Do I add the substrate at the beginning of my cycling process for my new tank or wait? I am a noob w/ live plants and this substrate. Thank you.
507560
In the beginning b4 adding water & fish is the best time. Dont forget to let it cycle for a couple months. I lost a few fish starting too soon & during my substrate swap to this.
507561
Correct add substrate and do your aquascaping add a couple zebra danios and let it cycle. Two weeks should do it. But get a test kit from amazon and test to make certain water is good.Watch some of the videos from Dustins Fish Tanks on youtube.
507562
Thumbs up to Alexis' s answer. At the beginning and it actually has some bacteria in it if I remember right to help get your system going quicker.
507563
Add it at the beginning. Get a testing kit to make sure water is safe before adding fish. You can cycle a tank with fish food instead of sacrificing fish. If you can get some media (sponge's, etc. ) from a friends filter to put in your filter it will hasten the process as these will have good bacteria already on them. If you do this it should be ready in a couple weeks. If you do this it is not necessary to wait months on end. Add the live plants right away also as the plants will help the process. Good luck!
1734612
Do yourself a favor and throw that piece of junk out now. The light it comes will does not grow anything but the lowest of low light plants (and only directly centered under the light). The filter is too strong a flow and it not warped in foam tends to vibrate and b loud. The plastic the tank is made of will get stress fractures (appears like insane amount of tiny webbing) and you can actually see the tank pow outward if you fill it to within 1/2" of the top. Its not worth it.Also evolve4 does not mean 4 gallons, its barely 3g total but less (around 2.3) in the front swim area. You can't fit much of anything live in there without it being too cramped. Do yourself a favor and throw that piece of junk out now. The light it comes will does not grow anything but the lowest of low light plants (and only directly centered under the light). The filter is too strong a flow and it not warped in foam tends to vibrate and b loud. The plastic the tank is made of will get stress fractures (appears like insane amount of tiny webbing) and you can actually see the tank pow outward if you fill it to within 1/2" of the top. Its not worth it.Also evolve4 does not mean 4 gallons, its barely 3g total but less (around 2.3) in the front swim area.... » Read More Do yourself a favor and throw that piece of junk out now. The light it comes will does not grow anything but the lowest of low light plants (and only directly centered under the light). The filter is too strong a flow and it not warped in foam tends to vibrate and b loud. The plastic the tank is made of will get stress fractures (appears like insane amount of tiny webbing) and you can actually see the tank pow outward if you fill it to within 1/2" of the top. Its not worth it.Also evolve4 does not mean 4 gallons, its barely 3g total but less (around 2.3) in the front swim area. You can't fit much of anything live in there without it being too cramped. « Show Less
369272
Use half. Make sure it's spotless, dry, and warm. VERY THICK. Doesn't cover fast. I have a 5.5 gallon tank and used whole kit. Big mistake. Ended up leaving a half inch thick 2 lb pile in the bottom of my tank. Didn't help the tank was lightweight carbon fiber. Then it leaked again. Caswell replaced for free. Gotta cut in half, grind out and do over with HALF kit
949002
Allison, contact Joel immediately. Use only distilled water, not spring water, not tap water and water it in a saucer. Fill it up about 1/3 of the way. That being said, did you check your email? Joel sent a detailed email before our plant arrived. I contacted him a few times and he was extremely helpful and fast to respond. Here's his email address: JoelsCarnivorousPlants - Amazon Marketplace lk5mjrd052j6cyv@marketplace.amazon.com I cut and pasted his directions in the initial email below: I will be shipping your order to you Saturday. Look for it to arrive in your mail beginning this Monday. If you have cold weather forecast for the next few days please be careful to take your order indoors soon after it arrives and not to leave it in a mailbox outside overnight if you receive your mail in a receptacle that is outside so that your plant will not be damaged/killed by frost. If your plants are damaged by frost anyways in spite of my best efforts at timing the shipping for your order please let me know asap. If it is below freezing where you are at your order may come with a heat pack. The heat pack is a white bag with red line on it. This heat pack is not part of the potting soil. Please be careful to NOT mix it in with your moss that your plant arrives with. If you are purchasing this as a gift it will be important to pot it up right after it arrives rather than leaving it in the box it came in for a while. If you purchased more than one plant they may be wrapped together. If you have any problems with your plant(s) or its shipping please feel free to contact me. I'm here to help. If you like what you see when your order arrives you can see more Carnivorous Plants that I have for sale here.--&gt;
1428419
I use it when I do a 10 % weekly water change. And on initial tank start up, waiting a few days before adding fish.
1744189
You can add fish right away, but not many. I would recommend using Prime for your water changes. This product will speed up the cycle, but the fish should still be added slowly.
1330353
You should never have to change them out unless your fish has clearly died of an illness and you need to start a new tank cycle, or they are somehow falling apart. The "official" instructions are just to get you to buy more. Also, not enough bacteria lives in your substrate alone to compensate for switching out your filter media; be very careful and only swap out half at a time, then wait at least a month to swap out the other half, if you really feel that you need to change out your media but don't want to damage your tank's cycle. Do not rinse your media under tap water for any reason; this kills healthy bacteria. You should never have to change them out unless your fish has clearly died of an illness and you need to start a new tank cycle, or they are somehow falling apart. The "official" instructions are just to get you to buy more. Also, not enough bacteria lives in your substrate alone to compensate for switching out your filter media; be very careful and only swap out half at a time, then wait at least a month to swap out the other half, if you really feel that you need to change out your media but don't want to damage your tank's cycle. Do not rinse your media under tap water for any... » Read More You should never have to change them out unless your fish has clearly died of an illness and you need to start a new tank cycle, or they are somehow falling apart. The "official" instructions are just to get you to buy more. Also, not enough bacteria lives in your substrate alone to compensate for switching out your filter media; be very careful and only swap out half at a time, then wait at least a month to swap out the other half, if you really feel that you need to change out your media but don't want to damage your tank's cycle. Do not rinse your media under tap water for any reason; this kills healthy bacteria. « Show Less
1627712
I had LR & this LS, but still had to throw in a Baggie of fish food overnight to get the spike. I used a snack sized ziplock bag, put some holes in it with a pin, put in some freeze dried plankton and put it in the tank. By morning it stunk to high Heaven & I had a good ammonia spike. Took out the Baggie and the cycle began. Hope this helps!
1707074
Hi there. I think you are going to love you SeaClear aquarium. I put 25 lbs of substrate in mine and that seems to be plenty. More and you will have more problems keeping it clean. By the way, I just bought a Python water changer (on Amazon, look it up.) Now I can't imagine how I ever did without it! It makes weekly water changes a breeze. It may seem pricey if this is your first aquarium, but it's worth every penny. After you carry gallons of water back and forth for a few weeks, you'll see why. Aquariums are addictive and I now have a 50 gallon SeaClear and the 40 gallon. Would have more - even bigger - but I don't have the room! Good luck. Hi there. I think you are going to love you SeaClear aquarium. I put 25 lbs of substrate in mine and that seems to be plenty. More and you will have more problems keeping it clean. By the way, I just bought a Python water changer (on Amazon, look it up.) Now I can't imagine how I ever did without it! It makes weekly water changes a breeze. It may seem pricey if this is your first aquarium, but it's worth every penny. After you carry gallons of water back and forth for a few weeks, you'll see why. Aquariums are addictive and I now have a 50 gallon SeaClear and the 40 gallon. Would have more... » Read More Hi there. I think you are going to love you SeaClear aquarium. I put 25 lbs of substrate in mine and that seems to be plenty. More and you will have more problems keeping it clean. By the way, I just bought a Python water changer (on Amazon, look it up.) Now I can't imagine how I ever did without it! It makes weekly water changes a breeze. It may seem pricey if this is your first aquarium, but it's worth every penny. After you carry gallons of water back and forth for a few weeks, you'll see why. Aquariums are addictive and I now have a 50 gallon SeaClear and the 40 gallon. Would have more - even bigger - but I don't have the room! Good luck. « Show Less
1120132
I started with 6 weeks long time period in my 60 gal tank, per bottle.Well, in 8 months time, my aquatic jungle has been harvested 3 times. My tank is 24 inches tall, and I had lillies growing ouy of the top. More plants....more CO2 I got another for a smaller tank and uses 6 times more due to a miniscule leak. :(. And they are expensive. I am a ruralite and am dragging my feet to get into town for a better setup. It may be a good "Starter" setup. BTW, the "leaker" valve on a 10 gallon moss shrimp tank, goes thru 6 times faster than my "jungle" 60 gal.....IMHO, the "20" is a piece of junk as well....Fluval needs to start over and do it right....... I started with 6 weeks long time period in my 60 gal tank, per bottle.Well, in 8 months time, my aquatic jungle has been harvested 3 times. My tank is 24 inches tall, and I had lillies growing ouy of the top. More plants....more CO2 I got another for a smaller tank and uses 6 times more due to a miniscule leak. :(. And they are expensive. I am a ruralite and am dragging my feet to get into town for a better setup. It may be a good "Starter" setup. BTW, the "leaker" valve on a 10 gallon moss shrimp tank, goes thru 6 times faster than my "jungle" 60 gal.....IMHO,... » Read More I started with 6 weeks long time period in my 60 gal tank, per bottle.Well, in 8 months time, my aquatic jungle has been harvested 3 times. My tank is 24 inches tall, and I had lillies growing ouy of the top. More plants....more CO2 I got another for a smaller tank and uses 6 times more due to a miniscule leak. :(. And they are expensive. I am a ruralite and am dragging my feet to get into town for a better setup. It may be a good "Starter" setup. BTW, the "leaker" valve on a 10 gallon moss shrimp tank, goes thru 6 times faster than my "jungle" 60 gal.....IMHO, the "20" is a piece of junk as well....Fluval needs to start over and do it right....... « Show Less
47186
I would recommend every 3 months. Make sure you use chem pure elite. The forum seem to say it works better. They also use purigen 100. I have a 34 gallon. Reef sanctuary is a great forum to learn about tanks. I am also running a reef set up.
2271435
I use regular gravel from LFS. Small size rocks. I have a live plant surrounded by Java moss in center box and water wisteria in corner. I did by the cover as tank is very full when in max fill. Does need topping off every third or so. I have a betta and 4 endler males in mine plus nerite snail. Took a while to get it cycled but now very stable and attractive!
2045979
I have mine on the bottom of the tank, then I put in substrate around it, it is about an inch above the level of the substrate, and extends perhaps three inches on the two sides, so if it was a square size, instead of the sector of a circle, it would be about three by three, or nine square inches of floor space, extending up about three inches too. In my 20g High tank it's barely noticeable.
1037767
We have had the tank just over a month and haven't had to clean it. There is a film of calcium build up on the outside because there is a little water that splashes out. Even tho we condition the water before adding. We have really hard water. We just have to add water every few days. Compared to our old tetra tank? Love it!
865624
Only if you use it as your top layer. It looks great in the tank and stays pretty clean. Use a heavier substrate as the bottom layer so your plants roots will stay put.
974480
Yes u can! Eco complete is a great substrate forthat. Bring wet pa cc ked it ddoesn't require rinsing and is usually great at not clouding water at all either. I've use for new setups and added to running stocked tanks also.
365145
This will happen with virtually any filter medium, for a little while, whenever you first add the new filter substrate.....You can reduce {but not eliminate}this effect , by rinsing the filter media prior to installation....