Pet Forum / Aquaria / Freshwater / February 2005

we found a use for them!
LEMON SORBET
1/3 cup lemon zest                                                       1
cup strained fresh lemon juice - from lemons used for cups

I have noticed several ugly brown patches on the aquarium glass. They
are very hard to remove even using my Mag-Float aquarium magnet
cleaners and really ruin the appearance of the aquarium. A couple of
months ago, I have to hand scrub them using algae scrubbers but it was

My 55 gallon live bearer grow-out tank is having a serious fish die
off.  Prior to that there was a ramshorn snail die-off, and I was
wondering if that might be a cause of the fish deaths, or if anyone can
make any other suggestions.

I have a community tank run as a low (below 7) pH tank for red Rams an
tetras, the tank has been stable at pH 6.8 for months but has gon
slightly cloudy and the pH is dropping to 6.4-6.6 over the last
weeks. I have upped my water changes to 30% every 3 days to try an

Hi gang,
I bought some new de-chlorinator the other day because the stuff I normally
get wasn't in stock.
On the bottle I noticed it said it replaces electrolytes that are lost as

I'm wondering how much the ribbed tubing on my filters is contributing to my
Nitrates woes?
It takes two 50% water changes per week to keep the Nitrates down to 5-10
ppm. So the boys are generating about 80 ppm of Nitrates per week. I clean

I've currently got a betta and a cory cat in a 2.5 gallon tank with no
filter and no plants.  I want to move the betta into a 5.5 planted tank
and add a filter.  I'll move the cory to another tank and get him some
companions, replacing him with an SAE.

I set up my new 50-gallon bow-front 2 weeks ago.  8 days ago, I bought
2 Flame dwarf gouramis to begin the cycle. As far as I can tell, they
have been happy, eating, active, and making bubble nests all over for
the past week.

I've had my aquarium for 4 years and had several fish die, but my Glo-Light
tetra seems to be dying and I'm not sure why. He's been in my tank for 2
years and has never demonstrated any signs of illness, but I found him at
the bottom of my tank desperately trying to swim around, ...

I know this is probably a controversial subject but I am still trying to get
a real grasp of what concerns I should have about nitrates. The opinions
seem to be diverse.  Some say the number is not so significant so long as
the fish grow with it.  Others say don't worry unless ...

  I am wondering if anyone else here is doing this cost-cutting
activity, or if anyone has any advice or comments that they would like
to share about this. Currently I am using several inexpensive plastic
storage containers,...In the smaller one gallon shoe-box type containers

In an internal filter the old filter pads have deteriorated to the point
where after cleaning, the filter slows to a trickle after just two days.
The filter has two pads.  I have left the original two pads in and
placed a new pad between them so the bacteria will have time to ...

I am concerned about my nitrate levels. I believe I practice good tank
maintenace.  My fish levels are not low, but I don't believe they are
excessive.  I don't have the plants, extra lights or knowledge to have had
much success with plants.  Can anyone offer some inexpensive ...

I bought 3 clown loaches about 9 months ago when I had a snail problem.
They did a number on them and now they've been eating the reguluar pellet
and flake food I feed my other fish (mainly tetras, platy's etc).  I also
notice they like to chew to the algae wafers I throw in ...

Suppose one were to construct a five foot deep aquarium, to be stocked
as a community tank with a variety of tropical freshwater fish.  Would
one expect that the different species would tend to inhabit different
depth levels in the tank, or would everybody be anywhere and