Pet Forum / Aquaria / Freshwater / August 2005

If any of you have 5 minutes.... Could ya' take a look at my filter and
overflow design and pick it apart? All parts are from a hardware
store.....The sump/overflow is built from 1/4" acrylic. Hopefully it's
big enough to run a 55 gallon freshwater aquarium. The drawing colors

Has anyone ever tested water after it has had a chlorine neutralizer added
to it, to see how well they work. The reason I ask is that I have been using
Kent chlorinex for a year or so. I changed to it after using the more
expensive tetra one, and it seems like its never going to ...

Recently I've noticed that one of my panda cories looked very emaciated
and thin, with sunken eyes and a pale color in the body and fins. There
are no noticeable fuzzy spots or parasites on the fish. He's still
slightly active, but noticeably sluggish compared to the others, and

Okay,
so I'm looking at reverse osmosis systems.  When I have enough money
for the $60-$100 systems on ebay, should I get one?  Are these decent
systems?  My GH out of the tap is 10.  I need it for a planted discus

Today I say a heater that is use with a canister filter. The water runs
through the heater and is heated as it returns to the tank. Does anybody
have any experience with this type of heater.

I purchased a couple of new Loaches the other day and I have a few questions
about their quarantine. Should I be running the temp on the high side (84F)
to speed up the Ich cycle? Should I add any salt? Is two weeks long enough
or do I have to suffer through three? :)

WOOHOO - I don't know how many of you remember my saga, but after a fishless
cycle, which I thought was good to go, I bought fish and had another major
cycle. I completely cleaned out my tank, refilled it, and still had 8ppm of
ammonia...

I've recently fallen in love with white clouds. I have two in a little 1 gal.
with a nano-filter. I will be moving soon and will be setting up my big tanks
again and I'd like to set up a 55gal so that a small school of white clouds
can turn into a huge mass of them.  

I want a pump that will cost the least to run since it will
be running fairly constantly.  I plan mostly a water garden
so I will probably have lots of leaves dropping into water.
I will also keep mosquito fish in it.  Any filter considerations

In brief, I've happily left my fish without feeding them when on four-five
day breaks (I also routinely fast the coldwater tank for a day or two every
few weeks), but I'm away for a week. The coldwater tank has goldfish, weather
loach, white clouds and a CAE, and my concern is ...

... guys ... my red betta, in the last 2-3 days developed a white
circle around one of his eyes and I think he is loosing appetite. I'm a
little worried... any idea of what is going on and what I could do to
help her ?

Unfortunately we believe one of our female guppies either has dropsy or a
tumour.  She is showing signs of "pine-cone scales" and is very swollen. We
isolated her in a hospital tank and we tried treating with anti-bacterial
medication in case there was an underlying bacterial ...

We have softened well water and this drinking water filter.
http://www.geappliances.com/smartwater/dw_dual.htm
http://www.geappliances.com/smartwater/model_fs.htm?GXSL55F
Is there an advantage to using THIS filter for replacement water?  It

I have a filter going in my betta's tank. Now that I've
added an algae eater, will I need to oxygenate/aerate the
water in the tank?

Two weeks into my first fish tank and things are going pretty well.
16 of 17 fish alive (one of four Neon Tetras was swimming vertical on
the third day and has disappeared, probably dead inside an ornament).
Water tests come out good, and I just exchanged 10% of the water for