Starting A Saltwater Fish Tank

.. all are for the primary benefit of keeping these beneficial microbes healthy and metabolically active. But what can you do to bring them on-board faster? A lot.

There are stock inoculations of bacteria cultures for sale in spades for the purpose of initially establishing biological cycling. Sometimes they work; too often they don

Just make sure youre using 100% Silicone, not material adulterated with other matter for other applications.

3) Unions and valves that allow you to remove your pump/s w/o draining tanks, sumps... are they important? You bet! And now is the time to draw them in, plan on their purchase and installation. Exercise caution here, as there are a few types of these fittings... you dont necessarily want/need the more expensive higher rated ones, or even types made of exotic plastics, but you DO want "true" unions and "flush" valves... Terminology varies, but Ill try to explain wh

No wise-cracking email please!

It is important to note that we have tried many other species within the same Family or Genus as those shown on the list. However, we have found that not all members of a given Family or Genus are equally hardy. For example, while many species of Gourami have proven themselves as "cycleable" species, we have not had consistent success with the Honey Gourami, Colisa chuna, and several other Gouramis. There are also many fish in a given family that we have not tried, because they were not available at the time, or some doubt existed as

Such flaws are often called to pay the price if the foundation (solid or otherwise) settles even slightly in time. One way to compensate for small flaws is to bed the aquarium on a thick slab of non-absorptive (styro-)foam. Without padding, it is crucial to ensure that the stand top is not porous at all but rather very dense. Particleboard and pressed wood are terrible materials for stand construction and will absorb water, swell and can cause a le

Good water flow will keep solids in suspension, which increases feeding opportunities by fishes and invertebrates, and improves filter/skimmer opportunities to export such matter in a well-designed system.

Powerheads are certainly one of the most popular ways aquarists create water flow in the aquarium, yet the technology has its flaws and may not be appropriate for advanced ma

phosphates too high
hello again- Well my 90 gallon predator/reef tank has been up in running for about 7 months. Everything is running smoothly so far- water parameters are nitrate > 20 ppm, nitrite 0ppm, ammonia 0 ppm, pH 8.2, salinity 1.025, but phosphates are way to high it's about 5 pp.

Shelldweller from Lake Tanganyika

Lamprologus ocellatus

There are several species of shelldwellers in lake Tanganyika, but this one is definitely my favorite, Lamprologus ocellatus. Shelldwell.