[My aponogeton crispus flowered]

[Thoughts on using crushed coral]

On 10/1/2021 at 12:00 AM, Chris said:

I used to work in a pet store, and I always tried my very best to steer people away from "non-natural" PH/hardness altering products.

The problem is that there's no way for the average hobbyist to get exact measurements - you'll never know exactly how much water is in your tank (after displacement and evaporation), you'll never know exactly what your PH is (since test kits have a margin of error), you'll never know exactly if that teaspoon is exactly level or not, or if your scale is exactly accurate, etc...

Funnily enough, the exact thing they're saying is bad (the constant release of minerals) is actually what you want - a PH/GH/KH swing will almost always be far more harmful than a PH/GH/KH value that's too low or too high, within reason. That slow release of minerals allows the water to become harder over time instead of all at once, reducing stress on the fish.

Plus, it's reduced stress on you, too. It's far easier (and safer) to chuck a bag of crushed coral into your tank once every couple of months than to be testing and adding chemicals every few days/week. I'm sure a 10lb bag of crushed coral is way cheaper, too!

I thought something similar myself. I was also told not to feed flake food as it loses most of its nutrition when it meets water. 

[Thoughts on using crushed coral]

I was wondering what people's thoughts are on using crushed coral to buffer PH and Kh? I have been using it in my tanks as I have extremely soft water and within a day or two after doing a water change my Ph will drop below 6. I joined my countries largest facebook fish group and was told it's bad to use. They said the constant leaching of minerals stresses the fish as the water isn't stable then and to add powder buffers instead. 

[Corys have stopped laying eggs.]

On 8/11/2021 at 3:24 AM, s1_ said:

I think they will start again given enough time. You could try overfeeding or feeding stuff like frozen bloodworms more often.

One method to try is synchronizing the cooler water change with an actual storm in your area.

I woke up this morning and one of my female albinos was dead. 

[Corys have stopped laying eggs.]

Early last month my cycle crashed as my cannister filter stopped working over night. A few weeks of daily water changes and it was restored again. Since then though my bronze and albino corys have stopped laying eggs. All the females are incredibly large and it's starting to affect their movement. I've tried doing water changes with cooler water to get them to spawn but nothing. Does anyone have any ideas? 

[Can anyone tell me what type of algae this is?]

3 minutes ago, Grizzly said:

Thank you for this post because I have been struggling with the same algae and not being able to get rid of it. I read maracyn can remove this. My question is to do this what are the dosing instructions? Same as box of one packet per 10 gallons a day for 5 days? 

I can't even buy maracyn in my country so if that is the only treatment then I am buggered. 

[Can anyone tell me what type of algae this is?]

4 minutes ago, Cory said:

This looks like cyano bacteria, also known as blue green algae. 

It's like a black dusting on the leaves that won't really come off. It started on my Siamensis 53b and has just spread from plant to plant. 

[Can anyone tell me what type of algae this is?]

[A few questions regarding my tank.]

21 minutes ago, Daniel said:

I have used Brine Shrimp Direct in the past and they have good quality eggs. But I am looking forward to trying the Co-Op's much anticipated brine shrimp eggs when they arrive (which could be soon).

I wish I could buy from Aquarium co-op but I am from the UK. If they ever start selling their products here in the future then it will be an expensive day for me 😂

[A few questions regarding my tank.]

25 minutes ago, Daniel said:

Sometimes you get a bad batch. I recently had that with decapsulated brine shrimp eggs.

I might try again with another source then, I ordered these ones of ebay. I don't have a local fish shop unfortunately so I have to order from online. 

[A few questions regarding my tank.]

24 minutes ago, Daniel said:

Probably 1 large sponge filter is enough especially if you are keep plants.

And 1 or 2 sponge filters will definitely not suck up any fry.

My guppy fry like live hatched decapsulated baby brine shrimp. Would it be possible for you to hatch those eggs?

I do have plants yes so 1 may be enough then. I have tried hatching brine shrimp eggs and they hatch but it's very staggered. I will get around 100 then about half a day later I will have another 100 and so forth. 

[A few questions regarding my tank.]

So, I have a 25 gallon tank and have some guppies and corys in there. I was wondering if two large sponge filters would be enough filtration for my tank? If not then would a U3 or Eheim pickup filter be better? I don't want any of my fry being sucked up into the filter. Lastly, can newborn guppy fry eat decapsulated brine shrimp eggs? 

Thanks.