425nm

Out of curiousity what clams are you planning on keeping? Crocea and maxima are harder to get into Canada now (or atleast much more expensive). Government is worried about them bringing Perkinsus into Canada. If you clam happens to contact it you're actually required by law to report it to CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency). See: http://www.inspection.gc.ca/animals/aquatic-animals/diseases/reportable/perkinsus-marinus/fact-sheet/eng/1362690064366/1362690181750

I seem to find myself running into a lot of folks who have "ponds", quotes because the bodies of water in question rarely exceed 100 gallons. Plus many of these folks don't want to overwinter goldfish/koi in the pond nor do they want to maintain a large enough indoor aquarium for carp. Are there any smaller subtropical alternative pond fish that could survive Edmonton's pond season? Barbs perhaps?

Peat moss isn't too heavy on organic material. Its going to have far less organic material than earth worm castings. In either case used in the correct proportion either will benefit plants.

Perlite and vermiculite are both very high in cec which is a good thing..so those things are good to have. btw don't use potting soil...use earthworm castings. BTW, don't use peat moss in any great quantity as a sub-substrate!! They do indeed have CEC however they float do they not? The main reason I want to avoid them. What's wrong with using peat moss? It'll drop the substrates pH but lower pH means greater bio-avaibility for several nutrients including iron. I mix it with aragonite sand which will gradually dissolve at the lower pH providing calcium. Granted its a bit of an experiment I'm running but thus far (only a month whiich I know is not telling but a start) all my plants are growing and my fish aren't dead or stressed.

Where is everyone getting potting mix that doesn't have per/vermiculite? I haven't been able to find any without it. I've just been mixing peat moss with glacial rock dust and some other things.

Does anyone know if elm leaves are safe to "feed" to shrimp, as the only person I know with a pesticide/herbicide/fertilizer free yard only has elm trees who's leaves I'd like to capitlize on if they're safe.

Looked in the tank towards the end of the day (~8:30ish), low and behold two of our Rams were spawning. Haven't raised the temperature or fiddled with water parameters. If someone could tell me how to embedded the video in the post that'd be great. In the mean time here's the link: http://s22.photobucket.com/user/Amemaru/media/video-2013-04-27-20-36-12_zpsae983c17.mp4.html

I'd like to be but alas I am temporarily selling my tanks (I'm going to Bamfield marine station for twelve weeks so its cool). Alberta needs more of a goldfish scene, a visible one. So tied of telling people that you can't keep them in a bowl.

Gorgeous fish! Did something happen to his dorsal spine?

Going to take a crack at breeding betta's. Had two halfmoons lined up but my female up and died before I could set them up. So crossing to a veiltail female for funsies!

Not that I'm saying this should be the first thing you try in salt water buuut: http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f6/updates-on-the-1-gallon-reefbowl-another-year-169607.html I'd really recommend going for a refractometer over a hydrometer (they're shody) and weighing your salt rather than measuring by volume. This way your water change water will be off a much more consistent salinity. On the topic of salinity, I personally think that my automatic top up system is the best thing I've bought for my salt water tank. That's me though, suuuuper bad at remember to top up evap (very important in salt water, evap causes your salinity to rise which can be very hard on squishy inverts such as snails and such). Here's a some good yotube channels for learning: https://www.youtube.com/user/tidalgardens https://www.youtube.com/user/mrsaltwatertank

Huh. Where do you think they'd have come from? I've never seen them before in any of the tanks I've setup.

Sooo I was squinting at the sponge filter in my betta breeding tank and I noticed that there were little white specs hopping around. They look an awful lot like brine shrimp in that they have that little tail-like structure. I have no idea what these things are nor have I been able to get a photo (they're really quite tiny and fast). Does anyone have any idea what these might be? Dunno where they would have come from. I suspect they may have been cycsts present on the coconut shells I have in there for the male betta to skulk in.

Whenever we end up with parasites at work, I QT the tanks as best I can. No idea what they do when I'm not there. Thankfully I have yet to deal with callamanua. Or notice it at least...

Not to thread jack but does anyone know where the pink/fire/whatever danio came from? Personally I find them a tad suspicious. Seems to me like they've been genetically modified to get that colour, like glofish but not necessarily by the same people.