If you truly live in the middle of nowhere the shipping should not bother you. A shipping cost of 70 bucks is less than the gas it would take me to get to a fish store. Buying online is jut about the only way to get good fish stock anymore. Unless you are lucky and live near a real fish store. What state are you in? If you are ordering several fish "That fish place" is free over night shipping if you order 150 bucks. That can be as few as 3-4 fish or a whole bunch.

Keith wrote: I'll keep peat in mind in case of problems. Also, according to the water test I had done at PetSmart my alkalinity (buffering capacity, not alkaline vs. basic) is high, 180-300 mg/L. Will that affect how well peat works? Also, what symptoms should I be watching for that may signal it can't adjust to the pH?

I would ask Big-Ken. He's currently adjusting his PH with peat

oscarfishlover.com/forum/49--diy/301973-peat-filter

Information about peat

web.archive.org/web/20041029080941/http://hjem.get2net.dk/Best_of_the_Web/peat%20page.html

bassetman wrote: If you truly live in the middle of nowhere the shipping should not bother you. A shipping cost of 70 bucks is less than the gas it would take me to get to a fish store. Buying online is jut about the only way to get good fish stock anymore. Unless you are lucky and live near a real fish store. What state are you in? If you are ordering several fish "That fish place" is free over night shipping if you order 150 bucks. That can be as few as 3-4 fish or a whole bunch.

I never looked at it that way. It costs around $30 in gas for the round trip to PetsMart, I could pay shipping online and have a larger selection and avoid the hour or more on the road.

I've looked into Central American cichlids. I've found 3 that interest me; Jaguar, Firemouth and Jack Dempsey. I don't think the Jaguar will work, I have a 75 gallon with no space to upgrade. I think a 6' tank is the minimum recommended when it reaches full size. A Jack Dempsey and Firemouth together would be pretty cool. Would a 75 gallon be large enough for them? Also, would they really be any better of a fit for the 8.4 pH than an Oscar? The websites I found when looking at pictures of them says they like closer to 7.5 pH.

Jack and FM could work in a 75g if they tolerate each other.

An update about my cycling progress. It's day 18 and nitrites have shown up! I got the confirmation I was hoping for that I am not just merely feeding the plants! I also decided to go ahead and test for nitrates. My eyes could be deceiving me but I don't think it says 0. It's not 5 ppm (next color up on the scale) but I tested my tap water which I know is 0 and the two appear to be a slightly different shade. Is it possible that I'm already seeing trace amounts? I expected there would be a lull between nitrites showing up and the beginning of nitrates. Actually an internet search comes up with results on other forums saying the wait for nitrates usually takes long than it took nitrites to show up.

yes you can see trace amounts of nitrate less than 5ppm

I've got an odd thing going on with my nitrite test.

I'm testing for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate daily now.

The directions say to add the drops, shake for 5 seconds then wait for 5 min.

I normally fill all 3 vials, add the drops for ammonia and nitrite then let them sit while I get the nitrate test ready to the point of waiting for 5 min. Then I shake the ammonia and nitrite vials for the 5 seconds and start the stop watch for the 5 min wait on all 3 tests at the same time.

Well when I add the drops for the nitrite test it turns dark purple and stays that way until I shake it for the 5 seconds. Once I shake it the vial will go to light blue and after the 5 min it is still light blue. My nitrates are creeping up so nitrites are slowly being converted but I'm guessing that I have some nitrites despite the light blue color after the 5 min wait because otherwise the color wouldn't change before shaking it (it doesn't change when I do a test on my tap which I know is 0 nitrite).

Do your tests seperate , just to avoid cofusion and getting false test results. At least for now.
It takes a little getting used to doing all 3 tests at the same time I think we all developed our own system of doing so. But there is a reason each test requires you to shake the vials a certain amount of time and check the color after a certain amount , since they will appear darker if you wait too long.

OK I'll do them 1 at a time and see if that clears up the oddity. Not sure if I stated it correctly though, it's immediately going dark, even before the 5th drop is in the vial. It's after shaking for 5 seconds that it turns back to light blue and then doesn't darken even after the 5 minute wait. So it's going from dark to light, that's what I was confused about.

Test a bottle of drinking water just to rule out that anything is wrong with the test kit itself.
I dont remember my test doing that. Are you using the API test kit ?