trevorich

This is exactly why i posted this here, thx for the tips/info all! I've also been doing some research on the nuts n bolts of owning a LFS online....

Hi all, I'm thinking of buying aquarium enthusiasts. What I am thinking is a store that caters to people with MTS in that I buy fish from YOU more than local wholesalers, and supply you with what you're really looking for. I don't know yet, i'm working with a limited budget so we'll see what transpires. And no, I'm not looking to go into competition with Natures Corner. I plan on swinging in there this week for coffee (yes, i'll bring timmies :thumbs: ) Anyways. I'd really like to see your opinions on: 1) what you would like to see in an edmonton fish store. I'd really like to set it up for the advanced fish keeper if i do buy it. 2) what sorts of fish are you breeding that you'd like to sell? 3) what sorts of livestock would you like to see? I know for a fact that i won't be carrying garbage. Only quality equipment, chem's, food, etc. I also know that I would like to see a wider variety of live foods (sometimes raising your own is a pain in the caudal fin). My initial thoughts are to have fish from local breeders on a commission basis for the rare/expensive ones, a store credit for average fish or outright purchase for cash, something along those lines. As some of you know, I'm a single parent currently on wcb but need a new career so I'm still deciding if i'm going to do this, please let me know your thoughts. THX Trev

So I have my FINAL stock list lol In this 300 gallon tank (8'x2'x30") I have: 1 clown knife 1 fancy finned goldfish 1 black moor 1 senegal Bichir 5 electric blue geophagus 3 f1 tin foil barbs (red fins with black tips and irredescent colouring of blue and pink through the scales) 2 red-speckled gold severums 1 green severum 1 mango pleco 1 chocolate pleco 1 eel 1 tiger datnoid 1 albino clawed african frog right now they are all young and i will be monitoring behaviour for quite awhile as they all grow together. Hopefully this generally peaceful make up will ensure a happy tank but we'll see. These fish can grow!! So i may be facing some territorial issues later. I feed a mixture of floating pellets, shrimp, minnows every 2 weeks, and occasionally insects. When I have my breeding program in the basement set up properly I am moving to feeder platies/guppies/swords. I am really suprised at the tiger dat. I seem to have gotten a timid one. We'll see what he's like after his surgery (waiting for him to grow a bit more to make surgery easier)

beautiful fish

not if you want your tank to live for long I didn't do a water change for 9 months. Monitored all levels and replaced missing water with ro water. I bred sterbai in the water. Also kept blue rams. I've also been reading a lot on the walstad method of keeping an aquarium that describes how to do it without filters, and even bacteria. I was considering buying a $400 eheim for my tank, but might be trading that idea in for black dirt. nice!!

probably the best idea to avoid construction lol. I even had to reinforce the floor under my 120 gallon in this place.

you'll need a beam in the basement properly supported. 2x8 have a low sheer rate. You won't need to go quite to the extreme i did but it will need to be done. Do you have construction experience? if not, i would recommend asking a carpenter or if you're doing it yourself you could consult a structural engineer....though they can be pricey...without plans, just a consult about 150.00. You are welcome to come and see what I did here if you're in the edmonton area. I put a 300gal in a similar situation. trev

not assuming any responsibility....what size are your floor joists? are you putting the tank against the outside wall? what direction do your joists go in relation to where you're placing the tank? trev

not if you want your tank to live for long

here's the link to the pics http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1153...mp;l=5d916f7166

IMO, no, but I guess it all boils down to what you personally prefer for lighting. As far as the sodium thiosulfate, I don't know of any suppliers here in AB. Keep in mind that if/when dealing with chloramine treated tap water, and larger water changes, products such as Seachem Prime are still the safest way to fly. seachem makes the best chemicals by far.

In these pics, I have "Burp" the comet. He has been in the tropical tank with the same/same type of fish for four years. he was 7" when i sold him a few weeks ago. He was my experiment fish. The black moor is named "lumpy" (yes, i have kids) and has been in that tank for 3 years. He's currently 5". I have had good experiences with mixing goldfish and tropicals. Yes the slightly higher temperatures causes a faster metabolic rate, however with proper feeding and tank maintenance I haven't had an issue. As for compatibility, the fish I have in this tank may be cichlids/predators, they are pretty benign with tankmates that are too big to eat. Though the jury is still out on the jack dempsey. In my experience, if a pleco doesn't have enough to eat, plecos will go after the slime coat on any fish. The key is to maintain a proper diet with pleco's to prevent this from occuring at all. Over the years I've had many people look in my tank and tell me "you can't do that" I just smile. because of the colouration of the clown loaches being too similar to the tiger dat, i'm not putting them in the tank. I also opted for gravel instead of sand so passed on the elephant nose. Wierd that I can add pics of fish but any attempt to add pics of the construction doesn't work. I'm going to put these pics into an album on facebook. My facebook profile is under my name "Trevor Roehr".

In these pics, I have "Burp" the comet. He has been in the tropical tank with the same/same type of fish for four years. he was 7" when i sold him a few weeks ago. He was my experiment fish. The black moor is named "lumpy" (yes, i have kids) and has been in that tank for 3 years. He's currently 5". I have had good experiences with mixing goldfish and tropicals. Yes the slightly higher temperatures causes a faster metabolic rate, however with proper feeding and tank maintenance I haven't had an issue. As for compatibility, the fish I have in this tank may be cichlids/predators, they are pretty benign with tankmates that are too big to eat. Though the jury is still out on the jack dempsey. In my experience, if a pleco doesn't have enough to eat, plecos will go after the slime coat on any fish. The key is to maintain a proper diet with pleco's to prevent this from occuring at all. Over the years I've had many people look in my tank and tell me "you can't do that" I just smile.

for some strange reason i am getting "file too large" messages when i try to upload the pictures for this construction. the pics are around 2.5mb each

I think I have tried almost every fl. tube on the market, and IMO none of the hardware store fl. tubes come close to the natural color spectrum found in some of the lights made for the aquatic industry. Most of the standard hardware store lights give off a green or yellow color (at least to my eyes) and look quite sad compared to say a power glo/aqua-glo combo. BTW - many of the fl. tubes sold for freshwater aquariums run $20-25, not $40, and IMO are well worth the extra cost, especially when in fish only systems you can run those $20 fl. lights for 4-5 years. YMMV With regards to water changes, if you live in a city that doesn't use chloramine to treat the tap water (chlorine only) by far the most cost effective way to treat your water is via sodium thiosulfate. http://www.syndel.com/Sodium-Thiosulfate-P51C9.aspx 18.18 kg's (40 pounds) for $125 CAD is by far the best price I have found for this product in Canada. Even if you run a few thousand gallons in your fish room, most of your current fish would be dead from old age before you used 40 pounds up. There are a number of formulas posted online, such as DOSAGE: Mix 4 ounces (113.4 grams) of crystals per 1 gallon (3.8 liters) of water. Then use 1 drop per gallon. My advice would be to purchase a chlorine test kit, and then experiment as to how much it takes for your own personal water supply. Also, remember to dose for max chlorine amounts, such as in the spring & after heavy rainfall when bacteria numbers are high, and water treatment plants typically increase the amount of chlorine. Why hobbyists that reside in non chloramine areas don't use this product is beyond me. Even with chloramine treated tap water, sodium thiosulfate could be safely used if one kept their water changes at smaller amounts. (15-20%) I read that article, do you know of any suppliers of this product in alberta?

I was wrong about the charcoal. the post on the lights: rona/home depot both have special fl. bulbs for day glo and for aquariums. are these bulbs not up to snuff? i have 2 fx 5's on my 300 gallon with a 3rd (extra) fx5 that i am setting up as a seperate gravel vacuum. My other fx5 is on the 120gal in the livingroom. hope thats cleared up now. water changes are massively important to the health of your tank, your fish and your plants. my goal with the gravel cleaner is to reduce the amount of wasted water through gravel cleaning by using a more efficient tool for the job. yes, the filters at canadian tire for pools is not meant for an aquarium. they do a wonderful job of augmenting your current system however. Further, with some diy research and aquarium experience, a person could make their own filter using less expensive materials.

just did my water tests and all is well. the new fish are enjoying thier new home quite swimmingly. I've decided against the elephant nose. I also lost a bichir, unfortunately he's been with me for 6 years and got curious about the siphon tube. I think he was nose first in there for about an hour as his snout was a blood red. he died 1/2 hour after getting him out of the pipe. sad.

I just built my own metal halide lights and well my father is a electronic technision aswell as my grandpa to you are right in the fact that they are the same lights but the problem with them from there or any other electrical place you buy to build them yourself is they are 4000 k or less and fish and corals need 6500k - 20000k so they are not getting the right uv that the sun provides but you can build it your self cheap to like i built mine which is 4 foot long with a 400 watt metal halide 14000 k,balist for it, socket, wood,reflectors,and a 2 florensent 4 foot bulbs and balist for it as well as bulbs, and two fans, and all wires, metal boxs to hold the balists which to buy the light that would do the same cost $1600 I built it for around $300 for all which includes the cost of the metal halide bulb which was $130 alone I didn't know that about the lights, having never had a salt water tank. Good info, just hope some folks find useful info here.

lights: first off, I have had the same question as a lot of folks about metal halide. turns out that metal halide and halogens are very similar. Get a chepo work light from any hard ware store for $25.00 and the bulbs are 2 for $10. Depending on your lighting requirements of course. Plants need special bulbs to thrive as do salt water tanks. rona/homedepot/totem/any other hard ware store carries 4' fl. day glo and aquarium bulbs for around $6. I've used ge's from rona for years with excellent results... the light is under your canopy so who cares what it looks like, if you don't have a canopy, they are easy to build. I use standard fl. lights on my tanks, yes the casing gets ugly but no one sees it so nyeh, i don't care. Calcium build up on your bulb cover has a simple fix, stop using it and raise your lights another 4". substrate: landscaping/garden supply stores. I just bought a 1/4 yard of 5mm road chips for $23. I asked for bags and got them free. I used 1/2 of it in my 300 gal. sand around the same price. can also get shale and other gravel very cheap. Just have to take the time to rinse it really well. bags of polished rock can be had at most hardware stores cheaper than pet stores. stands: buy the lumber and build yourself. far cheaper. also, sideboards or any other solid wood furniture where the sides are UNDER the top will hold most tanks. I have had my 120 gallon on a pine sideboard for 5 years now. solid wood for $150 at jysk (on sale). The big thing is the placement of the sides and the thickness of the wood for wieght capacity. You could also ask a welder to make a metal one for you and generally you can get it cheaper than retail. filters: sea chem makes excellent chemicals, the concentration is 5x what you normally get (one capful deals with 50 gallons of chlorine etc etc) read the labels of your chemicals to get more bang for your buck. the boss at natures corner taught me about water changes when i saw his system at work (he didn't sctually say anything but it was obvious what was happening.) I am converting an extra fx5 into a gravel vacuum with the outlet going back in the tank, this should reduce the amount of water changes I need to do. I plan on vacuuming the gravel once a week. second hand is a real good way to get what you want. check out kijiji, it's full of people selling equipment and livestock....especially those getting out of the hobby or moving. Some awesome deals to be had. I got my 300g for $800 and 2 fx 5's with a tank full of fish for $400. sold the fish and tank so 2 fx 5's for $100.00 is a damn good deal. Livestock: local breeders, fish clubs, and classifieds are a great way to go. big pet stores (petsmart, petcetra, etc etc) get lower grade fish at low prices so if you want amazing looking fish, go to your local "mom and pop" fish store. You may pay a dollar or 2 more BUT the quality is usually excellent and the fish are usually treated better....less stress means happy fish. You could also check out the buy/sell section here where a lot of good quality fish are offered on a regular basis. Do your research first though. I made this post in response to the many posts I see on here for info on cheaper products. I know a lot of you already know this.

So far so good. I just finished filling the monster tank and I am nervous but happy. Nervous as it's a used tank, happy that the 300 is up and running. Have to go into the hardware store in the morning and buy some decent clamps. The clamp i put on my fx 5 mod incoming water gave way about 5 minutes into operation so buying new ones and replacing all of em. Nothing major as far as leaks are concerned. I've been watching this like a hawk and caught it when it first started to drip. So some facts. I live in a town house in millwoods. The floors are 2x8 construction and this place was built 30 years ago. So as you can imagine, there's been a lot of sag over the years. To the point where the floors bounce when you walk. The challenge was to put the 300 gallon in the mainfloor dining room. There is no way the floor will sustain that wieght so I had to do some construction. I doubled the joists. With the tank against a wall thats supported by concrete I simply added a 2x12 beam with a 12"x 1 3/4" piece of timberstrand sandwiched by 2x12. The posts are every 4' and are 3 2x6 screwed together. This will enable the floor to sustain the load. It took a lot of work and time as I am currently off on wcb so did this with one arm essentially. ha ha After making sure it was perfectly level, I proceded to fill the tank, checking level and plumb every 75 gallons or so. The stand was made with pressure treated 4x4 posts and 2x4 frame. with lots of bolstering with miters. I have placed grapevine inthere wieghted with rock for a few months till the wood is properly soaked. I have elected to put a few plants on a beautiful half stump I found (all wood is grape vine from "just reptiles" on the west side by princess auto. I have 2 types of Crypto, and dwarf java fern. This will be the only plants in this aquarium. For now I have put the snake skin gourami in there to be the guinea pig as I just finished the plumbing this morning. If he's still alive in the morning he will be followed by the tin foil barbs and the jack dempsey. (the jack and snakeskin are available for trade for plants as I am converting my 120 to a heavy planted community tank. I am rather proud of my diy spray bar. I have set it so its on top of the euro bracing in the middle of the tank and have created a "waterfall" that eliminates the need for an air pump. Pics will be taken and up-loaded in the morning when the light is better. The canopy will be built on the 6th with the cabinet for the stand planned for the end of june.

not all dats are brackish, i have the species that is entirely fresh water. from what i understand there are 3 main types with 2 of them being brackish. hit a minor snag with the basement construction but nothing that can't be rectified so planning on having the tank running by the weekend.

I'll call you shortly and lol @ the kitchen table/barking oscars...

i highly recommend checking out kijiji on a regular basis. I recently bought a 90g tank with 2 fx 5's plus fish and other equipment for 400 from a couple who were getting out of fish. I sold the fish and the tank so the 2 filters were bought for $100. right now they are cycling on my 120g until wednesday when they go on my new 300g I'll have a fx5 available for sale at the end of june i think for $200.00 works perfectly.

Okay, I have consulted with a few people online and at the university and I believe I know how to help this guy (he's growin like a weed the way he is now but...) I will be doing the surgery just before he gets moved into his new 300 g tank so in about 2 weeks. I will have my daughter taking pictures of this as I do it. So expect new posts in this column in a couple of weeks. thx

Hi all, I'm finally moving along with my 300 gallon set up (96"x24"x30"). I'm trying to do a permanent tank (as in no mucking with it after its set up.....yeah, we've ALL sworn that before ) The stand is diy and as my dining room is where I want it to go, I am finishing up the framing of the basmement and the beam to support the 3000lb wieght. Being a carpenter has helped with this and, of course, I've over-engineered it. The tank will have a simple sand substrate with my current substrate mixed in from my 120 gallon. The 120 gallon has been setup for the last 5 years and has a very healthy ramshorn snail population. The ramshorns will spread through the sand and hopefully keep anaerobic conditions under control. For decoration I have put in 2 large grapevines with a half trunk grapevine in between that will house my only plants and provide shelter for my knifefish. I'm also seeking an appropriate sized rock to put on the right. If you folks want pics of the construction, I'll be happy to put them up for you. This tank will house: 1 african albino clawed frog 1 clown knifefish 2 gold severums 1 green severum 3 tinfoil barbs 1 fancy finned goldfish 2 black moors 1 senegal bichir 1 mango pleco 1 chocolate pleco 1 tiger datnoid I have blocked the sump holes as they are in the very middle of the tank and am running 2 fluval fx 5's. the fx 5's have been cycling on the 120 for a month now and combined with the mature substrate mixed with the new and the addition of bottled bacteria, i expect the tank to have little to no problems as far as new tank syndrom is concerned (i've done this type of setup before and found the cycled filters to be the key to an easy transition. But to be on the safe side, I am introducing the fish to thier new home a few at a time. one fx5 will be setup with a diy spray bar and the other will have the standard spray nozels. I am replacing the original in/out water lines with high pressure smooth lines. this will increase the water flow and efficiency. With the media and the new weater lines i expect the flow to be around 700gph per pump. there will be pictures uploaded soon. trev