African_Fever

Plants can be hit and miss with Malawians. I've personally never had any troubles keeping them with mine, but many have. I keep my tanks rather heavily planted, so even if the fish do eat some of the plants there's enough in there that they won't eat them all (cichlids don't even compare to silver dollars for plant eating capability). Jungle vals are my personal favourite to go with Africans, and there are plants similar to them found in and amongst many of the reefs in Lake Malawi.

UFA, farm supply Co-op, Peavey Mart. Just look up stock supply in the phone book.

Not too mention too small of a tank. Things may have worked for a while, but fish grow and their attitudes and behaviours can change drastically.

I believe it's actually VHO (very high output), but there could be another type called VOH.

Try using the hoses from the filter to fill a bucket. It sounds like you're taking air in somewhere and that's causing your issues. Make sure all your hoses are connected properly and not causing issues there.

Frac sand is usually free if you can find somewhere to get it. They use it in the oilfield by the truckload, so if you can take getting laughed at over asking for a couple 5-gallon pails of it, it's worth getting. I use it in all my tanks, and only once have I actually had to clean it (they need it super clean for what it's used for).

Have you made sure that all the hoses and tubing are cleaned out and not too plugged up? I've had some of my Eheim's for well over 10 years (one for at least 15 years running continuously) and I've never had that problem. If the hoses are fine and it's not just plugged up (it could even be something in the and around the impeller - have you cleaned that out as well?), then I'd try a new impeller. Best place for that is Piesces, up on Edmonton trail and McKnight.

$150-175 EACH is a good price for captive bred, and you might get wild caught for a bit less. Claspers won't have developed yet so you'll have to see them from the underside most likely to know if they're male/female.

They're currently in a DIY 200 gallon ply/glass tank, and I'm planning to build a 4x8x24" in the near future for them; after that it'll probably be an indoor pond setup of some type, but that'll ultimately depend on where I'm living at the time.

I'm just doing a little market research for a pond building company, and am interested in what would influence your decision the most as to which pond builder you'd go with if you went that route. Thanks!

My worry would be the polyurea bonding to the glass and cleaning the glass with a razor blade or even scrubbing (and the long-term bonding of the silicone to the wood). Honestly yours is the first tank I've ever seen with the glass installed before the coating was installed. Best of luck with the coating; the setup is going to look great once it's all done, I'd just worry about long-term durability.

Sorry to hear that Ryan! You seem to have all the crappy luck with your fish.

As skynoch said the retics, hystrix (true), and scobina stay under an 18" disc, but that's still going to need a tank 36" wide and preferrably 8' long. The retics stay a bit smaller, but have very long tails so still need the 36" width. It's definitely worth the investment and time with rays; they're such interesting fish to sit and watch once they become accustomed to their home (though honestly motoro's IME are boring and don't do anything but sit there).

Nope, sounds right. If you've ever lifted a 180 or larger they weight a ton empty. Most people take 10 pounds per gallon as a rough estimate for a setup once you take glass weight, rocks, stand etc. into account.

If you're only using your extra FX5 for cleaning the gravel then that'll work ok for that, but if it's a filter that you're already using on your tank, then it defeats the purpose by only moving the gunk from one spot to another in the system. Water changes accomplish a lot more than just cleaning out the gunk in your system; they refresh the water and get rid of all the organics and non organics that build up in the system that water changes don't remove. Yes, there is filter media that removes many of these, but it's expensive and not reusable, and used mostly by salties where water changes are expensive (and I don't even know if they make them for fresh). With freshwater tanks, why skimp on your water changes? If you're concerned with chlorine, get yourself an aging barrel and use that to age the water ahead of time and allow the chlorine to off-gas. Charcoal is also NOT reusable (I believe you can bake it, but why chance it?). It begins leaching everything you put it in there to remove after a couple of weeks (sometimes less, depending on how much it removed), so should never be left in your aquarium. Unless you're removing medication or clearing your water after adding new driftwood, there's little purpose to always having it in your aquarium. Canadian tire and other places that have pool filters etc; these aren't even close to what you'd want for an aquarium, and aren't made for the same kind of abuse. Flow rates are completely different, and water filters used for your house are used by many as 'scrubbers' on an extra loop in a sump to help get the water crystal clear, but used alone they clog up way too fast. The pool filters are made for all the inflatable (and some hardsided) pools that are now available; they're used for the summer, and most people who use them throw them out after one summer because unless they're taken down properly they leak the next year. Running 24/7 365 days a year is a lot different than running on and off for a couple weeks over the summer. The cheapest way to do a filter is to do your own sump; they're not hard, and there's tons of people on here who've done some amazing setups. Not to mention that you could make a huge sump that could handle your tank with a very low flow rate, saving on electricity used by the sump pump. There's ghetto, and there's DIY.

Is there no cure time for the liner you're using? Even if there isn't, after doing mine and jumping the gun by a couple days with water, I'd probably wait a week before putting water in. (My cure time was 10 days, and I only waited 7 because I didn't read; luckily it turned out ok). Also, why did you put the glass in before the tank is lined, and how is the glass affixed to the tank?

So what's going on with the tank?

Great idea with the freezer packs! I've gone out a couple times in the past for 'bugs', and it's amazing how nuts all fish go for them, whether they've seen live food before or not.

If you still have the tank and it's not getting painted, it might be a good idea to do a 'dry run' moving it into your house. With only a 1/2" of clearance to get it in any discrepencies in how square your house was built will change that. And better to do it before painted (if that's not done yet) than get it painted only to have to tear it apart then. Even if you do have it painted, it might be worthwhile moving the tank inside before you put the glass in because the weight savings will make manipulating the tank easier.

Plywood is also one of the best insulators for building aquariums with as far as heat transfer goes as well, so the 600 watts should be fine as long as they actually work. I have one 300 watt heater on my 200 gallon ply tank and it's more than enough IMO; it can get the tank to 90 without a problem (anyone recommend any GOOD controllers?).

Stunning Neil!

YOU asked people what they thought of your lid idea/design, and then try to make them look stupid when they offer suggestions? Nice work.

I love the silver dollar pics! Are they red hooks, and if so, how large are they?

Airflow for oxygen exchange. If your system is too sealed up, there won't be enough oxygen and CO2 off-gassing. With rays it's best to have their water as highly oxygenated as possible, so it's not a bad idea.

But Syno's might be the only ones to notice 'other' chemicals in the water at this time of year that prime etc. doesn't remove. Have the comp's been aggressive towards them? I had a trio of wild black calvus in with my big group of petricola's for years with never any issues.