HH Morant

My tank containing the hoplos is 120 gallons.

These orange/black angels are growing. They are about 6 or 7 months old.

This one was hatched in my aquarium. He is about 9 months old. Big for his age.

Prime is good for dechlorination, but I am convinced it does nothing to ammonia. See articles regarding detoxification claims at aquariumscience.org. Most dechlorinaters claim to detoxify ammonia. Its not just Prime. Nobody regulates what they put on their labels. You have to use water changes to keep the ammonia level down.

Seeding the filter is the right thing to do, because a seeded filter will cycle faster, but I don't think there is any way to predict how long a seeded filter will take to cycle. In different aquariums under differing conditions, cycle time will be different.

Under the right light, blue highlights show on these platinums

Young angels are growing

Beneficial bacteria needs 2 things - surface area and flow. The high surface area claimed by matrix and similar media is meaningless because there is no flow through the media, so no beneficial bacteria can grow there. People use matrix and similar media and believe it works fine, and it does work fine for the purpose of removing ammonia and nitrites. But for clean, clear water with low bacteria counts in the water column (the bacteria in the water column is the bad kind, not beneficial) 30 ppi foam is much better. When I changed my canisters to 100% foam, I noticed the difference. The water was clearer. If you switch media, do it in stages. It took me a couple of months to convert to 100% 30 ppi foam. One benefit of 30 ppi foam - and zero mechanical filtration - is that I rarely open my canisters now. The foam does not clog easily and it does not need to be changed. You only need to open the canister if there is noticeably less flow. I highly recommend the aquariumscience.org articles on filtration and filter media.

Sponge is the best. 30 ppi is good because it has more surface area than 20 ppi, but does not get clogged up like 40 ppi. Aquariumscience.org has a great article on filter media.

Yes, it is the same one. The extensions look more or less red, depending on the day.

OK, this is zucchini, but I just stick a lead weight through it an drop it in.

This pearlscale platinum has really gotten big.

Gold Angels

A platinum showing his blue.