BigA

At fist glance this seems to be working. He brought some into the store (AE) as well as some standard SW and I tested it. All the levels turned out fine. I would like to see how stable the system will be long term.

What about a dragon goby? Cool and unusual looking, pretty hardy as well.

try a gt or a red terror or a jag.

rd might be a little pushy.

Ok. I may try one of them.

I from personal experience with oscars, jd's, gt's, jags except red terrors or devils, I would honestly not put any of these with the oscars. Oscars IMO are far too gentle to be housed with more aggressive fish in a 150. I would personally recommend some more peaceful cichlids like severums, silver dollars, or something along those lines. I have heard from other peoples experiences as well with mixing these guys. A single JD might do fine, since they do not grow super large.

What about tinfoils? My worry is that the oscars will kill off more peaceful fish. They've been pretty aggressive. Killed off a common pleco that was in there, killed off another oscar that was put in there. That's why I was thinking something more aggressive, but my client has made it clear that nothing bad happens to the oscars. Call it sentimental value.

Thanks for the advice so far...

I've been doing maintenance on a 150 gal tank, whose sole occupants is a pair of oscars. One 12", one 8". My clients would like to put more fish in, but they are apprehensive because the oscars are so large. Tank is filtered by an XP3 and a FX5, so filtration is not an issue. I was thinking of a couple more big cichlids, perhaps a red devil or jd, or something else.

What would you do?

Thanks is advance.

Yes you should do that each time you clean the filters. The round cap just unscrews with a 1/4 turn. Pull the impeller out, it is magnetic. Clean the impeller and inside where it goes.

I pulled out the impeller, cleaned it thouroughly. Everything is going good so far.....

Thanks for the help.

I rinsed it under the tap, I didn't try to take it apart though. Should I do that?

ok. I cleaned out the filter, the hose, the intake, the spray bar. The output flow pressure is still fluctuating. Going from high flow, to low, to high and so forth every couple seconds. Any other guesses?

Ok. Thanks Val. I'll give that a shot when I get home today.

Last night I have had a problem with my XP2. The amount of flow coming out of the spout is fluctuating It was running fine when I went to bed. When I got up, the pressure coming out was varying kinda like this

It does sound like it is sucking in air from somewhere, I rechecked all the seals and hoses this morning before I came to work, and all seemed visually fine. Also there is not any water leaking anywhere. Dry as a bone.

I admit that I haven't cleaned the filter in a while, could this be the issue? Is it clogged? Or maybe a mechanical issue? Needing a new inpeller or new seal? Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks for the help.

The worst part is it's all conjecture. No proof at all, just heresay. But a lot of the posters have already made up their minds on the subject.

That collection is amazing!!!

The coldwater/tropical issue is one I have heard, but my research shows that plecos are fine in 20 water, being from South America and Central America in flowing streams which vary from 18-24 degrees. As for goldfish, koi definately prefer cooler water, less than 20. But my comets in the pond get sluggish and slow when water drops below 16-17 degrees, and seem happy in 19-22.

I have heard many say that there is a cold/tropical issue, but can someone explain it to me?

The 65 gallon will have a aquaclear 110 (110-500gph) on it, overfiltering as I know the goldfish will have a heavy bioload.

I think the issue will be with the clown loach's. IME, they like a much higher temp, 27-30 and need a much larger tank, 90-120gal to be happy. Also with them, while 3 is better than 1, 5 is better than 3, and 7 better than 5, and so forth.

Optimally, the 13" pleco should be in a 90-120gal tank as well, butI sure he will appreciate any extra water he is given.

I'm not sure I would want one in my tank. Check out this thread on canreef about a person who found one in his system.

Scary. and packs a nasty sting.

That's not a bristle worm.

I was just going on what was on the other forum. I personally don't know what it is.

I'm not sure I would want one in my tank. Check out this thread on canreef about a person who found one in his system.

Scary. and packs a nasty sting.

Hey guys, I am curious into possibly setting up a tank in the near future for salt water, but don't know exactly what all I will need. I know I need the tank, filter, heater, thermometer, and hydrometer, and marine salts, but what else is required for every salt water tank? Would I absolutely need to get a protein skimmer? Any help would be great thanks guys!!!

As far as a skimmer, I would say it depends on the size and bioload of your tank. If it's a 20gal with 1 clown and some polyps, you can probably make do with just water changes. If it's a 75gal, stocked to the brim with SPS, a skimmer is a definite need.

You will also need good lights. These will depend more on the depth of the tank than the amount of water it holds. In deeper tanks, light has a harder time penetrating to the bottom layers of the tank, and therfore more intense lighting is needed.

You will also need a powerhead or two for extra flow. To successfully keep some types of inverts (some corals, anemones) you need to have quite a bit of flow to successfully keep them alive. I have a flow rate between 10x-15x the size of my tank, and I am not quite sure that it is enough.

The 1 other thing I would recommend is a good timer. This will enable you to keep an exact lighting schedule which is very beneficial to coral growth. It will also help to minimize (I say minimize because you are guaranteed to get some) the amount of bad algae growth in the tank. If the timer as enough programmable sockets, plug in a powerhead or two. Then you can alternate the direction of the flow in the tank. This will help keep things looking natural and soft corals like Xenia really benefit from it as well.

Posted on canreef:

ac110 mod

You really don't need the channels, I just had them lying around. Can be easily done just siliconing, glueing or cementing for the baffles, etc.

I read through the thread on canreef. Looks good. Might have to try that ove this weekend. Can a person use superglue for it? Will it hold? Will it leach toxins into the water? Would silicone be a better bet?

Does anyone know how to mod an aquaclear 110 to make it into a refugium? Tried to find plans using google, but didn't find any that looked useful.

In a 33 you could go w. the cats and a few cichlids. Both cats are riverine species from Africa, but do well with Rift Lake cichlids, too.

That isn't quite correct. The upside downs are riverine, but the petricola's are from Lake Tanganyika.

the baby Burbot looks almost like a bichir. Definitely cool!! Can't wait to see more.

I think it's the other way around..

http://albertaaquatica.com/index.php?showtopic=18319

But good luck!! Hope it works well.

Nice pics! I always wanted to do a brackish tank. What is your salinity at? What type of salt did you use? Any other occupants? Puffers? Mollies? Archers? Mono's? How big of a tank is it?

Hey everyone. I have a 48" x 12" x 18" tank sitting empty in the house, and thought I would finally get it up and running. How hard would it be to drill it for an overflow or two and a return? I wanted to use a sump on this tank and it needs some prep. Is this something I can do at home with the right tools? Should I take it to a glass shop or tank maker to get it done?

Very ingenuitive!!!! I like it!!!!

I haven't had experience with this myself, but I know someone who purchased a tank from one of the LFS in the city. 120gal. When he went to get his brand new house insured, he let the insurance company (not sure which one) know about his tanks and they allowed him to add in a rider to the insurance contract to cover water damage in case something happened. It cost an extra $4/month. Sure enough, 1 of the seals on the tank broke and 120 gallons of water came down onto the second floor of his house. $30,000 worth of damage. Most of which was covered because he was up front about the tank in the first place.

For an extra $50 per years, that is not a bad investment. Again though, I do not know what company he is with, nor do I know if they all offer it. Doesn't hurt to ask though.

Hi everyone. I've got a quick question. Yesterday I bought some turbo snails (I think. They do have conical shaped shells). Once I brought them home and accimated them, into my tank they went. Almost instantly they got attcked by one of my hermit crabs (I'm not sure what kind it is. It has greyish legs, with red tips). I have a ton of extra shells in there and have had since the tank was started up. I seperated them this time, but when I awoke this morning it had happened again. I thought hermits were supposed to be reef safe? Is this a bad apple of a crab? A bad species? Is this going to happen every time I put some snails in the tank? Can this unprovoked attack be prevented?