James (Western Canada)

Go buy a PVC bulkhead fitting, place it in the hole, tighten the threaded collar from the opposite side, then to seal the center, use a plastic NPT plug threaded into the center hole of the bulkhead fitting. You may find bulkhead fitting in the big box stores....but I would be going to one of the LFS's, or a place that sells hot tubs..... HTH James

Nick: It can be painted, provided the proper paints are used (remember plywood tanks are painted inside with epoxy paint??) A google search on this (backgrounds) should get you a ton of hits.... James

YoYo's are mildly aggressive, but still ok for a community tank (you just need to pick the right tank-mates) BUT....I wouldn't advise putting yoyo's, or Striata's (aka zebra) in a 20g. Loaches are very social, so three is a minimum, five is better. And three to five of either is way over the top in a 20g. YoYo's can get quite big (go check the galleries on loachesonline, one Aussie fellow had some woppers). Striata, get maybe 4-5". And BTW: If you step up in tank size and want Striata's, Family Pet in Sherwood Park usually has some. And see link below for an aggression rating of loaches.... http://home.ptd.net/~jdietsch/ldtls.html http://www.loaches.com/ HTH James ================================================================================ ======================

fshkpr: Go to any place that sells homecare supplies, they will have tweezers, scissors, etc in a variety of shapes and sizes, and IME, the prices are reasonable. I have bought items on several occasions from Home Care & Surgical on Whyte. they are west of 110St on the North side of Whyte Ave. If they don't have it on the shelf, ask, as their suppliers carry additional items not stocked. And I have found their pricing to be reasonable, especially when compared to any of the aquatic vendors. HTH James

VERY NICE!!....but you are right, it's alotta work. I personally ptrefer steel,(plus I have the skills & tools to work with steel:) as it takes up less space, and in most cases will be lighter than a wood stand......and it wont warp if you get it wet..... My 90g stand was fabricated from 2" x 1" tubing There are pics & comments that go along with each pic in the gallery.... Once again, VERY NICE!!.... I till need to make a proper canopy for mine.... James

Here is a link to an old thread off loachesonline...... http://aquaweb.pair.com/forums/archives/lo....cgi?read=13464 Another cheap way to make caves is go to Home Depot, buy some clay flower pots , then go to the back and have them cut the pots in half on the wetsaw for ceramic tile. Take your pots home and "goop" them up with aquarium safe silicone(I use Dow-Corning 732) then dip the pots in DRY aquarium gravel untill it adheres, then put lid on container & shakem !!I do this several times to get rid of the "pot" shape, and using the same gravel as I have in my aquarium, they blend in quite well. Its a little bit of work , but not that expensive. Beast is to get a couple friends to go in on materials, and bang out a few at same time. See pic attached of finished product.....PS : its a good idea to leave the caves for some time prior to submerging in aquarium so that the can "outgas" all the chemicals. HTH James

Try this yahoo group..... http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/FreshwaterShrimp/ HTH James

Yup, that b an apono runner....amd run they do! I had runners in my 90g that were prob over 3' long (all the way to the surface, and to opposite end of tank from plant) If it gets pollinated (some apono's are capable of self-pollinizig, while others require the pollen from another plant), you will get a pod (or was it pods?)on the runner where the flower was. Eventually the pods will drop and split open, revealing a tiny plant......didn't have much success @ growing out the pod plants though....not sure if it was me, tank inhabitants or what, but never got one past about an inch in size............. BTW: If you search the archives on the Aquatic Plant Digest, there is plenty there ! HTH James

Jason: The OTHER jason hit the nail on the head. Not feeding for several days prior to moving day will eliminate a great deal of waste in the bags. This means that water quality will not dissipate nearly as quickly as it would if the fish were dumping in such a small volume of water. While plants will hasten the cycling process, it is not generally reccommended to pack plants & fish in the same bag, as when you place plants in the dark, they start to give off CO2, not something you want in a small bag of water with your fish. As for bag buddies, this has come up before, see link to post below...... http://albertaaquatica.com/index.php?showtopic=13529 HTH James

I found the "Three Dead Fish Rule" interesting, as in my visits to a particular large chain store on the south side near 34th Ave, they could not pass that test on almost any given tank, never mind the whole store.......and when they are all white and fuzzy, it's obvious they didn't just die.........seems like it's all about volume, not quality or concern for the livestock.........sad really. James

Nick: check your PM's James

Look in the yellow pages under Home Health Care Supplies. These places have or can get tons of differeent sizes & styles of tweezer, etc and their prices are pretty decent....and you won't have to mail order. I have dealt with Homecare & Surgical on Whyte here in Edm several times and found the service & prices good !! HTH James

Here is a post from a thread on the aquatic plants digest on units. http://fins.actwin.com/aquatic-plants/mont...5/msg00042.html The Amazing Metric System <http://ts.nist.gov/ts/htdocs/200/202/mpo_home.htm> CGS = centimeter-gram-second system Volume “L” is the abbreviation for “Liter” which is also 1000 cubic centimeters which is written as cm^3 (never use cc!) “mL” = milli-Liter = 1/1000 of a liter = 1 cm^3 Length “m” = meter “cm” = centi-meter = 1/100 m Mass “g” = gram “mg” = milli-gram = 1/1000 of a gram 1000 g = 1 kg = 1 kilo-gram Time ”s” = second Density of water is 1 g/cm^3 1 Liter of water = 1,000 cm^3 of water = 1,000 g of water = 1 kg of water 1 m^3 of water = 100 x 100 x 100 cm^3 = 1,000,000 cm^3 = 1,000 kg = 1 tonne (metric ton) 1 mg of substance dissolved in 1 Liter of water = = 1 mg/L = = 1 mg substance in 1,000 g water = = 1/1,000 g substance in 1,000 g water = = 1 part substance in 1,000 x 1,000 parts water = 1 part per million (ppm) Quiz: 1) 1 g of Potassium in 200 L of water gives you how many mg/L of Potassium? A: 1000 mg/200 L = 5 mg/L = 5 ppm 2) 1/4 tsp. of Potassium in 55 gallons of water gives you how many ppm of Potassium? A: I have no idea. 3) How much Potassium Sulfate does your 55 Gallon plant tank need? A: A big pinch every couple of days. Try more or less and see what happens. (and let’s not get into how much K is in 1 g of K2SO4!)

Jerry: I have tried many methods, Peat, PH 7.0, RO. I found that peat works well, but cost money and colours the water ( I personally don't mind that, but you already mentioned you don't like) Some Buffers also work well, but over time add up to a bunch of $$.... I was using a plastic 20g garbage can with a little powerhead and a heater to keep my tap/RO mix in. It's been some time since I have bothered with the RO/tap mix, so I have forgotten the exact ratio I was mixing at, but in the end with a little experimentation you should be able to find a ratio that gives you the PH you want, but be carefull with the hardness, as if you go too low, you loose your buffering, and you stand a good chance of having a PH crash. If you go the RO route, you would be better off to purchase one, as over time the cost of buying bottled water will add up, and you will have paid for the unit (not to mention the PITA of going to the store get it all the time). If you do a search, there are several good articles on thekrib.com about water chemistry, covering everything from basic water chemistry to raising PH, lowering PH, buffering, hardness, peat,etc....... If I wasn't already on company time, I would dig you up some links :) James

Blade: Can always go this route as well...... http://www.mops.ca/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/sk...0123+1175568948 Two Inch http://www.mops.ca/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/sk...0123+1175568949 Four Inch http://www.mops.ca/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/sk...0123+1175568949 Six Inch http://www.mops.ca/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/us...0123+1175569022 All air stones HTH James

That would be Trident, they have a website http://www.ilovemypet.com/ James

Just stumbled upon this on craigslist..... Metal Halide Bay lights for the best in shop lights. Used units guaranteed working, but not bulb.$65 ea Ph 436 1127 http://edmonton.craigslist.org/tls/285013267.html

The hydroponics store mentioned above is All Seasons Garden Center. Their address is: 10027-81Ave ph 448-2385 They are on just off Whyte ave on 81st Ave (east of tracks), next to Old Hippy Wood Furniture. Or across the street from Vienna Bakery mmmmmmmmmmmm ....Another place to try would be FALVO Electric. HTH James

Jerry: 80 Watts on a 100g is not a lot:) For planted tanks 2+W/g is the starting point. My 90g is from Mitch in Calgary, and the front pane is stsrphire glass (doesn't get much clearer than that) So my guess is you would notice an improvement in your pics just by adding light over the tnk (even if only for the duration of your photo session) I don't know if you looked at any of the pics in my link, but in the later ones of the 90g, there was 240w over the tank (although the elevated configuration of my lowbuck setup does not make optimal use of those 240w, it is proably at least comparable to 180-200w of optimal lighting) James

Vic: Left on the surface long enough....possibly, but for a few minutes, I wouldn't expect any problems. Many years ago, I spent one shift as a tank watch at the pulp mill in Gr. Prairie. My job was to watch out for the crew inside a very large wooden tank lined with RTV matting. They were repairing the odd spot where the matting(which has an frp backing which is laminated to the wood) had delaminated. ANYWAY, where I was going with this is this was a tank used the storage of HYPO (sorry, cant remember the proper chemical name), which the workers described to me as being "like JAVEX". So, if RTV can stand up to 24/7/365 exposure, 5 or 10 minutes of exposure to easyoff isn't going to be an isue:) James

For application, the main this is to have the surface CLEANCLEANCLEAN....and MASK the three sides and top, as enamel overspray will go places you never imagined if allowed!....and stick quite well too For removal: If you use any of the readily available enamel spraybombs, one quick dose of easy-off and a spritz with a garden hose should get rid of them (assuming you can move it outside:). A razorblade will also work, just a little more sweat equity involved:) James

Jerry: How big is the tank, and how many watts of light ?? I'm no expert, but IME, having LOTS of light on a tank makes all the difference, as using the flash usually results in glare. If you absolutely need to use the flash, try be at an angle to the tank, as opposed to straight on, this will help reduce the glare/reflection of the flash some. Haven't done much lately, but here is a link to my hokey site w/pics from back when my tank was thriving ...and there are even a couple shots of the Threadfin Rainbows I had back then:) http://www.connect.ab.ca/~jamesdfo/ HTH James

Jason: Try different bulbs first (yah, it's rare for both to go at the same time, but it CAN occur)....if it's a no go, you can pick up Fulham Electronic ballasts at one place in the west end (the name of the place escapes me), but they are on the corner of 149st, directly east of COSTCO. The Fulham's are not cheap, but they last, do a good job, and are what comes in all of AH Supply's kits. EDIT: The outfit is Electrical Wholesalers (Edmonton) Ltd, thir address is 14830-124Ave. Ph # 451-2311 or Southside 4248-99St Ph # 432-2400 HTH James

Tanker: Did you ever consider a) Feeding less food b)more frequent or larger % water changes here is a GREAt link.... http://home.ptd.net/~jdietsch/algae.html James ================================================================================ =====================

Good article No definitive answers, but makes the laymen more concious of some of the things to consider. Before I bought my 90g (48x18x24), I really wanted a 125g (48x24x24). the bigger footprint of the 125 makes aquascaping/terracing that much easier:) BUT, I was living in a rented fourplex, and after talking to one of my co-workers (a civil engineer), he was sceptical that most residential floors would even take the 90g (pffffftttt, they are too conservative !!) So, I decided to play it safe®, and bought the 90g. BUT I did design a stand that would spread the load over as great an area as possible. I have posted this before, but it is relevant to the topic, so here we go again:) http://albertaaquatica.com/index.php?act=m...=si&img=464 The perimeter frame design of my stand gives you much better load distribution. I think a 90g is OK, but once you go beyond that, more thought has to go into the process before move in day. Anyway J, I think 3500lbs on the main floor will likely take some reinforcing, such as doubling up the joists, perhaps additional tele-posts?? You didn't say, how big (gallons, footprint,etc) is this tank, and is it SW or FW ?? James