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We couldn't stay long, but the fish show was pretty awesome. If things had worked out differently this year I would have loved to compete but I guess it'll have to wait for the next opportunity.

I have a fluval 206 and it works well, very quiet and I like that media can be had anywhere. It seems to be pretty reliable but I would replace the hoses with smooth hosing to avoid the gunk spurts after servicing.

The darter seems better, moving much more normally. The other three fish seem fine, are all behaving normally today. I'll try a de-wormer and keep watching them.

I can't think of anything that has changed. Weekly 30% water changes Temperature has been steady even with the increasing outdoor temperatures Nitrates seem alright, I didn't test them before today's water change but I've been keeping an eye on them and they've always been around 10-15 No new fish since I put the rainbows in the tank

No, not really. The frenetic one is just zipping around the tank at full speed from corner to corner looking like it's trying to hide but not hiding when it gets to a nice quiet spot. I've turned out the lights to try and help them keep calm and of course I've done a water change, first step as usual.

Looks like he didn't make it and I've got another one acting strangely, very listless but at the same time frentic.

I've come home to a bit of a mystery, one of my MacCulloch's rainbows is ill. It's coloration is off, looking very dark along it's back and sort of a patchy appearance on the body. It is swimming oddly, seems like he's having trouble staying upright and going in straight lines. It is also hovering around the surface of the water. Here is the sick one And here is a healthy one I realize it's probably tough to see the difference, but the black lines in the sick fish's patterning are much darker and heavier and it looks darker over all. Any guesses?

If you haven't already posted it on canreef you may want to do so as there is a much larger salty population there.

IMO, spending that much to light a 10 gallon is insane. You can effectively light a 10G with a spiral compact fluorescent bulb in a brooder lamp for under $20, including the gas to drive to the hardware store, and yup, you can even get well into high light. I don't know if people don't know about plantedtank.net, but y'all might benefit from checking out their lighting section http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=10 http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=85667 http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=184368 http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=160396

For air I'd probably use copper tube, 1/2" should be plenty. I would use copper over pvc for flexibility (bend around corners and angles easier) and reduced bulk. Plus I just prefer working with copper.

Congrats, I love shrimplettes. My wife's tank has a bunch of berried cherries we've been watching carefully, should be pretty soon for us too.

Are you running co2 on this tank? An additional 700+ lumens seems like a bus load of light for an edge.

There have been some big changes in the blink household... my wife gave up her salt tank to go back to school and I somehow ended up with a sumped 90 gallon freshie in the kitchen. I was supposed to start journaling this from the beginning but I'll admit, I kinda forgot to bug wifey to take pictures and I didn't want to while resealing the tank so I'll take some fresh shots and show it filled and running. Right now the tank is in early days with just a few Spotted Raphael cats, a female Betta (Aka: b*tchface McNasty) and 5 Skull Creek rainbows (thanks Ric and Geleen!) but I'm planning to get some Roseline barbs soon. The plants are a jumble, I've got whatever struck my fancy in there and they're scattered all about, as things grow in and begin to settle I'm sure it will change but I want to give the green things a chance to get established and see what actually likes me and what turns into a rotting pile of brown leaves. There are a couple real nice pieces of bog wood in there and they've FINALLY decided to stop floating although one piece is still being kind of annoying. I'm not sure if I'll go CO2 on this, with the open sump I expect I'll go through more gas than a Wisconsin football fan but who knows, maybe I'll seal it up and give a try.

Yup, that's what it means. You only get the one fixture, dual refers to the colors as some lights are half white and half actinic, where the dual 7000k is all 7000k, no mix.

My wife and I have become fond of bettas and I'm particularly taken with the gladiators but I've never seen one locally. Are they just giant plakats? Will they adapt to Edmonton water? Can they be found or will I have to ship one in? http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/betta-gladiator/

I've been there a few times, not somewhere I'd spend my money but I keep going back in hopes that it'll change.

I haven't had a tank get wiped out but I've bought sick or infected fish from LFS and private collectors before and personally have had nothing but good luck with the few fish I bought from Petsmart/PJs Pets. Goes to show that all new fish should be quarantined.

Thanks for the heads up, the prices are very reasonable, close to the retail prices I saw last year in california.

I like seachem matrix or denitrate, pisces or big Al's should have em. Fluval brand ceramic dingles should be available at petland or petsmart or pisces/Al's

Finnex will still ship to Canada if you email them directly, at least as of a month or two ago. They quoted me $13 to ship an 18" ray2 but I ended up finding an alternative source of light.

Universal rocks makes backgrounds and pisces sells them.

They're totally real, I got some from Fluorescentfish.com

4.4 lb bags if shrimp stratum for $9.00 at the My Pet location in west edmonton mall. Had about 9 bags last night, go get em!

The fluval lights do look great and their tank coverage is impressive, one light is enough for full front to back coverage on a 40 breeder, tough for most LED without raising them. If you haven't already seen it try looking at the "led lighting compendium" over at plantedtank.net I think that's the thread title anyways, there is a ton of good info and it gets updated semi regularly

I can't really answer your question as the lights are quite new and there isn't much info about them yet. But I've got to ask, are you planning on running pressurized CO2? If you aren't pretty much any light in the medium to high range has a good chance of creating an algae farm.