what about tap water? it it harmful to plants? what are the alternatives?
why or why not.explain.
I am doing a project on how different types of water can change the amount of plant growth ( like one plant ,I would mix the water with aspirin ,and another I would mix the water with milk ) But I just want to know what temperature of water would work the best …or can you tell me what might happen to the plants with the aspirin and water ?
We recently got a 2.5 gallon filtered fish tank from a friend and have 4 goldfish in it. The first day the water is perfectly clear, however, by the second day it is cloudy. No algae, just cloudy water. I have purchased a new "discard-a-stone" and am using the clouride drops for tap water. I have not used any soap to wash it, and there are no live plants in it.
Any suggestions?
I’ve got some small fountains in my apartment which I use distilled water for and I just water the plants at the same time, with same water.
Good..Bad…or …doesn’t matter?
I have an established freshwater aquarium. When I do water changes, I want to be frugal and use the water to water my plants. Is this a good idea?
The old aquarium water has nitrates and some nitrites and is Ph balanced. There is also some diluted salts in it.
We wish to recycle the water from our dehumidifier bucket, but wonder if the lack of minerals in the distilled water would make it useless for plants.
Ok, i have a 10 gallon tank with heater, slightly high ph (well, really at the highest amount for a beta and tetras-7.4), a thermometer, a filter, 1 beta, and 4 (well, NOW four) neon tetras. 2 days ago, i bought 5 neon tetras. they were to go with my beta that i currently had in the 10 gallon tank. the water is pure, i clean it approx. every 4-5 days. when i first got my tetras and put them in, they were fine. yesterday, i noticed the beta was sometimes swiming right next to them, but they were out in the open and he was "stalking" in the plants. occasionally they would swim together in the open, so i figured it was ok. half the time, this one neon tetra (he was a tad longer and slimer than the others, and had more potent coloring) would separate from the others, sometimes swiming side by side with the beta. this morning, i was feeding my fish when i realized only 4 were swiming around in the tank. i couldn’t find the last one! my mom went fishing around the tank with her hand when…
…she accedentally uprooted two plants. when she was re-planting them. she saw a tetra floating around with no tail at the surface. my little "rebel" was dead! he must of been held down by the plants. he definetely wasn’t floating b4. non the less, we think the beta bit off his tail. now, the other fish always stay in a school, but occasionally separate. ever since, ive noticed they are a more aggressive. the beta is always "stalking" in the plants, though it looks as if he is looking for food. but, just now i saw he looked for food right beneath the tetras, and i tapped the tank so that the tetras would see him. then he tried to take a little nip out of them one, but he got away. i really want my fish to stay safe, what should i do???
p.s. i also got these fish from petco, so i still have a warently on the 5 tetras if i should by new to keep the quantity high. thx!
i let my tank go through the cycles and all that already.
oh and also, for the part of the question saying what is wrong with my fish, my beta has this large lump (about the size of his head) right behind his gills.
did i forget to say the dead neon had NO TAIL!!! (when he was found dead , of course.)
im still waiting for answers…desperately!
Hello,
I have a very small pond, maybe 70 gallons…It is in the middle of our patio and has 3 large waterfalls going into it with a small stream with another 3 small waterfalls…
To help keep it clean, I am putting tube socks over the intake valves on the pumps…While we never planned on any wild life, a frog moved in, and we want to make sure he is healthy.
The water gets a little stinky because he eats a ton…I am considering putting in some plants. Will this make the water dirtier or cleaner? I have been changing the water weekly and adding some of the stuff from my aquarium to de-chlorinate it..
Are Plants a good or bad idea?
if it is possible to use plants for this please let me know and what kind are they. aside from filter paper what other objects can we use? any tips on making water filters/water purification systems would be nice too. thanks!
just objects would be nice… 
what other things can be useful for water filters???
So my fish got ick. Sucks but thats what happens when you buy fish directly imported from the wild. I went to my local aquarist center and spoke with the owner for quite a while. He informed me that typically he uses Maracide from Mardel. Unfortunetly he was out of it at the time so we looked at the other options. Mardel also makes another product called CopperSafe which he did have. The problem with coppersafe is that it is toxic to invertabrets (Shrimp) and stays in the water for at least 30 days. I have RCS (Red cherry shrimp) so that wont work for me as I dont have a hospital tank to keep them in (Ironic) He discovered that the primary ingredient of Maracide is Malachite Green which he had in its "Pure" form from Kordon. The problem with that is that it says it kills biologial filters above .10 ppm. I DO NOT want my tank to start cycling again and kill all my fish. How do I make sure I dont add over .10 ppm? Its a 29 Gal tank. The MG is a .038% solution.
Ok, I have a TON of plants… I dont want to hurt them even a little… They I have about 8 cherry shrimp. A pictus catfish (hes never eaten one!!!) A banjo cat, a kulihi loach, a couple guppies, an octi and a glass fish. The glass fish is what has the visible signs. Another problem with malachite green is it could be harmful to cats and loaches. The aquarist assured me that it was all he used to treat all his tanks and using coppersafe did kill all his shrimp once a few years ago… I dont want any of the fish I move into the "seperate" tank to carry the disease with them. Then I would just be putting it back in 7 days later. I dont know what to use for meds!!!! I can still go back and get coppersafe which wont harm the filter or the cats but will kill shrimp for at least 30 days after. I just dont know what to do!!! It seems like a lose lose
After calling Petco and talking to a girl there I have settled on my final course of action. I have added salt. Just under the maximum reccomended dosage and half the reccomended dosage of the MG. I may also do a strong salt bath for the most affected fish. Im not sure yet but the salt is apparently the safest most natural way to go. I also left my charcoal in. I figured the MG would give a kickstart to killing the Ick and then the salt would finish off the eggs and floaters in the water. The salt will also be there until my partial changes lower it again… I did one 2 days ago and do them faithfully 25% every weekend. Wish me luck So after adding the MG my loach started freaking out and has been ever since, even though it was not a full dose and even though I left the charcoal in… Im going to prob do a partial tonight. I feel bad for him. I never should have listened to that first aquarium guy who put that crap in my hands this morning. The worst part is he knew exactly what I owned 
AHHHH I have very low PH!!! Thank you very much though. That was an incredible amount of information. My fingers are crossed. I will look into the other products.
Hello all, I received a 46 gallon tank for Christmas (I have always wanted one). I have gotten off to a horrible start, here is my story.
I set everything up, and let it all circulate for about a day. I had planned on doing a fishless cycle. So, I read up on using ammonia and made sure that I did not buy any ammonia containing detergents. I went to Stop&Shop to purchase ammonia. I picked up "Pure Power Clear Ammonia". I was sure it was 100% pure ammonia, but boy was I wrong. I put a small dosage into my tank (this is before I knew the ammonia was bad). The next morning, I realized that my water surface was very soapy looking. I read the ingredients of the ammonia, and it listed SURFACTANT. Oh no. I looked it up. Turns out you are not supposed to use ammonia with surfactant in it!!! I wish I had known!.
I emptied my entire tank. I trashed the gravel and plants, as well as filter media and bio-wheel because it’d only cost me around 70 bucks to replace. I rinsed out the tank several times, and I also sprayed and wiped each side of the glass with water many times. I rinsed the rock with a hose over and over. After that, I cleaned out the entire filter, thermometer and heater. I filled my tank back up with water and water only. I ran the filter, but with no media or bio-wheel for fear of contamination. I began to test the rock in heated water. I left i over night, plus three more hours upon waking. There was no sign of soap. So, I emptied the tank and added allll my new stuff. This morning, I see….soap. Oh no.
My tank seems to be contaminated yet again, most likely from the large fake rock. I am very upset and am only 15 years old so my budget is pretty slim, and I already spent a lot of money on gravel and plants and stuff. Is there anything I can do to rid my tank of this surfactant, without having to empty it out again, rinse or buy new things? Sorry for the length, but I really am stumped on what to do.
Thank you
I didn’t use ammonia to clean the tank…I used it to start the cycle
I have a small aquatic turtle, (he looks like a RES, but without the red marks, not sure what he is.) about a 5 inch shell measurement.
Even keeping up with frequent water and filter cartridge changes, I’m still getting a large buildup of algae, mostly on the edges of his basking rock, and on the turtle’s shell.
I use filtered tap water, and the only chemicals I add are one to remove chlorine, and one to help with waste breakdown. My filter is a regular aquarium filter, rated for 60 gallons. (the tank is a 20 gallon long) I’ve read that the algae destroyers you would use in a regular aquarium could be harmful to turtles, so I’m hesitant to try that. I’ve put a few plants in the tank, but he tends to uproot them and eat them.
Does anyone have any suggestions about what I can do to slow the growth of algae in the tank?
I am planting an eggplant and cherry plant in my backyard, and I want to know the average amount of water I should give the plants. I fill a whole cooking pot all the way to the top and give my plants that much water in the morning and night.
Am I over watering my plants? Or do they need more water?
I know when it’s hotter out you need to water your plants and flowers more often, and I’ve heard that you shouldn’t water your flowers everyday, unless it’s hot out. But, my question is, how much water should I give my flowers. I have a variety of flowers in pots. I’ve heard you should water them until it starts to drip out from the bottom, is that true? Can you over water flowers?
I want to know if one can use water,that has a water softner system,I want to know if it will hurt the plants,I know that salt is not good for plants if to much it will kill them,but I did not know if the softner system has to much salt,please let me know….
