pH, GH, KH, TDS, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate – explained in plain English. How to test, what the numbers mean, and how to adjust without shocking your animals. Stable is more important than perfect.
By now, you should be aware that dissolved nitrogenous wastes such as ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates are problematic and detrimental to the health of the tank inhabitants (aquarium fish and invertebrates). However, the causes of elevated nitrites in aquaria still remain a mystery to many
So, what are phosphates? Are they good or bad? Do we need them in our freshwater tanks? What role do they play in our systems? What is the function of phosphates in plants? Are they harmful to fish and shrimp? Should it be like everything
So, what are the ideal water parameters for fish and/or shrimp keeping? Today I would like to address this question that we see happen a lot in comments, forums, and Facebook groups. Even though this may, at first sight, appear as a simple question but it is not.
Today we are going to talk about nitrates in planted tanks. However, if you are new to this hobby, you need have to learn more about the nitrogen cycle first. We can often hear that plants can solve the problem with the nitrates in our
Not long ago I received another letter (the third one!) about top offs and water changes. People asked me why do they still need to do water changes if they regularly do top offs? Well, every time I sent them almost the same classic answer.
The importance of calcium for shrimp, crayfish, crabs, and especially snails is a well-known fact. Therefore, today I will talk about calcium supplements for shrimp and snail tanks. It is widely understood that they require calcium in unusual quantities during certain stages of their life.
Today I would like to talk about Copper (Cu) and how it affects dwarf shrimp. This is a very delicate subject because any mistake here can take the lives of our shrimp. Everybody knows that copper is extremely dangerous for shrimp and snails. They are