salon_1928

Hi everyone – I ‘m coming back to Alberta Aquatica after a hiatus of about 5 years. I’ve remained in the hobby during that time – things just took a bit of a back seat to things like a new job, new home, new offspring and lately, a new dog. At any rate, I’ve decided that it’s time for a new tank and to reengage in fun and educational fish chatter. I’m picking up a 260 litre Fluval Vincenza on the weekend which I plan on turning into a Tanganyikan community tank. I’ve got some DIY projects planned for this one so it’ll be at least a couple weeks before I actually add fish. I plan to take a lot of pictures as things progress. Cheers, Stu

I'm a klutz at the best of times and that is just an accident waiting to happen... :boom: Cheers, Stu

That looks cool - I've already settled on getting a powerhead to increase water movement and this thing looks like it will skim and add a little bio-filtration as well. Anybody know if this will work with a Hagen 402 and are they available in Calgary (or anywhere else in Canada)? Cheers, Stu

I've mulled it over. Right now I feel like I've got everything dialed-in perfectly and I don't want to mess around with things to much. I think I'm going to go bigger by the end of the year - likely a 90 gallon tank. At that point I'm going to look at a canister or combination of HOB/Canister for filtration. Actually, that brings up another question - I've seen these neat little gizmos that attach to your power filter which help to remove the top layer. Problem is, isn't this at the expense of removing the crap that gets suspended in the water? I can see that a fair bit of it is captured by my AC300 as the fish in my tank stir it up off the bottom. I can tell its significant because cleaning my gravel is never as messy as you would think - also, my sponge is usually pretty dirty after 1-2 weeks. I guess if you have 2 HOB filters, one intake can skim while the other is mid-tank... Cheers, Stu

Well - I never did make it to home depot but this is what I tried to see if it would work in principle: I took a piece of clear flexible hose that I had laying around the house and notched one end in two places about 1/2 inches deep into the end and about 1/8 of an inch wide. Then I just held the tube in the tank under water (i.e. upside down like a "U") so that the water's surface was half-way up the notches and siphoned. It worked allright - the film is almost completely gone. I had the flow stop a couple of times because of my attention jumping around - i.e. keeping the end of the tube positioned at the level I wanted, moving it around to areas of buildup and making sure I was siphoning into a bucket and not my family room floor. All in all, it will work using the notched tube and gravity. I'm going to put something together that will work a bit better. Alternatively, I was thinging of going to a local pet store, buying a small vacuum and just modifying (i.e. notching the tube) to get it to do what I want. Cheers, Stu

Sweet - thanks everybody. I think I have a idea that's a hybrid of smokey's and rainmaker69's suggestions. Off to Home Depot... Cheers, Stu

I recommend an intervention - any dog deprogrammers out there? Stu P.S. Sweet dog - its always the nice ones that this sort of thing happens to...

:w00t: One of the female Ps. aceii I got from Gold's duing boxing week is holding! I had to look twice because I didn't believe it at first. I was gone all day yesterday and when I got home I noticed my dom. male and the female doing their thing. I've seen the behaviour before but she never released any eggs and I though they were just going through the motions again. Then I the bulge in her throat and I knew she had some eggs in there. My wife and I watched them for a long time last night. At one point I actually saw her release an egg but one of my elongatus snuck in and grabbed it before she could pick it up. This was, without a doubt, one of the neatest things we've had happen since we set our tank up in December. Cheers all, Stu

Yup, sounds familiar - I picked up my 4 elongatus this week from Gold's and Dennis recommended a power head for my set up. I just did a quick search on that power head on the internet - how does it work exactly? Do I set it up just below the surface? On my fish - I know I've got a lot! I originally planned on no more than 10 or so but a few people told me that if I did the work (frequent wc's etc.) I could go with more. Well, everything has worked perfectly so far thanks to a lot of good advice. My fish look great - My dom. male Lab and Aceii lood incredible. My wife calls my dom. male Lab the "Ladies Man." I had one Aceii that got picked on for a couple of days about 2 months ago but fully recovered. Other than that, everybody looking good and in great health. Cheers, Stu

They look fine - everybody's bright and alert - no odd behaviour or anything. i.e. no fish are lethargic, not eating, labouring, etc. Normally, I wouldn't really worry about it. Today though, while feeding, I could see the film clearly and I noticed a lot of bubbles building up at sides of the tank.

Hi everybody: Lately I've noticed a film on the surface of my water. I'm assuming its protein build-up. What's the best way to remove it? I've heard of protein skimmers but I have no idea how they work. Does anybody have a low-tech solution? Should I even be worried about it? My tank is 30 gallons and I'm really pushing it population-wise. Right now I have 17 Mbuna (Labs, Aceii and Elongatus). From what I understand, a protein film restricts the amount of oxygen absorbed by the water in the tank. My water is otherwise fine with no amonia or nitrites (thanks Neil for your AC300 setup) and I do a minimum 20% wc per week. A lot of questions, I know...Thanks in advance for any advice. Stu

Just a side-question to this thread...when you treat tap water with conditioner, how long do you have to wait before adding the water to the tank?

Eat KANG and KODOS...grow large with food... Cool Oscars! Stu

Hi Val, Glad to hear everything went well. I joined AlbertaAquatica after this thread got started so I missed most of the posts first time around. When I saw your photos, I was amazed - I had no idea a fish could recover from an injury like that. Congratulations! Cheers, Stu

Totally random would be ok I guess but I prefer the idea of rewarding accomplishment. One suggestion would be that if someone wins in a particular month, they're out of the running for the following month. Cheers, Stu

Hi Everybody: Once my tank has cycled, I was wondering what I can do with my AQ300 (or any AQ filter for that matter) to increase bio-filtration. Right now its running with the inserts that came with it - i.e. sponge and charcoal. A friend of mine told me that the charcoal insert isn't required all the time - just occasionally to remove certain substances. He mentioned that a lot of people like to run 2 sponges and I think I read a post somewhere that said this is a good setup because you can alternate sponges when cleaning. What about other filter media like bio-balls or bio-stars? Cheers, Stu

OK, I just couldn't escape my first post without saying something moronic. I meant Albert and Dennis of course... Stu

It's a 30 gallon tank. I'm pretty happy with the way things turned out. I added some simple structure: a broken terra cotta pot/cave, a cave made with some golfball-sized river rock and a piece of slate, a cave/tunnel made with an ABS plastic 2- inch "T" plumbing joint (appologies to any plumbers out there but I don't know what else to call it) and some fake plants. I coated the tunnel with silicon and gave it a covering of gravel before it went in the tank so it blends in nicely and actually looks quite natural. One of my Labs is in their all the time with its head just poking out of the entrance. I'll post a photo once I can dig up my digital camera. Other equipment: Aquaclear 300 Jager 100 Watt heater Cheers, Stu

A big hello to everybody on AlbertaAquatica. I'm probably the biggest newbie on this forum - my tank has been set up for just one week now. For about the last year my wife and I have been mulling over the idea of getting her aquarium up and running, both for ourselves and our 2 kids. It had been laying unused in our basement since we moved into our house 5 years ago. With Christmas coming up, we finally decided to take the plunge and get things going. On the recommendation of a friend I took a trip to Gold Aquariums last week. With out a doubt, it was by far the best decision we've made - a BIG thanks to Albert and John for their help. There is TONS of information online these days and I've read a lot of it but it doesn't replace the excellent advice of your local retailers. Ok - I'm only a few days in, but I'm pretty excited. I had my tank set up and running on December 8th (Wednesday). By Friday everything looked ready so I picked up my first fish - 3 Labidochromis caeruleus. I'm pleased to say that they look great. They settled in nicely and have staked out their respective turfs. I know its early and it will be a while until my tank is running optimally but they just look great. When things are more established, I plan on adding some Ps. Acei. Cheers everyone, Stu