uwish

Greetings, Been using a bubble ladder for the past year with no real great effects other than it prevents my plants from rotting. Just enough to keep them green really. So, I switched to a power head style diffuser using the same DIY CO2 generator and my plants are suffering. I am having trouble figuring this out: Under my 'old' ladder system the bubbles would decrease in size to about 50% from when they entered the ladder to when they worked there way to the top and surface. Now, I would say a 90% reduction in the size of the bubbles since moving to the power head style diffuser. Then why are my plants doing worse? I do not have anything special in the substrate besides gravel, I realize this isn't the best when attempting to keep plants however, I fail to understand why there appears to be less CO2 in the tank now than before? thoughts would be appreciated? Tank size 100Gal

wow, great stuff!

that base is more than enough. No worries there.

also have two XP3's on my 90Gal. Love them, never had an issue and they have both been running continuously for almost three years now. I went with XP's after a friend of mine had issue after issue with his Fluval. I may be somewhat biased though as I have never owned any other canister filter other than a RENA.

As long as you have the plastic hinge you can get glass cut anywhere nope, another issue, both hinges are now snapped

Greetings! just wondering if there is a place in town that stocks tank lids? I bought an Oceanic tank about 3 years ago (90G) and it have the split lid design, but they are getting a little beat up. Originally purchased from Big Al's in Calgary (now defunct). Any suggestions or thoughts?

You must have picked it up from a local seller, not a LFS. Do they have any more? I have 3, 3 year old CL and I love them! Growing nicely in my 90G

Get a real tank! GAWD! beautiful!!!

I also have a 90G tank with 2L bottles, it is becoming a pain to keep filling them up weekly plus I go threw quite a bit of sugar! I also have this DIY set up on my 35 G tank, I don't mind the 2L bottle on that one. Can anyone suggest a good complete setup for a 90G? I think it may be time to upgrade to a pressurized system.... cheers

exactly what I suspected, so my original heater is still fine, that is internal oil? Why would there be any oil in these things?

I have noticed that every heater I have bought has a "water" line that says do not submerse beyond, yet on the box it says fully submersible. I just bought a new 250W Jaber heater with the same comments. It specifically says in the inserted instructions do NOT submerse beyond the water line, yet on the box itself it says fully submersible. I had another Jaber before this that I totally submerged but after 1.3 years I noticed some condensation on the inside of the heater, hence I bought another one. I know everyone does it, I see these heaters totally submerged underwater but yet the instructions say not to. Is this just to "cover" their bacon in case of a short? I really don't like my heater sticking out of the top of my 90 Gal...looks somewhat foolish. Thoughts?

i can not see the pics?

While it would seem that live plants helps "filter" the contaminants in the water, you would need a large amount of plants in order to cut back on water changes. Unless your tank is literally over run with live plants, I would not cut back on the water changes. Make sure you have a good CO2 generator of some kind as the plants will likely not do well with out one.

They had 5 yr old loaches on for $69, I am not sure what their older one are going for...

Just curious if anyone keeps these guys. I was thinking of a Pirahna tank but saw some stuff on the Water Wolves website about these African Tigers. Mean looking fish!

I tend towards overkill. I have two XP3's on my 90Gal, I perfer to move more water than not enough, I know one should do the trick but I was just not totally happy with the volume of water it moved. I still think these units are far supirior to the Fluval line, minus the "new" one that is massive. I hear it is quite good, I think Rena should have done a general design review instead of just making an XP4 IMHO. Not that there is alot to improve on but still I do have some suggestions that would have been easy to incorporate in a new model.

I have been keeping Bolivian Rams for about 2.5 years now. Great addition to a community tank and only seem to chace their own species around but are oblivious to any other fish. It just seemed like a perfect addition to a tank considering my wife is from Bolivia!

I was over at Riverfront Aquariums here in Calgary today and I was shocked! I saw the most mosterous Clown Loaches I have ever seen in the 8 years I have been keeping fish. I knew CL can live up to 20 years but I was still shocked! All the literature I have read on them say they never reach full size in captivity, according to the girl there, this one is 15 years old. Totally shocked I am! That being said, I have two "old" (5yrs) loaches in my 140L and they are not small, but no where near the size of the ones I saw in that store. What surprises me the most is many people have difficulty keeping them because they are scaleless and prone to deseases. So far (touch wood) I have never lost one yet! I seem to loose the "easy" keeping fish! hahah :beer: cheers!

I have just started (WIthin the last month) using a 2L DIY bottle on my 90 Gal planted. I have noticed growth in my plants also. I actually read about it along time ago but was investigating all the commercially available stuff but couldn't justify the large cost associated with it. My bottle will last about 7-9 days before mixing another batch. My wife was wondering where all our sugar was going -roll- Oh well, sugar is cheap!!

I am currently using an Aquaclear 350 on my 35 Gal and two XP3's on my 90 Gal. They seem to be the right amount. I always like to circulate more water than not enough

Believe it or not I think the strength of the Canuck buck is actually starting to see some price depression. Gone are the days of a 38% exchange rate, many anaysts are predicting a 90 cent CDN buck vs the green back. But, I don't want to start any debate on the pros and cons of a strong buck. But, from the consumers point of view, its great!

Greetings, I have been keeping fish for about 5 years now, and I can say in the last 3 years I have lost only two fish. I keep a close eye on water parameters, filtration, water changes etc etc so I am at a loss on this one. I have a fairly new (2 months now) 90G tank set up with established filter media from another tank. I am running twin XP3's and there is good water circulation. I just tested PH, NH3 and Nitrates, all amounts are negligable and to small to get an accurate reading. My temp is consistant at around 29C. My issue is I have one Ram who is VERY dark, almost black. He is somewhat withdrawn and does not interact with the other Ram's. He is still eating however. I have tried to identify what may be causing his discolouration but haven't found much. I am assuming it is some form of infection but can not find anything else. This just started about 8 days ago, his colour change was fairly rapid over the course of 48 hours or so. Any thoughts? There is no other signs of infection, no marks or obvious sores...he swims fine so I don't think it is a swimming bladder issue, he is not bloated. Tank mates: 1 large pleco 6 other bolivian rams (2 female) 3 blue gorm's 8 tetras SAE 4 cories

no its just a "3d" paper background I got from Big Al's in Cowtown. Looks pretty neat I thought. I am surprised at how fast my plants are growing. They have been in the tank for any 3 weeks and its almost time for trimming!

10g tanks are subjected to large changes in water chemestry and temperature. It is possible that there was a spike and this is what is killing them off. I found it more difficult to maintain my 25 G tank than my 35 or my 90. Due to the small water volume, any change is almost linear and puts stress on fish. If the fish were in a weakened state to begin with, this can spell the end for them.

Thanks for the advice and fixing the picture. I agree I need to work on hiding the "mechanics" of the tank....