Ahhh. That makes sense.

Sucks but you are right, its hard to challenge the myth like you do if you have to go off hersay.

In reply to peregrine ……… Agreed save for the fact that I am not a structural engineer and thus have no data to bring to the table.

Like it feels like one of those things that definitely should be here.

In reply to Vincent ……. The garnet is probably too small for ugf. Thinking about I’ve never seen “aquarium gravel” in a rusty red color. That leaves you the flourite red.

In reply to Alper …….. Just another hoax.

I plan to keep Bichir and Oscars with an ugf in my tank and after some thought I have chosen a reddy-brown substrate colour.

Thing is, that choice seems to either limit things a lot OR I am clearly missing a substrate choice.

A lot of Bichir keepers like Garnet filter media or garnet blasting media, and while as a sand that looks quite smooth, get it to 2mm+ sized and it looks very sharp.

Is this a problem? I know its overblown for barbels of loaches and catfish (I remember reading that bit of this website) but I don’t know if its discussed overall.

Meanwhile option 2 is Seachem Fluorite red or equivalent. These are obviously fucking expensive given they are marketed as aqua soils.

Is there an obvious third option I am not thinking of?

I walked into a local fish store with my daughter assuming I’d buy a fish bowl, a pinked colored fish of some kind, and we’d be good. I was quickly educated by the fish store owner it was not that simple.

We were told to buy a fish tank, cycle it, and come back 4-6 weeks later to buy fish for it else the fish would immediately die. A 4-6 week wait did not sit well with my 7 year old…

I went against the owner’s advice. I bought a fish that day in a desperate attempt to not destroy the whole “be good=get reward” mentality in my daughter. I also left with a 10 gallon tank, a bunch of I went home in a panic hoping I could some how keep the fish alive and not spend the next day planning a fish funeral.

It was that night I found this website. I’m three months in now, I think I’ve actually read this website cover to cover. My daughter and I have learned so much about chemistry and biology. We now have an aquarium that’s fully cycled (0 ammonia, 0, nitrite, and surprisingly we must have de-nitrifying bacteria because 0 nitrates!). We’ve got 2 adult guppies and about 20 fry at the moment.

We spent last weekend on a hike and to find some limestone to act as a pH buffer (our tap water has a low pH). We found some Fossiliferous Limestone!

Anyways, thanks a lot for your site. We appreciate your knowledge, and the time you took to share it. Thanks for not providing bad advice in the interest of turning a profit.

I just wanted to share a success story and a huge thank you.

I often browse Youtube looking for good aquarium videos, either in content that I can simply live vicariously through, or that provide helpful and accurate information. Needless to say the latter is hard to come by. In my recent foray down the tube, I came across a fishtuber -Pattys Aquatics – with a small following who posted about having fish TB, and was asking viewers for advice. I don’t often comment on videos because it usually falls on deaf ears and big egos, but decided to weigh in with what I thought was going, and what he should do. I posted a rather long blurb about DOC’s, Heterotrophic bacteria, crystal clear water, fish immune systems, adding more filtration, aeration, medicating with food etc. and followed up with an email referring him to this website. The response was extremely positive, and he made a follow up video talking about these issues, and was really excited to have a whole new world opened up to him. He’ll be making a video about tankstartguide.com to help spread the knowledge. From that same detailed comment, another small youtuber (FWish list) was able to solve a problem in his 180 gal tank after mysteriously losing a number of fish over the course of a year or so.

Thanks for this incredible resource. Over the past four years, It has helped me truly enjoy fishkeeping, and it is very fulfilling to be able to spread this info to help others, and prevent needless suffering of animals which I feel is FAR too common in this hobby.

Mike