Hi GoGreen, thanks for the welcome!
Yes, Seachem makes Stability. Since making my last post, I read all over this forum that Stability is not recommended, as it does not contain the bacteria for converting nitrites to nitrates.
Apparently another Aussie recommends a new product, AquaSonic Bioculture as a replacement for TSS.
We can't get TSS easily in Oz, so I was looking into alternative methods.
I am suspicious of my new tank, and think that I have not been cycling effectively. I have an
API master kit on the way, but was using the test strips (yes, I know, I've learnt my lesson!) which ran out a few days ago. I'm going home tonight to do a pwc.
To give you guys some background:
I started fish keeping about 5 years ago, with my trusty Bubbles. When I moved to the big city, I decided to upgrade to tropical, and Bubbles decided he liked the warmth. Thus, an upgrade to a 2ft glass, and a couple of tetras. My
LFS told me to add about 10 neons, and an albino suckling catfish. All at once.
Needless to say - disaster. Firstly - I bought the fish and the heater the same day. No proper cycling, and had NEVER tested for more than
pH. So I went back for more neons. More neons died. About 3 survived, for a few months, so I bought two angels.
A few months passed and my neons died, so I picked up 3 clown loaches and 2 dwarf gouramis. At the suggestion (again) of the lfs.
Anyway, I started to get concerned about the amount of fish in my tank, as they were rapidly growing (duh). And Bubbles passed away. So I upgraded to the ~26g all in one AquaOne. Same night - added fish. By this stage, a helpful lfs member had suggested I only add 2-3 fish at a time, so that was a good start.
I don't know how, but most of my fish survived. Until last November, when Melbourne had a MASSIVE heatwave, and my tank made most of my fish crispy, except my two angels.
I left my tank until early Jan, still grieving from such a massive loss. Finally, my marble had grown WAY too big, and was bullying my black so much he was continuously hiding and stressed. So I picked up two 3 spot gouramis to 'distract' my marble. Didn't work, obviously. And I lost a gourami after a few weeks. I also got 2 clown loaches about a week later. I put a spare heater in the old 2ft (which I had kept running but without heat) and separated the marble to his own tank.
I decided early Feb that I was a terrible 'mother', and bought the 45g all in one AquaOne. I added fish after 3 days, to make sure the water was coping and I didn't buy a dud tank. In it I put all the fish you can see in my profile. The marble went back to the 26g on his own (very happy boy, but I want to get him a mate).
So anyway, as you can see, I have made many many mistakes. I finally decided that I should research my beloved hobby a bit more, and find out why things are going so wrong - hence FishLore.
I will be seeding my new tank with some media from my 26g tonight, and hopefully that (combined with a pwc) will see my tank through until my
test kit arrives.
After that essay - anyone have anything to add? And yes - I will never EVER take advice from a lfs ever again!
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welcome, I see you noticed we like pictures here I cant wait to see your pics.
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