angel al

Awesome pictures Jay!

I limited each shelf to 1200 lbs. Any more than that I think that there's to much sag to support the tanks properly. I simply used the plywood over the cross braces to add the extra support & then put the styrofoam over top to compansate for some of the deflection. Throw the mesh they supply in the gabage or find another use for it.

I have about 40 tanks set up on them. They're nice to look at, but once they have more than 1200 lbs per shelf on them they start to sag in the middle.Mine have been set up about 3 months, I actually took the first couple of sections back down & reinforced them & put them back up.I did the rest as I set them up. It didn't make a huge difference with the sag in the middle but between the 3/4" plywood & the 1" styrofoam I used the tanks aren't having any issues. The steel mesh shelves that come with that stuff went into a dumpster.If your planning on working any amount with your tanks don't go more than 2 levels high. Just my 2 cents of advice though.

I think they'll darken up quite a bit from what I've read.

You could talk to Harold, if not let me know when you're going to be in Edmonton next Jay, I have lots of both.

That's hillarious!!

I'm not sure about shipping into the United States but my experience shipping from the US is the shipper either has to be a "known shipper." Which means they have gone through a background check with their Homeland Security people & have been placed on the "known shippers" list or they can still ship with Delta Airlines. Delta for some reason still ships the old way "pre 911." They will not ship into Edmonton but will ship into Calgary. That has been my experience but others may be able to shed some more light on the subject.

I keep sand in the bottom of some of my discus tanks without any issues. Ray at Source Aquatics has the best discus available, they're healthy & very, very colorful. I've bought several from him & they're great fish.

I recently had the same problem with a tank I resiliconed. I made the mistake of putting the tight fitting glass lids to keep the smell of the silicone out of the room the tank was in. It had the same film on the glass that are shown in your pictures. I then made another mistake & filled the tank & put a couple of fish in the tank to start cycling, it killed them both in a couple of days. I left the tank circulating after removing the dead fish & 3 or 4 days later the film started coming off the sides in sheets. After it all peeled off I emptied the tank cleaned it & refilled it, no issues since.

Do yourself a big favor.Go over to Ray's house & have a look at his fish, put on a pair of sunglasses before you go into his fish room or you'll go blind. The color on those fish is unreal & it only gets better when you get them home. I drove 250 miles to buy fish from him & I'll be doing it again soon. Yes, they are that good.

I would move them. You may slow them down till they get use to their new surroundings but nature will take it's course.

I need a 24" x 72" piece of 1/2" glass i've called around in grande prairie but the best price i got quoted was 330$. so is that a good price? i havn't bought glass like this before. dose any one eles know of a piece that size new or used for a better price i would be will to go to edmonton if the price was right.

Try Aquagiant in Edmonton. I've bought glass from them at a reasonable cost & they cut it for me as well.

Hi there, I'm debating setting up and aquarium with the aquaterra backgrounds and

using the space behind it for my filtration. Does anyone have experience with this

setup? I'm wondering how effective the filtration is compared to a hob or cannister

and how easy it is to maintain & clean etc.

thanks,

Antonio (Tigs)

Actually I just built one a couple of months ago.I used the Amazon Tree on a 120 gallon that measured 48"x24"x24" & I installed a wet\dry filter in behind it. I lost 6" off the back of the tank. I built 2 side pieces out of Styrofoam SM help support the pressure from the front, I also made 2 supports with the Sm that I placed 8" from each end.The middle supports were cut 7" shorter than the sides & elevated 7" from the tank floor,the middle supports formed the filter box but allowed water flow for the sump.I then siliconed supports to the back off the background. Once it dried I slid it into the tank to make sure that it fit. When I was satisfied, I then siliconed supports to the side of the filter box, the back of the background,& the back of the tank.This supported the egg crate that holds the filter media in the filter box.I used 1 layer of course filter media, a bunch of pot scrubbers, another layer of egg crate, coarse filter media & then a layer of fine filter media.I built from the bottom up.I cut a 1" x 20" strip at the top center of filter box for the filter inlet. I placed a pump in each back corner & built a manifold for each with 2 returns each. I drilled 4, 5/8" holes in the background. I placed 1/2" plastic fittings in each hole & siliconed them in. Once everything was dry fit into place & I once knew every thing fit into place I siliconed the background into place. After it had properly cured I put the pumps, return manifold, egg crate & filter media back in.The big advantage to this filter is that you don't see any of your utilities.If you look really hard you can see where the water is leaving from but not where it's coming back in.The inlet to the filter is only under about a 1/2" of water so in the event of a power outage you only drop a 1/2" of water level if you install a check valve on the returns like I did, because the filter is in the tank it will never flood your house.The sumps normal operating level is 7". This filter has been running 2 months & I have never had clearer, cleaner water. As a testament to this I picked up 2 red mellon discus 10 days ago from Source Aquatics & they spawned last night. These backgrounds are worth every penny & the filter with the background included cost me less than $300. That's been my expierience with these backgounds & filtration, Very sorry to be so long winded.

Hi I remember a post about buying 50 pound bags of play sand to use in Aquariums but I lost the post containinh where it is sold, if anyone can remember I'd appreciate it. Thanking You In Advance ....Linda...

Home Depot has it for about 8 bucks a bag, if you want some, let me know & I'll pick some up for you. I'll lend you my sand & gravel washer, it'll wash 50lbs. in about 10 mins.

May I ask where you bought/made such a thing and do you have pictures? Explaining might be just as easy too :P.

Thanks in advance,

Garrett

I've got to wash some sand for my new 120 gallon on Sunday, so I'll take some pictures & post them. It's a DYI project & costs about 25 bucks to make, & I've never seen anything as fast or effective to get the job done.

Hi I remember a post about buying 50 pound bags of play sand to use in Aquariums but I lost the post containinh where it is sold, if anyone can remember I'd appreciate it. Thanking You In Advance ....Linda...

Home Depot has it for about 8 bucks a bag, if you want some, let me know & I'll pick some up for you. I'll lend you my sand & gravel washer, it'll wash 50lbs. in about 10 mins.

Hi I remember a post about buying 50 pound bags of play sand to use in Aquariums but I lost the post containinh where it is sold, if anyone can remember I'd appreciate it. Thanking You In Advance ....Linda...

Home Depot has it for about 8 bucks a bag, if you want some, let me know & I'll pick some up for you. I'll lend you my sand & gravel washer, it'll wash 50lbs. in about 10 mins.

My grandma has inherited a 55g tank from a friend (with no fish). She has never kept fish before and needs very easy, peaceful fish (unfortunately, she is too far away for me to help easily). As her vision is going the fish need to be at least 3-4" big, preferably bigger. And this is where my knowledge slips away, I know of many fish under 3" which are great community tank residents, but it does not help me here (I also do not know much about most cichlids and their habits).

So which fish get over 3" and are peaceful, preferably colorful, and can live in a 55g for life? No angelfish though. She doesn't have much money, so she won't pay much for fish (probably not over $4 per fish) - which unfortunately rules out most rainbowfish.

I am breeding Albino Bristlenose and can give her one or two, which takes care of bottom feeders.

All I can really think of are congo tetras and giant danios... Maybe silver dollars, but I do not have any experience with them.

Perhaps a dozen giant danios with a center piece fish?

Any ideas? I seem to have run out...

Severums would work if you can find some, & they're available in a few different colors.If you buy them small you can get them fairly cheap, or you could try your luck at the aquarium club auctions.

I was wondering if my school of rummynose would be able to go in the 90 gallon with my 4 inch angelfish. Most of the rummies are full grown. Also, would German Blue Rams work? Any other suggestions? Thanks.

I have both rummynose & blue rams with my angels, I also have red phantom tetras, gold nugget pleco's & some wild discus. They all make excellent tank mates.

Just wondering where to buy black silicone in Edmonton without paying an arm & a leg?

I can send them but no idea where to reply?

When you get a PM go to the top right hand corner above the message & you should see a small box that says reply. Click on it & you should be able to reply.

i am thinking of getting a used ehiem pro 2227 it is a good price and comes with some of the media it will be going on my 110 gallon tank witch has a rena xp3 on it right now the rena will be staying there it is just so i have extra filtration

i have never had a ehiem and was woundering if they are loud as it will be going into the living room of my house.

also with the filter being used what is the best way to clean it so as not to contaminate my tank cuz the tank has my group of wild caught tropheus in it and also should i be getting all new media or can i clean the media that comes with it

or would it be best to just buy a new filter

The cost of new filter media is nothing compared to what it may cost you if it introduces a problem into your tank. The replacement cost of fish & the purchase of medicine far exceed what little benefit you may see. You can always rinse the filter it self with a lite water & bleach solution, followed by a good rinse with water only. The Ehiem filters are quiet, excellent quality filters, you made a good choice getting it. Don't make a mistake to save a few dollars on new media.

Unless this guy is going to be a great customer, the time & effort you waste chasing a license are not worth the return you MIGHT gain. I think this fish store manager is taking himself way to seriously.

I picked up 6 Serpae Tetras today and wondering if anyone else has any experience with where they hang out in their own tanks, so far mine have been cruising the bottom and i wanted them to liven up the largely empty top space of the tank as well as add some color as my tank is very grey and tan-ish between the rocks and fish i had already.......perhaps theyll work their way to the top? also any suggestions on more top-dwelling fish would be appreaciated as well as it looks so dead right now, preferably a schooling fish.. any suggestions are welcome though

Hatchet fish school at the top & they come in a couple of different colors.Just make sure you have a tight fitting lid on your tank because they are jumpers.My expierience with tetras has been that they are bottom to mid range swimmers.

Where's the best place to find quality fish?

Fairdeal has awesome fish at fair prices! Natures Corner is also a great place to get good quality at a fair price.

I have read a little about the use of hormones in raising fish. Everything I have read up 'til now indicates the only benefit is for the breeder that in fact the use of hormones stunts growth, causes deformities and infertility in the fry.

I bought a pair of severums from LFS in Calgary and they were the same size when purchased (probably siblings). I bought a male and female. I bought them because they showed great color. The two of have grown, but VERY slowly and the female I would have to say is stunted. I dare say her eyes seems a little enlarged as well. I have posted pictures to show the size difference of these two fish. Both raised in the same tank, same food, same conditions.

I know females are likely to be smaller but after 6 months, this females is still only a fraction bigger than a loonie coin. The male, as you can see is not big, but considerably bigger than the female.

Can I suspect hormones? Does this mean my female (and possibly male are infertile?)

Are hormones to be expected when I buy from LFS or is this practice frowned upon? Should I tell the LFS my suspicions?

I just would like to hear your thoughts on this.

Back 15 years ago when I was wholesaling fish, I had a fish farm that I dealt with in the states & I had a long conversation with the owner on this very subject. He told me that he regularly split his discus spawns because a biologist he was working with said that some of the larger, faster growing fry released a hormone that inhibited growth in the smaller fry, so he would split them into 2 groups at the 3 week mark. He claimed he got better growth after that. Whether it was less competion for food or his smaller fish no longer being exposed to hormones I don't make a claim either way, but it is food for thought. You could try to move one of the 2 fish to another tank & see if the smaller fish begins to grow. It might make an interesting experiment.