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My wife's 12 long has Boraras Maculata and Microdevario kubotai in with the shrimp and we haven't noticed any kind of population decline. Even if we had, I'd be more inclined to believe it was the panda garras who are getting fat and sassy off shrimplets.

Condensed Update time! A Week ago - Things are growing slowly but steadily, the HM is enormous and will need trimming tomorrow. Dwarf sag is good, I've added some downoi in the very front of it, it seems to be growing, at least it didn't melt yet. Swords are coming back but the spiral val just doesn't seem like it's going to come back, it's all yellow and sickly so I think tomorrow it'll get yanked out. The fish are all good, except two, one of my CPDs and one of my gold ring danios are both getting skinny and fading away. They seem to eat, but just keep getting thinner which to me says internal parasites so off to the LFS for some meds tomorrow. Any suggestions for brand? Today's update - First, my sick fish seem to have recovered after a couple treatments of Seachem Metroplex, hooray. They're both eating like pigs and look to be gaining weight. On the bad side my Furcatas were getting aggressive and have been taking runs at everyone so they've been rehomed, but unfortunately not before they killed one of my nicer CPDs... I'm about 95% sure it was the bigger furcata who wouldn't stop flaring up at all the other fish, ramming them and charging across the tank if ANY fish went near the female Skull Creek. The CPD had a furcata sized bite taken out of his pelvic/anal region and by the time I found him he was alternating between swimming funny and floating, his gills were all bloody and his butthole was missing, it was pretty reminiscent of jaws. After a short rage session we gave the poor little CPD some clove oil and Everclear, a fish wake if ever I've heard of one. Enough bad news, back to the good stuff! I've finally gotten off my duff and gathered up all my pressurized co2 bits and put it all together. No leaks first try, everything is working as it should and I've got fish flavored soda pop! The bubbles look kind of terrible but I will move the diffuser into the rear sump section under the circulation pump once I know everything is stable and working as it should. I do want to get a solenoid, but that can wait since I've put myself on a bit of a budget and I wanted to get running, er bubbling NOW. I removed the bigger chunks of driftwood on the right, in behind the HM and trimmed the hell out of the HM but now I'm getting some black bush algae on my dwarf sag so hopefully the gassy stuff will help fight it off because I'm getting really tired of dealing with this fuzzy black poop. The swords are throwing runners like mad and even the spiral val seems to be making a comeback which is pretty gratifying... I'd almost pulled it out but at the last second I thought I'd let it keep trying a bit longer. I haven't got any photos because there is a surprise coming as soon as it gets waterlogged enough to stop trying to imitate shamu.

I've heard they like to munch on shrimplets but I've seen peacock gudgeons and I find it hard to believe they'd be able to manage anything bigger than the absolute smallest.

Looks pretty good, I had one of these skimmers and it worked ok but didn't seem to adjust very well, then when I finally had it adjusted nicely it fell off the suction cup bracket thing. This might have been the answer to my problems

40% water changes daily and overdose the Prime, I think they recommend a maximum of double the normal dose. I had my tank go through a mini cycle and lost a couple fish but with frequent water changes, lots of plants and plenty of Prime I made it!

PVC cement is safe for humans, so it's definitely safe for aquarium use as human standards are much higher, just make sure to let it cure for the proper amount of time.

Just so you know, the Milwaukee MA 957 that you see around (JL Aquatics has it for $104 with free shipping btw) is only a single stage, not a dual stage. As for the costs, I haven't got a solenoid yet but I'm going with what looks like a similar system as creekbottom. My cost has been as follows: -Regulator - free, normally $20-100 depending on source (new vs. kijiji), quality and dual or single stage. Mine is a fairly high quality single stage, would probably have cost $60 at a Linde welding supply store. -Pressure gauge to replace flow meter on regulator - $10, Princess Auto, not normally something you'd need but my regulator was previously used for argon. -Needle valve - $25, Ebay -Fittings - $15, all from Home Depot, could probably be done for less at a plumbing supply house -Bubble counter - $6, Fluval from LFS -Teflon tape - $1 I can't think of anything else I've forgotten, but as you can see, I haven't spent that much on mine so far and all I need to complete it is a solenoid which should be around $10-30 depending on what I choose. If you look around and shop kijiji or ask friends who are or know welders you could probably get something equivalent in function but better in quality than the Milwaukee for about the same price. The main attraction to the Milwaukee is that it's a plug and play, you get your cylinder, hook this up and connect it to your diffuser of choice. I don't know if it's still around but someone had a Matheson model 8 dual stage on kijiji for $50, that would be an excellent starting point which would be head and shoulders above the Milwaukee, especially if you add a good needle valve.

Calgary trail petland must have improved, as PJs it was always just kinda ok. Not usually bad but definitely not immaculate. I'll have to check them out sometime when I'm in the area.

I've got one of those needle valves, I'm guessing it was $25 on ebay? Really solid little (huge??) valve. I just need one or two fittings and I should be ready to set my co2 up as well. Which swagelok dealer did you go to? And who sells Burkert lol I know that there are some SMC dealers, a couple fabco and clippard dealers too... it's soooo nice living in an industry/manufacturing oriented city.

Thanks for the heads up, I've never heard of this one.

Thanks for the kind words, I'm hoping to have my CO2 working soon. I finally found a tub of P.Helferi (thanks Liam) so the field of dreams now has helferi mixed in, mostly at the front. I'm hoping I've planted it right but I guess we will find out in a week or three when it grows or dies lol

Big als has 125s on boxing week price for $229 until end of business today.

Thanks, its Fluorite dark with some seachem root tabs jammed in

Indeed he is, a big happy male.

Time for an update, there has been lots going on and not all of it good. I lost some fish as the tank decided to have a little cycle... I thought I prepared well enough to head it off at the pass but I guess sometimes nature just wants to break the "rules" Things have been stable for the past two weeks though, which is good as I had an opportunity to add some livestock that I just didn't feel I could pass up. And with no further ado, on to the photos cause I know you are all photo addicted. Obligatory full tank shots Front Side, feel free to ignore the splashes and equipment, I forgot to remove them Now for some detail shots My Hemianthus micranthemoides or glomeratus if you'd prefer It's not getting enough light but it's still growing well and I'm not ready for CO2 yet, so I've not cranked up the light My dwarf sagittaria field of dreams... all of these plants melted badly and I feared I would lose most of them but with only a couple exceptions they all came back and several are desperately needing a trim which is gratifying And now for some livestock Here are my new rainbows, Melanotaenia maccullochi They are still a little shy and not really displaying any color but I'm sure that will change as they get used to their new home Here is the male by himself And a terribly reflective pair shot Here are my Blue eye forktails, Pseudomugil furcatus And to close out this journal entry, a few cheesecake shots of the other inhabitants

The formatting nuked the jpg on my computer, nothing is legible so if you want to view this make sure and get the pdf so you won't feel silly like me.

I had fissidens in my low tech and it went from a fist sized clump to a small-head sized clump in about 6 months. Unfortunately I pushed too much light and got the black bush algae and haven't been able to get it out of the moss.

Jlaquatics has em fairly cheap too

I've heard to use a dishwasher on a hot pots n pans cycle without soap obviously.

Here is the link, wifey forgot it http://www.flickr.com/photos/aasha/sets/72157632284109912/

Try aquagiant

Do you use tap water in your tank? Keep in mind plenty of household plumbing has brass parts in it, and it's ALL going to be older and more corroded than the stuff in your tank. I've read not to use it by hardcore shrimpers raising $100+ shrimp but I think for most people I wouldn't worry about it.

Grab an aqueon pro at pet smart or even a preset cheapie at walmart, 20 is cool

206 on a 20 will be just fine, and you can always adjust the flow a little if it is too much.

I've got an Aqueon Pro that I really like and a couple Ebo jagers that aren't calibrated very well but seem pretty rock solid. I hear the Fluval E series are pretty decent too but never owned one of them.