Mathman

Thanks for all the replies. The suggestion about substrate is interesting. I have crushed coral mixed with my gravel. Too much? Also on the topping off, I see that would not remove minerals and such that are accumulating. Will begin with modest water changes and substrate modification. Paul

Hi, Have a strange problem and hoping for some help. I have a 30-gallon planted tank with a sponge filter and an additional internal filter. The issue is the extremely high TDS as measured by my meter as over 2500 ppm. My current stock of fish and inverts seem to be doing fine. I had no cherry shrimp, and when I added 10 last week (drip acclimated for 5 hours) they were all dead by morning. I only have neons, nerite snails, kuhli loach, pygmy corys, and pygmy snowball pleco, so I can't imagine they are the reason. Per Aquarium Coop test strips, Nitrates 10, Nitrites 0, Gh 150, Kh 40, pH ~7.0. Tested ammonia at 0. I tried water changes (30%) with tap (~550 TDS) and distilled water with no real change in TDS. At a loss on how to proceed. Hate to do too large a water change and lose current stock. Any help would be appreciated (Would love to add shrimp!) Paul

Hi, Looking for a spray paint that will rustproof a metal wire mesh aquarium lid. Not sure if any I looked at would be fish safe. Thanks, Paul

Torrance, CA

Hi from SoCal! New to Forum. Just stated a 30 gallon. Am only adding nano fish/invertebrates with low light plants. Looking forward to good advice on these pages in the future. Paul