tedfroop

I think I found an answer:

Hanna makes nice stuff, I use it at work. No one I know of sells their stuff locally. Only way I know to get one is through ITM (www.itm.ca) They have calibration kits etc as well for ph tds and more.

All the other fish in my tank are busy reproducing so why not. The pic would appear to be a gravid female. I have done some searching on the web and most places are pretty thin on details. If she is and she does lay eggs where is she likely to lay them? (Heavily planted 55) How long till they hatch? Care and feeding?

If I were doing this I would worry about connections, switches etc the most. Keeping things clean and dry would be the big trick in living a long and electricution free life. I would plan on putting the ballast's outside the hood and a couple fans in the hood on each end - pc lights get pretty warm and when they shut down condensation on the bulb connectors and wire connections would be the biggest worry. Silicone can be used to seal up the incoming wiring but the bulb connectors is another thing. I just did some searching on the web and can not find anything on wet service for pc fixtures. Without a boot to go over the bulb and connector where they meet there is still a huge danger here. (this would be where the output voltage of the ballast comes into play.) For myself the only way I would attempt doing this myself would be building a sealed section in the canopy with the lighting and use a sealed piece of glass or plexi to seperate it from the tank. If you have some coin to drop though there are T12 and T5 HO lights purpose built for what you want - sealed end caps for the tubes and remote ballasts - like this http://www.aquariumguys.com/ballast.html

For those who have Vals though - overdosing will melt your vals, and dosing with Excel will slows vals growth.

And you can go here: http://www.epcor.ca/pages/water/WaterQuali...ly/wqdaily.html (The bottom of the page explains where they like to keep the parameters for the water.) Add a hang on ph meter (Seachem or Mardel) and you should be able to figure out where your CO2 content is fairly quickly.

If you are slightly handy, or know someone who is I would go to Skeans Engineering (They have branches in Calgary and Edmonton). They carry a line called MAC valves. We have been using them for compressed air applications where I work for 10+ years and have never had one fail yet. (even when the air dryer quit and we had water running through them.) The 120v models come with pigtails and you can either solder on a power cord or connect it to a plug, as needed.

They are wendtii. I take it from Jason's reply that that they kind of grow like celery - from the center out. I removed a few plants this weekend and notices the Cories right in behind cleaning up - I can see they don't have enough room between the Crypts in a few places.

My Crypts are growing like mad (not a problem) and getting huge - 6" to 8" tall and 1"+ across at the base. Will they continue to grow larger or stop at some point? Whats the best method to cut them back? Prune or thin them out?

Before attempting to attach my anubias to my driftwood I was wondering if, in order any of you could offer any hints as to how to attach it so it begins growing onto the driftwood quickly. Does it need ot point a specific way, should it be on top, beside, underneath? Would these instructions work for any other plants with a rhizome?

Or try this simple cheap solution that should work without reducing flow. It worked great on the wifes beta tank. http://www.petfish.net/kb/entry/347/

Here's my 55. Rena XP1 About 2.1 WPG Nitrates 10-20 ppm Change about 25% water weekly or 50% if I miss a week. Using Seachem Tabs as directed and Flourish every other week. Lent out my plant book and don't know names other than common - Vals, Crypts, sword, rotalla, java moss and just new is the Limnophila Hippuraides. Just added diy co2 last week Never intended to plant it as its my first tank but Shannon from Aquarium Enthusiasts said why not give it a try. I was kind of sceptical as on dry land I can kill anything (except dandyloins) but I gave it a try. I found Natures Corner soon after I started planting and when Henry found out I had a planted tank......

Actually it was Shannon over at Aquarium Enthusiasts that got me the tank and got me started in the right direction. Henry just made the move from Dads to Natures Corner which is just a couple blocks from where I work and the plants are both his Shannon's fault. While I'm at it I have to thank Marie over at Big Al's for the ice cream bucket full of plants she brought me as well. I'm still finding my way around here but I will post pictures soon.

Got pointed here by (Shameless plug) Henry over at Natures Corner. I have been lurking for a couple days just to check it out and it looks like a great little community here. I got started in the hobby long ago when I was a kid. My dad got us s 20 gallon tank for Christmas one year. We kept it running for a long time but as we grew older other interests came along. Last year my neighbor gave me a 2 gallon tank and just for fun I got it up and running and kept a couple white clouds for a few months. My wife and I were talking about a bigger tank one day and she gave me a budget to buy a tank. (for the tank - not including all the rest of the stuff! java script:emoticon('', 'smid_41') ) Anyway I called one of my wifes friends who worked at a big franchise fish store at the time hoping to get a bit of a deal. Before I had a chance to tell her why I called she started telling me about a friend of hers who was quite ill and unable to care for her tank. She was going over to see her the next day top tear down the tank and didn't have a place to put it and did I know anyone who wanted a 55 gallon tank? So here I am, three tanks later and being an Aquarium Enthusiast (just so Chris doesn't feel left out) looking at the 14 gallon Biocubes and trying my hand at saltwater......