uwish

Has Riverfront moved yet? I am planning on making a trip and thought they were supposed to be moving by Sept. Just want to make sure they are still @ their existing location...

I have 5 large and 3 small loaches myself. They are great fish to keep. Once of my largest is 7 years old and had him since day one in fish keeping.

I think that tank would be perfect. To bad I just bought a new one...

Well, Looks like a transfer to Texas is in my near future. I already have my letter and my wife should be getting hers within a few weeks. This means a moving company gets to pack and haul all our stuff to Texas. That being said...I have two aquariums that I am very fond of and have some fish that are 'years' old. I would much prefer to have them set to good homes belonging to the fine members of this group. I realise, some of them will have to make the trip back to a LFS but, keep this list in mind. Nothing will be officially 4 sale within the next 30 days as we likely won't be leaving until Dec but please keep my fishlist in mind and I will post more details when the time gets near. The reason I am being 'early' is our lives are not easy to move (like anyone's is but..). I belong to many clubs, including high power rocketry and shooting in particular which means I have to start getting rid of things I can not easily take accross the boarder. My fish is another one of those hobbies hence, I would like to get things lined up earlier than later. I have 2 x common pleco's ( 1 is 5 yrs old, other is 3) both are quite large 6 x clown loaches 3 are about 3 years old and larger, 3 are still quite small at about 1 year old. 4 x key hole 1 is 3 years old, 3 are 1 year old 7 x Bolivian Rams 3 are large and older (3 years) and 4 are younger (one year). 12 x ottos 2 x fake SAE both are 3 years old and larger (can be somewhat aggressive) 6 x tiger barbs all are about the same age (1.5 years) some neon tetras and red fin tetras as well as danios I also have some plants, not sure 'what kind' I am new to plants So please keep this list in mind if your are looking. My Rams and my loaches are my real pride, the others I would likely just be happy to have a good home for them. Nothing is up 4 sale yet but just a heads up. cheers S

you should be fine adding 3 tpsn salt. It is not necessary to increase the temp of your tank, the reason most medications recommend this is to speed up the ich cycle. Medications are not effective on ich when they are in the visible stage, though I would begin treatment right away. 83 is a good temp already I would submit, within a couple of days the spots will dissapear then the ich will be in the stage able for treatment. couple of things to note, if you use soft water or have soft water in your tank, medications with copper sulphate will not be that effective. FYI.

I think I paid $40 for my 10lbs tank.

I contacted Liquid Gas, Prax Air and Airgas. In general they do not refill CO2 bottles. Airgas (I think) said they would exchange mine for a full one. The ONLY place I found in Calgary that would fill my bottle was Sprouse fire and Safety on 9th Ave Downtown. Isn't very convenient but it was the cheapest and only solution I found. It did take them 3 days though, they only fill once a week.

that is a good idea, just be careful some timers are for lights only and they do have a maximum amp / wattage rating. Using it to power multiple things plugged into a power bar can overload some timers, as I found out. Luckily the one I use had a fuse but the side of the timers case was still blackened from the heat. So be a bit careful with that one.

true but leaks and things are hard to plan for. All you can do is have an action plan ready and your siphon handy.

This does bring up a good point. Fish tanks require power, and extended power outages are something everyone should think about. There is no real 'practical' solution from my understanding unless you have a small generator you can rig up and allow the filters / heaters to run for a few hours. We are generally not prepared for a major outage during the cold winters, something I have been thinking about for a while. There are some home generator options that run on natural gas up to 25Kw. That would allow you to run most things (furnace, FILTERS, and others like fridge, stove etc). But those options are in the 5 to 8K range. Big price for something you MAY never use.

As a 'general' rule that is true. But as the article did say, anything over 90Gal should be placed perpendicular to the Joice and against a load bearing wall. Does that mean you will run into issues if it isn't placed there? not necessarily, just not ideal. you are correct though, homes are quite strong, but they are not designed to have a large load in a small foot print and stationary.

Just keep in mind those tables can be misleading. There are calibrated assuming ONLY carbon as the buffer in the solution. As soon as there are other buffers present these tables do not apply. CO2 levels can be monitored nicely by using a drop checker which are 'relatively' inexpensive and much less subjective. Plus you do not 'need' to know your GH or KH levels to use them effectively. You do however, need to have a KH of greater than 4 I think. At least mine does. Hence if you have a water softener it can cause some issues in the measurement unless you use un treated tap water. cheers

is Prime the 'better' conditioner than the other stuff? or is it a matter of choice? I have read that some of the conditioner binds some of the heavier metals and then doesn't allow the plants to absorb them.

yup one of my XP3's did the same thing last year. There was PILES o crap built up around the impeller and because it is magnetic, it was impeding it's ability to operate effectively. My flow rate skyrocketed after cleaning the impeller assembly just like it was new.

Good question, it is slightly wider than it is deep. I would guess without measuring in the 44-46" range (51" wide).

I 'cheat' I have made ice cubes out of treated chlorine free water and just drop them into the tank(s) when it gets to hot. My 100G isn't that bad and ice cubes don't do much but my35 G upstairs, ice cubes can make a big difference. Fish love them, they follow the cubes around and seem to stay close to the cool melting water stream sometimes visible emanating from the ice.

wow, great responses. I think I have my new pressurized system right where I want it. Now, I have more questions... lighting. My lighting is ..basic. Came with the tank. T5 low profile dual 54W (48in) lighting strip. I know it isn't enough for the average planted tank. Hence, I am looking to upgrade. My understanding is the 2WPG general rule of thumb, I am thinking of going to something else. Can I have some recommendations? I am not able to 'hang' any lights so it has to be tank mounted. I was looking at the Current USA brand (4 x 54W strips) but there are quite a few like the Orbit or Satellite brands. For a 100G tank, would 4 x 54 watts be enough? the 'lunar lights' sound interesting, I currently have no 'night lights' so when the time shuts the lights off, the tank is dark (minus any room light). I did lots of research before getting a pressurized CO2 system, looks light the 'lighting' issue is going to take almost as must research. please advice a guy who has only had 'stalk tank lights' thanks in advance!

I clean my filters once a quarter and a quick rinse whenever I notice low flow rate. For me however, I can easily tell when one of my XP's is not up to par as I have the second one for comparison. As long as your contaminant levels (nit. ammo. etc) are in check, there is no need to clean the filter often in my opinion.

I run dual XP3's but in parallel. My fear is if one of them dies or something running in series would basically kill your filtration. I like having two independent filters on a large tank for safety reasons.

Air Liquide and Praxair can refill them at their Foothills Industrial Park locations. It's just such a PITA to get over there from the NW. I used to get my 5lb cylinder refilled over there until I needed it hydro-tested. Had to take it to Sprouse for that and when they refilled it, it was cheaper too. They also found me a used cylinder when I needed a spare. Agreed. I just picked up my tank yesterday from Sprouse Fire and Safety. How do you monitor CO2? or do you 'imply' levels by monitoring PH? Just curious as all the documentation I have read is saying 30 -50 ppm of CO2 concentrations are ideal but no one says anything about HOW to test levels... S

good to know because airgas and praxair don't refill bottles Oxypro in Calgary will exchange your bottle with a full one as long as the bottle has all the date and test stamps they are at 3664 61st Ave SE 403.279.5055 just found them doing a search for refills in Calgary.

nope, but now I just got a pressurized tank setup. Next question, where is a spot in the NW to get some CO2 for my 10Lbs tank? cheers

Someone refresh my memory, where in Cowtown is it being built?

Some standard NPK stuff. Nothing "special"

How old are your lights? have you changed your filtration in anyway... canister to HOB Lights are less than one year old and no, no change in filter set up.