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Alesha

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Everything posted by Alesha

  1. Alesha
    Gorgeous tanks! Welcome, Mike. We're glad to have you here.
  2. Alesha
    Sorry I can't help you with that. I only have guppies and barbs! 🙂 Trying searching the forum for rainbow and food...see if anything pops up. 😉
  3. Alesha
    I see you'll need to be using a water conditioner, for sure, with the Chlorine showing from your tap. Also...really high nitrites! So...yeah...definitely use the conditioner. Most people use Prime. Cory sells Fritz Water Conditioner too. The KH and GH are over my head. I still can't get a handle on understanding those, even though I've googled and studied it and everything. LoL! I understand about maxing out the budget. I had a friend who used to say they "bought the hammer one week and the nails the next". Ha! Yeah, it'll be good to have that reading on Ammonia. Until then, keep watching the plants and snails for growth. Also, watch to see if the snails are reproducing. Those are all good signs!
  4. Alesha
    I'd do that smell test he mentioned last night. When you get to the last of your small stash, smell that. Then smell the large container. The large container should still smell fresh. If it smells like the smaller batches, I'd say it's probably aging right along with them. I know some folks keep the large containers in the freezer. Maybe that would help it to last longer. I have guppies, so need to do that here! Ha!!!
  5. Alesha
    Yep, it was the same for us on the east coast. Even after the water softener, you still couldn't drink the water or use it for cooking. And the sulfur smell was so yuck!!! In fact, we used to share this as a joke - the water had so many metals/minerals/etc in it, that when we took a hot shower and the steam rolled out the bathroom door, it would set off the smoke alarms!!! Ugh! Now I deal with city water. It smells like chlorine, even when the test strips say "0 ppm". I have my doubts! Always something to battle when dealing with our tanks. It's an interesting hobby, though, that seems to make you more aware of your surroundings, utilities, water sources, air quality, etc. It keeps the brain agile!!!😆
  6. Alesha
    You'll want to add plants to your new tank right away. Then keep track of their growth and your parameters. You may see a rise in ammonia and/or nitrite and some increasing nitrates. However, if your plants grow a LOT, you may not see these numbers rise very much. I always add some fish food every other day or so, too. Just to give the cycle a little boost. The trick is that as soon as you add fish, even just a few, you may see a spike in ammonia and nitrite/nitrate. That means that your cycle could handle the fish food, but it's going to have to grow more bacteria to handle the fish pee/pooh. Then as you add fish each time, or removed anything - plants, substrate, decor, etc, - you may see those spikes again, as you're disturbing the very delicately balanced cycle that you have started. Keep tabs on your parameters and watch to see how the plants grow. See how the snails do, if they are growing/multiplying. All these things are indicators of how your cycle is doing. Hope that helps. 🙂
  7. Alesha
    Good advice, @Maggie. Or alternatively, if there's a place that sells water softeners and the salt and other supplies that go with the softeners, sometimes they will test your water for free for you. Or course, they're hoping to make a sale, so you might have to listen to a spiel for that test, but it would save lots of moolah for you! Wells are such arbitrary things. We had a well in Virginia that was just beautiful. Wonderful for drinking, a lovely almost sweet taste to the water. All our fish were happy, happy. Then we moved to the east coast of Florida where all the wells pulled up hard water, full of iron and yucky! Seriously, you could tell everyone who had sprinkler systems in their lawns by the red arcs of rust-colored iron on the outside wall of their house. We had fish there, too, but none of them really thrived. We did have a couple of happy, happy crayfish there, but that's about it. If in doubt, I'd say get it tested. But save yourself some money with a little research to find a cheaper test. Best of luck with it, @RovingGinger!
  8. Alesha
    What is this app you speak of??? lol! Seriously, though, I've not heard of an app that will do water parameter readings for you. And I'm thinking I would trust my eyes more than I would an app, just like you mentioned. I do always try to read the parameters with good light hitting the strips. I wouldn't try to read in a dark room or even in the evening, unless I had super good lighting. As far as the readings, I don't see any reading for Ammonia. That's a really important level to watch when cycling a tank. So I'd get some of those strips as well. They don't come on the 6-in-1 due to the chemicals used on them would somehow mess up the other readings on the strips. Hope that helps a little. 😉
  9. Alesha
    Welcome Ruud! We're so glad to have you. It will be exciting to watch you "immerse" yourself into the hobby again. 😊 Best of luck with finding a place to set up your tanks soon!
  10. Alesha
    Welcome, @Ceiora. Glad to have you in the forum. If you purchased your air pump from Aquarium Co-op, be sure to let them know about it not working. They will take care of that for you. Yes, your plants will be ok in a bucket. When you get a working air pump, you could pop some airline in the bucket too, for oxygenation for the plants, until your substrate arrives.
  11. Alesha
    Finally got the background sealed & installed. It's way more subtle than I expected. But I think there are a couple of things affecting that: I've got a great bio-film going on the front & back glass, AND I think my water's a bit on the green side. 😏 Over all, I'm very pleased.
  12. Alesha
    I'll be following this thread...looking forward to what you discover, @Daniel. And to be completely transparent...I *just now* realized (after reading your post and the comments) that I have a dirted tank. 😲🙄😬 When @Jessica. mentioned her favorite ADA soil, that rang a bell. We used ADA Amazonia in our 55-gallon as well as crushed coral for our bottom "layers". We capped it all with Eco-Complete. I wish that I had known the technical term for our substrate mixture, so that I would have researched it better. We were following the suggestions of another-youtuber-not-cory-whose-name-shall-not-be-mentioned. But we were responding to his zeal, and didn't do our research properly. I think if I had known, I would have been better prepared for some of the huge swings in parameters that we've experienced. I'll be wiser going forward. Even the beginning of your experiment has caused an enlightenment. Thanks, @Daniel!
  13. Alesha
    Just did a little research, and it seems that brown diatom algae is a precursor to green algae. So it would seem that it's part of your tank's cycling. Also, from what I read, the only reason a water change would encourage more brown algae is if your water is high in silicate. In fact, brown algae LOVES nitrate. So by not changing some of the water out, you are just encouraging more food for the diatoms, if that makes sense. I'd do a 25% water change and wait a bit on the fish, until the tank is growing something besides diatom algae. I hope that helps. 🙂
  14. Alesha
    From my (limited) experience, if you can get some plants that grow above the water surface with their root immersed, it seems to gobble up nitrites too. I tried Pothos and it has worked really well for me!
  15. Alesha
    Welcome, @tstenback! We're glad to have you here. Beautiful tank!!!
  16. Alesha
    On the Android app, after you enter a specific forum, there is a black bar that goes across the bottom fourth of the screen that says "+Create New Topic". Just click.
  17. Alesha
    Just long press the "like" button and the other choices pop up. 🙂
  18. Alesha
    I'm on Android. Sorry I can't help. I didn't need a code.
  19. Alesha
    Aw shoot, Brandy. Sorry you're having to deal with that! I tried both the med trio and levamisole. It killed my cycle and I'm still not sure I got rid of the parasites. I'd do the med trio first. It seemed to be easier on my fish and my tank. The levamisole, I think, is what wiped out my cycle. You'll want to avoid that if possible, I'd guess. Lots of luck with it. I hope it works well for your kiddo's tank. Alesha
  20. Alesha
    Nicely done, Garren! Thank you so much for letting us know! Alesha
  21. Alesha
    If my power needs to have any basis in reality, I'd say I'd have at my command an army of Assassins...well Assassins SNAILS, that is. But I would only use my power for good, I promise! 😁
  22. Alesha
    Personally, I'd do a 25% water change & add the Prime to the tank water as you fill with the Python. Isn't it great to have this community to come to with our questions? 😁
  23. Alesha
    ...you go "fishing" for just the right .GIF to make your topic *pop* on the forum. 🙄😬😎
  24. Alesha
    LoL! That's so awesome about the Convict...so funny! I love that when you have fewer fish, you are able to better see their personalities. Or maybe...we have to keep some fish in smaller groups (or alone) because their personalities are just too big for others to fit with them. 😉 Either way, the interactions seem to be richer...more personal. ❤️
  25. Alesha
    Thanks, @Wel-Don Tanks! I have to give credit where it's due: they are from Imperial Tropicals in Lakeland, FL. Mike has incredible fish there! And even during this time of quarantine, he worked out a no-contact pick-up system for locals, so we wouldn't have to pay shipping. His shipping is also excellent, from the reviews I've read. That's awesome about your plecos! It makes me feel so good that I know I'm feeding them something they love. ❤️
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