Ruadh

If you go to this page: http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_aquacalc.htm You can dowload "Chuck's Planted Aquarium Calculator" It will tell you how much KH2PO4 you can dose as well as the other ferts you should be using. Check out the rest of his site as well, he's got a lot of good info in there. Rick

The gravid spot on a live bearer is the large black area right in front of her butt. What it actually is, from what I understand, is the fry themselves. I don't know if an egg layer has the spot or not. I'm thinking not. Rick

I have a green sword female that I left in my limia triden tank by mistake. When they're little they look a lot alike and when she grew big enough to tell she wasn't a triden, I just didn't bother to take her out. She's been in there close to a year with 3 male tridens and for the last few weeks she has displayed a definite gravid spot. So, if a female live bearer has a good sized gravid spot, does this always mean she is pregers? Is it possible for a sword female top mate with a lamia triden male? Rick

Thankx Werner Now I think maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree. Mine is a planted tank and if I'm using the EI method, doing a 50% change every Sunday, do I really need to consider TDS. The reason I ask is because I've been blessed with an increase in algae. Not what I'd call a bloom but it's all over the back glass and rocks and stuff and starting to come on the leaves of the plants. I use Chuck's guide so I don't think I'm overdosing the ferts, I'm just trying to figure what the balance should be. I've got some swordtails that stay at the surface all the time so I thought maybe the TDS was out of whack and affecting them. Just throwing ideas out there Rick

This might be kind of a basic question, I don't know but, how does one go about testing the total dissolved solids level? I'm beginning to think I should be putting more importance in this. Thankx Rick

Did it come with packages of liquid for calibrating? Did you calibrate the pH monitor? You might want to see if you can get the instructions on-line or see if the manufacturer will e-mail you a copy. I'm not completely sure, but I don't believe they are "plug & play", mine wasn't. Rick

Hello all I had a Cascade 1500 on my 175 gal. FW tank and it gradually lost volume for some unknown reason. I cleaned it, cleaned to lines, no joy. I went to Big Al's here in Edmonton and got two of the biggest Rena's (can't remember the number) to replace the one big Cascade. Rena doesn't have one rated for a tank this big, which suited me just fine. This way if one goes down or is being cleaned, there's still the other. I think this is a great filter. The reason that I write all this is because I did have a problem with noise and the pump not working right which that I think was actually my own fault. After a couple of days running, the pump would loose prime and make a heck of a racket. I would go through all the priming steps, take the top off and make sure the tank was full and put it all back together. It would be good for a couple of days and happen again. Then today, it wouldn't restart at all. I took the lid off and emptied all the water out so I could start from scratch. It was then that I discovered that the impeller cover had come loose. The pump won't work at all if this cover is not latched. Problem solved! She fired right up! Now I have to admit that I didn't check to see if the pump cover was seated properly when I first installed the filter and it must have been just a little loose and worked it's way off. Just thought I'd share this with you all so if yours' makes a bunch of noise you can look at the pump cover first instead of sharing my frustrations. Enjoy your tanks Rick

Rather than go through it all again, if you do a search for "weight" you'll come up with all kinds of posts on the subject. The general consensus is that "it's hard to say". Since the joists are at 90 degrees to the wall that it's on, I would think that 125 Gal should be fine. It will weigh in the neighbourhood of 1500-2000 lbs, but ultimately, it's up to you to make an educated decision. How's that for non-committal answer???? Rick

Thankx Jason I have my actinics at the back of the tank and Colormax 6700K combo at the front. Perhaps When I get the new lamps, I should put the actinics at the front. Opinions? Rick

So, are you saying ceramic media is better? I have balls in my FW tank and don't know enough to develop an opinion yet. I have an Oceanic 175 gal. overflow type tank and I filled the outflow side with balls thinking it would add to the bio filtering. Good? Bad? Indifferent? Thankx Rick

Here's another tip: You don't want too much red. Red light encourages taller, more spindly growth. The blue wavelengths encourage more bushy, compact growth. Red plants require more blue light also. I'm guessing that's because they reflect more of the red wavelengths? And another: bulbs will shift their wavelengths as they age so don't forget to replace them regularly. Good timing Werner, thank you. I just put several Echinodorus plants in my tank and was wondering which bulb to go to, since I need to change them out anyway. Maybe, if you would, could you explain what the actinic bulbs do and do they need changing too. Thankx again Rick

With a DIY set-up it's difficult if not impossible to control or measure CO2, but with a bottle of gas and a proper regulator with a solinoid, it's a piece of cake. I used a differential PH calculation the establish my CO2 level. Take the PH level of your tank with the CO2 running about 2 bps for a day or two. In the mean time, take a sample (a cup or so) of the tank water and let it sit over night to let the CO2 out-gas. Compare the two readings and if there is 1 degree of difference, the CO2 water being the lower of the two, then you have close to 30 ppm of CO2. Adjust the CO2 accordingly to obtain the 1 degree differential. This is basically what you do with the drop checker, but I, myself, think it's more accurate to do the PH readings. Also, if you want to spend the money, you can use a PH controller to control the CO2. Rather, you use the CO2 to control the PH. The CO2 will stay at a very stable level, once set. Rick

What kind of trouble doid you have? If you still have it, do you want to sell it? Rick

Why not put a screen on the top? That way you still have an open top tank. Rick

So, this is just a holding tank then? You might want to consider only raising it a foot or so off the floor. That way it will bew a lot easier to net the fish. Rick

I just thought of a couple of other things. What kind of plastic tank is it? Is it a rubbermaid container, a lexan tank? This thing is going to weigh over two tons when you get it set up. That is far, far too heavy for a wood floor in a house without support underneith. Is it going into the basement? Rick

I see now what you're doing. I honestly don't think I'd trust 2x2's with 3500 lbs of water, unless you were going to cover the 2x2 frame with door skin. Quarter round is a trim piece that's 1/4 of a circle in profile. Think of a piece of dowel cut into 4 length-wise. You wouldn't use it in the build that you describe here, I thought of a different type of brace. Rick

Depends on what stresses you want to put on it. Plywood is far stronger in torsion (bending) than dimensional lumber. Were you going to brace the bottom of the stand? If that is the case, plywood, glued and nailed on it's edge, with the proper quarter round brace would be the way I would go. Rick

Drop this guy a line. Maybe he still has the co2 system for sale. Rick http://albertaaquatica.com/index.php?showtopic=20293

They're not open Monday either. Just so you don't make the trip there. Rick

Wecome!!! You'll find a lot of good folks here. Did you just come from Ontario or have you been here a while? Rick

A cheap pepper grinder works really well to grind up the pellets. Rick

That a a terrific link! Thank you on behalf of anyone who reads it in the future and avoids a problem. I'm going to suggest that the mod team get permission from the author to post this permanently in a sticky. I realize that Alberta building codes are different, but not that much and , hopefully, will give a person cause for pause and they'll look for further info. Rick

Are you sure another fish isn't eating him? Looks like bites to me. Rick

Thank you very much RD. We were discussing this and just not completly sure of where we stood. Sometimes it's nice to get a little bit of a technical answer to a question to settle our minds. Rick