thegrandpoohbah

Usually the mom will eat the eggs if they weren't viable.

Looks amazing as usual!

It just comes in the natural colour. In my pic it is a bit washed out because of the lighting. I think those are the GE 9325K bulbs in that fixture.

Funny, I had Target play sand as well. After rinsing the first bucket for half an hour it was still REALLY dusty. I was quite disappointed because I was always hearing from others how clean it was.

Here is some pool filter sand in my 5G betta tank at the office: Same sand from further away, this time in my 50G Saulosi tank (on the left): I love the stuff. It's cheap, looks really natural and nowhere near as dirty as play sand in my experience.

This would be a good place to start: http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/el-natural/.

Both Pisces and Gold Aquariums have pretty decent crowntails from what I've seen.

A terrarium set-up? If the joints of the intake tube are exposed to air the filter usually won't work very well. Try siliconing the joints to make them air tight. I had the same problem with a Rena XP3 on my turtle tank. After applying the silicone and letting it dry overnight the problem went away.

The light fixture was a DIY job? Very nice! Any chance you wanna share those plans with the rest of us?

A bit of advice, you really should quarantine new fish for 4 weeks before adding them to your main tank. Especially if they are from a store.

GBRs are usually peaceful (unless they are spawning) so that shouldn't be a problem. They do prefer warmer water and will require pristine conditions to thrive.

A dwarf gourami would be an excellent choice. I have two, a regular and a neon blue, in my 20G planted tank with a bunch of endlers and their fry. No problems whatsoever with compatability.

The XP3 comes with a valve attachment that you can use to turn down the flow. And the AC50 is kinda redundant and could be removed but won't hurt anything if you leave it as it's output is minimal compared to the XP.

Get a battery powered air pump to oxygenate the water. Most LFS should carry them and they are cheap. Then take the sponges from the filter and place them in the tank to keep the bacteria alive. If it's cold where you are then wrap the tank in blankets to help hold the heat in.

Easy way to tell: is there a filament inside the bulb? Even if the bulb glass is frosted (some of them are coated to alter the colour output) you should still be able to see the filament when the bulb is turned on.

Actually, Flourite doesn't absorb nutrients from the water. It is basically man-made gravel that already has the nutrients built into it.

Those are incandescent bulbs if I'm not mistaken. Probably not the best for plant growth as they are usually the wrong spectrum. Most LFS's sell screw-in compact fluorescent bulbs (the long ones, not the spiral ones - see picture in devocole's post above) that are meant to fit the older incandescent canopies. They are usually around 6500K and are very well suited for small planted tanks. Not cheap though, generally $10-15 per bulb.

The mechanical timers (the ones with the pegs) suck. Spend the extra money and get a digital one. I use the ones made by Intermatic. Originally purchased at Superstore for $20 each. Now the only places I can find them is Home Depot or Rona for around $30.

I do the same but go one step further by plugging the timer into a surge protected computer powerbar on one of the 'always on' outlets. The filters and heaters get plugged into the regular outlets so I just flip the master switch off to turn off heaters and filters during water changes but the lights stay on. Works great as long as you get a decent timer. Most are rated for 1475 watts.

Thanks! I'll check out Animal World on Sunday.

My GF is moving to Medicine Hat for her practicum. I'd like to set her up with one of my smaller tanks while she's there. Any advice on which fish stores to check out for livestock and plants?

Very cool! Do you have a big enough pond that you can keep them? A school of stingrays, not that would be cool to watch.

The crypts were getting chewed up pretty good so I have removed them. So far they haven't touched the val but the hygro has definitely been nibbled on. I figure that stuff grows so fast that it can probably recover so I've left it in for the time being. Too bad about the crypt though, it would have looked nice in that tank.

Pisces has some dwarf neon rainbows right now that look pretty healthy. You'll still want to quarantine them first though.

That looks amazing! Can't wait to see this up and running.