfish yet.

structurally it's good. but it depends how that water line looks, if it starts to be annoying. but then you'd have to redo them all and get them level.... Nope, definitely good 🤣

If you could block of the top vent and keep the water flowing from the bottom that would be best. But there is a lot of flow anyway. I haven’t tried that in mine. But it should be good. There is going to be a lot of flow into the center anyway from the pump. You really should be good. Enough side to side flow to make that tank difficult for bettas

Usually kh and gh are related (not always). But usually neither one is harmful. Especially to goldfish. Kh is a measure of how much buffer is in your water. Very helpful to prevent most ph swings. It stabilizes your ph. That’s all. If you have a high gh , you’ll more than likely have a high kh. Gh is the dissolved amount of calcium and magnesium in your water. Kh is the amount of carbonates in your water. The usual form of hard water is calcium carbonate. So a combination of both. But no. Your kh is probably not the problem. there was a video today from Cory about which fish he wouldn’t keep again. Fancy goldfish was his answer. Just because after a while they get really difficult with health problems

That may be a great idea. would never have thought of that.

For most fish it really doesn't. Most of the country has hard water. perfectly normal. there are fish that are very sensitive to hard water. discus, Apistogramma, ram cichlids, and wild caught fish. bettas are just fine in hard water. they survive in mud puddles for a bit every year. I think sourcing of the betta is more important. bettas from big box pet stores tend to live much shorter lives than they should. even when you're doing everything right. and they might be older than you think even. You might be able to find a lfs and get a better strain from them. I do buy from there and my betta's last anywhere from 6 months to 3 years (but usually half that)

You can use it but not by itself. They would need the minerals from your regular water as well. You could do a mix. As long as you’re consistent

Okay thanks for all the info. Per @Guppysnail’s advice I checked with the supplier. Kept that direct because the supplier is not forum approved. From the site that is affiliates with Prime Time Aquatics They’re held for 2 weeks there in fresh water only tanks. Medicated only if needed. So still need to quarantine for a month and watch for worms

Lots of people with big fish rooms don’t have heaters in the tank even. But they keep their rooms hot. Dan’s fish keeps his warehouse at 78 degrees inside just to keep the heaters out

Room temperature only. About 75 degrees. And my fish are less sensitive. I figure if I do a50% change on a tank. The most I lower the tank temperature would only be a degree or 2. Or nothing at all depending on the tank

I think so. I usually don’t even add the heater or the air stone to mine. But I’m not trying to raise discus. Just regular fish. Discus changes everything. My wife wants them, but man, they make me nervous

Probably a great deal of that. But we’re also smart enough to take no chances. Even a tiny chance at a crack could cause serious damage. Even 10g cleanup is going to be a pain 😂

Rodi is fine as is. But straight ro should be enough. Not sure you need the expense of the di part. Okay. At least I never have. Kh and gh should be stable. Shouldn’t change. The gh for sure won’t. It won’t even evaporate. The kh shouldn’t change either. Or at least not enough to matter. When I mix tap with ro, I put them in the bucket at the same time. That way they’re mixed and at room temperature 74-76 when needed. You will want to mix them together and have them heated before using. Discus are very sensitive