Ron

Ummm....actually they don't pay $5/bulb, I get wholesale lists all the time and I've never seen a pet industry brand bulb that cheap. So If you were getting $30 bulbs for $5 each, that's over 80% off...that is the best employee discount I've ever seen. Didn't Petcetera close up shop?

Pet stores need to add their margin, it's not like they buy these bulbs for $5. Complain all you want about their prices but don't complain if they have close up shop and you don't have a local pet shop anymore.

That's quite the sight, thanks for sharing. I hope some day my PRL tank is that full.

Welcome back. Marine is definitely costly, I could fill my whole fish room with shrimp tanks again for less than I have into my 70 gallon marine tank and I didn't even go really high end.

Last lids I got from them, looked like they forgot to use a straight edge.

I also have an Algae Free Great White. Yes, they are pricey. Do you find that there's a considerable difference between the MagFloat and the Great White? I would assume so since you're selling the MagFloat? haha I would say they are about equal, I placed a 2 x 4 between the 2 halves and they both picked it off the ground about and 1" away.

I use a Flipper on my 70 gallon with 10 mm glass and it's awesome, stainless steel blade makes short work of any algae. I just noticed the make a Flipper Max for 5/8" - 1" glass, that would be my first choice.

Both are BNIB, haven't really compared strength. Maybe I'll test them through a chunk of wood and let you know.

I also have an Algae Free Great White. Yes, they are pricey.

How thick is your glass? I have a Mag-Float 500 sitting in my closet, it says it's good for 3/4" to 1 1/4" glass.

Actually there is no ying, it's yin....LOL

And why should any listen to you on this "plant forum"? If people have shown success with LEDs, why not give them a shot for a small investment.

And now you can write your own endorsement. Good luck, I'm glad you had those ones in place already.

I noticed that as well a couple of days ago. Looks like Amazon.ca is the best place to get the lights now.

At the height I put the light, it could probably cover a bigger tank comfortably. I like the height it's at, gives me plenty of room to work above the tank. I still have plenty of power, I think half of the colours are at 35% and the other half are at 16%. Thanks for the heads up on the breeding tubes, I'll probably still leave them, I still have a bunch sitting in bins. There's still plenty of room up top for moss, I don't think Frank has any mini pellia at the moment, wanna sell any? I have some fissidens in another tank that I am gonna move to this one.

This should be my last update for a while. I was originally gonna go simple with my lights and maybe use a Finnex fixture but then I noticed Aqua Illumination was coming out with a new fixture. So I held off for a bit but then I decided to go bigger and buy an Aqua Illumination Hydra 52. I already have 2 of them above my reef tank and I have a controller that I can use to control all three so what the heck. I picked it up earlier this afternoon and voilà Not sure if I'll keep the big sponge filter but I am sure the shrimp will appreciate another place to graze. Thanks for looking, Ron

I did 3 complete water changes with just RO/DI and today I filled up with remineralized water to get cycling. I also installed a Hydor 200 W inline heater between the second and third water changes so I could get this tank warm for the cycle. Once it got above 72°F, I added one vial of Prodibio BioDigest and a spoonful of GlasGarten Bacter AE. Now to start monitoring the cycle. I'll start adding in the breeding tubes and sponge filter once I decide on what kind and how many. I have a fairly large piece of driftwood covered in Java fern, not sure if I will add it though.

Congratulations and thank you Hung, it's awesome to now have a local, knowledgeable source for shrimp products. My name is Ron Au, and I am a shrimp addict.

Thanks jumpsmasher, your PRL tank was definitely an inspiration and motivation for my tank build. I always thought the Benibachi plates were bigger and would look out of place but they are actually a good size for my tank. I guess most pics I've seen of them, they've been in much smaller tanks.

Hello, I sold off the majority of my shrimp collection about a year ago and have recently decided to enter the shrimpy waters again slowly. I am taking a different philosophy on my set ups this time around and spending more on them while keeping less of them. Right now the only ones on my radar are PRL and Aura Blues. I've never kept PRL but with the knowledge sharing of friends, I don't think it'll overly difficult. I haven't kept Aura Blues in years but I believe I remember their care being quite easy. First off my PRL tank; I custom ordered this at the start of the month and it was finished this past Sunday. It's 24" x 24" x 14" with Starphire glass in the front and sides. The back and bottom are float glass covered with black vinyl and it was mounted on 1/4" black acrylic. There is a 5" Starphire baffle that is 12" from the back. I chose black silicone and the edges were all polished...yes even the baffle. I used boyu UGF plates which worked out well as it was easy to make the Eheim installation kit work. I then layered Eheim Substrat Pro on top of the UGF plates and started to layer my substrate. My breeder keeps his PRL at lower pH levels than most, hence why I used ADA Malaya and Amazonia. I know you'll think I am a nut but I sifted all the substrate so my bottom 2" are a larger grain than my top 2". I guess I kind of separated out my own "powder". I did 2 layers of additives within my layer cake using Ebiken Kou, Ebiken Ei and Ebiken Han and one of the layers I added ADA Super Clear. Personally I don't like the layered look so I have Amazonia along the front of the baffle so Amazonia is all you can see from head on. No flash, tough to see.... Flash, still tough to see.... So time for the filtration; I chose to go Asian style with multiple canisters. I had these guys that weren't being used so why not, it was this or have a sump made. I am using an Eheim 2075 Pro 3 for mechanical and biological filtration and an Eheim 2076 Pro 3e for purely biological filtration.....can you tell I like Eheim . Originally the Eheim 2075 Pro 3 was only going to be for mechanical filtration but a friend suggested less mechanical and more biological. So there is now 1 level of Eheim Mech, 1 level of filter floss and 2 levels of Eheim Substrat Pro in the first canister. I think I went overboard on the biomedia; there is ~3 L layered in the substrate, 3 L in the first canister and 6 L in the second canister. That's more bio media than I had in my Eheim 2262 that was filtering a 250 gallon stock tank. I'll probably add the majority of my mineral balls to the last basket in the second canister and I was also thinking of adding a Benibcahi zero plate but I might add that to the tank cause I like the look of them. So here they are daisy chained together; sorry for the crappy pic, it's dark back there so I had to use the flash. So I filled the tank and ran it over night, I'm expecting the ammonia spikes so I planned to do a few daily complete water changes to get the ammonia to manageable levels before I add bacteria. I got my vials of Prodibio BioDigest and Glas Garten Bacter AE today. Thanks for looking, Ron

All current stock is on sale at finnex.ca now so it's a good sign that new light release is on it's way. Getting tough to decide now as Aqua Illumination is releasing a smaller clip on pendant that will retail for $199 USD. It'll be WiFi compatible so it can be controlled by your cell or computer with no need to buy an additional controller. I believe there are 7 colours and they should all be individually controllable. I know cloudy periods and lightning isn't necessary on my new shrimp tank but sure is cool on my reef tank.

There is some stuff like concrete called Fijicrete that is being used for dry reef rock, I would assume it's safe for freshwater as well. There are some Youtube videos of it being used, if you want to check it out.

Canadian Aquatics has their 1.5" fry for $20 each or 6 for $100. People usually expect them go be a little cheaper from a small breeder, don't ask me why, but they do.

Thanks, I'll look into them. Lots, I have a Vertex Illumilux plant LED above the tank. I guess the root length wouldn't be a deal breaker if the plants are fast growers.....faster than my crays can eat them.

Hello, I would like to add a floating plant to my Marbled crayfish tank, there is quite a high flow rate from my spray bar and the roots can't hang down too low or the cray will climb on and decimate them. Can anyone suggest a floater that will do well? Thanks, Ron