nabokovfan87

yep! https://www.apifishcare.com/post/ammonia-testing-for-water-quality https://www.amazon.com/Seachem-MultiTest-Ammonia-Test-Kit/dp/B0002A5XFU/ref=sr_1_4_mod_primary_new?keywords=free+ammonia+test+kit&qid=1677371377&sbo=RZvfv%2F%2FHxDF%2BO5021pAnSA%3D%3D&sprefix=free+ammonia+test%2Caps%2C461&sr=8-4

I think tetras mostly want 78 degrees. As mentioned by Colu temp plays a role with oxygenation as well. I had something similar happen with my Bolivian ram. Poor guy was doing well and I went from 4 tanks down to 1-2. I didn't realize the temps he needed and he basically just shut down in 24 hours. It's going to be slightly off, but should be close. If you're really worried at all about parameters you can use a drip and a bucket and slowly acclimate the fish over a longer period. Add carbon to the tank for 7-14 days. The way I do it might be the same, but here's some tips I have that might help in future. A. temp acclimate the bag. 20 minutes, sometimes 30+ might be better depending on how much water is in the bag. B. take the bag of water and either plop / drop the fish into the tank or dump the bag into a specimen container. (usually the right size to give enough depth of water for the fish to swim around). You can then add air into the container if you want as well as dechlorinator C. add a small amount of water. usually a few tablespoons at a time, not a ton. give it 5-10 minutes, then add more. continue this until water volume is tripled. D. drain off as much water as you can and repeat that process again. ^^ This is basically how I acclimate amano shrimp or sensitive fish. For neo shrimp you'd want to drip acclimate, but just be aware of temp shock and it taking so long to acclimate, the room being too cold, etc. I can't say what specifically caused anything here other then the fish reacted poorly to acclimation in this instance.

I watched this movie today and this scene did exactly what was intended. It did exactly what it was supposed to. The depth, the power, the meaning behind the words really sunk in and it was nice to be stuck in that moment. I wanted to post it and ask for stories, for requests on how this sentiment relates to something you've been through or seen with the hobby. Maybe you have a favorite video that is similar in it's epic tale about overcoming a major journey. Maybe you've spent a few years trying to get a tank dialed in and finally feel that accomplishment when things are just right and you take the photos for competition. Whatever comes to mind, related to aquariums, let's hear it! 🙂 I had to giggle at the intro and how the fellbeast is my black beard algae issue and frodo is like my tank telling me that gluteraldehyde won't work! (or my amanos talking to me 😂 ). The most "epic" tale in nature I've heard is from Cory (opening the co-op), one from Jimmy (his betta video), and one from Aquarium Adventures (had a waste pipe break over his rack of tanks).

Perfect. Makes sense! So now you can repeat this at scale... Use a 5g bucket or a tub with a known volume of water. Add tap water aerate it for 24 hours, then re-test. verify that PH drops and it's stable. You can keep running it to see how PH maps out over say a week (or 3 days). Add crushed coral, then continue tracking it. Whenever you add buffers, this is my method for tracking the impact and then scaling accordingly for the size of the tank in question. I get the values where I want them, then I use that to determine how much of the KH/GH buffer I want to use per bucket per WC.

Yes it does make sense. When I see nitrites or ammonia spiking my first move is to always add air and to add salt and dechlorinator. This usually helps perk fish up and the salt can help them to recover / fight off poisoning sickness. As far as now, maybe that's something that can help with time as well as treatment. A few weeks on salt, a few weeks off. In terms of the meds helping, then stopping, maybe you need to run 2-3 weeks straight to get them fully cured and time to heal. I believe it was @Pepere's post about how the duration of the meds is critical. How people tend (not saying you, but generally speaking out loud) can "feel better" and then not finish the course of treatment for the antibiotics and then their body reacts poorly as a result. I would recommend trying to give rest as well as try to fully heal the fish if you're seeing issues like reported. I genuinely hope for the best and a full recovery. Get well soon little fish!

They are @Minanora's Sword line. Really beautiful. So glad / thankful I was able to get some 🙂

Chloramine can show up on a test strip as ammonia. Which would require a slightly higher dose of prime. Potentially. This may or may not be helpful for you, but something to keep in mind. From Seachem: Prime works for up to 24 hours. So even if you're reading ammonia, see the FAQ above. It's chloramines and being binded. All fine. Bubbles on the surface and other indications help to ID ammonia issues as well (true ammonia not ammonium)

I cut them up and use them in my filter. Works great! In terms of setup... Flow path: Input ---> Output Course foam / prefilter --> Medium / fine pads --> Ceramic/biological media ---> Chemical media

@Bentley Pascoe Maybe you have a source who can help here? I wish I could help out!! sounds fun.

Pond foams. Cut to fit for pond filters usually. It looks like it's a decent fine pore size foam.

Is this still happening? There's got to be a source in the tank. I assume, maybe unjustly, that when you first mentioned the high test that the 5.0 was max on the scale. Could've been 10 and that's why the value was still high after WCs. You can run a dilution test and try to equate what the real value is. Take tank water, add 50% tap, test it. Multiplying the results accordingly.

@kneefforgot I took photos for you. I've seen swords prior to the size you're at but I would say check every couple of days. These are about half of full size, just over an inch, 1.25" or so. 5" net. Both clearly female to me. ....and yes. They would not sit still.

Those are called aerial roots. It's a stem plant. The intial plant should have roots in the substrate but you can also trim and plant the stems in sections using those aerial roots. When floating, that plant will drop roots like that too looking for nutrients. The scarlet temple would do better under the light more directly. You're seeing growth which is good. 🙂 Usually the base of the stem will encourage new growth, trim, then plant in the new growth to propagate healthy new growth.

Old tank. Meaning that the PH, KH, GH are different than the tap and there's a big swing in parameters that cause acclimation shock. Good. That's the right stuff. Normal for 0 KH tanks I think.

You can use something like lighting grid to replicate the spacers show on this filter. I believe the flow with the pump on the bottom is going to be top to bottom but without photos or a model number or manufacturing info I can't properly claim that. Hopefully this helps. Bag the ceramic media you wish to use to make it easier to maintain. Make sure there is a spacer on the bottom so that fines or ceramics is held away from the pump and the pump is able to intake water properly.

For liquid tests, just do a sanity check and verify that you're following all directions with regards to what bottles to shake before use. I would recommend doing what is called an off-gas test. Essentially, you're trying to understand how stable the PH is in your water. 1. Take a sample of water from your tap and check parameters you can test for. 2. Aerate tap water for 24 hours with an air stone and go ahead and restart everything again. 3. Test your tank and compare those results to your #2 results. This is what you would expect the tank to be at. Are you by chance on a water softener or anything like that? Well water or city water?

What about if it went from 0-8 degrees in a matter of 12-24 hours? I think the stuff purchased is the actual CC Florida stuff according to the photo, which would mean the larger size. Maybe the minerals in there did something? Hard to say.

I'm flabbergasted.... Made sure he got back to the sponge after cleaning. Might've seen 2 but at least 1 left. That shrimp is beautiful. This is the 3rd or 4th round of spawns for the pandas and their current size. They are basically ready to go. I'll check weather this week and try to get them out soon rather than later. I'll move grace tomorrow into the other 29G tank and then I can move the swords into the 10G following that and hopefully give the shrimp some breathing room and more sustainable water. Maintenance done. Haven't tested anything and I have been feeding crazy heavy.

Use case varies as well. The 1 lb per 10G comes from ACO and their posts for crushed coral. How much should you add, what's correct? debatable. The point of CC is to slowly adjust over time. The acidic water wears down the calcium and buffers the KH specifically. From ACO Page: Aragonite is specifically branded / termed for salt and for cichlid aquariums. I don't know what dosing directions for those are, but I'll dig it up. Ultimately there is just confusion as to what is normal for the application and the packaging intent. Caribsea - CORALine brand - "Florida Crushed Coral" This is what was purchased ^^ Caribsea - Aragonite brand - AragaMax™ Select Dosing would be similar to what you use for SUBSTRATE not for buffering purposes (1 lb per gallon of water, same directions when trying to find out how much substrate to purchase) EDIT: The final thing to note here is that particle size plays a big factor here as well. Aragonite is more of a sand compared to CC. Smaller particles dissolve quicker. Explaining the quick change in parameters along with the dose is why it's a massive jump all of a sudden.

This is like that whole water conditioner vs. dechlorinator thing. It's the same thing, it's all coral. Aragonite is usually branded as a cichlid substrate or saltwater substrate blend of CC+Sand Well I am glad / thankful that 5G didn't go into the 10G tank. I would suggest monitoring PH/KH for a little bit and let the tank settle. What is maintenance regime like on this tank. What is the tap water testing at? Can you have her Aerate a sample for 24 hours just to compare and check for OTS to her 7.4 PH results. I think the main issue here is just PH swings and stability. If the fish were new, could've been just simply an acclimation issue where they were trying to adjust to one water, then it shifted and caused stress. Snails, Amanos likely won't be bothered as long as PH isn't shooting up into the 8's. 7.4 or below for Amano. Snails I don't know from memory, but the added hardness would be less stress for them, so they survived the swings. My assumption is that the PH essentially did the following: 7.4 (Tap) --> 6.0 (Tank) ---> 7.4+ (Tank + Coral)

How much of the bag was added. If she can weigh it that helps. A lb of CC, is about what she would've added normally, is about the size of a quart bag, smaller if it's packed full. Note: label says 10 lbs. Looks like 5 lbs missing?

Either CaribSea or ACO is the two I know of. Everything else is under aragonite.

That initial test. Was it from the tank right after a WC or something? Let's say the tank has OTS or has a hint of it. We know KH is 0. pH is very unstable. Then everything off gassed and PH dropped from the tap to match the tank. Then the CC was added. How much in total in lbs, how big is the tank? Because PH had dropped,.KH immediately shot up. It should be a slow release. It should take weeks for it to go from 0 up to 8.

KH and GH went from basically 0 up to about 8. That's a pretty massive swing. I'm not saying it caused it, but just an observation. I find it hard to believe PH before was at the same after that much of a KH swing. I think PH might've crashed, then went back up and that caused the issues. It might've been 7.4 from fresh water at the time of testing. For clarity. PH was tested, CC added, then tested immediately again or how was this done?