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Irene

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Everything posted by Irene

  1. Irene
    Yes, I've had Cladophora algae in my tank before, and I had great luck getting rid of it with hydrogen peroxide. I treated the whole tank with about 1 Tbsp of H2O2 per 10 gallons. First you switch off all the lights and filter, add the H2O2 into the tank and stir it in a bit, wait one hour, and then turn on the filters again after 1 hour. I think I did the treatment 3x per week, and I was careful to do some partial water changes during that week to avoid nitrogen spikes from the dying algae. It totally got rid of that algae. If the algae is concentrated only in that one area, it might be more effective to spot-treat it directly using a pipette with a squirt of hydrogen peroxide (or liquid carbon if you don't have any plants that are sensitive to it). I also turned off the filter/light during the spot treatment. Hope that helps!
  2. Irene
    Zenzo from Tazawa Tanks made a great video promoting the usage of nerite snails in Afican cichlid tanks to help with algae.
  3. Irene
    I totally hope to do the same thing! Good to know that pearl weed needs medium light. My favorite plant is currently the dwarf aquarium lily. I've had it for 1.5 months now and it's finally growing huge, bronze-colored leaves with wavy edges that really stand out against the rest of the surrounding green plants. Yesterday I saw the first lily pad making its way up towards the water surface. I'm growing it in low lighting, no CO2 and using Easy Green and Easy Root Tabs for fertilizers.
  4. Irene
    I'm sorry to hear that! I'm not sure what medications are available in the UK, but here is another forum post on columnaris that might help: forum.aquariumcoop.com/topic/81-keeping-fish-in-the-wake-of-columnaris/
  5. Irene
    @Its HutchCongratulations on your 1-year milestone! 🎉 I always love seeing that Aquarium Co-Op box with their special packaging tape in my mailbox.
  6. Irene
    Some tests are for both freshwater and saltwater, so I just make sure to double check it can definitely test freshwater. For example, I have never been able to find a freshwater-compatible magnesium test, so let me know if you ever see one.
  7. Irene
    Yeah, it was hard to find the freshwater versions for some of these test kits, but this is the one I got for potassium: https://www.fishtanksdirect.com/salifert-freshwater-potassium-test-kit.aspx
  8. Irene
    If you have hard water with decent GH/KH, you probably don't need Seachem Equilibrium. Equilibrium contains a bunch of minerals for raising GH and is a godsend for people like me who have soft water. Here are some recommended plant nutrient values that I found when I was researching online: CO2 content: 20-30 ppm Nitrate (NO3): 10-25 ppm OR 10-20 ppm Potassium (K): 5-10 ppm OR 10-20 ppm Phosphate (PO4): 0.1-1 ppm (dose to 0.5 and let it drop to 0) OR 0.5-2.0 ppm Magnesium (Mg): >10 ppm OR 2-5 ppm Calcium (Ca): 10-30 ppm Calcium-magnesium-potassium ratio = 2:1:0.5 Iron (Fe): 0.05-0.1 ppm OR 0.1-0.5 ppm Free non-chelated iron (toxic) ≤ 0.1 and chelated iron (nontoxic) = 0.25-0.5 ppm General Hardness (GH): 4-8 degrees Carbonate Hardness (KH): 4-8 degrees
  9. Irene
    I currently see all three sizes of the Fluval E Series for sale on Amazon right now, but you're right, the extra features do make it a bit pricier than other models and brands.
  10. Irene
    Oh man, that stinks. I hate it when used equipment ends up needing repairs that may cost as much as the actual device. Have you tried contacting the manufacturer/seller Dustin's Fish Tanks to see if they can help you?
  11. Irene
    I wrote a blog post on heaters and at the time, we recommended the Fluval E Series heater because of its 5-year warranty (and other features). I haven't owned my Fluval heater for 5 years yet, but so far it's been rock solid and is one of my favorite "higher end" heaters.
  12. Irene
    I've heard that a lot of people don't treat their new betta fish with the med trio because bettas are often kept isolated in their own container for most of their lives until they're sold in stores. That being said, I took a betta home one time and it died of dropsy within 2 days. Recently, I bought a new betta that I planned on putting in a community tank, and I put it in a quarantine tub for 6 weeks and treated it with the med trio. I'm not taking any chances, especially since the community tank has been running for a while and already has existing inhabitants. 🙂
  13. Irene
    Fully agree with what Bill said. If your plants have plenty of nitrate but are lacking in another nutrient (or CO2), they won't consume as much nitrate because they can't use it. @Danielposted this awesome diagram of a leaky barrel that shows how plant growth (and nutrient consumption) is limited by the scarcest element. In this example, the plant growth is limited by nitrogen since it's the lowest plank of wood in the barrel. However, in my aquarium, I was lacking in potassium so my nitrate kept rising because the plants couldn't use it. Once I increased my potassium, the plants started consuming nitrate again. Hope that helps!
  14. Irene
    Wow, great job, everyone! Thank you so much for your help; I can't believe how quickly you whittled down that list. @Streetwise, I think only @Cory has the ability to get rid of the "Guest" posts, so I'll mention it at our next team meeting if he doesn't see this post.
  15. Irene
    I purchased both potassium and phosphate kits and found out my potassium was basically 0 ppm. However, my nitrate was already at 20 ppm, and you're supposed to dose Easy Green up to 20 ppm. Since I didn't want to go overboard with nitrate, I ended up getting Flourish Advance, which primarily adds more potassium (and a few other nutrients). I also have soft water, so I found out via another test kit that my GH (water hardness) was too low. Easy Green is designed to be used by people who have soft or hard water, so it doesn't do much to impact GH. I ended up having to dose Seachem Equilibrium to increase my mineral levels. I'm so glad I made the leap to buy those extra test kits for my plants! 🙂 Before testing (too much light + not enough potassium and GH = dying plants and algae): After testing (less light + correct balance of plant nutrients = thriving plants and minimal algae):
  16. Irene
    I tried this method in a quarantine tub, and my water sprite was already sprouting tons of new leaves by week 1 so I figured it was safe to add fish. However, I ended up getting an ammonia spike a couple of weeks later. From now on, I plan to wait till my plants/algae have been growing for at least 3-4 weeks before adding fish. The greater the plant/algae mass, the more likely it'll be able to handle fish. 👍
  17. Irene
    Yes, ParaCleanse and Expel P both treat internal parasites, but just different kinds. ParaCleanse treats tapeworms (and other things), whereas Expel P treats roundworms like camallanus red worms. Expel P works by paralyzing the worms, which is why you should gravel vacuum after using it to remove the fallen worms from the substrate. Expel P doesn't affect the worm eggs, which is why you'll need to redose it 2-3 weeks later to treat for any newly hatched worms. Hope that helps! P.S. Here's a chart from our How to Treat Sick Fish article that explains some of the things that ParaCleanse treats:
  18. Irene
    Hmm, I've never bred angelfish before, but I know @Dean’s Fishroom and @Randy have. Maybe they'll be able to share their advice.
  19. Irene
    Welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing your story! Glad to hear that Aquarium Co-Op has been able to help you so much on your fish keeping journey. 🙂
  20. Irene
    I've never owned a ropefish, but I visited a high schooler who had one and she absolutely loved it. It was kept in a community tank as well and everyone seemed to be thriving and doing well.
  21. Irene
    Welcome to the forum and thanks for posting your beautiful pictures! What plant is in the last picture? Love the multiple colors it displays.
  22. Irene
    I had a similar situation with a 5-gallon quarantine tank, and I just dumped out roughly half of the medication into the water and then I saved the rest of the medicine packet in a ziploc bag. I know they sell these medications in large jars, where you scoop out the correct dosage as needed, so I assume the medications would do best if stored dry.
  23. Irene
    I haven't tried it personally, but I've heard vallisneria is pretty sensitive to liquid carbon.
  24. Irene
    Amazon frogbit did well for me - pretty hardy, not too big or small, fast growing, easy to remove when needed.
  25. Irene
    Hmm, I would assume the fry are getting eaten in the community tank. How about making a fry trap where the fry can swim into the holes of the trap for safety/shelter but the bigger fish can't? Another trick I saw L.R. Bretz do is to make a pile of rocks in the corner with gaps in between that are small enough for fry to swim into but too small for adults to chase them.
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