catshanon

I got a used Vortex diatom D1 filter for cheap and it came with 2 bags. One bag has a small tear near the top, around the edge where the plastic fits the bag. Is there any way I can repair this ? New bags are $32 in BigAls, so if I can repair it, that will be good. Also, the second bag is caked with diatom powder and can I reuse it or do I have to throw it away ? I am thinking that if I soak it in water, the diatom powder might come off loose, but will the bag still be effective ? Thanks in advance, Raj

I had bought Tahitian moon sand without water from BigAls. cost me 30 bucks for 14lbs or so and I had to rinse it for 30 mins or so.. The tahitian moon sand is the actual sand, the particles are true sand sized particles, whereas the fluorite is more coarse (at least the fluorite that I had bought)

If it comes with water, then I guess the water contains beneficial bacteria. Although what kind of beneficial bacteria is a big question. I had read somewhere that the bottled bacterial solution that pet stores sell to immediately cycle your tank are not the true nitrifying bacteria. I think you can straightway add it to the tank, but just to be sure, put some in a pail and then add water and see if you get a dust cloud. just a question.. Why did you buy the bag with water in it? Aren't those more expensive ? Raj

Some pieces of java fern can also give it a tree like effect , and this is what I have with java fern. However, it depends on the kind of tree that you are trying to create.

The parts that I need are as follows: 1) P24 : 2 strainer plates and 2 strainer strainers 2) P26 : 2 8" tubes 3) P5 : 1 turbulence tube 4) P17 : 1 filter charge 5) Diatom filter powder 6) Diatom filter bag. I just saw that MOPS (mail order pet supply) carries these parts, so will see if I can order from them. If anyone else has these parts and are willing to sell, thats welcome too, and thanks for the replies, Catmandu and Condor.

I think you need Flubendazole to clear up any internal nematodes. However, your fish is still eating, so you can get some medicated food that contains Flubendazole and Levamisol. Levamisol is for callamanus and Flubendazole is for other internal worms. I had bought a pack of medicated food from Big Als that contained these medications, but my fishes never ate the pellets. So, I had to order the meds from Charles Harrison in States. I can give you the name of the medicated food in the evening.

I had this before and I took action when it was too late. Check carefully to see if there are any worms hanging out from the anus of the fish. If your fishes are infected with Callamanus worms, then you might be able to see the red worms hanging out. When fish have callamanus infestation, they will slowly stop eating or take the food and spit it out. If yours are still eating, then the infection is not in an advanced stage. Treating with some internal parasite medication is the best option.

Really cheap and good use of material. Thanks for sharing this, as I will need to build a hood/fixture for my T5 lights.

Can anyone say from where I can get some Vortex D1 filter parts ? Online or local, doesn't matter. I found an online retailer in Philadelphia, but they don't ship to Canada. Thanks in advance. Raj

I believe if the fish are of the same size, then they can school together. Color of the fish should also play a part, I think ..

So I am thinking of stepping into saltwater and I want to convert my acrylic Aquagiant tank (25G) from FW to SW. The AQ has a wet dry filter and a canopy that I have to replace. I will put in 2 or 4 T5HO in place of the 2 existing T8s, so I know I will be good with lighting. The question is will the wet dry filter suffice, or will I need a canister ? At this moment my plan is to keep some green star polyps and some ricordea and a shoal of chromis. Awaiting suggestions.

Thanks much for the reply, Raj. I've been looking more into bettas and found out that they're "puddle-fish?" Anyhow, a lot of sites say that you could keep them in little vases or bowls but other people say you shouldn't So I'm gonna go find myslef a betta book. :P Thanks for the invite too by the way. I work evenings though which kind of doesn't work for a lot of people. Maybe I can come by on a weekend? Tots Sure you can drop by on a weekend. This weekend will be a little busy for me as I have some fish coming in from Calgary. I will make some time on next weekend and if you are free, you are welcome to drop by.

I would pile all the slate in one place and place them in the back 2/3rds of the tank and create a mountain and cave like structure with them. If the base of the slates get covered with hair grass, it will look like grass growing at the base of the mountain. Your driftwood is also unique. If you can manage to grow some java fern on the very top of it, it can look like a coconut tree, especially a coconut tree that is extending out to sea. if you place that wood close to your sand bed, then you can mimic the sand bed as a shoreline. i would create the sand bed in the front right corner of the tank and create the mountainscape towards the left and to the back. You have to raise the heights of the slates if you want to creat the illusion of mountains, so you can create a raised sand bed in the back left corner. Having slopes and valleys gives a more natural feeling and thats what I like, but to each his own. I think just by using sme mosses and hair grass and java fern, you can have a nice aquascape.

I also pointed this out to Tanker, and he said that he will look for new skins for the forum once the more important issues have been resolved.

It all depends on what kind of fish you want. I suggest you pick up some aquarium books from the public library and then see what fish you like. Some low maintenance fish are white cloud minnows, zebra danios. If you can settle on the type of fish you like, then find out about its natural habitat (freshwater : hard water or soft water, temperature, rocky areas or planted regions). There is a lot to learn and its an ongoing process. If you like bettas, you can keep them, but personally I don't like keeping a betta in a single bowl. I try to mimic the natural habitat of the fish as much as possible, so that they will be healthy and happy. A healthy and happy fish will translate to a happier pet owner. I suggest you start off with a small tank, between 10 - 30 Gallons. Compared to a betta bowl, a 30G will look huge, but trust me, after a while, a 30G will look puny. Better to start off with some cheap setups (look at the BuySell forum) and don't hesitate to ask questions. By the way, I am also in downtown and I have 3 tanks in my condo. If you want, you can come over and take a look at my setups. Welcome to fishkeeping. Raj

Did you make an aquascaping plan ? If not, it will be good if you make the plan (how much slope, what plants to put where ? etc.) If you can, just put all fluorite in the tank as then it wouldn't mix with the sand, but maybe a single bag of fluorite won't cover the tank's footprint. Some driftwood will be good but that again depends on the type of scaping that you are doing. Is that a brand new tank and filter ?

Thanks to Val and Jaykit for the replies. I have a glass diffuser right now, but the bubbles are really big. I have a Koralia powerhead pointed towards the diffuser, but still the bubbles race to the surface. I will call up the other PJs and then see what AquaGiant has.

Okay, now I need an Elite mini in Edmonton. I have tried the Pjs at Kingsway and I was told that PJs doesn't carry them anymore. BigAls and Natures don't carry it either. Should i try other PJ locations and Petsmart ? I really need this as my CO2 is bubbling out in big bubbles. I had built a DIY reactor but that is not working very well. Raj

What happened with Goldy was that he fed the CO2 into the canister and most probably his tank was saturated with CO2. If you are not using pressurized CO2, then its no concern to you. Even if you have DIY CO2, I would suggest, not to pump CO2 for a day. Thats why I suggested to use an airstone for a day to keep oxygen levels high. Also, you have to worry about the pH. If you use normal water and don't mess around with the pH, then you will be fine with such a big water change. If you have a low pH, then I suggest you prepare the water first and then replace the water once your gravel switching out is finished.

I recently changed some of the substrate from my 50G planted and what I did was scoop out the sand in small portions until I had removed all of it. It sure did stir up a whole lot of detritus and the tank was cloudy for 3 or 4hours. I would suggest the following: Take out some water so its easy to work inside the tank. Uproot the plants and place them aside Take out all of the old gravel at one go and start putting in sand. When you are putting in sand, be careful that the sand doesn't get sucked up by the filter intakes. (Maybe shutting off filter for that time is good). When sand has been put in, restart the filters and wait for cloudiness to end. Replant and put in an airstone (just for a day). I think you should be fine with this routine.

Not to hijack your thread, but if you need sand, and are making the trip to Edmonton sometime soon, I can give you lots. I have taken down one of my planted tank and most of the sand (playsand) is heavily mixed with black fluorite.

The duration of light also depends on the amount of light that you have. If you have 5 or more WPG then I think lights can be on for 6-7 hours. Personally, my lights come on at 8am and they go off at noon and then they come back again at 3pm and stay on till 10pm. With this schedule, I have some hair algae, but nothing more. So, I have them on for 11 hours and I have 4 WPG. It will be best if you can stagger your lighting, like have the brightest during midday and then have a dawn to dusk effect. Algae also depends on other factors, like too much nutrients that your plants cannot soak up. I do a gravel vac twice in a month, and thats because I am just lazy. However, I do get a lot of gunk as my magnum's flow reduces significantly after 3 weeks. I just don't like to stir up the gravel and uproot the plants, so I minimize the number of gravel vacs.

I gave it some thought and building the reflectors exactly is out of the question. The Tek reflectors had 10 angles in it while the newer TekII has 29 angles. Without a metal press, this will be impossible to achieve. So, I will order a retrofit kit from JLAquatics. They have a Sunlight supply T5HO kit for $132... Which brings me to my next question...Where can I get T5 moisture proof endcaps and mounts in Edmonton. Will Home Depot or Litemore carry them. I am just putting together a list of the materials that are in the kit to see if I can get them cheaply. Then I can just order the reflectors and bulbs from JLAquatics and save some cash. Thanks in advance, Raj

If your fish is sucking air in the morning that means oxygen is depleted and they have come up to the surface to get oxygen. I also experienced the same once. I have an Eheim and a magnum. The magnum's flow creates surface agitation, and I had unplugged it one night. In the morning, I lost a cardinal and saw most of the fish gulping air. I immediately plugged the magnum back in and then within 30 minutes, things were normal again. When you took out the plants, did you thin them out a lot ? I am suspecting that you thinned them heavily and so the amount of oxygen they produce was reduced. Also, if your gravel was not stirred for a long long time, anaerobic bacteria can create black spots inside the gravel. This is usually a source of Hydrogen sulphide, and when you stir up the gravel, this gets released and affects the fish.

White paint does have high reflectivity values, but I just found out that there are 2 kinds of reflection.. diffuse reflection and specular reflection. Diffuse reflection will make the incident light (light falling on the material) go in a completely different angle, whereas specular reflection will bounce of the material at a same angle as the angle in which the light came in. Hence the need for well made designs for the reflectors built of specular material. Here is a good link to show that: specular reflection Here is a discussion about white paint and mylar and other materials. I have cut and pasted from the source and the link to the source is at the bottom. The total reflectivity of a good white paint nearly equals that of silver, and is certainly better than any aluminized surface (mylar, foil or sheet metal). The difference between a diffuse (flat white or brushed metal) reflector and a specular (polished metal or mirror) reflector is the direction of the reflected light. Over water, that just might have some effect, for light nearly parallel to the water surface is reflected away, while 96% or so of that incident nearly directly on the water does penetrate and go on into the water. Diffuse reflection scatters in all directions, so some of the light must go back toward the tube or off at a shallow angle. Really efficient specular designs (The McDonald's Golden Arches cross section, for example) could, in theory, direct more of the light in proper directions to go into the water better. Be sure and re-polish them weekly, though. :-) White paint has the huge advantage that the *shape* of the reflector is totally non-critical, where shiny reflectors need careful shape-control for any real efficiency advantage. discussion about white paint vs other materials