Ron

Ummm.....actually I used to work at a Petstore and yes, they did pay $5 per bub because that is what I paid with employee discount. Mostly anything that you can buy at a hardware store is marked up 500% at a Petstore. I am not one to complain about prices all the time, but $120 for 4 bulbs seems like straight up highway theft to me. If you are fine with paying the first price you see, cool, good for you, I like to shop around first and make certain I am getting my money's worth.

For the record, I try and buy anything I can from local businesses even if it costs a little more, I try as much as possible to support the little guys because I do not see the big chain stores closing up anytime soon.

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?

AGREED!!

I found a hydroponics store (via other members on the forum with the same question haha) and they have 48' sunblaster brand t5HO bulbs for $13.....the god damn petstores want $30 per bulb!!! I don't think so!!

.......besides, this guy likes to give it and NEVER take it

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.

Bow Valley Aquatics in SE Calgary will cut custom lids for you quite cheaply. He cut lids for my 180g and 90g. Warning: He'll usually only accept cash.

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

3/4" glass on my tank. Thanks for your offer but the Mag-Floats are junk, in my opinion. I have the next size down (rated p to 5/8" i think) and it came detached all the time on 1/2" glass. I was hoping someone had experience with one of the other brands out there, like Magnavore, or Algaefree. Those two seem to get mentioned the most. I'm leaning towards a Magnavore 6ER but they're quite pricey.

(I'm also finally making progress treating those Rainbowfish, Ron. Yay!)

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.

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

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

3/4" glass on my tank. Thanks for your offer but the Mag-Floats are junk, in my opinion. I have the next size down (rated p to 5/8" i think) and it came detached all the time on 1/2" glass. I was hoping someone had experience with one of the other brands out there, like Magnavore, or Algaefree. Those two seem to get mentioned the most. I'm leaning towards a Magnavore 6ER but they're quite pricey.

(I'm also finally making progress treating those Rainbowfish, Ron. Yay!)

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

Does anyone here have thick glass, or acrylic tanks (say 1/2" and up) and recommend a particular algae magnet? I'm getting really tired of scrubbing with sponges and brushes.

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.

I've done my work here. When there is no ying to yang life just isn't the same!

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

I don't listen to 'plant forum' websites to make a decision. Led's still are not there yet, period. Maybe in another 2-3 years perhaps as it is getting closer.

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.

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.

I've had salvinia on top of a tank and really like it. It has somewhat small leaves but not duckweed small, so it's a lot easier to pull some out when it grows too much. The roots stay really short. I had it in a 10 gallon tank and if I kept the water line right up to the inner lip on the rim I really didn't see the roots hanging down.

Thanks, I'll look into them.

how much light?

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