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Post by lotsofsnails on Aug 18, 2005 16:41:51 GMT
hi janet wow i didnt know snails ate fish, i thought it was the other way round my sponge is in 2 blocks side by side. i hope i can find a replacement kind regards mike
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Val
Teenage Snail
Sid
Posts: 261
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Post by Val on Aug 18, 2005 17:06:35 GMT
Mike, if the sponge has only been in use for a month then you certainly don't need to think about throwing it away you just need to wash it in water that you have syphoned out of the snail tank. Stick a length of tubing into the snail tank or better still use a gravel cleaner drop the other end into a bucket or something. When you have sypohoned off about half of the water then wash the sponge in this!!! Now put the sponge back in and top up your snail tank with clean, WARM (boil some water to warm it) dechlorinated water!!! you will then notice all your snaileys are smiling at you. Hope this helps, Val
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Post by SnailTrail on Aug 18, 2005 19:48:35 GMT
Here is an idea I had that would make water changes easier. You may have thought about this before but anyway.... It seems to me that the most tricky part would be getting the water out so... Take a tank, get a glass drill and drill a hole in the tank. Fit a tap, like you get on wine boxes etc. Silicon seal it in place. Then you can drain down a hose or into a bucket, And you can fill up again easy enough. You could even fit a filter/screen on the inside to stop fish/snails getting through. I'm surprised there aren't tanks available to buy with that feature. Perhaps there are and I have never seen them. Anyway, the job would cost about £5 including the drill bit. And seeing as you have to do water changes every week, I figured any time saved is a bonus. What do you reckon? I'll help you drink the box of wine Paul lol. There's something called a python which fits onto your taps and can drain water too. I'm not sure if they are available in the UK but they are in the USA. Janet
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Post by lotsofsnails on Aug 20, 2005 21:09:46 GMT
i got the gravel cleaner, it was £5 and also 2 filter sponges which were like £3. grrr. anyway i got the water out the gravel, it was really hard work, and i put the filters in a tub and directed the water all over them. i hope this helps, water looks very cloudy
kind regards
mike
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Post by SnailTrail on Aug 20, 2005 22:54:28 GMT
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Post by luvfishies on Aug 21, 2005 0:35:31 GMT
Ugh, for some reason I wasn't logged in....
OK, cloudy water isn't always bad water, just as clear water isn't automatically safe water. Don't rely on water clarity to see if everything's ok.
You will love the siphon once you get used to it, and trust me, you will be using it. Ideally you should be doing 50% waterchanges every week, if your tank is small enough to lift. Lifting a tank isn't good, as it can stress the seams and cause a leak!
Also, be aware that you will pay more at the lfs than you will online. Shop wisely and save some pence! \ Also, just in case you didn't know that CYCLING is to do with tanks, and especially new tanks, which is what yours is if it's less than 2 months old, here's my little explnation of what goes on in our tanks, and why waterchanges are important to the longterm health of our wetpets.
Cycling a tank is basically this: Fish give off ammonia, thru respiration. Decaying food and solid poo also decompose into ammonia. Ammonia is deadly to fish in small amounts. Bacteria #1 are attracted to the ammonia, and start eating it. They give off nitrITE which is also toxic at low levels. Bacteria #2 then come along and eat the nitrite, giving off nitrATE. NitrATE is not nearly as toxic as the ammonia and nitrITE, but it does accumulate, and needs to be removed via those partial waterchanges we do every week.
Now, these little bacterias need a place to live. While they will gladly live on solid surfaces in the tank (rocks, decorations, etc), their preferred home is in moving water with lots of Oxygen. That would be the filter in a fishtank.
These little bacteria are the reason you very very very rarely ever completely dismantle and "clean" the decor in an established tank. They are also the reason we advise to NOT throw out the filter stuff, but to rather rinse the floss or foam in "used" tankwater that you've removed when doing maintenance (partial water change). Hot, Cold, Chlorine and some medications can and will kill off our friendly bacteria. We need to treat them with some care if we want the fishies to be happy and healthy.
So that's the short and sweet version of what goes on. There are a few ways to make this happen in a new tank, from adding ammonia from a bottle (NO FISH!!!) to adding a couple of hardy fish and testing like mad and changing water when needed - ie the ammonia and/or nitrITES get over 0.5-1.0 ppm
There is also a new product out by Marineland, called BioSpira, which adds the necessary bacteria right from the beginning.
IMO all other "bacteria in a bottle" are a waste of money, so you don't need them. Spend the money on tests for ammonia, nitrITES, nitrATES and pH, instead.
RED denotes a very toxic substance. Keep the level below 1.0ppm in a new, cycling tank.
GREEN denotes a less toxic, but still problematic substance. Keep the level below 20 ppm for most fish.
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