Golfnut

I use prefilter bottom, and biomax mid to top.

My aunt got one 2026 from Pisces. I can belive how nice those filters are. I use all Fluvals (got them all with my used tanks). It was so easy to setup and use. I wish my fluvals were like that. Extreme good value... Andrew

Hmm ok, thanks guys! He eats floating pellets of some sort, but had no problems for a year. He was much better last night, but still had some tummy. I'll see again tonight and let you know. Andrew

HELP! What's going on with my clown loach? It's stomache became so large since yesterday....!!!

What are these two doing? I mean really? They don't seem to be fighting. These are my parents green terrors? They "kiss" for minutes at a time.

In Calgary... Big Als have 2213 for $99 CDN. Pisces has 2215 for $150 CDN. Pisces has/had XP3 filstars for $199 CDN. So use this in your pricing comparison. Regards, Andrew

Plant lovers gotta check this out! http://www.aquahobby.com/tanks/e_tank0412a.php -Andrew

I found a cheap 18" flourescent light from Canadian Tire for $7.99. I just built a box out of 5/8" plywood and mounted the light inside. I'll post pictures soon. This was cheaper than a new light bulb! Andrew

I found the Sifto salt that David is refering to at Canadian Tire here in Calgary. It's about $3.75 a bag. Thanks David! Andrew

Glass works well and is reasonably cheap. Why not just measure and get 2 pieces cut that can over lap a little bit? -Andrew

FYI... I picked up some coarse/Kosher salt from Superstore for $2.09 for 2 kg. Most petstores sell 2 kg of sea salt for $8+. I also saw some 20 kg bags of water softening salt at Walmart for $3.24 !!!! Supposedly 99.4% pure. Don't know what the 0.6% is...??? Haven't got brave enough to try this type of salt. I talked to the Winsor Salt rep in Calgary. He doesn't seem to recommend using water softening salt as it has a binding agent in it. They do have other purer products which are not sold in the west... -Andrew

Hi, My 14w flouresent fixture died. I tried a new bulb and starter and neither fixed it. Anyone know where I can get a cheap ballast? The T8 tube is only 12" long. The starter says FS-2 on it. I would replace the whole thing with an incandesent fixture, but since it is so small the bulbs would not fit in it. THANKS! Andrew

I recently moved all my fish from my 25 gallon into my 45 gallon. My 45 gallon seems to have a fair amount of algae. Looks like brush or beard... basically tuffs of the stuff. My clown pleco didn't seem to touch the stuff and it lived in the 45 all it's life. As soon as I put my "common" pleco into the 45. BOOM! Almost no more algae! The common pleco is chomping on all the algae like a its the last supper! It's poop reflects how much it is eating too. Amazing. I never would've guessed such similar looking fish would have such different appetites. ... just thought I would share this story with you guys...

Just picked up 10 Bronze Corydoras $0.99 each 10 Cherry Barbs $0.99 each. Can't beat that!

Hmmm, ok. I'll think a little more and see if I'm willing to put up with the work. Thanks for the input everyone. Regards, Andrew

Hi, I've been thinking about getting some Discus. I was wondering how much care is needed to keep some. I'm thinking of about 4 for a 33g or 6 for a 55g tank. I want to have gravel and some live plants. Although I've read that most discus are kept in bare tanks to ease cleaning. I was at Pisces and they have a *huge* discus display tank with lots of plants and drift wood. It certainly didn't look super "clean", but there were lots of discus in there. I asked an employee and he said it's just calgary water with no additional ph adjustment. Anyone own discus and have a setup similar to this? When you do a water change, do you have to match the water temp before putting it in? How often do you change the water? Would 20% once a week be enough? THANKS! Andrew

Oooohhhh. Cool. I never got into saltwater. Thinking about it hurts my wallet! Can't wait to see when you're done!!

Very nice tank!!! I have 2 6500K and one 5000K on my plant tank. I found the growth has dropped off after going to 6500 K bulbs. Seemed like 5000K worked better for me. You're obviously having great success!

Yeah NO HOB filters. They don't allow me to place the tank close to the wall and looks bad in my living room. I use HOB filters for all my tanks in the basement. THANKS! Andrew

Just reading about the FilStar XP models and they seem to be good too. Pisces also has the XP3 model on sale for $199. Thanks for all the input. I check water first tonight before doing anything.

Hi guys, Ok details 6 1.5 to 2" Ranchu 3 3" Ranchu (from auction last week) 1 2-3" Ryukin (sick) 1 4" Ryukin 1 3-4" Red cap oranda Several java ferns and one large crypt. The sick fish has cloudy eyes and looks like his eyes were "pushed" into his head. He was swimming a little this morning and I did a 15% water change last night to see if it would help. >>>> Ok for the filter. I just thought the 2215 would be good because it's on sale right now and comes with all the substrate and such. I have a 404 as well and I found it more trouble some to seal correctly (on my Koi tank). The 403 is on this gold fish tank. I will test the water tonight. I didn't get to it last night as I was very busy. THANKS! Andrew

Hi all, I was thinking about getting an Eheim. Pisces has a 2215 on sale right now for $149. I can also get access to a used Eheim 2229 wet/dry unit for $200. But I read this filter is only for bio filtering only. Not mechanical filtration. I've read the reviews of these and they're mostly good. I wanted to hear from anyone on this forum to see what their experience is with these filters. The filter would be an updgrade to my Fluval 403 that is currently filtering my 77 gallon with 12 gold fish (2" to 4"). Reason for the change... one of my fish stopped swimming last night. And was flopped sideways on a plant. He was fine the day before. This morning he was still breathing...don't know his state until I get home tonight... I'm only considering canister filters. THANKS for your time. Andrew

HI, I have a couple of 8" Koi that just recently moved into their new 50 gallon aquarium. I never put in any decorations/drift wood before, etc, but I think there is enough room now. Anyone have any experience with plants and Koi? I was thinking of tying some java fern (I just got last night at the auction) to some drift wood. The two fish are like vacumes and suck up most stuff, so I don't know if they'll suck up the plants too...? THANKS! Andrew

Nice!!! How about a overall shot?

Very nice thanks!