BooUrns!

They work if used correctly (appropriate flow rate, sized accordng to tank, etc). What are you expecting them to do for you? They are good for killing off algae and harmful water bourne parasites. They don't kill everything but they do benefit a tank. I wouldn't run them all the time as they burn out quickly and the replacement bulbs are expensive. IMO, they are one of the really overpriced aquarium add-ons but they do work.

It's probably not cracked. This is one of the most common leakage problems with the x04/x05 series fluval canisters. The detritus that builds up inside the filter and in the lines usually accumulates at the edge of the o-ring aswell. When you take it apart this material usually gets dislodged and creates a fine gap when the oring is compressed. Because the residue is the same colour as the canister plastic, it's very difficult to spot. You'll have to take the filter apart and carefully examine the groove on the motor head where the oring is seated to find any material caught in there. Check the canister body for similar buildup. I've had several x04 series with this problem. It is possible that the motor head has become warped if the filter was allowed to run dry and overheat. The plastic deforms and the motor will no longer form a seal even with the o-ring in place. If you can't find any debris in the groove, send the filter in for RMA. The repair facility is in edmonton so it shouldn't take too long.

Good to hear that you and your fish are happy!

Wow Paul! Those tanks looks really well aquascaped. Great work! :thumbs:

Now all you have to do is get him trained to eat from your hand.

Isn't the Sil type black sand a copper tainted material used for sand blasting?

Well for starters, a koi is a pond fish. A 40G for a 3"koi will keep him happy for a year or so but I wouldn't put anything else in the tank. Instead of asking questions as to what might be wrong with your fish, try doing some searches for ko keeping and koi health. There are a lot of things that could be wrong with your fish, and some may not be a result of anything you have done, sometimes fish just have ailments. eep an eye on him, read up on the nitrogen cycle and don't overfeed. The rest is learning that will come to you if you keep doing research.

ok. wow. It's time to stop and check a few things before you turn on taps and fill that thing up. 1. Is that in your basement or garage or detached shop? Where is the water going to go in the event of a breach? 2. Does your homeowner insurance cover the massive water damage that will occur when that thing breaks? 3. How are you going to address moisture buildup? (under that tank and in the room it's built inside?) Mold growth can become a serious health hazard. 4. Have you determined if your framing will hold the forces from a 40" column of water spread over 12'? What exactly is going to keep your front wall from spreading out and buckling?

Depends on how much you want to spend and how much you're willing to pay to maintain your desired temps. Inline heater connected to a pump: Moderate purchase costs but high electicity bills. Solar heater/ solar power w/ inline heater & pump: High purchase costs, long time to acheive ROI. DIY options: Ever notice how water warms up in shallow pools? If you were crafty enough you could build your own solar heating system for the pond by circulating the pond water through black channels/tubes to absorb solar heat. This would take a bit of thought and ingenuity to make it work. There are solar heating resources online but you'll have to adapt them to fit your application. You could just move the pond... a large investment of sweat labour could make your wallet happy.

Those meds you listed seem kind of weak for that sort of open wound. I had a koi with an ulcer before and nothing worked until I dosed the hospital tank with Nox-ich. The copper treatment started him healing right away where nothing else had worked. I would recommend either Seachem Para-Guard if you're treating the main tank and Nox-Ich if you can hospitalize these guys in another tank. Multiple daily water changes and close supervision are a must if you use this method of treatment.

I'm not sure what it could be. I have two tanks full of bn fry and haven't had any significant losses. Perhaps you need more water flow and places for the fry to hide. One of my tanks is heavily planted and the other has many artificial caves (empty film canisters weighted with sand) for them to hide. Given what you have mentioned, I can only wonder if it's stress induced illness. I also use bamboo skewers to place thinly cut discs of zucchini slightly above the substrate so I don't get any regions where ammonia can build up from decaying food. Looking at your test readings, perhaps some more plants woud help stabilize the tank parameters. Good luck solving the problem.

I just thought I would share an experience I had last summer as the ice is thawing on many ponds and some of you may be considering buying some nice quality koi. I'd been on the lookout for high quality koi here in Alberta as there are a lot of low grade fish for sale at high grade prices. It is extremely difficult to find high grade fish locally at a reasonable price (I compare the size and price of fish for sale out east or in the U.S. to local asking prices and add a moderate amount of mark-up to ascertain what I consider reasonable). Last year I was scanning the buysell listings for koi and came across a seller who was offering what he advertised as high grade koi. This individual was quite some distance out of the city on a farm on Highway 37 but I thought the trip would make a nice Sunday afternoon drive (we had just bought a new car and were enjoying it). I didn't expect to find anything worth purchasing and didn't really consider bringing any large sums of money. I've seen quite a few people claiming to have high grade stock only to be disappointed when I got out to see them. So we went out to this farm and met with the owner, he was a large elderly german farmer who was keeping koi as a hobby in his retired years. He took us into a shop he had built onto his stable that held two swimming pool sized cattle troughs. I was floored as I realized he had some of the finest quality koi I had ever seen in person! His own personal stock was easily worth tens of thousands of dollars. He was selling smaller fish (under 12") to offset the shipping costs of the larger fish he was buying for himself. This suited me as I wasn't in the market for 24" long koi. We spent at least an hour out there looking at this guy's fish and horses. He had one or two koi that I had been looking for and I was interested in buying as well as some large polyethylene containers that he was selling for what I thought was a good price at the time. I hadn't brought any money since I didn't expect to see anything worth buying so I asked if I could return in a week or two to pick up the items I was interested in purchasing. He told me that he doubted that the fish I was interested in would still be there in a week's time. I had no choice but to leave that up to chance and told him I would call in week to see if they were still available before making the trip out there. I called the next week and was told that the fish I wanted had been sold. I was disappointed but I still wanted to buy one of the 1200G poly containers so I asked if I could come pick one up the next weekend. He said there might be one left but I would need a trailer to transport it. I doubted this but agreed to call him later in the week so I could arrange to borrow a car trailer. In the meantime I called the manufacturer to find out the weight and rigidity of these containers to determine if they could be carried atop the box of a pickup. I found that the trailer was unnecessary and decided to contact the old german farmer to make arrangements to pick up the container with just my pickup. Suddenly contacting this guy suddenly became very difficult. Previously he had called me back immediately if I called his house and didn't leave a message. After a few days of calling I couldn't reach him at all even after leaving a few messages. After another week had passed I called and got through. This time my conversation with this man was not so pleasant. For some reason, he felt it important to tell me that he had been irritated that I had come all the way out to his farm and had not made an impulse purchase. I had explained at the time that we had only come out to look at his stock and he agreed to this at the time. We had enjoyed our time at his farm and he seemed fairly pleasant during our visit. Now his tone had changed dramatically. He told me that he found it very strange that I would make the drive out there and not be ready to make a purchase. He said he was somewhat annoyed by the fact that I had not bought any fish. I found this somewhat bizarre that he would tell me this but I was only after the container at this point. I explained why I hadn't bought any fish then and was not upset that he had sold them to someone else. It was at this point that I realized that things had moved from bizarre to somewhere in the twilight zone. He admitted that he had not sold the fish I wanted and had lied to me because he was annoyed that I didn't buy them earlier. I was somewhat taken aback. This was the most unusual business strategy I had ever encountered. I was truly baffled. I again explained why I had not purchased his fish at the time and attempted to clarify the situation. I told him he had some of the finest quality fish I had ever seen available for sale and I said quite clearly that I wanted to buy them. He still refused to sell. After repeating the previous events and even apologizing for not purchasing the fish earlier (I really wanted those fish!) he relented and agreed to sell me the two fish I was after. I then turned the conversation towards the polyethylene container. I asked if he still had any of those left and he said that he did. I continued speaking to him on the phone explaining that I had contacted the manufacturer to find out about transporting them and had been told that moving them on a truck was possible. I wasn't able to finish my sentence before the old german farmer exploded on the other end of the line. He accused me of sneaking behind his back talking to the manufacturer (I discovered the reason for his tirade when he blurted out that he had received the containers from someone else who had been charged with recycling the tanks as they were no longer fit for usage as potable water storage and were supposed to be destroyed, not resold as he was doing). With his thick accent he blurted, "You’ve gone and screwed yourself there, no fish for you!" I was completely blown away. I realized that I was dealing with the koi Nazi (Disclaimer: imagine Seinfeld’s soup Nazi, this has nothing to do with his country of origin or age)! I was still stunned but I managed to question his business strategy of not selling the fish he had for sale and he replied that it was his business to not sell fish to whomever he wanted! That it was it, I had just had a fifteen minute conversation with what turned out to be the koi Nazi. Later in the summer, I purchased some nice butterfly koi from Henry and he referred me to a koi enthusiast based around Sherwood Park who had the same high quality stock available. I've noticed that this other seller has been developing his online website and has a bunch of new high grade stock available currently. I'm sure I'll be paying him a visit later this summer. I just thought I would warn any other unsuspecting pond enthusiasts out there so they can steer clear of this unreasonable fellow. His buysell ad is still running but has been amended to wholesalers welcome. I presume he is planning on refusing to sell to wholesalers as well...

I've had a lot of success with large pieces of driftwood that have natural hollow depressions in them. The male plecs are able to defend the holes in the wood and there is enough room for females to get trapped by the males. I suppose you could take a chisel to the lower side of a fairly thick piece of driftwood and hollow out your own pleco cave. I positioned my driftwood so the openings are pointed down and make sure the canister filter outlet is flowing past there aswell. I've built a number of slate caves using a tile saw unfortunately none of my plecs prefer them to the driftwood caves.

If you're willing to turn this into a long term project, get some driftwood from a local freshwater source, throw it in a tub full of water and forget about it for a month or two. You could try the same with material from those landscaping outfits you mentioned. Anything you could accomplish by boiing and sterilizing will be matched if you just have some patience. DIY is the way to go here.

I didn't say you were disparaging the CAS. You have made it quite clear that your comment was a complaint about the CAS AUCTION and not the organization or its' volunteers. I'm not taking your comments out of context. I'm simply stating that your critique of the CAS auction is invalid if it is based soley on your displeasure with the items up for sale. I would encourage alberta hobbyists to attend both auctions as they each have something to offer their communities.

I attended the CAS auction last spring (2007) and was quite impressed with the volume of items up for auction as well as the variety of livestock offered. I had been to the last few ACE auctions before the CAS auction and was very impressed with the difference in the selection at that time. Perhaps the selection from the most recent CAS auction has left some dissapointed but I have seen a number of ACE auctions of which I could say the same. Each year relfects the current trends in the Calgary hobbyists' retinue and perhaps this year your expectations did not match the local interests. I don't think your dissapointment is valid reason to disparage the CAS auction as I'm sure the majority of attendees were satisfied with their participation. I myself have no interest in africans or any other sort of cichlid and have found both the ACE and CAS auctions to be very worth attending. The prices that each lot reach are determined by the lack of understanding of cooperative gaming theory or just a strong desire on each bidders' part to obtain the items offered. I myself had items for sale in the most recent ACE auction that sold for far more than I myself deemed they were worth but since two bidders wanted to challenge each other regardless of the value of the item, a somewhat higher price was reached. I'm sure someone learned an expensive lesson.

Sponge filter is adequate and a heater. I keep guppy fry, bettas, male guppies, cherry shrimp, and BN fry in 5.5G tanks. I have a rack full of them. Most of mine came with a plastic hood that had a light socket. I'm sure the LFS have hoods you can buy seperately.

I beleive this is the little fella you sought after. I got two lots of them at the ACE auction myself.

Try using the search function in the buy/sell forum archives and see what others have been asking for your type of fish. If the time lapse between a sale offer and a reply was very short, then that was probably a very fairly priced fish. Use your judgement, you're probably not going to be able to pay the mortgage doing this. Also consider whether you are selling your fish to make some money or because you want to find another good home for a fish you have raised!

Wiring in things as simple as a lighting fixture are relatively easy IF you find DIY work relatively easy. There are right and wrong ways to do renovation projects and electrical work has it's own set of dangers if done improperly. I'm sure no one on this site is advising you to perform renovations on your home which may be unsafe. It would be adviseable to consult the electric codes & standards (green book available at Rona, HomeDepot, library, etc) to learn the right way of doing things if you have no previous experience. The internet may be a good resource aswell but I've found of late that there is a lot of pay for information type sites in the way of these good sources. Apart from colour coding, making sure wiring connections are done properly (braided together and capped with a marette screw cap) should ensure you do not see any arcing between wires and resultant smoke.

I haven't tried the clove oil but I think it may be more humane for tropical fish. I once used the freezer method for a cold water fish that had dropsy, came out the freezer the next day looking like he had just been asleep when he solidified (and this is apparently what happens). I've also seen a hot water technique described that is suppossed to induce shock to kill the fish quickly. I think it's a bit suspect as it is not an instantaneous death. The shock supposedly shuts down the fishes brain, anyone have any information verifying that this actually happens?

Was this the ACE auction? I don't remember seeing any cichlids there... :eh:

I think I'm going to let my input on this thread wane at this point as I think everyone has had a chance to state their point. In regards to the specific posting you mentioned Fred, I had a conversation via PM with that seller in which we exchanged our viewpoints. It turns out that this seller had some items to offer that I think were indeed fairly priced and I am definately interested in doing business with him in the future. Regarding the posting Jerry made about MOTM, I did mis-interpret the meaning of his post as it seemed framed to criticize some recent winners of that prize. After I deciphered what meaning Jerry was attempting to convey, I apologized as I realized I was wrong and had reacted somewhat negatively. I have concerns with hobbyists trying to behave like small business operators in this forum and I've tried to convey my point of view within this thread. Now it is up to the mods to make the choices they deem most beneficial to this site. Mod team, thanks for putting up with us troublemakers! :smokey:

If it's in the thread titled BUY/SELL rules, is it something you should disregard? You always have some great insight on these topics RD but I think you have a particular viewpoint as a businessman involved with aquarium products that doesn't allow you to see this objectively. I often repeat that phrase to myself, but I use it as a curse when I see people in this province making fiscal choices that don't benefit the consumers and only serve to enhance profit potential. I also think of this phrase along with the other one. "The Corporation: An ingenious device for obtaining profit without individual responsibility." -Ambrose Bierce Both these ideas are self-serving and archaic and essentially go against the common interests of the community. Since we're tossing quotes: "Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws." -Plato I'm fairly certain I never suggested price controls. There would need to be indexed lists of current market rates for the admins to consult etc, all of it totally unfeasible. I may have implied something like a price review but my main focus was to allow the admins to review posts for the buy/sell before they are published. As Nick has indicated below, the mod team isn't interested in doing this. I hear you Nick but you're not giving the buyers any way to protect themselves here. I've noticed BC Aquaria has an extensive buyer rating/ feedback system that is in place to prevent other members from exploiting the group and to also enhance a good sellers reputation. Perhaps this is something we could use. I looked and wasn't able to find any disclaimers or notices that serve to isolate or protect AlbertaAquatica from liability in the event of a transaction going bad. I highly suggest some sort of statement along those lines get added to the site soon (if it isn't present already). If you can't identify the ethical issue here then I don't know what to say to you. We're not commercial retailers. We don't have employee wages and business operating expenses to cover. If you bred a fish and are selling the offspring chances are you're looking at a return on your investment if not pure profit. What are you in the hobby for? Is asking for three times what you would pay for something yourself honest? I would call that fraudulent. I don't need a primer on market trends. I'm employed in the housing industry and I know what happened with the market prices. Was there an actual scarcity of homes that caused prices to skyrocket in late 2006 or were many of the homes simply not listed that time of year (which was a common phenomena in the winter). There were other issues contributing to this aswell. Now the market has huge inventory but the prices are still high. We're back to Publilius Syrus here. The homes are not any more valuable (in fact they are farther from the city core) but the prices are still rising. We're stuck with overvalued properties because some fool was willing to pay a higher price and the banks all said you should too. I am one of those people who would pay hundreds (thousands if I could afford it) for koi. There is an established market value for these fish that is based upon a grading system. Even so, I see many people in this region trying to sell lower quality koi claiming they are of higher grade stock. It is extremely difficult to acquire high grade stock here in Alberta. What about the new members to our community? How are they to know what's a fair market price if they've just begun to educate themselves about keeping fish? How are they going to feel if they come in here and some fishkeeping veteran of 20 yrs rips them off because he/she likes money. How is that guy going to feel when this new community that is welcoming him just let one of their members essentially pick his pocket? You know you're asking a fair price if you yourself would be willing to pay it if the roles were reversed. That should be a good enough of a guiding principle. All things being replied to, this thread was begun with a proposed change to the rules. IF, I'll say it again, IF you're going to make rules that allows sellers to post items without any comment from members, you have to find a way to protect buyers aswell.

That happened to one of the osiris plants I bought from you Jason. My common BN's and clowns stripped the leaves down to the webbing thinking it was just the latest food offering.