Ishkabod

Where is that middle top waterfall? I really like your photos Thanks for sharing L

Mantis cam launching in 3. 2. 1......... Well this definately isn't NASA Anyone know how to setup a webcam to the computer and have it record?? Good luck and Congratulations L

More than likely it's the Dechlorinator you are using. Switch to Prime. It may be a bit pricy in comparison to the others BUT you use allot less and its a much better product for relatively the same or lower price per use as other competitors. If that is not the solution then i suggest answering the questions posed above and we can go from there. Good luck L

I'm not sure about Beard algae if it is BBA or not but with BBA i researched and most places said it was a lack of KNO3. The other thing i found that acutally worked was double doseing Florish Excel. This works if you don't have plants that melt from it but otherwise in my 15 gallon completely no tech single plant tank the BBA turned a pale reddish colour and ceased to spread completely. i didn't even prune the leaves that had some on it. Those unpruned leaves are still green and growing with the dead algae still attatched. As for other types of algae you need to check your levils of the key nutrients and your CO2. Your light may also be an issue as mentioned above but i have not actually found mentioned light reduction as a solution before. Good luck Lisa

I have a crypt and when i first put it in the tank it nearly lost all it's leaves. It was nearly 5 months before it just went insane with growth. I don't do anything but water changes on this tank and not even root tabs or florite. Most plants need an adjustment period from what i have gathered so just be patient. Be sure to check your levils of whatever you are doseing and adjust from there. Good luck

Goldfish lower PH from what i understand because of pollution of ammonia. I could be wrong but this is what i was told once and it made allot of sense. If you are looking to cycle the tank then that should be no problem if you just move the filter over with the fish. One BIG reason is that goldfish grow BIG. Another is the temp difference between the two. Goldfish like it to be around 22 degrees and Angelfish being tropical more than likely will like it at 25 or 26 degrees and if not you still want to match the temp relatively well between the two tanks. Go with Cardinal Tetras or something like listed above that are found in the same region as the Angelfish. I'm not sure but there may be some snacking but more than likely not. Good luck L

From everything i have read even the smallest amounts of copper can be enough to kill the shrimp so unless you know for 100% that nothing in your tank or in your water supply is being contaminated or ever has been contaminated with copper then your best bet is to buy a test kit. It may be a bit pricy to get a really really good one but if you spend the money and find copper then you might be able to pin down the source and stop further contamination rather than spend allot of money on new expensive shrimp that keep on dieing. One thing you mentioned is the shrimp were at the top of the tank from the start and that the filter you have has very little surface agitation. The only thing that comes to mind is there isn't enough air in the water to suppor the extra bio load and the less hardy shirimp needed more and so they suffocated. It's a possibility. Check to see how energetic the shrimp in the tank are currently. Reading about shrimp one person states that most shrimp breeders use sponge filters which cause allot of surface aggitation but just a small amount of in tank flow so that the shrimp can actually move around without struggle. In one of my tanks to increase ovygen without increaseing flow i tilted the spray bar at the top of the tank up and had it hit the glass lid and drip down. Good luck L

They have some double bright LED lights on sale at big Als that i'm fairly sure would do a good job on a average planted tank. If you want Co2 and the works with delicate hight light plants then i'd suggest go with what works for sure. I have a LED strip light on my Cichlid tank and i love it but for planted I'm going to experiment with a small LED strip bubble curtain for 20 bucks and see what it'll give me in a mini planted tank. Good luck L

Epsolm salt Dose the tank at 1 teaspoon per gallon so for every 3 gallons put 1 tablespoon. You can get them from any grocery store pretty much(shoppers,safeway,wallmart,superstore etc) or you could possibly find some by raiding a females bathroom that contains a bathtub. You don't want sented or dyed or other ones just plain epsolm salt. Stop feeding the fish A few days of no food is completely fine even over a long weekend and never ever over feed especially africans. Many experienced keepers even skip feeding for one day a week. Switch to NLS ( I have and had a bad habbit of overfeeding my africans and had bloat issues so instead of guessing i switched and haven't had a single case since) I know there is another way to treat bloat that someone on here has described before and used with success Try the search bar. What i have described above shouldn't interfear with any other treatment you try. Good luck L

where is the gimnal eye clinic? I've not heard of that store. L

For the larger tanks not only is acrylic easier to move in and out of a house but from everything i've heard it's also allot cheaper than glass at that point. Good luck with whatever you decide L

I put cotton batting on the top and those little mini figures that look like their skating on a pond with the little houses on the light fixture(be sure to cut out holes for the air vents so it doesn't overheat. I wish i could post a picture but camera is down and phone isn't working right. Great idea and nice tank. looking forward to seeing more photos L

Personally I'd add support in the basement regardless of how new the home is. every gallon of water is roughly ten pounds so add a zero to the amount of gallons and you have weight and i doubt any house is capable of carrying that type of weight without extra reinforcement. Look at bathrooms with tubs and what they require for extra support in a bathroom for just a tub of water. Mind you they don't want the floor to sink as it might be tile and that'd crack but think about how little the amount of water is in the tub compared to the amount in your tank. Against an outside wall Might be okay but i'd add supports anyway. You don't want sag just like a tub because if you have a glass tank then that would cause it to be unlevil and that can eventually cause failure of silicone seam or even worse a crack. you need support period point blank. If you have a finished basement then maybe add a support colum and finish it by encaseing it in drywall. I'm sure there are many ways of supporting a tank like that but if you place it against an outside wall or even better by the outsidewall and have it resting on multiple beams not just one then you are much better off. Me personally i would never risk the chance that the tank could go crashing through the floor as has happend in the past. Homes are engineerd to take quite an excess of weight but add a 240 gallon tank and some people in the room and voila you have a disaster in the making. I wouldn't even consider it without the exta support. Google it too. I found some really good information on structure and tanks one time through google so you might want to try that. Good luck L

Maybe i'm crazy but i actually like the blue and black effect. Anyway Great job so far. I know what it's like to start from scratch and set something up. It takes patience to get it right and if you don't take the time to do it right you will regret it in the future especially if it's a larger tank that you can't change Have a great time building L

I don't know where you are but if you are in edmonton i have some you can have. I'll be at the ACE meeting on tuesday. If not you might be able to order some from a pharmacy. You only need a little bit as a little goes a long way Good luck L

If you have a sump get some duckweed or hornwart in there with some lights. Your cheapest option is somthing that binds ammonia. I haven't heard anything about prime hurting scaless fish at all and i have some and use prime to no ill effect yet even though i do occasionally double dose. This of course doesn't get rid of the resulting nitrite or nitrate but if it keeps the ammonia from reaching the fish in it's harmful form then you have yourself an option. A drip system of maybe a drop an hour based on 2.5 GPH wouldn't really hurt much and wouldn't build up since you have the overflow. There is one more option that doesn't involve more electricity(lights or whatnot) and that is an addition of Ammonia removing chips to the filter. You need to recharge them every so often but maybe look into that idea as well. Good luck L

Umm Could the filter be breaking the ammonia and chlorine bond and only keeping the chlorine in the filter pad? Ask them what it is supposed to trap and test the water coming out itself to see if that might be the issue. The filter guys might not see it as an issue since the bacteria in the tank itself could take care of the ammonia eventually. Good luck L P.S. you can find marineland drip containers that would work perfectly with prime for about thirty dollars. Locally i don't know where to go but pm me if you want an internet location

Me I only use vinegar for my glass or a razor blade and so far it's worked well every time. CLR will work but with plastic you have to worry about it contaminating the plastic itself and leaching into the water over time. Bleach is a very simple chemical(in comparison to clr) and we all know how to nutrilize it and hace what we need to do so. Vinegar is edible and will evaporate and when rinsed well is very safe. Good luck L

It sounds like you have the gunk taken care of and just need to be sure you have gotten rid of any nasty bacteria or fungus etc. Hard media I'd Boil in a pot. But what i found works best is a bit of potassium permanganate. Won't hurt fish in small doses and is very easy to tell if it's no longer active(it goes brown not pink) This is your safest bet. When i had to clean out a cannister what i did was put the input of the hose in a bucket of PPM(potassium Permaganate) and had it run through the filter. then i rinsed out the bucket and ran clear water through the unit until there was no more pink water coming out the other end. Once you see that you are good to go. beware that PPM stains hands and most porus materials brown. Good luck

Ooo i think it might be big enough for a atingray or two. Hmm very nice selling feature. Love the photos Especially the one with the grafitti in the background thanks for shareing L

feed her nls grow (available at natures corner store) and she should be bigger faster. Also from what i understand the baby bettas only like live foods so look into growing your own and i think there are some members here on the site that can sell you a starter culture or two of what you might like. I could be wrong though but almost any fry will thrive on it regardless. I don't know what kind is best for betta babies. Good luck. L

Yup BUT the person who sells them the aquarium will most likely charge them three times that or more so really gouge and screw them since they probably don't know any better or has too much money to care to check out the prices themselves What a waste of mammoth Ivory and T-rex bone.(much more rare than gold) L

I think there is the difference between this and an ugf. This isn't supposed to be a ugf and it looks to be designed to generate relatively even flow no matter if there is rocks in one spot and not another. This would allow a shallow gravel or rock bed which is perfect to keep a tank clean. I don't think it'd work for a planted tank or a african tank so it'd be limited to hospital tanks, grow out tanks and some breeding tanks but most especially KOI or Goldfish tanks. Thanks for the input L

It works really well for some plants(aka H. cuba) but melts others. It'll melt vals and... i can't remember what else. It also is great at killing black bush algae in a double dose. hope this helps. Have a great day L

I was reading my latest magazine delivery and happened across this. It really looks like what i have been searching for for a long time since i hate to gravel vaccume and don`t like to have my cannister pick it all up so i have to clean out the gunk more often. Check out the webpage and video and let me know what you think. Allthough i have garnered allot of experience in the hobby i have never used an Under gravel filter and nor do i have any idea if this might be worth investing in. Thanks L :well:everclean aqua