Katya

My tap water is very hard (GH) but has little buffer (KH) (around 40 PPM) and the pH tends to the low side (around 6.7-6.8). Is there a good way to raise the buffer to prevent pH swings? I tried Seachem Neutral Regulator, but a couple of times after adding it, I observed white stuff apparently precipitating out of the water. I have a small tank, and I can only find 20- or 40-pound bags of crushed coral at the local store (is crushed coral even the best option? Would a Wonder Shell work?). Or is it okay that the pH is a little on the acidic side? (I have some live plants, a betta, and a snail, in case that matters.) Thanks!

My water is also extremely hard out of the tap, but it doesn't seem to bother my betta. I have a couple pieces driftwood; the tannins will soften the water a bit. Ditto for catappa leaves -- leave them in after they sink and they'll release tannins.

We are having a little algae issue in my 5-gallon tank, so, as part of the solution, I got a tiger nerite snail. And now I'm kind of obsessed with the little guy (gal?). He's basically a little tank cow, eating green stuff all day and pooping, but I love watching him munch his way along the glass or gravel. And my betta is fascinated -- she can tell there's something new in her tank, but since he kind of blends in with the gravel, she can't quite figure it out. I have no idea if he can make a real dent in the algae, but he's certainly giving it the old college try! (My daughter named him Allegro.) Anyone else irrationally love their snails? Any tips for keeping him happy, besides an ample supply of algae?

We use Garlic Guard. I suppose you could squeeze your own garlic juice, but I'm happy to just buy a bottle of the stuff.

I ordered from BP and all the plants are doing well. I did an alum soak for several hours and then inspected each plant to remove any snails (didn't see any) or eggs (removed a few spots that looked like eggs). No problems with snails -- in fact, I just had to BUY a snail to help keep up with an algae issue. I ordered once from AC, but while the plant is still, technically, alive, it rotted and fell apart very quickly. BP also sells tissue culture plants.

I have a similar-looking algae (although I would describe it as brownish; it's different from the green algae that I get on the tank sides). It comes right off with a toothbrush, but seems to grow back quickly. I only have my light on for 8 hours a day, with a two-hour break in the middle, and dose my five-gallon tank twice a week with Easy Green.

Wow, that's cool -- we had no idea she had a rare color (and neither did Petco, apparently, because she cost the same as every other elephant ear female). She's definitely a silvery lavender, not a true blue, although the color can shift a lot depending on the light. I'm not sure I'm ready to handle betta breeding, though!

My five-gallon tank had a pretty consistent pH of about 7 for a month (using test strips near daily as I was cycling the tank and introducing the fish). Nitrates and nitrites consistently low. No wasted food -- we have one betta and feed her in her floating log, so any uneaten food (ha!) would fall to the bottom of the log, never the bottom of the tank. I have about five live plants, dosing with fertilizer (started with Seachem Flourish, but noticed pinholes in one plant, so switched to Easy Green to add potassium). Lights on only 8 hours a day (on a timer, with four hours on, two hours off, four hours on). The tank is a Fluval Spec V with a coarse prefilter over the jet to buffer the flow for the betta. Weekly 20-percent water changes. (Sorry if this is too much detail; I'm not sure what info might be relevant.) I was getting algae on the glass, the rocks and driftwood, and the plants, so I began dosing with Easy Carbon. Now my pH is starting to test lower. I'm including a photo of today's test strip. My tank has always had low buffer, but my water is hard. I can't find crushed coral in one-pound increments (the co-op is out of stock) and don't want to buy 10 or 15 pounds of the stuff for my little tank, so I'm trying Seachem Neutral Regulator to try to gradually bring the pH back up and hopefully buffer the tank. But I'm moderately concerned because the Neutral Regulator apparently precipitates minerals out of the water -- will it do that if the pH is below 7, or only if the pH is higher? Will that cause a problem for my fish or my plants? I don't want to get in a cycle of adding chemicals to counteract the effects of other chemicals. Could Easy Carbon be lowering the pH? Is there a level below which it won't lower the pH? (That is, is there a floor to the pH reduction?) Is there another reputable source for smaller quantities of crushed coral? Is there another way to increase the buffer in my tank? Am I overthinking all this? (The last option is very likely!)

I've got a five-gallon tank with one betta. So far I have some moss, two java ferns, one anubias nana, and two anubias nana petite. Are there any floating plants that don't grow too quickly and don't have big leaves?

I use a pipette anyway; 20 drops is about 1 mL, which makes it pretty easy to dose without measuring.

Hoping for better luck the second time around...as I kid, I kept a betta. It would be more accurate to say that I briefly kept three bettas, one at a time, because they never seemed to last very long. We didn't really know about new tank syndrome or water parameters or anything like that, and had a one-gallon tank and no live plants. So I'm trying again, hoping that I won't kill my daughter's new pet, Mekong, a female elephant ear betta. So far, so good. She's very active, explores and patrols every inch of her five-gallon tank, and has a good appetite. And my plants haven't died yet, either! I stuck with supposedly easy plants -- a couple java ferns, some anubias nana and nana petite, and some java moss -- so hopefully they'll hang on, too. I really enjoyed putting the tank together, but I'm trying not to go overboard right away. I appreciate forums like this, where people can share tips and advice.