BowMaster

I've done some more research on this subject and I'm reasonably confident that you can buy replacement LED's for pretty much any light from LED parts suppliers. I figure if the Finnex Ray2 does what it says, I should save about $70/year in electricity costs on this 125G I'm considering. I'm pretty good with a soldering iron and replacement 7000K LED's are only a buck or two depending on the output.

I use RO water so it doesn't leave mineral deposits as it evaporates. Have to refill it maybe monthly, maybe.

I first tried the wood stone method and set it up below the suction of my canister filter and didn't like it. I found many bubbles reached the surface and the bubbles that were pulled into the the filter seemed to build up inside the unit until the pump would cavitate and blast a bunch out of the spray bar all at once, making a loud racket. I through in the towel on that idea and I've been using a Red Sea Reactor for the last 7 years, its a self contained unit that has its own power head. However, they only last a couple years and cost about $75 if you don't run them on a timer. I recently found an inline reactor for the output of my canister filter, so I'm going to give it a shot. I like the idea because it seems nice and simple and keeps everything out of sight. Anyone used one before? http://www.tankscape.co.uk/co2-and-glassware/co2-atomizers/UP-Inline-CO2-Atomizer-12-16mm-(D-508-12)

I'll definately check out the Finnex website, thanks for the recommendation. @ Geophagus, I know in theory LED's are good for 50,000-100,000 hours, but I know a few people who paid dearly for their LED canopies and had individual LED's burn out on them, my brother-in-law had about half of his die after 1-2 yrs with no warranty help and he had to buy a new fixture as a result. Personally I'd be looking at purchasing replacement LED's and getting out the soldering iron, but I don't know the viability of this due to availabilty/difficulty, etc. Where one of these power compact systems, there are tons of inexpensive generic ballasts and bulb options that will keep your fixture alive more or less indefinately. My current Coralife CFL canopy has needed new bulbs 3 times in 8 years and the last couple sets I've purchased generics on ebay for 1/4 of the pet store price and they've worked beautfully. Fortunately I've never had an issue with ballasts, but they are available as well. To make a long story short I want low maintenance costs for my lighting/aquarium, that keeps this hobby enjoyable for me.

Greetings all, I'm considering upgrading my aquarium from my 72G bowfront to a 125G tank. The dimensions will be roughly the same width and depth, but 72" long instead of 48" @ 18"Dx22"Hx72"L. I would like at least as much light as I have now for my heavily planted setup. I currently have a 4x65w Coralife fixture with 6500K bulbs, which does a fine job. I want to use this as a base for my light choice, but I have no idea what the lumen output of it is. Ideally, I'd love to use LED for energy consumption/heat reasons, but longevity seems to be an issue and replacing LED's doesn't really seem viable. Not only that but lighting with enough output to compete with my CFL's seems like it would cost a fortune. Is there any way of figuring out what the lumen output of my fixture would be? I'm considering a 4x80watt T5 fixture which I think is probably a decent way to go as parts/bulbs should be relatively easy/cheap to come by and replace like my existing fixture. However, I'm not convinced 320 watts of T5 is going to cut it and the next step up is a 480watt 6x80 watt fixture which is quite large and would only allow me 4" of access to my tank top, if only there were a 5x80 watt T5 fixture... I'll take any help I can get. Thanks!

Thanks for the reply. My Feeding habits are identical and nothing else has really changed. I remember when I had my last outbreak, the snails were quite small still when the babies arrived, but these snails are 3 times that size and I haven't seen a single baby. Thats why I am wondering about these guys. Lyle

Greetings, I am wondering about some snails that I have in my planted tank. They look like ordinary pond snails, except their bodies are a redish-orange color instead of the normal pale green color. There are a dozen or so that must have come in on various plants. They seem to be thriving in my tank, but don't appear to be reproducing. This seems weird to me, because the last time I had a snail "outbreak", I had hundreds of the little guys in their and they were reproducing like crazy and were devistating my plants. I'd also like to point out that these snails don't seem to be damaging my plants like the others. They all spend a great deal of time on the plants, but don't chew holes in them like the others. I cured the last outbreak with a couple of pea puffers, that I brought in for a few weeks which did a nice job of clearing them out. Truthfully after that, it was over year before I had seen another snail. At any rate, I just wanted to find out if maybe these were a special breed of "good" snail that I have. One that reproduces slowly and doesn't prefer plants. Lyle

$400 for the 75 gal tank, a really nice stand, glass cover and a light. I'd say that qualifies as a good price. Thanks for the tip! not that good of price, i bought a 120 gal (6') with top and a steel stand for less than that. check around if you think ba's has the best price on ANYTHING Where did you buy it from? Was it new or used? Lyle

Big Al's for Aquariums in Edmonton has to be one of the best when they have sales, but probably only then. That's where I bought my 72g All Glass Bowfront. Tank, Stand, Light and Covers for $500 (Half Price). Even Henry at Natures Corner admits there prices on aquariums are hard to beat. Probably why he doesn't sell them. I recommend the Visi-therm Steath Heaters, I've got a 250 Watt for my 72g and I bought it at Big Als in Edmonton. Lyle

I can't remember because it's been so long, but these Soumiknight systems should be exempt from Duty because they are built in North America (NAFTA). There are plenty of competitive priced systems out there no doubt. But I trust this seller and I thought everyone should know they come highly recommended. Lyle

They are located in California I think. Yep, California. Here is another link to the eBay store where there are more types of RO and UV systems. http://stores.ebay.com/soumiknight-store Lyle

I just wanted to post a link here for an excellent online retailer selling RO water filteration systems. I have owned one of his 5-Stage systems for my Aquarium and Drinking water for two years now and it still works awesome. I just wanted to give everyone the thumbs up on this seller for anyone is thinking about buying a RO system but doesn't want to pay insane retail prices. If you have anymore questions don't hesitate to ask. Lyle http://jimstrains.com/?mainURL=/store/cate...d_Supplies.html

Thanks for the replies, I'll definately see what I can come up with. I will for sure take some pics as well, I'm sure this is a pretty common issue for people like me. Lyle

I'm looking for a place that rents (preferably) large food safe plastic barrels or containers. I want to move my 72g tank to another location while we renovate and want to get a couple large (55 gallonish) drums to use for this. Any suggestions? Lyle

Well, I went ahead and bought new bulbs. I decided to go with two Coralife 6700K bulbs and two 50/50, 6700K/ColorMax bulbs to change things up a bit. Not too impressed with [the retail store I bought them from] though. [Their American based Online storefront] sells the 6700K for $25, [the Canadian site of the same store] sells for $60!!!!!! When [another Canadian website and storefront, but not local to us in Alberta] sells for $33 with shipping. What's up with the gouging already??? They priced matched them, but not until after plenty of hassle. They were even so tight to only adjust there pricing to allow for express shipping instead of the cheaper standard rate. Saying that since we got them that day, "it was just like express shipping". Give me a break! I've heard good things about the ultra cheap ebay bulbs. I could get 16, 6500K bulbs shipped for what I paid for the Coralife bulbs. But unfourtunatly they are back ordered right now. I'm going to keep my eye on them though and stock up when they get more. Lyle

Hi, I am wondering about replacing the bulbs in my Coralife 4X65W Power Compact fixture. It came with 6700K Natural Daylight bulbs. I have read that these PC bulbs tend to loose intensity over about a year or so. I have had mine running for about 18 months now and have noticed a decrease in the growth of my plants. My Bio-load, suppliments, and CO2 perameters haven't changed much so I have to think it's the lighting. I was wondering about the differences between the 6700K, 10000K and even 12000K Daylight bulbs. The 6700K bulbs worked great and the color of the light was quite nice. But I as I've read about repalcing bulbs it would seem that there are no guarantees of quality. So, I was also wondering if anybody has any experience with these ebay outfits. I could get 12 10000K replacement bulbs on ebay for the cost of 4 6700K Coralife bulbs from J&L Aquatics. I will take any and all info on this subject. Thanks in advance. Lyle

Horrible stuff, absolutly horrible. To be honest, the only thing that worked for me was daily doses of Excel and physically removing the stuff. That means selectively plucking away plant leaves and scrubbing the glass and rocks. Be carefull not to over pluck you plants though, because they might die. I tried reducing the light but it had little to no affect. Don't let it get out of control, because it will devistate a planted tank at an exponential rate. Lyle

O2 and CO2 concentrations are not inversely proportional; high CO2 levels don't cause low O2 levels, and vice versa. A tank can have high CO2 levels and supersaturated O2 levels at the same time if the plants are photosynthesizing at a high enough rate. Turning the CO2 off at night is recommended simply because the plants aren't consuming it. This avoids wasting gas, as well as potentially toxic CO2 levels. A well circulated tank will have fewer issues because there is more contact with the air for CO2 to escape and O2 to be absorbed. I guess I'll have to check my sources then. Thanks for the clairification. But it would seem either way a dual timer system is the best option to reduce stress on the fish. Lyle

If you are interested in a smaller option. I use a Red Sea, Reactor 500, it is super small and works great for aquariums up to 125 Gallon. It's more expensive than the passive units but check it out. http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl36...reactor500wpump Lyle

With your WPG, I'd start out at two bubbles per second and test your PH. The amount of CO2 your tank needs depends directly on how much light you have. More light, more CO2. Are you using Edmonton water? If so, because it's so hard that it is forgiving when it comes to CO2. I run 3.7 WPG and I've ran over 4 bubbles per second and never noticed a change in PH at all. The way I see it, start at 2 BBS and if your plants are growing out of the tank. Then you are good. Bumping up the CO2 too high will just cause your tank to look over grown all the time. The other thing is if you can use a second timer for your CO2 please do. Have it turn on the CO2 about a half hour after your lights come on and before they turn off. That way you will leave more O2 for your fish. Because initially your plants take a little while after the lights turn on before they start photosynthesis, so at that point they aren't using any CO2. The more unused CO2 you add to your tank starves your fish of O2 more than they should be. The reason for turning off the CO2 before the lights, is so the plants use up the remaing CO2 and turn it into O2 for your fish to use over night. The point is avoiding having unessesarily high levels of unused CO2. Hope this helps. Lyle

Well, with the knowledge and experience available through this site you are definately in good hands. Lyle

No, not a bow hunter. But I like to think I have Mastered my Bow-front Aquarium though Lyle

Hello everyone, I'm glad to say that I have finally taken the plunge and joined. I have heard many great things about Alberta Aquatica, and I hope I can contribute some knowledge and experience and gain some more. I am currently a member of Aquaria Central aswell under the same handle, maybe I will see some of you there. I have only kept fish for about a year now. I absolutely love the hobby and am always looking for new and exciting plants and fish. I keep a 72g Planted Community Tank with Barbs and Tetras and about 16 species of plants. Some of you may recognise my tank from the ACE Aquarium Beautiful contest. Here is a pic of my tank. Lyle