creekbottom

Thanks for the tips. It definitely looks like swim bladder disorder. The original ram died, now a second one is doing the same thing. I haven't fed in 2 days. I've isolated the second ram, am upping the temp and adding epsom salt, also trying peas. I've also noticed that the gills look redder than normal.

First report. The touch button does not make this light useable with a timer.

I have a Bolivian ram that is listless and disoriented. Can't swim upright, or maintain equilibrium. Honestly, looks drunk... is floating right now on it's side. I've pulled it from the tank, but there are 3 other rams in the tank, they all look fine so far. I'm not expecting it to live, but I'd like to know whats wrong with it. Comes from a moderately planted tank, school of cardinal tetras. Water tests normal.

Keep it trimmed! My wall failed because I let the top shadow the bottom and then the bottom died

Cherry shrimp might be a better idea, low bioload and will snack on the biofilm that develops in the 'tank.'

I have that light!!! Ok, I bought 2. I was looking for something to grow moss in a breeder box on the back of the tank. Several people more succesful than myself on TPT use that light and have said good things about it. My clip light says 3 watt but I have no idea what they are referring too. Currently it is growing ivy and jasmine above water in the box, but it's only been a week. I read one thread on TPT and the guy used 2 of them over his tank and wasn't having any problem (I don't remember what he was growing, maybe don't try for HC.)

I have a clump of weeping moss that I was trying to grow bigger so I had it in a breeder box on the back of one of the tanks. This way it would still get some fertilizer and I wouldn't kill it on the windowsill (that method never works for me). But it turned into a hair algae farm. And it won't die!! I've dumped ALOT of excel on it and it is still happy and green. Reduced the light, I can't increase the flow on the box though. I guess the next step is peroxide but I always end up killing everything with that stuff.

Make sure you know the difference between gH and kH, something you may be getting confused and it's effects on pH. Google comes up with lots of explanations on the difference. Also, you can check Edmonton's water quality, Epcor reports publicly and they are available online, google 'Edmonton water quality reports.' I would also test the tap water or whatever water you use for water changes and compare that to Epcor so that you have some idea of the validity of the test kit.

I looked through a ton of threads on TPT about this, its actually coal slag. Of course everyone has an opinion but most people that HAD ACTUALLY USED IT (as opposed to those who were just speculating) said it was fine for their cory's and whatever else they had in there including sand sifters. I'll let you know how it goes, and if I remember the name of the place.

Crap! Now I've forgotten the name of the place I got it lol. I was calling around to places like Manus abrasives and Target in Morinville. Target was the only place I found that actually carried Black Diamond/Beauty blasting grit. But you need to buy at least 10 bags, they wouldn't even let me have a damaged bag. The lovely lady on the phone did recommend I try this forgotten place in the west end. They were so helpful that they went into the back and bagged 50lbs for me cause all they had was bulk. It's nice stuff, really consistent and shiny black. I didn't notice any sharpness or weird extra pieces like some people have found in their bags. I'd be putting the cory's in the 28 gallon. I went to Lee Valley yesterday and picked up another sunblaster light and got it installed next to the other one. I can't lower the light anymore as it's already on the top of the tank. Hopefully this solves the problem, I guess I better get my CO2 figured out.

I have rams!!! I found a tank of Bolivian rams at an un-named store today. I picked up 2. I did my best to get a male and female but now that they are in the 30 gallon at home it's fairly obvious that I have 2 males. Will the squabbling end? Should I be worried?

Low light - 15-30 micromols of PAR - CO2 is not needed, but is helpful to the plants Medium light - 35-50 micromols of PAR - CO2 may be needed to avoid too many nuisance algae problems High light - more than 50 micromols of PAR - pressurized CO2 is essential to avoid major algae problems What individual species PAR requirements are I have no idea.

For plants go with the DS, its dual 7000k spectrum. My understanding is that the RAY II is a more powerful light, more LED's pinched closer together than the fugeray.

If plants are going to be involved, considering the depth of this tank, wouldn't a Ray II be a better option? I know they don't come with moonlights but I think a fugeray would be too weak at the bottom of the tank.

It's all planted in now. The dwarf sag is spreading already, I think it only took a week for it to start moving lol. I've been fighting the brown algae but now that I'm getting some fish moved into this hopefully that part of the experience will be done. I have 1 sunblaster light on top of this. It's about 16" to the substrate, how do I know if I have enough light? The lotus is supposed to be a red variety, and the sag is growing tall. Is that a pretty good indicator that I need more light? Still looking for some habrosus cories... if anyone has 1 or 10 they'd like to get rid of just let me know. I derimmed a cheap 5 gallon I got and was contemplating what to do with it. Then I just lost patience lol I have crypt wendtii planted at the back of the stone on the left. I'm not sure what or if I should put anymore plants in here. I always go crazy and my tanks get collectoritis so I'm keeping this to only a few species but that's an awful lot of unused space I'm not doing an HC carpet but I could throw some moss down. If anyone has any suggestions feel free to spout them off.

Nope, bedroom tank, not much action during the day.

You have a 5 gallon tank, and there is nothing in it. So before putting stuff in it like sand and water, what kind of fish would you put in it? ONLY ONE!!! Doesn't matter how hard they are to find. When I've decided on the fish, then I'll put important stuff like water in it Anyone that says a Betta has to paypal me $2.

Any glass shop should be able to cut the glass for you. I used Crystal glass last time I think. In fact, when asked how thick I wanted the glass (it was for a top) and I had no idea, once they found out what it was for they knew exactly what I needed. They did it while I waited. Krylon is aquarium safe.

I saw that commercial at the gym, people looked at me weird when I burst out laughing... Now I wish I had a tv.

Will they be smart enough to eat something that doesn't move? That sounds like a real dumb question but... I've got lots of different foods, they just don't move.

Ok, problems... Some are big and some haven't grown. The tiny ones are now considered food! HELP!!!!! I've still got a microworm culture going but that musn't be enough anymore. They aren't trained for NLS fry food. Can I feed frozen mysis shrimp? I know BBS are the next best thing but I have no idea how to hatch them, can you buy them frozen too? I saw the biggest one chow down on one of the little ones tonight, not cool.

I love it! I got a handful of java moss from a shrimp keeper in Edmonton (almost 2 years ago) and I just noticed the subwassertang growing! Other freebies have included riccia, and 2 rhizomes of windelov java fern. Too bad it's taken this long for them to get big enough to actually notice lol.

I had a sponge prefilter on the intake, the shrimp loved picking on it anyway. I used the plastic bracket as a seperation device to keep the bag of purigen in one spot. On the other side I had filter floss. This way you can leave everything alone and just pull out the filter floss.

I had a pengiun and a tetra whisper. Use the rack that the floss is attached to, strip it so the carbon is gone and just the plastic is left. Use that to keep other biomedia in place in the chamber. Things like biomax, lava rock, whatever. Alternatively find some other way to keep biomedia in the chamber without the floss thing and carbon.

Time for an update!!! That old thing up there was torn down months ago and sold, I'm on to bigger and better things. Can I change the title of this journal? lol I have/had a 2.5 gallon tank with a betta in it, betta died. So I started looking around for what might go in there that wasn't a betta, killifish!!! So I got some eggs and hatched them and I'm still growing the little buggers, seems like it's taking forever. However, I was going to need a tank for them cause they aren't all going to fit in a 2.5. Off to kijiji!!! Where I stumble upon, attached in a one line sentence at the end of an ad for a 120 gallon, "free 20 gallon with stand if you'll come pick it up." I'm SOLD!!! It also came with about 3 boxes of miscellaneous stuff which has been distributed throughout AA. Then, the dresser my original 10 gallon was sitting on was going to be sold, I better tear it down and move everything into the new 20 lol. So now I'm down 12.5 gallons, oh wait, no I'm not, still have a new 20. I get the 20 set up and the 6 fish moved over and voila: It's mostly planted now, waiting for things to fill in, some moss to attach to rocks, and to remove that rock on the driftwood. There are actually about 20 cardinals in there but they really like to hide in the back, it's going to suck trying to get them all out so they can live in my next project. Cause remember this one is for killifish. How deep can you plant tiger lotus? They are not attached to the bulb and the roots are kinda short. So far I have buried the crown in order to keep them down but that one on the left has popped up again. I painted the background and was going to backlight it but that hasn't worked out quite like I planned so I'm hoping the vals and guppy grass take off to help cover it a bit. Now on to other larger things. I found a 28 gallon on kijiji for cheap so I picked it up cause I'm going to have room in my living room. So I built this: Seriously, I built this ALL BY MYSELF!!! I still can't quite believe it. Even my carpenterish brother was impressed how solid it is. And this is what is sitting on it: I waited long enough to get some moss to attach to the wood, and plants should be arriving tomorrow. This is where the fish currently in the 20 will come to live. I finally found a cheap $10/50lb bag of black substrate, I can't believe it took me that long, I think it's been a year looking for it. But the best thing about this tank is this: Instead of painting like I usually do I got rice paper window film and put that on the back. Backlit with a multicolored string of LED lights. It doesn't look like much when the tank is lit up so I might add another strip in the light bar but I'm not sure yet. Anyway, I've been busy!!!