Shai

Patrick, your photos are always amazing! *much envy*

If you want to be really adventurous and can find (and afford) enough of the moss you could try growing a moss wall. After seeing someone's post in the plant forum about Christmas moss I got interested in it and then came across the moss wall page...I think it would be pretty cool! If you got creative you could maybe find a way to combine the moss wall idea with a DIY styrofoam background.

I have ordered Levamisole HCl from Charles Harrison and used it successfully on my tanks. His website is here. The cost is reasonable and there was no issue at the border, as he simply marks the package as "Aquarium Supplies". The drug arrived promptly. Something I learned that Charles wasn't able to tell me in advance: Levamisole will kill invertebrates, though hardier individuals might pull through. I lost all my nerites and nearly all of my shrimp, but surprisingly not all MTS or pond snails. From observing my fish, I could actually see the drug at work as soon as it was added to the water. It's good stuff, and a lifesaver.

My understanding of pH control is this: you shouldn't bother. Even if you used vinegar (the wisdom of which I am not certain) it would only lower the pH for a while. Then the pH would climb again. You'd constantly have pH swings. You could maybe use driftwood (leech tannins) or peat moss for a more "long"-term solution, but overall I have always seen it recommended that keeping the pH stable rather than at the "perfect" reading for the fish is more important, even if the stable level is higher (or lower) than the so-called recommendation.

Hope they cycle those tanks first. They'll be awesome to see when they're done though.

I think it may depend on the individual fish and/or the particular batch of Bettafix/Melafix. I've had two bettas which both had severe reactions to Bettafix as soon as it was added to the water, whereas other people I know have successfully treated their bettas with the same products (but purchased from different stores at different times). We were all sure we followed the directions, and on my second betta I even halved the dosage. Having been through that and trusting that the other people weren't lying, I think it becomes a matter of whether or not you want to take the risk.

It will likely keep leeching for a while. I wouldn't worry, it's natural stuff and won't hurt your tank. : )

There's about 14" of vertical space under the tank to work with. But I don't have to put the cylinder there--it could go beside the tank in the corner on the floor. I could put up a decorate screen or something to hide it.

What's a good cylinder size I should get? 10lb? 25lb?

Here's a link to another method of building a slate cave. Even if you don't like the look of the finished product, it's probably still a good place to start method-wise. http://www.canadianfishforums.com/articles/slatecaves.htm

Arg, really? I hadn't come across that in the reading I did. Lots of people seemed to be keeping them on their own. I can't support 3 in the 20g and I figure if I get 3 for the 55g it won't be much different than one bristlenose. : \ Hmm.

I am considering one of these for my 20g and maybe two for my 55g (instead of buying one larger species for the 55g such as a bristlenose). My reasoning is their smaller size (for the 20g especially) should mean less bioload, and in the 55g, at 6cm it will be comparable to the other fish I'm stocking. I have read some accounts that pitbulls are pretty decent for cleaning up algae. Thoughts on this? Also, anyone in Calgary stocking them? I'd be looking at picking up at least one in the next two weeks or so.

On the left-hand side, see "Sub albums". Choose "Aquariums" or "Loaches". Under "Loaches" continue by selecting other sub albums. Slough Shark, will you be putting plants in that 30g? Nice rocks. : ) Good pics overall.

Well, at least I'm not the only one. : ) Thanks guys. Hopefully they get it fixed soon (some improvement today, but I'm still having surfing trouble).

Ouch. : ) Thanks for the info though. I'm going to check into Jason's suggestion first--and keep this in the back of my mind. This sounds like a great option. Could I follow the description on this page to price it all out? I notice that page still refers to DIY or other CO2 reactor. If I want to plug the tubing into a powerhead to get the bubbles into the tank, do I still need a reactor? Still worth keeping in mind! Thanks. : )

I kind of suspected it would be hard to use DIY on my 55g. But $125 is kinda more than I wanted to spend (Santa can't afford it either)--but maybe I can save for it. How much do the refills cost and where do you get that done? Some of the people in the other threads were talking about having to rent their cannisters? With this kind of setup, can you plug the tube that releases the CO2 bubbles into a powerhead?

I need to add CO2 to my 55g. I'm not entirely convinced I want to do DIY--I've heard too many disaster stories about the yeast mixture siphoning into the tank. I want something easy, hassle-free, and relatively cheap. I've heard a few good mutterings about Hagen's Nutrafin CO2 Natural Plant System, but I'd need at least two of them for my tank. Is there anything else I could consider? In another thread in this forum, some people were talking about having their cannisters refilled at welding supply shops or the local Coke distributor. What's involved with a system like that?

Hmm. How would I know the difference? I am not knowledgable in the different kinds of sand. Though, I can imagine if different colors aren't supplied to the store, it would be difficult and/or expensive to order it from the company. Is my best bet the black Tahitian Moon Sand? I hear it doesn't affect pH but it's expensive. What about silica sand? I've also come across another brand name that apparently comes in all kinds of colors and doesn't affect ph: Estes sand? Sorry if I'm hijacking the thread. ^^;

Just now, I tried to go to bigalsonline.ca. At first I could log in--but then when I tried to browse the site, I just get redirected to the US website (.com). Now I can't access the Canadian website at all--and the US website doesn't have the same database records (user account, nothing). Is anyone else having this trouble?

Does the Target brand come in different colors (black, for example)? If not, where's a good place to get black sand, cheap?

Great pictures everyone! I am amazed and jealous. My fish are so fast, I can't imagine ever getting shots like these!

Jvision is correct. I have a number of anubias in my tanks and they all have extensive root systems. A couple are planted right in the substrate but most are anchored to driftwood. Either way, they need roots to keep themselves attached to whatever they are growing in/on. It's a bit odd yours doesn't have any roots at all--did you get it from an LFS? When I got mine they all had roots (too many, in fact! I had to trim). What specific kind of anubias is it? Can you post a pic?

I was having intermittent trouble with staying logged in, too. Today it seems to be okay. What would happen to me is I would come to the board, and it would show me as already logged in. But my very next click into a forum would result in me not being logged in anymore. Thereafter I would log back in, check the "Remember me" function, but it didn't always work. Thinking it was a cookie issue, I cleared my cookies a number of times but the problem recurred. I visit lots of other boards but had no problems with those, just this one. WinXP Home, IE 7.

Three percent of what though? Forgive me, I didn't read the study thoroughly. Is it a measure of fish body weight, fish size, amount of food...? The food was Aquascape Designs EcoRx, actually. Some of the fish pecked at it, but none actually fully ate it. I tried with some garlic but suspect I didn't use enough.

55 + 20 = 75 Plus a sometimes 10g for QT I feel sorely under-galloned compared to everybody else. ^^;