Driftwood Cleaning & Curing.... Now, why didn't I think of this???

http://tinyurl.com/Driftwood-Cleaning-Curing-Buy

Updated - May 02, 2010 -

I was just reading my most recent edition of TFH (Tropical Fish Hobbyist Magazine), the February 2009 edition (why do magazines come out one to two months early anyhow?) and in the Q & A section, someone asked about the difference between store bought driftwood and the kind we might find in the wild. While reading the answer, mainly being that the store bought has already been cleaned and cured, the answer went on further to explain how one might cure/clean their own wild found driftwood... and now to the "Why didn't I think of this?" question.

Of course, the answer mentions scrubbing each piece with a scrub brush to remove dirt/debris from the surface. Do not use soaps or detergents. Then boiling each piece for about an hour. I've used a large crawfish boiling pot for this but I know most folks do not have crawfish boilers.. so here's the BIG answer... "...Larger pieces may need to be placed in your dishwasher on the hot cycle (using no detergent). Boiling will not only kill microbes, algae spores and other undesirable organisms, but it will also help to leach out the tannins and open the pores of the wood, allowing it to become saturated faster so that it will sink more readily in your aquarium..." and Lenny's additional tip... remove any water spot remover stuff and run it on the full cycle... not that pansy energy saving cycle. LOL

WOW... I never thought about putting the big pieces in the dishwasher for the boiling/sterilization process. While boiling for an hour would be better, since the wood would be soaking in the water which would help it to sink easier, running it through your dishwasher is a more readily available "tool" in most households. Just make sure you remove it before the missus gets home as she might not appreciate a big hunk of wood being in the dishwasher when she starts putting all your dirty dishes in the dishwasher... you know.. the ones that you left sitting in the sink while you sterilized the driftwood.

Heck.. the dishwasher can also be used for sterilizing our nets and other aquarium tools as well as any used stuff you might buy. Beats the heck out of watching that pot boiling on the stove.
Please contact the law firm of Dewey, Skruem and Howe for any pending divorce advice as a result of following any advice in this post. LOL

Here's a few more articles on preparing driftwood for your tank but none of them mention the above "Dishwasher" method.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/driftwood.php

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=16+2250&aid=3319

http://www.tetra-fish.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2268

And some other good links...

http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/aquascaping/wood.shtml

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/diy/55482-diy-driftwood-aquarium-safe-woods.html

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquarium/aquascaping.php

http://thegab.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5283

And a couple of low-cost places to buy driftwood...

http://www.aquariumdriftwood.com/driftwoo.htm

http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl3684/cp18311/cl0/driftwood

Lenny Vasbinder
Fish Blog - http://goldlenny.blogspot.com/
(Links to any articles referenced in above reply are listed on the right side, alphabetically under Labels and also under Archives by Year, Month)

Here's another long reply of mine to a recent post on AquaticLife Yahoo Group with some more information and tips...

-----Original Message-----
From: Lenny V. aka GoldLenny
Sent: Sunday, April 18, 2010 10:45 PM
To: 'AquaticLife@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [AquaticLife] Drift Wood

I wrote an article on my blog a while back about "Driftwood Cleaning And Curing" but I also have several other links and references.

http://goldlenny.blogspot.com/2009/01/driftwood-cleaning-curing-now-why-didnt.html

OR http://tinyurl.com/Driftwood-Cleaning-Curing

Your best place to find it is along the shorelines, banks and shallows of waterways in your area... preferably the least polluted waterways. It's probably illegal to collect it from the wild but you know what they say about breaking the law... it's only illegal if you get caught. :-O If you're not doing any mass collecting, I doubt that anyone would care. If you don't want to break the law... but I'm like that little devil on your left shoulder saying "Do it... get the driftwood!"... you can listen to the little angel on your right shoulder and buy it and I included a couple of links below to lower cost places of buying driftwood online. The eBayer collects it from their own land so it's legal. If you have your own land with a waterway running through it, you should be able to find some yourself.

Oh... that little devil just thought of something else. If you do decide to go scavenging for your own, bring a couple of bags and act like you're picking up litter along the waterway and just throw your wood in the bag like you thought it would be considered litter. Then head home and get rid of the actual trash and then follow the cleaning process mentioned in my article above.

Here's some more links from my Favorites folder, that I probably should just add to my article. Some of these may be duplicates of what I already have in the article.

http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/aquascaping/wood.shtml

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/driftwood.php

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=16+2250&aid=3319

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/diy/55482-diy-driftwood-aquarium-safe-woods.html

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquarium/aquascaping.php

http://www.tetra-fish.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2268

http://thegab.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5283

Some inexpensive places to buy it...

http://www.aquariumdriftwood.com/driftwoo.htm

http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl3684/cp18311/cl0/driftwood

A type of driftwood that is becoming popular is Mopani Driftwood, which is often talked about as being so dense and heavy that it sinks immediately and doesn't leach tannins but much of this may be misinformation... unless you are buying it from a source that has already cured the driftwood by boiling/soaking it many times to fully clean out all of the tannins.  Otherwise, it is a good type of driftwood once it is properly cleaned and cured.    Here's TheKrib's and AquariaCentral's take on Mopani and other driftwoods.

http://www.thekrib.com/TankHardware/driftwood.html

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=149046

Lenny Vasbinder
Fish Blog - http://goldlenny.blogspot.com/  (Links to any articles referenced in above reply are listed on the right side, alphabetically under Labels and also under Archives by Year, Month)



-----Original Message-----
From: AquaticLife@yahoogroups.com
On Behalf Of melindas
Sent: Sunday, April 18, 2010 9:52 PM
To: AquaticLife@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [AquaticLife] Drift Wood

I want to find some drift wood for my Aquarium and Fire-belly toad tank, and I don't want to go out and buy it. So my question is, Where would be the best place to find some, does it matter the type of wood, and how would I treat it if I went to a lake or a river and brought some home?

How-To Start Your Gravel Vacuum Siphon

http://tinyurl.com/GL-Gravel-Siphon

Updated with another YouTube link and commentary, on 2009-0829.

There is no reason to suck on the tube to start a gravel siphon.

Here is a YouTube video showing one way to start the siphon going without having to suck on the hose. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGU-IQk_xO8 Here's another YouTube showing a gravel vacuum in action. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC6BhvjUWts&NR=1. Here's a YouTube showing the way I start my gravel vacuum, which I describe after this link.... but I don't put the hose around my neck like the lady in this video does. I'm not sure why she's doing that anyhow. LOL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa_440OaQxE

Another way to start the gravel vacuum, as shown in the third link above, which is less disruptive than pumping the vacuum tube up and down like in the first link, is to first set up your bucket.

Put your finger over the drain (small) end of the siphon hose.

Then dip the large end of the siphon (vacuum tube end) into the tank and turn it upside down so it fills up with water.

Then lift it out of the tank and slowly let the water drain down into the siphon tube until it reaches your finger.

Then put your finger on the end again so the tubing stays full of water.

Then while keeping the big end (vacuum tube) open side up, again sink it back into the tank so it fills up again (so no air is in the big end or the tubing).

Turn the big end over to get ready to start vacuuming and put the small end in the bucket and release your finger.

Voila! The siphon effect should be started.

Of course always rinse your hands and arms under hot running tap water to remove as much skin oil, etc. from your hands/arms before putting them in your tank.

If you have a long siphon hose, like some folks use to water their gardens at the same time as doing a PWC, this isn't practical and the simplest thing might just be to suck on the end but you should only have to suck a little to get the water up over the top of your tank and down to floor level in the house. It's best to use clear tubing for this purpose so you can see the water. After that, it should continue the siphoning until it reaches the end of the hose and flows out your back door.

Even if I was going to use the long siphon hose process, I would still use the method I described above, since I've read stories of people being 25' or 50' away from their tank when they started the siphon going with the sucking method and by the time they got back to their tank, one of their prized fish had swum up the siphon tube and got caught on the small opening of the tubing. A recent post in a goldfish forum had this accident happen to their small black moore and both eyes got sucked out and the fish didn't make it.

Of course, all of this is moot for me since I use a Python Water Change & Fill System which is worth its weight in gold as far as I'm concerned. I can do PWC's on all of my tanks in a 1/2 hour without making a mess or carrying a bucket.

Here is a recent question and my reply from a forum:

-----Original Message-----
From: AquaticLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:AquaticLife@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Chris
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 9:33 PM
To: AquaticLife@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [AquaticLife] Lenny, Your Blog

Don't you have a primer on gravel cleaning? I know you've typed that one should only do 50% per pwc. Could you post the link for me? I cannot find it.

My Reply:

My standard recommendation is 25% PWC's so that one is not changing the water chemistry parameters too much, too fast.

If the tank is especially dirty, then a series of 25% PWC's, one every couple of hours, should be done. For properly stocked tanks, a weekly 25% PWC should be sufficient. For overstocked tanks, 2 or 3 PWC's a week might be needed... daily in some cases.

As far as vacuuming the gravel, I do have a blog article on "How-To Start Your Gravel Siphon"
http://goldlenny.blogspot.com/2007/06/how-to-start-your-gravel-siphon.html but as far as cleaning the gravel, it's just a matter of siphoning a small section at a time until the water being sucked up through the siphon tube is flowing clear, then move to another section. If you can't clean all of the gravel during one 25% PWC, wait an hour or so (or the next day) and do a 2nd and/or 3rd 25% PWC until the gravel is mostly coming up clean.

For folks with bigger tanks or multiple tanks, I strongly suggest a Python Gravel Vacuum And Water Change System or one of the other brands who have copied the Python. I think Lee makes one now and there's another brand I've seen and those two have lower prices than the Python.

Another option is a canister filter system like the Marineland HOT Magnum 350 Pro series that has an integrated gravel vacuum tube system so the canister filter provides the suction to suck up the detritus out of the gravel but then the water is returned to the tank so you would still have to do a separate 25% PWC using a regular siphon or pump... or modify that Magnum system to also have a valve that would send the water to a long drain hose instead of back into the tank... but even then, you would have to refill the tank.

The Python or a copy-cat brand is the simplest overall system since it does the gravel vacuuming, water change and then refill all from the same connection.

Maybe, I'll add this reply and more to my existing blog article on the gravel siphon.

Lenny Vasbinder
Fish Blog - http://goldlenny.blogspot.com/ (Links to articles referenced above listed on the right side under Archives - Year, Month and under Labels)

Find Your Tap / Source Water Baseline

http://tinyurl.com/tap-water-baseline

Quite often you are told to test your tank water chemistry (parameters) for things like: 1) ammonia, 2) nitrite, 3) nitrate, 4) pH, 5) temperature, 6) KH and 7) GH... the basic tests that most fish keepers should have.  Something you are not often told is that you should know your tap/source water parameters and what happens to your tap/source water after you fill your tank or do a PWC (partial water change). The pH will usually change a little or a lot. There may be ammonia, nitrite or nitrate in your tap/source water. The KH and GH could change or be non-existent.

To find your tap/source water baseline, you should run your cold water for a minute or two to flush out any stagnant water in your home pipes. Then fill a one gallon bucket or other open top container. You need a large opening to have adequate surface area. After filling the bucket, immediately test it for all of your tests (preferably the seven mentioned above). Record your numbers. Add your dechlor product. Test for ammonia again. Record number.  If you do not have the KH and GH test kits, test for everything you do have... but it's really good to know your KH (Carbonate Hardness) as this helps you know if you have to worry about pH crashes in your tank.  GH (General Hardness) is good to know as some fish do not do as well in really soft or really water.  It's best to know your water baseline and then choose fish that do best in your kind of water so you don't have to worry about your fish's health or get into the water chemistry changing game.

If you have chloramine treated water, when you add your dechlor product, it will break the bond between the chlorine and ammonia so you will get a slight ammonia reading. Normally, it's not more than 0.5ppm (which is easily converted in your biological filtration in an established tank but this level can cause alarm in a new tank depending on the pH and temperature).

Now set the bucket on the side and wait 24 to 48 hours and test the water again and compare the numbers. You could also test it at 24 and 48 hours to get even more information about what happens to your tap/source water once it gets into your tank during PWC's. You can speed up this 48 hour time period by adding an air stone to the bucket to agitate the water constantly. If you don't have an extra air pump and stone, then just stir the water regularly to increase the outgassing of CO2 and any other gases in the water that will outgas once in your aquarium anyhow.

Some tap/source waters have high CO2 levels out of the tap which results in a low pH right out the tap but then as the CO2 outgasses, the pH stabilizes to a higher level. Other tap waters have buffers that raise the pH out of the tap but then these buffers wear out quickly when exposed to light, air and temperature changes and the pH will drop.

Also, if you have tropical fish and regularly add hot water to your cold water to raise the temperature to match the tank temperature, you should know what your hot water parameters are as well. Your hot water heater is basically a distillery that is boiling the water which causes the chemistry to change. Many of the additives to your water will come out of solution and settle in the bottom of your hot water heater. You will notice a faucet on the bottom of your hot water heater. Most people don't do this but you should partially drain your hot water heater once a year to remove this sediment. This sediment will eventually cause your hot water heater to fail. Also, it's not good for your fish. Usually, it's just a matter of hooking up a quality garden hose to the faucet, running it out your back door and then open the faucet to let the sediment and sludge flush out until the water is coming out clear. Read your owners manual or online sources for more information on how to do proper maintenance to your hot water heater.

To learn more about the water quality for your area, in the USA, check here:

http://www.epa.gov/safewater/dwinfo/index.html

I hope this helps.

GoldLenny

Pond Maintenance - Q & A about an Algae Bloom and How-To make an inexpensive Filter system

Following is a post to a Yahoo Group forum that I belong to, and my reply to their questions/problems.

Date: Sun, 15 May 2005 14:15:29 EDT

From: cfit421@
Subject: gross water

Hi,

A friend of mine has a small pond. I'd say it's about 200 gallons. It is stocked with 12 (I think) Wal-mart goldfish, there's only a trickle of water falling from a rock to aerate the water, and the filter and pump are at the bottom of the pond.

The water is disgusting. It's FULL of stringy and blanket type algae and there's a rusty color to the water. She said she got a hold on it just a few weeks ago, then it rains, and it gets all gross again.

She said if there's any expense involved in making it right, it won't be able to happen. So, is there anything she can do to fix the water, even if it involves a LITTLE work and a LITTLE money?

Thanks!

AND NOW MY REPLY:

The algae bloom is usually caused by several factors. Too high of Nitrates and Phosphates in the water and too much Sunlight are the main two reasons for algae. The high nitrates are caused by over-feeding and poor water and filter maintenance. The biggest cause of all of these problems is TOO MANY goldfish. A 200G pond might be OK for 12 baby goldfish but as the grow, they simply create too much waste for that small of a pond. Long-bodied goldfish need at least 50G per goldfish so that pond is 300% overstocked.

Too much sunlight is a little tougher to handle but can be helped a little by water lilies and hyacinths in a wide open pond. You should let them grow till they cover over 50% of your pond. I don't know what the layout of the pond is and if there are any trees providing shade, etc.

Test the water for Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates and also pH if a test kit is available. The Ammonia and Nitrites are usually more of a worry when a pond is new or too much of a bio-filter change has been done. Some people "clean" their ponds and disrupt the bio-filtration too much when they do this.

The high Nitrates can be lowered by PWC's (partial water changes) (if Mother Nature does not provide sufficient rainfall)... no more than 25% at a time unless it's an emergency such as an illness (or contamination)... just pump some of the pond water into the gardens and replace it with properly conditioned tap water but be careful about using the garden hose unless the hose has been running for a while to get any plastifiers out of it first. I just read about this recently after someone had a pond fish kill. I have a 30 gallon clean garbage can that I only use for the pond water. Then I add the conditioner and then pour the water into the pond. Set up the garbage can near the edge of the pond first so after it is full and conditioned, you can just slowly pour it into the pond.

The other reason for high Nitrates is OVER-FEEDING of the Goldfish. Goldfish are great actors and act like they are starving all of the time. Any time you walk near the pond, they will come to the surface and beg for food. Resist the temptation and ONLY feed them once or twice a day per the instructions on the food. Some times, it is good to skip a day just to let them scavenge around for any food that sank to the bottom and to give the bio-filter a chance to catch up with the goldfish waste. Many website articles recommend this. Some even say you can leave for a 3-day weekend without worrying about the Goldfish eating. They eat just about anything and if they are really "starving", they would munch on the greens in the pond but they won't really be starving... just acting! I take this back in advance if you come home from your 3-day weekend and all of your pond plants have disappeared. At least the Goldfish ate well! :P

Neither of the above items cost you anything.

Now, another low-cost or free long term solution.

I'll assume they have a pump that is pumping the water up to the rock and presuming that the pump is OK, then the pump and/or lines are just clogged up with algae growth. Take the tubing off from the Pump to the Rock and clean it out. I used the garden hose to force water through it. Take the tubing all the way out of the pond when you do this and let the junk and water that comes out of the tubing flow into a garden. It will be great for that purpose. Prepare to get a little messy during this job.

Next, make a pre-filter for the pump (assuming it's a small 3-4 inch cube type) to keep all of the junk out of it and the lines. I can't find the link now but I found a diagram on a website years ago where you take a 12" plastic basket, like the kind used for pond plants (get it at the local home improvement or pond store). Buy some "natural" filter material (it was a blue color and used for furnaces and was inorganic and will not harm the water and lasts forever). Buy enough so that you can cut it up to fit all four sides, the bottom and top of the plastic basket between the four side pieces. Put the bottom piece in and then put the four sides in. Put some pea gravel in as weight and for the pump to sit on top of. Then put the top piece on after cutting small slits for the tubing and electrical wiring. All of the pieces should be cut to fit snuggly inside of the basket and the top piece should fit snuggly on top. Optional - put a few bunches of weighted anacharis plants on top of the basket to finish off the system or you can tuck the ends of individual strands between the seams of the blue filter material.

Here is a link to a website http://www.mvwgs.org/filter.htm that shows a similar, but larger DIY pre-filter so depending on the size of your pond, you could use the one I describe with 12" plant basket or the larger one using a milk crate.

EDIT added 07/27/05 - Someone recently found the original website for my pre-filter in the wayback web archives... at this link, but the last time I checked, it was not working - http://web.archive.org/web/20001210043100/theplantplace.com/ourfilter.htm

Now you have a pre-filter for the pump and a GREAT bio-filter as well. Around $10.00... and maybe even free if you have these materials around your home already. The Blue filter material will turn greenish soon, as it filters out the junk and will blend in with the bottom of the pond or you can put it behind a plant or something which is probably where the pump was at in the first place. I also saw someone do this with a plastic milk crate but it required more of the filter material which most people do not have handy. Do not use Fiberglass filter material. I wish I could find the website that explained the exact material but it was the only Blue filter material that you could buy at Home Depot. It is about 1" thick and sturdy... like the material in a kitchen or floor scrub pad... but inexpensive and came in a 24" x 36" piece in one package. It was enough for one filter kit.

The gravel and filter material will become a phenomenal bio-filter after a couple of weeks. When cleaning, if necessary, never clean more than one or two pieces of the filter material at a time and never clean the gravel or bottom piece. When you take the assembly out of the pond, put it in a tub of pond water so you do not kill the good bacteria in the bio-filter. The best thing to do if the filter material is getting clogged up is to just swish it around in the tub of pond water to remove the big debris without removing all of the bio-filter bacteria. Put the piece of filter material back into the basket and use that water in the tub for watering your plants or garden. It's packed with nutrients!

Run this new pre-filter assembly for a week and then do another 25% water change and clean two of the pre-filter panels and repeat until your pond is crystal clear.

When you do maintenance on your pre-filter, always unplug the pump first and any other electrical items in the pond and then put a larger bucket in the pond and put the pre-filter in the bucket (with water) so the pre-filter stays submerged when you remove it and do your filter and pump maintenance.Continue this until the pond is crystal clear... which will happen as long as the over-feeding is cut out and partial water changes are made. Eventually, the partial water changes can be cut back on once the natural bio-filter is doing its job and the algae does not have all of the extra food/nitrates to feed on.

For even more GREAT information, check out these two articles.
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/ClearPond.html
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/PondAlgae.html

Hope this helps.

GoldLenny

Mozy.com - FREE, secure, encrypted and automatic online backup of your documents and files. Check out how simple and secure it can be to use the Mozy backup system. It will back up your most important files, phots and folders... or your entire hard drive, every day/night (you set the schedule) while you aren't using your computer... and did I mention... it's FREE. I have been using this product/service since it was in Beta Testing and have been 100% satisfied with the final product!!!

Comments:

Jim Prior said...

Hi Lenny, thats a very good description of working a pre-filter and bio-filter setup. I too have created my own setup incorporating a Skippy style fish pond bio-filter and aeration venturi to make my pond water much cleaner. It has plenty of photos for building such a filter. I hope this will be useful to you and your visitors.

Best wishes Jim.

Friday, September 30, 2005 9:23:00 AM

A to Z of Fish Keeping: "How-To", Training and Information for New Fish Keepers and Experts alike!

http://tinyurl.com/A-To-Z-Of-Fish-Keeping

NOTICE - PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS IN FORUMS LISTED TO THE RIGHT WHERE YOU WILL FIND ME OR MANY OTHER EXPERIENCED FISH KEEPERS. YOU CAN ALSO POST COMMENTS AT THE BOTTOM AND I WILL ANSWER YOUR QUESTION(S) HERE ON MY BLOG.

THE TOP TWO PROBLEMS FOR BEGINNERS - 1) OVERSTOCKING YOUR TANK and 2) THE NITROGEN CYCLE (Commonly called New Tank Syndrome). Scroll down a little for two free online fish keeping tutorials that will walk you through all of the basics and then there is also a free online beginner quiz to see how well you are doing.

Here are the answers to both of those problems:

DO NOT OVERSTOCK YOUR AQUARIUM: A BETTER SET OF GUIDELINES TO REPLACE THE FISH-KILLING 1" PER GALLON RULE THAT IS MISUSED AND MISUNDERSTOOD SO OFTEN - http://goldlenny.blogspot.com/2007/02/new-rules-guidelines-to-replace-1-per.html

NEW TANK SYNDROME / THE NITROGEN CYCLE: WHILE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH BETTER FOR YOU AND YOUR FISH IF YOU WOULD HAVE DONE A "FISHLESS CYCLE" OR Dr. Tim's Comparison Article OR http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/startover/fishless.shtml ON YOUR TANK OR USE DR. TIM'S ONE AND ONLY, http://www.drtimsaquatics.com/productguide/H2O-PURE_Products/H2O-PURE_Products.html. DR. TIM WAS THE INVENTOR OF A PRODUCT FORMERLY KNOWN AS BIO-SPIRA WHICH IS NOT AVAILABLE IN IT'S ORIGINAL FORMULA. IF YOU ARE HAVING THIS PROBLEM, THEN YOU ARE "STUCK" WITH "CYCLING WITH FISH". GO TO ONE OF THE FORUMS I HAVE LISTED ON THE RIGHT TO GET MORE INFORMATION ON "CYCLING WITH FISH".

IF YOU ARE NOT HAVING THOSE PROBLEMS, GREAT!!! THEN START HERE:

BEGINNERS TUTORIAL - START HERE -http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-intro.html
This is one of my favorite places to send new fish keepers as they can learn about the various aspects of fish keeping by following all of the links in this tutorial. Pay particular attention to "The Nitrogen Cycle", "Fishless Cycling" (recommended), "Cycling With Fish"(not recommended but you may already be stuck with this) and Basic Water Chemistry but please read over all of the other links as well and feel free to ask lots of questions at the forums I have listed to the right, where you will usually find me or many other experienced fish keepers.

And if you want to learn even more, here is another tutorial site - http://badmanstropicalfish.com/basics/basics_aquariums.html

And if you feel you are doing well already, take this online quiz to see how you do.
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/quiz1.htm

If you have any questions, please feel free to look for me at the forums listed above.

TOP TEN REASONS TO FISHLESS CYCLE -
(A little humor to help emphasize this very serious matter)
http://board.fishchannel.com/Topic69655-5-1.aspx

The old link was http://www.aquariumfish.com/aquariumfish/board/Topic69655-5-1.aspx  but when AF changed to FishChannel, the old links no longer work.

FISHLESS CYCLING TIP!!! - I know a common complaint is people not being able to find the 10% Ammonia Hydroxide (clear ammonia) at their local stores but I recently saw online that Ace Hardware sells their own brand for around $2.00 a quart. Here's their online link to buy it by the case... but the stores sell individual units. http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1307957&cp=&fbn=Brand%7CAce+Hardware&f=Brand%2F19262%2F&fbc=1&kw=ammonia&parentPage=search&searchId=18414252422

Another source of "ammonia", if you cannot find the plain ammonia at your local stores, is to look in the spice or baking section of your grocery store and get some Bicarbonate Of Ammonia or Powdered Baking Ammonia which can be used in place of the plain ammonia. This will also raise your alkalinity and KH but when you do your large water change after the fishless cycle is complete, you will get rid of the excess KH and nitrates at the same time.

THE NITROGEN CYCLE EXPLAINED - (In case you did not read the beginners tutorial above) http://fish.orbust.net/cycling.html


AMMONIA FURTHER EXPLAINED - (The beginning of "The Nitrogen Cycle") FAMA Article - Controlling Ammonia by Ben Helm http://www.animalnetwork.com/fama/detail.aspx?aid=26872&sts=all For further information and a good CHART to show ammonia toxicity as it relates to pH levels, go here... http://dataguru.org/misc/aquarium/AmmoniaTox.html


NITRITES FURTHER EXPLAINED - (The middle of "The Nitrogen Cycle")
http://www.vcnet.com/koi_net/H2Oquality.html#nitri

NITRATES FURTHER EXPLAINED - (The end product of "The Nitrogen Cycle")
http://goldlenny.blogspot.com/2007/02/nitrates-long-explanation-thanks-to.html and
http://www.vcnet.com/koi_net/H2Oquality.html#nitra


FILTER MAINTENANCE AND CLEANING - (How to keep your tank from going into constant mini-cycles) http://goldlenny.blogspot.com/2007/02/notice-this-article-is-very-important.html

MASTER TEST KITS ON SALE FOR $12.99 AND UP - (Everybody needs a decent Master Test Kit) http://goldlenny.blogspot.com/2007/03/everyone-needs-decent-master-test-kit.html

WATER CHEMISTRY FURTHER EXPLAINED - This site is mostly about Pond Water Chemistry but it's just as applicable for aquariums and I believe it's well written and easy to understand. http://www.vcnet.com/koi_net/H2Oquality.html

FISH PROFILES AND COMPATIBILITY - (Mongabay has the best profiles and largest assortment. Very accurate and detailed species profiles for most fish so you can check out the type of fish you want while you are fishless cycling your new tank. Pay particular attention to the SC (Species Compatibility) section, which will help you in deciding suitable tank mates) MONGABAY - http://fish.mongabay.com/index.htm

Or GoldLenny's complete listing of Profile and Compatibility sites at: http://goldlenny.blogspot.com/2007/02/fish-compatibility-charts-fish.html

HAILEY'S 10 GALLON STOCKING LIST - This is a list of suitable fish for a 10G tank and stocking/mixing recommendations. Updated to include Betta's in a 10G. (PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU CANNOT KEEP EVEN A SINGLE GOLDFISH IN A 10G TANK. SEE NEXT PARAGRAPH FOR GOLDFISH INFORMATION) http://goldlenny.blogspot.com/2007/03/haileys-10-gallon-tank-stocking-list.html

A REALLY GOOD FOUR PAGE ARTICLE ON KEEPING GOLDFISH... ONE OF THE ONLY ONES THAT I'VE FOUND THAT HAS PROPER TANK SIZE INFORMATION: http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/ponds/Wilkinson_1Goldfish.html

MORE FISH COMPATIBILITY CHARTS AND PROFILE SITES -

http://www.klsnet.com/files/Fishchrt.xls (Downloadable file)

http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/fwcompatibility_chart.cfm

http://www.ratemyfishtank.com/freshwater_compatibility_chart.php


OR FOR MY COMPLETE LIST OF COMPATIBILITY & PROFILE SITES: http://goldlenny.blogspot.com/2007/02/fish-compatibility-charts-fish.html

NOTICE: ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT COMPATIBILITY CHARTS ARE SUBJECT TO MANY VARIABLES AND MAY NOT BE AS ACCURATE AS YOU WOULD LIKE SINCE OTHER FACTORS IN YOUR TANK/SETUP MAY INFLUENCE FISH BEHAVIOR. WHEN A CHART SAYS TWO FISH ARE COMPATIBLE, IT MAY NOT BE CLEAR IN SAYING THEY NEED TO BE IN A HUGE TANK SO THEY EACH HAVE THEIR OWN TERRITORY. PLEASE CHECK YOUR TANK SETUP AND COMPATIBILITY AT ONE OF THE FORUMS LISTED ON THE TOP RIGHT OF THIS PAGE.


WHY YOU SHOULD NOT ADD SALT TO YOUR FRESHWATER AQUARIUM except for occasional treatment of disease, nitrite issues, etc. - (The Osmoregulatory System)

http://groups.msn.com/Breedingtropicalfish/osmoregulation.msnw

http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/water/osmoregulation.htm

http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/salt.shtml

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article22.html

http://www.badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article5.html

http://www.goldfishinfo.com/salt.htm

http://thegab.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5427 - TheGab.org (Goldfish & Aquarium Board) forum thread on Calcium and the Osmoregulatory System. (GoldLenny)

http://www.koivet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15967 - KoiVet.com LONG forum thread on the use of Salt, Chloride and other minerals/chemicals related to Salt & Osmoregulation in Koi/Goldfish. (GoldLenny)





DISEASE & ILLNESS DIAGNOSIS SITES:
GoldLenny's Complete List of Fish-Health related sites: http://goldlenny.blogspot.com/2007/02/disease-illness-diagnosis-treatment.html


DICTIONARY: ACRONYMS, ABBREVIATIONS AND KEYWORDS COMMONLY USED IN FISH KEEPING - (To help you navigate the many acronyms and abbreviations used in these forums) http://goldlenny.blogspot.com/2007/04/dictionary-acronyms-abbreviations-and.html or http://www.badmanstropicalfish.com/glossary.html


POLL - Did your LFS or CS give you good advice... or NOT? (Actual POLL on new forums) http://www.aquariumfish.com/aquariumfish/board/Topic111975-5-1.aspx

HOW LONG SHOULD FISH LIVE? An expected lifespan guide for fish keepers - http://goldlenny.blogspot.com/2007/02/how-long-should-aquarium-fish-live.html

*** This list was compiled with the help of Hailey (Our forums most popular advisor and one of the most knowledgeable fish keepers out here on the net) and many, many others who have taught me over the years.

NOTICE TO OTHER READERS OR CONTRIBUTORS - This Blog article will continually be developed so please post links and threads in the comments section and I will update this article with credit given to you.

Once again, if you have any questions, please feel free to look for me at one of the three forums at the top of this article.

Thanks,

GoldLenny
Mozy.com - FREE, secure, encrypted and automatic online backup of your documents and files. Check out how simple and secure it can be to use the Mozy backup system. It will back up your most important files, photos and folders... or your entire hard drive, every day/night (you set the schedule) while you aren't using your computer... and did I mention... it's FREE. I have been using this product/service since it was in Beta Testing and have been 100% satisfied with the final product!!!