All Blog Posts (714)

The Importance of Plants in your Aquarium

Hey Everyone,

Just thought I'd share another one of my observations in the relatively brief time that I have been in this hobby, a mere 2 years. The fact that I have been able to observe this and appreciate the difference that plants make in an aquarium is evidence enough of how important they are.

I have a 50 gallon South American aquarium with a variety of tetras, catfish and 2 angelfish. In the time that I have had this tank, I have kept fish in it with plants and without…

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Added by Elliott Ong on January 8, 2014 at 10:05am — 8 Comments

new plants

amazon compactica, water wisteria, tropica fern and apongeton any advice

Added by Luke Kennedy on January 7, 2014 at 8:12pm — No Comments

Feeling Salty

So I am very late on this blog post, but I have a bunch of updates!!! First off I am selling back my Cory's because they are just not the right fish for a planted tank no matter how hard I try! Second off I have been toying with the idea of discus, but I think I will wait for my plants to grow in a lot more! Speaking of planted tanks my 10g definitely has pond snails so I need to fix that and quick! I bought plastic to make my own personal tops to my aquariums to try to reduce evaporation…

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Added by DR Wilson on January 5, 2014 at 4:43am — 3 Comments

what test kit

Hey I just wanna know what test kits are good for a freshwater planted aquarium. I already have the api master test kit but it firsttest gh kh and so on. Thanks in advance

Added by Jake Daniels on January 2, 2014 at 10:29pm — 4 Comments

BLOG OR FORUM?

Yes, I am one of "those people".

I have been reading a lot of these "blogs", and have come to the conclusion that many of them are actually "forums".

Definition of BLOG

: a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks…

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Added by Bob Fletcher on December 26, 2013 at 11:43pm — 2 Comments

T5 to LED

Old T5 Lighting:
(using 3x actinic + 1x 10000k bulbs)

New LED (DIY GU10) Lighting:

It looks 100x better in person, very happy with the change.

Added by Josh the reef noob on December 24, 2013 at 11:05am — 3 Comments

Sick Fish!

After 6 years of fish keeping, I unfortunately have a sick fish in my hands. The good thing is that I caught this early. All signs pointed at Oodinium (one of the top two marine parasites, the other one is Cryptocaryon). Oodinium unsually targets the gills first, and as the disease progresses the cysts become more visible on the outer portions of the fish. Signs to look for at the beggining of the infection are fish scratching excessively on the battom sand or rocks, and hanging on top or…

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Added by OceanLife69 on December 19, 2013 at 9:30pm — No Comments

Java moss vs dwarf baby tears

I am trying to establish a carpet of HC (dwarf baby tears) and somehow, some java moss found its way into my tank and attached itself to some wood just above my HC. Any suggestions on how to keep the moss from overthrowing the HC? I have pretty much just been picking it away with tongs piece by piece so far.

Added by AquaNoob on December 19, 2013 at 7:45pm — 4 Comments

Stocking a 20 gallon fresh water aquarium

Hi I would like help on how to stock a 20 gallon freshwater tank I was thinking of adding cardinal tetra , kuhli loach , corydoras catfish , a bristlenose pleco ,Maybe a rainbow shark if possible ? I would like to know if it is suitable to fit theses species of fish in this tank what substrate I could use , do I need Alot of hiding spots? Etc but most of all if i can have all of those fish?

Added by Jay on December 18, 2013 at 6:38pm — 6 Comments

Stocking a 30 gallon freshwater tank

Can everyone please give me some info on different fish to stock a 30 gallon tank and the number of them lol

Added by Kevin Sutherland on December 16, 2013 at 2:18pm — 3 Comments

Finding Nemo

So a couple days ago I woke up to find one of my danios missing. I looked around and came to the conclusion that he jumped the tank. I searched the floor for a bit and couldn't find him. I left it alone for a few hours and went back with a flashlight to look behind the tank. I still could not find him for the life of me! My brother asks me if I looked in the filter and of course I didn't because he is too big to fit through the slots, or so I thought. Just to humor him though, and honestly I…

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Added by DR Wilson on December 16, 2013 at 2:00am — 4 Comments

Removing plants from dirted tank

I would like to take out a bunch of dwarf sag from my dirted 20 gallon tank, but I know it's going to be messy. Does anyone have any suggestions? I've tried pulling out a couple of these plants in the past and they always bring up a bunch of dirt. Thanks

Added by Cam on December 16, 2013 at 12:10am — 4 Comments

BALLOON RAMS.......NEEDING HELP!!!!

Has ANYONE ever owned Balloon Rams? If so, can you tell me how to sex them? I've been looking around and I keep seeing differ stuff. So, I wanna know how you personally knew... Did you breed them? Where/What did you house them in/with? Did they live a long time? Anything else you could tell me would be awesome. I know alot of ppl dont like theses fish. But I think they are just too cute and I just want to know anything u can tell me about them.... Thanks

Added by Rebel Cat Lady on December 13, 2013 at 4:51am — 4 Comments

I need help

I currently have a planted sand tanks. I want to switch over to dirt, when I do so, would I need to recycle my tanks if I'm gonna use my old sand and filter on it? And if I do need to recycle how long should I do so before added back in my fish?

Added by Toan ngo on December 11, 2013 at 9:48pm — 6 Comments

29 vs 30 gallon tank

Can someone tell me the benefits of either buying a 29 or a 30 gallon tank

Added by Kevin Sutherland on December 10, 2013 at 11:07pm — 6 Comments

bad dog

help, my dog ate 35 seachem aquarium root tabs, will he be ok

Added by Connor Swann on December 10, 2013 at 1:05am — 2 Comments

Florish excel and jungle val

So I made a rookie mistake and used a product with out doing my research !! I dosed my 29gal tank with excel to try and help with an algae problem and am now reading that it will kill my jungle val. I have only used it two days and only the recommended dose. Has any one had this problem, is it to late to save my Val's ? Any info on what I should do or if I should continue the use of excel would be highly appreciated !!!

Added by Joe covella on December 7, 2013 at 10:07pm — 6 Comments

Final Decision!

So in my last blog I discussed how I was debating on what I should do in regards to a salt water tank and I have finally made up my mind!

My 55g is going to become a dirt planted tank since my 10g is doing excellent! I am going to make the 29g my salt water tank. I figure it is big enough to keep a nice collection, but not too big or too small to handle. I have been doing a lot of research and asking a lot of questions.

First off I am going to do a deep sand bed about 4"…

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Added by DR Wilson on December 7, 2013 at 3:49am — 1 Comment

my panda cory isnt showing much growth

so my panda cory is the last of three and its still really small around the size of a dime and i dont know if its eating or not what would you recomend i do to help my lil panda grow?

Added by MjayN619 on December 7, 2013 at 1:18am — 3 Comments

Dirty need help not sure what will I need

I have a, 55g tank not sure how much will I need dirt and if I will need anything else with it or will it just that dirt also I have a canister filter 306 series will that do any damage and dose it need to be vacuum

Added by Michael on December 3, 2013 at 11:00pm — 11 Comments