haakuturi

I think the snails are more to *thank* for that...

I'll bear that in mind - thanks But would the pH realistically be a reason for fish to be disappearing? I am actually keen on the idea of starting from scratch, but I'd want to find my fish new homes first!

Short answer - not very... Monthly?

Basically the same test - only using the appropriate drops to turn the water from blue to pink. Multiply drops by 10.

/shrug. It's the GH test - says to multiply the numbers of drops taken to turn the water from pink to blue by 20.

The Nutrafin test I have says GH of 101-200 is moderately hard. Mine's at about 120.

Wow thanks for the quick reply! I've had the tank setup for easily 2 years. It's a complete setup (AR-510 - about 75L, with inbuilt filter/lights/hood). substrate is just dark gravel plants are mostly Java Fern attached to a big piece of wood (looks damned good if I say so myself). I'm a bad bad person when it comes to cleaning the tank, but generally I just suck up all the general muck with the siphon thing and normally take out 2 buckets worth of water. Replace it with Aqua Plus'd water and away she goes again I'm working on the pictures - links'll be up in a few Pics - http://picasaweb.google.com/cerddorion/Aquarium?feat=directlink

OK, so I've had issues with keeping my fish alive for ages, and finally tested the water this evening. Results are: Temp - 28.7ºC (Heater is set to 20ºC!) pH - 8 NO2 - 0 mg/L NH3/NH4 - 0mg/L GH - 120 (Moderately hard) KH - 80 This is an AR-510 aquarium (I'll have pics up soon!) with the following fish: 1 Corydoras 1 White Cloud Mountain Minnow 3 Glowlight tetra 1 blackline tetra 1 bristlenoses The minnow and the bristlenoses have been in the tank for at least a year and never had any problems. The blackline was originally part of a school of about 10, same with the glowlights. One by one they disappeared and corpses were never found! Although at that time I also had a large (for the tank) Siamese Algae Eater who liked to chase and nip at everything that moved, so I'm suspicious that was a big contributor... The Algae Eater has been found a new home at Animates Mt Eden (about 2 months ago). I also originally had 3 corys - again 2 have disappeared without a corpse! What's going on in my tank? I've been considering taking drastic action and pawning the remaining fish off to somebody with a hospital tank (any takers?!) and emptying the tank, cleaning it thouroughly with bleach etc, and letting it cycle for a few months. Then starting afresh with something completely different (like pretty cichlids!). Has anybody got suggestions?