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OxyPro in Edmonton give them a call if you'd like lol. How much does it cost you in Medicine Hat? I guess it varys everywhere you go. I have read all different prices of peoples refills on APC.

Heres my 20g. I recently broke down a 50g and downgraded it to the 20. I wanted to keep it simple with very few different species of plants. So far just Hemianthus callutrichoides, Hemianthus micranthemum, Pogostemon helferi and some unknown plant that Aquaflora nurseries was selling as Alternathera reineckii which it most surely is not(back left). Can anyone ID this for me? Inhabitants are threadfin rainbows, a lonely furcata rainbow and amano shrimp.

Last year Aquarium Illusions had a boxing week sale. I am not sure what kind of deals they will have specifically but I would assume they will be doing it again this year?

Dang, sorry to hear. I was actually considering purchasing one of these but now I wont. I have used the aquatic life t5ho fixtures with great success, but they are really expensive. I wanted a little more light but I didn't want to have to purchase another one for $160 so I considered getting the coralife one.

How much does it cost to fill a 10lb? My 5 lb only costs about 15 bucks to fill.

Good advice. I am not sure if it is harmful but I would take it off as well. I always take mine off and chuck em in the garbage. If you are having trouble keeping your plants rooted you can always get a long pair of pincers(sp?) (long tweezers) to do your planting. It makes planting so much easier....

Beauties! I didn't know the mbu's could be housed together. My gf is totally in love with the one that is currently at big Al's but unfortunately we don't nor can have a tank big enough to house one. /jealous :P

I agree with jvision. Amanos should be perfect for your setup! They are very entertaining too. They like to go in for a quick steal when my ottos and cories were eating an algae wafer. They never got all that far though LOL.

Hi Goldy. I bought my stuff from Green Leaf Aquariums. If you can, go with the J&L Aquatics like nicklfire recommends since you won't have to spend money on brokerage fees. I think the cost is roughly 300-500 dollars in total depending on what you want. Personally I would stay away from the Milwaukee MA-957 regulator. I bought this one and it doesn't hold a steady output unless you set it to 20psi which will break your solenoid (like it did mine). I recommend spending the money to get a good quality all in one regulator with a solenoid and bubble counter attached as it would be pretty confusing for a first timer otherwise. Nicklfire also has the good advice of purchasing your diffuser off ebay instead of a fancy expensive name brand one of the exact same quality(mistake I also made). However I am glad with dishing out the extra $$ to get a good double drop checker which holds a reference solution and an indicator solution instead of the normal ones which only holds and indicator solution. A double drop checker will help you get the most accurate reading. The color shift can be ever so minor and not noticeable otherwise.

Hi Pasteurella! I wouldn't recommend wasting your money on pH meters and all that super high tech stuff unless you are planning on keeping something that needs very specific water parameters. I would just invest in a simple test kit that will give you ammonia, nitrIte, nitrAte and pH readings. I have all of em and I almost never use them now LOL. As long as there is no Ammonia or Nitrite in your water and the temperature is stable you are good to go!

Make sure you get something that can support 8-10x per hour water circulation! I made the mistake of buying the eheim 2234 for a 50g tank because on the box it said good for up to 60g. It is good for up to 60g aquarium as far as biological filtration but not for water circulation and ended up having to use a powerhead as well. Also keep in mind after substrate and rocks/driftwood/plants your 20g should hold somewhere around 17-18g.

LOL welcome to AA. I am also quite new here. You say you are just getting into freshwater. Does this mean you have SW? Also care to tell us a little bit about your tank setups and inhabitants?

Wowzers! That is one beautiful arowana. I have never been much a big fan of big fish but WOW I would love to have one of these! You probably need a cichlid farm to feed one of these guy huh?

I use an Eheim Ecco 2234 on my 20g tank. The filter is rated at 165 gph iirc and the tank only holds 18 gallons of water. I had to install a spraybar though because the flow was too powerful for my delicate threadfin rainbows.

I don't think so. I purchased mine from a petsmart a few months ago and I recall seeing one at the calgary trail petsmart in the past week or so. If you have a fine mist bubbler and it is breaking up the bubbles to a very fine mist you should not need anything else. I have a glass ceramic diffuser from GLA and that is all it does. Breaks up the co2 and they just float to the top. The double drop checker reads spot on all the time.

I am not sure about best price probably what Morphine said but Big Al's also sells T5HO fixtures as well as bulbs.

Big Al's in Edmonton here sells carib sea tahitian moon black sand, flourite original, flourite dark and flourite black, as well as eco complete and laterite.

Using a HOB filter with CO2 is fine. You will have a little more degassing then otherwise but the only thing I would worry about is putting the CO2 into the filter intake as co2 bubbles could get caught in the filter and cause it to dysfunction. You could possible try a powerhead to help circulate the water, however I don't know of any that are small enough for a 20g. You could also try this http://www.aquaticpl...o2-reactor.html .... It is used as a diffuser and will also help aid in circulation.

Not sure of your experience level but here is a really informative documentary to breeding angelfish. I don't keep them myself but something I stumbled upon in the past. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.c...h?v=BBF4CfUCVpY

I got it from Big Al's.

Haha funny story. Sorry for the loss of shrimp. Do you have any more to get a colony started back up?

I second BettaFishMommy's suggestion on the Flourite Black. I currently have 2 bags of this waiting to go in a 20g I am about to set up. Eco Complete is also good(I use on my 50g) but I have read that it increases the hardness of the water(which we probably don't want since we already have hard water here). I think you definitely want to go with something black! It really makes the fish stand out. Also it is said that many fish prefer a dark substrate. If you are a good DIY'er you might want to check out how to make Mineralized Top Soil. It is said to work wonders for some people. As for lighting I think you will want about 60 watts of lighting on a 20g. Especially if it is T5HO you won't need any more then 60. Personally I would recommend the Aquatic Life Freshwater T5HO. They each have 2 39w lamps and I have 2 of them on my 50g and they serve me well! In fact I have only been using one as of late because with 2 the plants grow soooooooooooooooooooooooo fast it is just too much work to keep up with the trimming and pruning. Hope this helps!

Hi CursiveDuck. I took the plunge into pressurized CO2 at the beginning of this year myself. It was the best investment I have ever made. I think pressurized is definitely the way to go for a 180g! In the beginning I was so lost like you. All the parts are so foreign I didn't even know what anything was and what anything was for. It really just takes some fishin around reading and researching. I found this particular link very helpful in getting me setup and helping me understand what each part is for. Reading the names just didn't do it for me. I needed to see the parts and how they all connect.If you are planning on pressurized CO2 you are going to want sufficient lighting as well as fertilization. I think the lighting is fairly straight forward unless you are into the very specifics of it. It's all quite a bit confusing to me if you get too deep into it lol so I like to just keep it simple. Your 2 best options I believe are T5 High Output and Compact Flourescent. Maybe even Metal Halide will be a good option for such a large tank. T5HO are said to use less energy and produce less heat with a more intense light. I have used both but I find CF's generate way too much heat. As for substrates there are many many producs on the market. Personally I have used Eco Complete and Flourite in the past with success. There are aslo many softer granule substrates like the ADA style ones, but it is reported that it falls apart after a few years which is not too appealing to me. Also it is not readily avialabe in Canada and quite pricey with shipping and all. I think for a 180 that would be a really expensive option. If you have lots of time and patience you might want to look into how to make mineralized top soil(don't quote me but I think you can get away with fertilizing the water column for quite some time with this method as well). You should be able to come up with TONS of resources if you just type that into google. As for fertilization you might want to do some reasearch on Estimative Index method. It is probably your cheapest and easiest option. I got a few years worth of dry fertilizers for around 30 dollars. As opposed to paying 30 dollars for the 2 bottles of the seachem liquid fertilizers(of which you need about 5 different bottles) which will only last a couple months on a 50g tank. You can order them now from Aqua Flora Nurseries which is based in BC, or you can order them from aquariumfertilizer.com which is where I got mine. I ordered most of my co2 parts from Green Leaf Aquariums. In fact I got everything from there except for my regulator. I decided to use the Milwaukee MA-957 regulator. If money isn't an issue I recommend going with something top notch. The solenoid on the regulator is cheap-o and busted within 2 days so now I am just running constant co2 into the aquarium. This isn't that much of a problem because I have a powerhead aimed at the surface to aerate the water really well, but it would be nice to have my dinky 5lb tank last twice as long as it does. As for your list of parts everything is good except I don't have a manifold(don't even know that that is). I also don't have a bubble ladder. Also I think many pre built regulators come with a needle valve and a bubble counter attached. If money isn't an issue I highly recommend ordering from Green Leaf Aquariums. They supply everything including shiny new CO2 tanks and it was hassle free for me. You may also want to invenst in a drop checker. These handly little units will measure the concentration of CO2 in the water and let you know if there is too much or too little. I went with the double drop checker from CalAqua Labs which has a reference solution indicator as well, instead of comparing it to a colored piece of paper. I feel I can get a more accurate reading this way as a piece of paper and liquid in a glass bubble underwater looks a totally different color then a piece of paper. Kind of like the test kits. I never really know lol. You can see these on the GLA website. The cost for my setup was as follows: 5 lb Cylinder $70 Regulator $150ish (which comes with bubble counter and needle valve) Tubing $10 Check Valve $10 Diffuser $25 Double Drop Checker $50 All that plus shipping/handling and duties. I can't remember shipping fees and stuff but all together I think it costed me somewhere around $400. Only thing I would recommend getting a better regulator then the Milwaukee one. I think the investment is worth it. A year or so down the road I will probably end up investing in a better regulator from GLA. Hope this helps!

Thanks for the welcomes. I will definitely get some pics posted once I get the 20g set up.

Flourish Excel is a great product, don't get me wrong. But personally I would rather invest in a pressurized system. If you are going to spend 300 on excel over 8 years IMO you may as well spend 300 and have pressurized setup last prob 20 years+ . I got my first pressurized at the beginning of 2010 and it is the best peice of equipment I have ever invested in. No more headaches! No more wondering why my plants aren't doing so good and wondering why I am having all types of algae. I am no scientist but I don't think excel is a complete replacement for pressurized CO2, however it has been stated to work wonders for some people. I dose excel with pressurized co2 , macros and micros. If money is an issue excel is definitely a good temporary solution but if you plan on being in the hobby long term I feel it is a good investment to go with pressurized.