Boom

Ok, so despite being very very busy with woodworking, I've not posted any new pics lately. So here are a few. I built this candle holder for my wife. It's made out of Cocobolo, which is an expensive, exotic wood. The legs are made of paduak. The pictures just don't do this one justice. I'll make more of these to sell if people are interested. All our friends really love this one. PM me if you want me to make one for you! Boom :boom:

RedO, have a look at my thread again. I have links there to a plumbing calculator to figure out what size pvc to use for drains and returns. 2 1" drains is NOT gonna be enough. Also, your pump is rather small for a 410 gallon tank. Once you calculate loss for head height and bends, your gonna be under 2000gph. That means your filtering the tank water less than 5 times per hour. 6 - 10 times per hour is preferred, especially for big messy fish like you have. But thats up to you, if it were me I'd run two of those pumps, or get a bigger one. You can do a standpipe (or two) for the drains without overflow boxes, that's fine. But before you decide to NOT use an overflow, read up on them a bit more and find out why they are used. I think you may be missing the reason that they are used and are beneficial. I really have no idea what your talking about with the bathtub analogy. Terms like "out take" don't make sense. An out take is a blooper reel from a tv show. In an aquarium, there is a drain, and a return. You want the water returned into your tank thru a faucet? If your just talking about the drain, then using a bulkhead and pipe from the side of the tank, as has been said, is not a novel idea. It's done all the time. But the reason it's "not as good" as other set-ups is t can be far more noisy, more prone to clog, and a hole in the side of the aquarium can be a bit more unsightly than hidden at the bottom. My recommendation for you would be to use two durso standpipes, drilled thru the bottom glass. Have them both drain into one side of your sump, or if the sump tank is long enough (4') you could do one into either end of the sump. Then have two pumps powering two return lines back into the tank. I've also sent you a PM. Boom :boom:

I've made the suggestion about the auto feeder. And I completely agree that the filter quiting was a contributing factor, but not the main cause of the nitrite spike. Hopefully everyone here smartens up and the other tank does well. I put an aweful lot of work into them over the past year and a bit. Boom :boom:

The decision has been made to shut down this tank. Another lady will be taking care of the other tank at work, a 20 gallon tetra tank, from now on. I'm gona concentrate on my home tanks alone from now on. Thanks again for all the advice. Boom :boom:

Thanks for the info guys. Blue-ram, do you mind telling what high quality spirulina flake you use? Boom :boom:

All excellent advice and information. But can someone tell me, does NLS supply sufficient algae content that these fish require in their diet? In the lake, Tropheus are algae grazers. Their mouths are designed to graze algae, and certainly some good algae growth in the tank would be benificial. But wouldn't a food higher in algae content be better than NLS? Is it a case that NLS is just "good enough", or does it have more algae in it than I know of? Boom :boom:

OK now I'm confused. Tested the water this AM and Nitrites 0, nitrates 0. WTF???? Boom :boom:

Thanks all. I'm gonna be talking to my boss here at work to see what we're gonna do. Technically it's not my tank, it belongs to Comms, but I'm the sole caretaker of it. There is a chance I won't be in this job position for a whole lot longer anyway, so we need to figure out if there is anyone willing to take on the responsibility if I leave. I will keep you all updated. For now the fish are safe and the tank will cycle itself. There's still enough crap in there to feed the bacteria for a week. I'll monitor the nitrites to see when they drop. Thanks again all. Boom :boom:

Jon, I have Cyprochromis leptosoma's in my 55 Tang tank. I may be willing to part with them PM me if your interested. They are always out in the open and all the other fish are too now. They are from Harold. Boom :boom:

Thanks for the quite replys. It's not a matter of "saving the fish" because the fish that are still alive from that tank (5 elec. yellows) I can bring home and put in another tank for a few days or so as required. The seachem Stability, if I'm correct, is supposed to be "bacteria in a bottle" essentially, right? I'm not an advocate of that and would rather bring some live filter media from my established tanks at home if it's a matter of quickly introducing more bacteria. But will that reduce my nitrite levels quickly? and why doesn't the Prime seem to be working to detoxify it? Boom :boom:

OK, so I feel like such a rookie (I guess in the big picture I am), but I'm having a real problem with a 33 gallon that I take care of at work. About 2 weeks ago the main filter on the tank, a Fluval 404 cannister, crapped out. The secondary filter, an AC70 HOB held down the fort until I was able to get a new cannister, a Fluval 205. Of coarse in the mean time, I lost all of my benificial bacteria in the 404. Also, because the tank is at work and numerous people feed the fish, they get overfed. I didn't clean the tank for a while, and as a result it got quite dirty. This morning when I came in to work, it was really cloudy and it smelled. So I did about a 75% water change and gravel suction. The amount of un-eaten food and fish waste was unbelievable! About an hour after the water change, 2 fish were dead and the others were looking very close. I quickly removed them into a 5 gallon bucket, and they perked right up. My thought at that time was I was having a huge ammonia or nitrite spike. And that I made it worse by stirring up all the "cr@p" that was in the gravel. I went to Big AL's, got a test kit, and some Prime. Talked to the guy there and he said after I dose with prime I should be able to put the fish back in the tank. So I tested the water, Ammonia at 0. Nitrite at 5ppm (OUCH) and NitrAte at about 20ppm. OK so Nitrite is the cause. So I added 2 1/2 capfuls of prime (says on the bottle in Nitrite emergencies it's ok to add up to 5 times the normal dose). Waited 20 minutes for it to circulate well, then added 1 fish back in the tank to see if it was safe. It wasn't, he died with 20 minutes. So I know the Prime doesn't get rid of the ammonia, but is supposed to detoxify it. But it obviously didn't So now what? More water change? More Prime? Leave it alone and let it cycle? Cause it's essentially cycling all over again isn't it? I was planning on swapping out the substrate in this tank anyway, gravel for sand. Should I do that now? Will that help or hinder things? Boom :boom:

Just delivered a custom made stand and canopy made for a 150 gallon for a member on this forum. He seemed very happy with it. Will post some pics once he has the tank set up on it. Also working on a solid walnut bedroom suite for my wife. It's her 30th birthday present. I have the headboard built and assembled and will post pics after I put the finish on it. Boom :boom:

I can tell you as a police officer that there is NO such law in Alberta. And even if there was, no one would enforce it. Thats just retarded. Boom :boom:

Maybe, but at 0.7", you'd never see them! Very cool tho, thanks for posting it. Boom :boom:

My Rena xp3 is the secondary filter on my 55. I clean it out every 2 months or so, but that's only because I have filter floss in there to polish the water and it gunks up faster than regular foam pads and such. On the Fluval 404 I only opened it once every 3 or 4 months. Boom :boom:

Thanks for the timely response. Your about 3 weeks too late. I filled the tank back up after 24 hrs and had absolutely no problems at all. No leaks, no harm to fish, I even have a female holding now. Boom :boom:

That is HILARIOUS! I can't believe you gathered that many screwed up fish! Actually, scratch that, I can, I've seen lots of 'em in different LFS's. That's great that you keep them all like that. What is the fish in the 6th picture? It has NO FACE! Boom :boom:

Thanks for sharing so far everyone. Keep 'em coming! Boom :boom:

I think Elec. yellows and acei are a great combo and would look nice togethr in that tank. I'm not 100% sure I like the setup the way you have it. The flat sharp edged rocks on the background really contrast the smooth round rocks you chose for the stacks. Also, the caves and such are kinda small, once the acei and labs get bigger they will need bigger caves. Just my 2 cents. I do really like the variable sized substrate tho,. That looks very natural. Boom :boom:

Exactly. Two kids takes up WAY more time than 1 does. Even when I'm in the shop all night I keep getting interupted for her feedings and such, trying to give the wife a break a bit, now that she's on the bottle. She's not a great sleeper. I'll be honest tho, I did get sidetracked a bit with 1 or 2 other projects that have eaten up some of my time too. Boom :boom:

Just finished cutting up and staining the trim work for the left side last night. Gotta install it, then a few more small pieces, add the walnut plugs, and then I'm done! Very soon now. Boom :boom:

Tell me what your favorite fish for a small tank is. I want to know what you like to keep in a 10 or 20 gallon tank, and why. What is the most colorful? most active? most interesting behaviour? easiest to keep? most unusual? Some people like guppies, mollies or platys (I don't particularly), some people would rather keep a single Betta, maybe a small school of tetras, others are after more exotic stuff. I'd liketo know what you like best that can be PERMANENTLY kept in a smallish tank is, and why. I'll start. So far, I'm pretty fond of Cardinal tetra's and Rummy-nose tetra's. Boom :boom:

Another vote for "YES". SIL 9 or 8 is fine, I have it in my 180 and 55 and it's very clean and nice grade for fish. Boom :boom:

3 Days now. All the fish are fine, no ill affects at all. And best of all, no more leaking! Boom :boom:

Any updates on your fish Lana. I have a peacock that has the same thing! Skinny as heck! Did you treat with Clout and did it work? Boom :boom: