Znaika

Mail Order Pet Supplies for smaller orders (prices a bit higher than in Pets and Ponds, but shipping is less than $7) Pets and ponds for larger orders, when lower prices justify $15 shipping.

One way to save on Prime is to buy Seachem Safe instead. It is the same Prime, but in a dry form and is much more concentrated. One gram is all you need for 100 gallons. One 250 g bottle will take you a loooong way.

Rona and Home Depot sell daylight T8 (6500K) Works great for me.

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My short answer is - best solution for 80G is two canister filters, the bigger - the better, which you can buy economically from other hobbyists on this site. Eheim, Rena or Fluval - matters not a lot, really.

Semi-automated delivery through directed synthetic piping, using gravitational forces. Otherwise known as hose syphoning.

Reducing permanent hardness is possible pretty much by RO only. You can reduce total hardness from 12-14 dH down to 6-7 dH by reducing temporary (carbonate) hardness from 6-7 KH to 1-2 KH by preliminary cooking water in a barrell with a mesured addition of acid (this is cheap) or sour salt and aging for a day under aeration.

This is a crime against plants. Fish water is the best fertilizer in the world.

Thanks for the advice; I have already placed two sponge filters, which have been running in other tanks, into their tank, but it did not occur to me to squeeze them. Will do.

Quite common in Asia, for some reason it is rare in the hobby. Sometimes they come as stowaways with other rasboras and barbs, so over a time I managed to collect a few from different places. One happened to be a female, so I was trying to breed them. First attempt was unsuccessful - all eggs succumbed to fungus, but second time around I used methylene blue and now I have tons of fry, yay! Infusoria culture in not yet ready, will try to raise them on surrogates.

One reliable protection against "cooking" your tank is to have a heater, which won't do it, even if it jams: 5 gal 25 watt 10 gal 50 watt 20 gal 50 watt 25 gal 75 watt 40 gal 100 watt 50 gal 150 watt 65 gal 200 watt 75 gal 250 watt

Nope. And do not plan to have any.

Just be aware that some limnophilas, especially in large quantities, may be toxic. I have a thicket of sessiflora, which looks beautiful, but I noticed that the fishes tend to stay away from that corner of the tank.

Two 300W heaters, even if constantly on, result in 14.4kWh / $1.3 per day or $39 per month in electricity costs. Factoring all admin costs you will end up with about $50. The cost of additional gas will be about half of that. Your monthly savings will be at about $25. Whether the effort is worth it - your call. Frankly, I would rather adjust thermostat and airflow registers to heat this room a bit better, so that your heaters took a break and left it at it.