Tommy Vercetti

Looks like bacterial fungus or mold. That is normal and not harmful but you can clean it off with a brush.

I have guppies in an outdoor fountain that gets down to the low 60's in the winter. There are still a couple hundred in the fountain today.

Update #2: The German Blue Rams are doing so much better now. They have even layed eggs! The male is pictured here guarding the eggs.

Update: Good news, the water change went well. The Ph is, as expected, at 6.8 after the WC. The German Blue Rams seem unaffected by the water change. I will update again after observing their behavior more. Thank you, everyone, for all the help. P.S. I had forgotten how much I hate doing water changes with buckets.

Thanks. I am currently having RO/DI delivered to my house, but will keep this in mind when I order my RO unit.

I have conducted a Ph sample this morning. The results indicate that the the aquarium is at 6.7 and the water change will make it about 6.8. I mixed 125ml aquarium water with 125ml of RO/DI water that was dosed and then mixed for 14 hours (with a small powerhead). Or put another way @Mmiller2001 is 100% correct. Thanks for your help.

Here are the results of my recipe with 5 gallons of reverse osmosis water. I will conduct the water change on Sunday morning. Tested, after 4 hours mixing: dGh 7 dKh 2 Ph 8.4 TDS 142ppm Ca 80ppm I am not sure that I trust the Ca test because the chart on the API test kit is quite course. One drop of solution #2 equals 20ppm Ca.

Thanks. It is ironic that I began this endeavor as a way to prevent the water change from causing a Ph swing in the aquarium. This water change is going to be quite the leap of faith for me.

Should I be concerned? After mixing the above recipe the Ph of the 5 gallons of water is higher than 8.8 (max reading of api test kit).

Here is my recipe, does anyone care anyone care to double check my maths?: CaSO4 (Calcium sulfate/Gypsum) (4.2 dGH) 5gal water add 2.44 grams (30ppm) MgSO4 (Epsom Salt) (2.31dGH) 5gal water add 1.92 grams (10ppm) K2CO3 (Potassium carbonate) (1 dKH) 5gal water add 0.466 grams

I have treated with general cure. 3 weeks with a week of rest in the middle. Then with API Erythromycin, API Fin & Body Cure, along with Melafix and Pima fix for 1 week. I have noticed they are happy for the most part, but do not like my weekly water change of 50%. I am testing tds at 650 with tap water changes. I want to try the RO/DI water change to observe their behavior in that water. I feel at this point that I can rule out parasites and infections.

@Mmiller2001What ratio of CaSO4 and Epson for GH should I use in RO/DI water. I am going to try to mix 5 gallon buckets as a proof of concept. Is 50% (CaSO4.2h2o) to 50%(MgSO4) okay? My target will be 5dGH. Thanks for helping.

If you have nitrites, your tank is not cycled. That may take a couple of weeks for the beneficial bacteria to catch up to the nitrite load that has been introduced to the aquarium. Keep those water changes daily because 5ppm is really high. To high for seachem prime to neutralize.

Why are you running this tank at 85 degrees? Most of my tanks are running at 73 to 75 degrees. I have one running at 80 degrees because it has German Blie Rams and Cardinal tetras.

TL:DR; Enter op's contest, op declares themselves the winner with the name "Batmobile". :-)) Long live Batmobile. Did I miss something?

I have no experience with this scenario but I do know that type of aquarium is specifically designed to be supported on the outside edges i.e. the plastic rim. I would probably take the time to correctly support the aquarium but maybe someone else has actually kept their aquarium supported like that for long term and had no issues with it.

You could use wooden shims or even composite shims are available at lowes or home depot. https://www.homedepot.com/p/8-in-Wood-Shims-12-Piece-per-Bundle-WSSHW08/300723328#overlay

For future tanks, be aware that your cycle time can be significantly reduced with higher temperatures too. Bacteria grows faster with warmer temperatures (to a point). Congratulations the hard part is over. Great work!

I love to watch MJ his voice is almost as relaxing as Cory's voice is. Cory's podcasts on headphones while I work puts me in the best of moods. Try it, you'll like it 🙂

Looks like 7.0 to my eyes.

It took me over a year to become "snail free" in my planted tank. I put "snail-free" in quotations because yesterday, I found another one in there after not seeing any for over 3 months. Not a big deal to have snails. They are harmless. I just don't like the look of having dozens of them. I just remove them when I see them. Then put them in my fountain outside. It can get frustrating at times but I have come to accept that "snail-free" for me only means that I can't see them right now.

Mine is under medium to high light of a chihiros wrgb 2 and co2 injection. But does very well even in my hard water. This is 5 days after am major trimming.

Slow Moe.

This is my 7th tank. 16 gallon UNS cube. Stocking: 100's of red Rili Shrimp, 6 panda corydoras, 6 pigmy Corydoras Habrosis, 7 cardinal tetras, 1 males German Blue Ram, 1 otocinclus, 2 chili rasboras, 2 male guppies, 4 Amano Shrimp. I was inspired by high tech planted aquariums I saw on YouTube. I am most proud of the home made stand and light hanger. Funny stories? Well often . While the corydoras are enjoying their xtreme aquatic foods bottom wafer, in a swarm, one of the Amano shrimp will just walk through the swarm of corydoras and pick up the wafer. Then walk away like a little bandit. It makes me laugh every time.

Sorry, I have not used seachem alkaline Buffer. But I think you are doing fine without it. Your PH is fine where you are at. Really all you are looking for is a stable ph in a safe range. In my opinion you'll are already there. So good job. Sorry your nitrites are still there but I promise you that they will go away soon. I think that the bacteria that eat nitrites can double in population in about 24 hours.