ronrca

wow! Thanks for sharing!

My first thought would be tolerance to ammonia/nitrite/nitrate lvls perhaps. Then there's temp and ph swings. How about more resistant to pathogens to add some more thoughts. Good question!

Lol! Walter? I am actually getting my membranes from Randal however I found a couple good sources of dow membranes and prefilters. When I see what locals are charging for the same filters, it puts a bad taste in my mouth. Therefore I figure if Im ordering some filters anyways, I order a few more as shipping doesnt vary that much. This way I can pass on the savings so that we can spend it on more tanks/fish.

500 members and only 12 votes!?? Come on! There has got to be more ppl with RO. Reason for the poll is that I have access to much cheaper sediment filters and membranes replacements. If there be enough interest, Id bring in more and sell them cheap. Just wanting to help out my fellow aquarists.

Yes, Home Depot is expensive. What size of membrane are you running? How often are you changing the prefilters? You have sediment and carbon prefilters?

What are you using for the black substrate btw?

For those that do have RO, Im curious where you get your replacement filters/membranes and how much you pay for them.

Whoa whoa! Tell me more. I can broker imports myself? Now thats what Im talking about. Please pm me with details if you can. If UPS will automatically broker no matter what, then no UPS. What have your experiences been with the 'mail' services then like time schedules and so on? Thanks! Ron

Talking about customs, I just recently had some RO equipment shipped in and got dinged an extra $60 from the shipping company over and above the shipping. Total value was around $300Cdn. therefore GST being $21. Do the customs brokers take $40 for their services every time? Edit********* Nm! I searched UPS and found their customs broker rates. http://www.ups.com/content/ca/en/shipping/..._clearance.html

I like hearing the reasons (or should I say excuses) why lfs advise you to cycle with fish. I suppose it is more exciting to see fish in your tank rather than watching a tank just full of water. If you are going to get discus from a local breeder (which is a good thing), contact them to find out what water parameters they are keeping their discus (not their breeders btw). You may find that adding chemicals to alter water parameters not neccessary. Im not sure if you read my response in the discus thread. :thumbs:I thought Id pass along some reading material. http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/water_...ral/index.shtml HTH

Wow! I see that seajays has a styro diy background. Sweet! At least I know who to bug if I have any questions! :thumbs:

Here is a revised pic on what Im thinking of. The actual rocks will vary however you kind of get the idea on the background particularily in the corners. Not to say that this styrofoam will actually work for me though.

Very nice! I also check out some of the biotope pics, Tom Nurses included. Yep! You've convinced me that it looks good! Here is another view of the above tank. Also, here is a link of an amazing styro diy background. http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.ph...ighlight=temple Certainly not exactly what Id put in as a background but.......wow I may not actually use the whole back of the tank for a background. Might get too much and I dont want to decrease the 18" too however near the corner of the tank Id like to use something similar to the above pics to help hide the equipment like the overflow. For example in the first pic I may not put any rocks in the middle of the background, just on the sides plus with overhangs, wow!

I know that this examples are with much bigger tanks however I love the effect of the rocks on the background especially the ones overhanging.

In regard to the setup of the tank, its unbelievable how many ideas ppl have. I have seen so many awesome setups its overwhelming. I have limited my selection to 2 setups. Here they are! Of course I will not be able to duplicate them and have no desire of however trying for a similar look I suppose. The backgrounds are diy stryofoams which I will try to give it a go.

Thanks Neil! Are you using Targets sand? I'll come see it then next weekend. Much easier to convince my wife to revo my tank when only spending under $20 for the decor rather than $90. :thumbs:

:welcome:

Can I ask why they had you do the cycle with fish?

Well, discus actually are not that delicate as perhaps you may be lead to believe. Usually what occurs is that keepers attempt too hard to 'match' their water to what they believe discus should be in. Well, discus, like any other fish have adapted to our water parameters and for over a decade have been tank bred. Unless you are getting wild caught discus or offspring of f1 parents, most discus are actually grown out in 'hard' water and high ph. For example my discus are grown out and kept in 8.2ph, 380tds water. The most important factor in being successful with discus is stable, consistant water parameters 100% of the time. This means aging your water before wc's unless your fortunate to have tap that matches your tank parameters. This also means no chemicals to alter your parameters such as ph or hardness. Its a waste of money and time which I found out the hard way. There is a tip for keeping Discus in a community tank. Get adult discus, not juvs. Couple reasons. Juvs require a lot of food and frequent wc's to grow. In a community tank, discus will be 'rob' of the food as tank mates will get the food first. While discus are aggressive feeders, they are slow eaters. They will take the food, spit it out, take it again, spit it out, etc, etc. By the time they actually eat their food, it is in the gravel and other fish have eaten it. Adult discus are also more confident and are not as dependent on the numbers. I have seen successful community tanks with 2 to 4 adult discus. All pictures that you see with discus in community tanks, the discus are adults because there is a reason for it. Dick Au actually explained this very well in the workshop. While it may work with juvs, be decreasing your chances of success. Also, discus are a school fish. That means 6+ and believe me, its worth spending the money for a school as I hear over and over again that their 3 or 4 discus are constantly hiding, not eating, dark, etc, etc. This is especially important when the discus are young. Security is found in numbers. HTH

Thanks Nev for the info. Have any idea perhaps when your fish will be breeding? Most likely I will not be ready until the new year anyways. Besides, I d rather wait for yours to breed rather than buying substandard from lfs. Initially, I will be going with a P.saulosi tank only. Well, my search for black sand has ended. Looks like I will be going with white sand instead. :grr: I called 3M and they only have 2 distributors that sell the colorquartz north of the 49th Parellel. One in eastern Canada (Toronto) and the other in Quebec (is that still Canada? ). By the time I would get it shipped out here, I may as well buy black sand at the lfs. No thanks since I can buy 100lbs for $11 (Thanks seajays). A little disappointed but when looking at the african lake pics, I see white sand anyways.

Thanks for the replies. I guess slag is out then. :grr: I hope I can find a 3M distributor then. If not, back to white sand then. I'll also check to see which cichlids species others have with the slag. Perhaps its alright though Im a little concerned about the leaching. I wonder if lessens over time. Big Al's has some? Hmmm! Id rather pass perhaps. Im not fond of lfs stock usually unless its DADs. Usually are second, third, fourth, etc grade plus who knows what else Im getting (disease). When the time comes, I'll be actively looking. I'll first get the renos done and the tank cycled. Id rather start with a new bio just in case. Im looking around Christmas holidays to do the actually swap.

:bang1: Must take pictures! :bang1:

Appreciate it! Did a search on cichlidforum and could not find any 'hard' facts that this slag will leach into the water to harm fish. Matter of fact, there are a few ppl that have been using it for awhile. My first choice will be 3m colorquartz but if I cant find a distributor in Alberta with a decent price, slag will be the next choice. Will Sil sell to individuals btw? And another quick question. My favorite and first choice of cichlids are the Pseudotropheus saulosi. Are they hard to get? Do they dig in the sand? My next favorites are: -Aulonocara stuartgranti -Otopharynx lithobates (Zimbawe) -Aulonocara baenschi Any experiences/thoughts on setting a species only tank with the above Thanks

Thanks Wow! Almost dirt cheap. But copper slag? Would that not leach copper into the water? Its almost the same stuff as: http://www.targetproducts.com/catalog/spec.../ultrablast.pdf Anyone use slag?

Ive been doing some crash research on african cichlids and have decided to renovate my 90G planted into a cichlid tank. After reading and seeing threads regarding setups, Im going for a dark look similar to Molinos 125G setup but using black sand. First thing is to find black sand. I can buy CariSea T. Moon sand for around $20 online (plus another $15-20 for shipping) for 20lbs. Hmmmm! Could become expensive and my wife will not tolerate spending much money on this reno. I need around 50lbs of sand btw. So searching for a black sand like substrate. Sweet! Look what I found: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtop...er=asc&&start=0 So attempting to find a 3M distributor here in Alberta. Anyone know one off hand perhaps?