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You can buy the plastic hinges, stick on knobs, and the cut out piece for around the back at most LFS. The hinges fit different thickness of glass so take a chunk with you or measure the thickness. I used a dice glued onto to glass with gorilla glue for knobs

I have tried Lucite (very expensive plexiglass) that was very thick and it warped down in the first week. Find some old house windows, buy a glass cutter ($5) ,a straight edge and a pair of gloves. It is very easy to cut the glass Sand paper the edges to smooth them out and use a single sided razor blade to clean the glass... How to cut glass

There are lots of lights out there that will put out enough wattage. 500 watts MH + T5 400 watts of T5 260 watts PC

You could use a dab of silicon to seal those pipe threads.

Could you lay a piece of glass on top of the tank, then put the light on top of the glass?

Pick a substrate that you like as it is very hard and messy to change it out later. You might find a few months down the road that you want to add those better lights and a CO2 source to get those plants really growing. I believe the "plant type" substrates hold the plant's roots in the "ground" better than normal aquarium gravel. If you are planning on having a fish tank with a few plants, then normal gravel will work just fine.

You could use a plant nicknamed "lucky bamboo" which is really Dracaena sanderiana. http://www.wynia.org/wordpress/aquariums-a...-for-aquariums/ http://www.dampopo.com/bbs/view.php?id=free&no=82656

Err... I can't see why either. I was under the impression it was much more fine and light than gravel. But I've never seen it, only read about it. Thanks for the link. The links work for me... you can always cut and paste into your browser http://www.naturescornerstore.com/NaturesCornerStore.html

There are a few different colors of flourite available. It also comes in black sand. I have always been impressed with the quality of the flourite, just the price is hard to take. There is a calculator at the bottom of the link below to estimate how many bags you will need. http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Flourite.html I would phone Nature's Corner for a price and mention you are an AA member and they might give you a discount Flourite is a gravel type substrate anyways so I am not sure why you would want to cover it with gravel.

Glass is very easy to cut if you can find some old house windows or tanks to cut up. All that is needed is a straight edge and a glass cutter ($5). Sandpaper will smooth the sharp edges.

It depends on your light levels, amount and types of plants in the tank. I am putting the same amount of ferts that you listed for a 60 - 80 gallon into my 45 gallon and still my nitrates are low.

Here is a way to use strong magnet with a cup and screw. The picture in the link shows how to use magnet to attach two wood pieces together. If you have a steel stand, you would only need the cup and the magnet. http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/page.asp...,42348&ap=1

48 watts of light on a 20 gallon tank will give you about 2.5 watts per gallon (wpg) which is not too bright for a planted tank. I think bright would fall into the 5 wpg category The Kelvin rating is not that important and some the preferred lights for growing plants are the General Electric 9325 Kelvin Bulb, but they are hard to find.

It sounds like you have air stuck in the lines. Pull the canister apart again, take off the lid and plug it in to make sure the impeller is turning. Fill the canister before closing the lid. There could be a ball (check valve) in intake strainer that is stuck as well. My hoses have caps where the lines come over the edge of the tank so you can pour water down the lines to fill them. There might be a primer pump on the top of the canister as well. Mine is a large (3 inch) circle that is really really hard to push. You need to get all the air out of the intake hose. Try to avoid a u shaped bend in your hoses where air can get trapped.

I really like the Seachem Nitrite/Nitrate test kit. It comes with a reference solution and the colors are easy to read. http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pa...MT_Nitrate.html

I have a Coralife Power Compact 4 x 65w light and 1/2 of the bulbs are not coming on. I swapped the wires around and all the bulbs still work, so that leaves the switch or the ballast is not working. I am going to rip it apart soon to test the switch, but I am not sure if the ballast can be checked with an ohm meter or not. Any ideas on how to test a ballast? If I need a new ballast, can I buy parts for these or use a different ballast (like cheap ones from Home Depot or Ice Cap, etc)? Thanks

If you used 90 degree elbows in the plumbing, they will really slow down the flow. A 45 degree elbow is better, but straight fittings flow the best.

They are located in California I think.

One thing to keep in mind is the amount of room between the top of a tank and the next one above. You need room to get in to work, add decorations, vacuum gravel, etc. I have about 7 inches of room and my gravel vac is too long to stand up straight.

Canadian Tire carries the Krylon brand of paints.

Wow... $8 a pound for rock + shipping handling... I think you might be surprized to find that a one pound rock is not very big!

Here is a set of plans... http://www.garf.org/stand.html

I found 2.5 pound bottles from a home soda pop making kit that I use as spare tank during refills. The soda pop company is called Soda Express. Some beer making stores also sell CO2 bottle for the home making of beer. A 20 pound bottle of CO2 (or propane) holds 20 pounds of product and the tanks weigh about 15 pounds making a full bottle weigh 35 pounds. You could always pick up a bottle of Seachem Excel to use instead of CO2 until your tank gets filled. If the hydro test date is older than 5 years, it might be a while until you get your tank back. Take your old washer with you so you can get a new one unless you are using a Perma-seal.

Those would be hydra... http://members.optushome.com.au/chelmon/Hydra.htm

Try a brand new razor blade. The do get dull very quick and it really makes a huge difference. NAPA sells a package of 100 for under $10.