AndyL

Well golds is always the best price... Wais - if you're looking for really small peices - has rubble on sale for 5.99 a lb. And while yes, dead rock will become live in time, most types of base rock are nowhere near as porous as true live rock, thus they will never be equivalent to 'real' live rock. But in time they will grow coraline, start to sustain animal life etc etc etc, but without the porosity, they will not be able to support the bioload that the real stuff can. Andy

Meeting is tonight - tuesday the 28th, @ 7:30pm at the community center as usual. Last I looked Meeting topic was still To be announced. Andy

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Well the tanks had a full life - for a nano... It's about time to tear it down and start fresh. Actually I'm treating for those dang red flatworms, but I'll probably move the contents to a 5g along the way. Going to miss it, But onwards and upwards!

The dwarfs, are generally kept in a minimum system of 30g - any less and it's a problem to keep the water quality up (they do eat and poop a lot). The dwarfs are pretty sedentary fish, except at feeding time, you're only likely to spot them hanging on the underside of an overhang. For the more common volitans - you're looking at minimum a 75g - and it may still need a bigger tank. Andy

Not sure whats in edmonton - there's a hydroponics shop down on calgary trail that I've grabbed KNO3 and a few others from. But if you only need small quantities - http://www.hydroponics.com/ does sell PMDD supplies in smaller volumes. Andy

Bow valley / interamerican / yadda yadda yadda - That shop run by mitch - whatever it's called this day. Crystal auto glass also sells starphire, it's not cheap. Andy

Depends on the pleco really, and how stubborn/food driven he is. The pair can easily kill even a large pleco - and it's not unheard of to happen. I would suggest you add a night light to your tank - lets the angels see when the pleco is coming. That's a easy way to help the mom & pop to be. Andy

Me thinks thou does't give up to easily... It's now in the basement, slid right around the corner, right down the stairs right around the corner with the hutch... Right into place... No railings, doors, or furniture was moved. And the cripple did it himself! (of course I'll probably be digging out the crutches tomorow) Andy

FOWLR Saltwater... New home for the Fu, wrasse, eel... etc

Ooops, 65g (36x18x25)

Well Rob just dropped it off It's a fine peice of craftsmanship! Now if only it could be made to fit where I want it to...

Just got back from cruising some of my favorites... Golds, Had lots of neat stuff in... I had a heck of a time not spending 300$+ It would have been easy This weeks shipment got bumped to next week however - apparently they're expecting a bunch of LPS some CB seahorses (from vietnam) Still lost of RBTA! Big Als - typical fare, didn't see much noteworthy... (Except FW - they had some really nice blue and gold rams). Wais - *drool* Gotta say when danny gets nice stuff in - does he ever get nice stuff. Rainfords gobies, a bunch of Hi fin banded gobies, a dozen pipefish (3-4 varieties, know 2 were dragon, there was about 5-6 of a smaller blue/red striped version, and a couple oddballs) Some nice blastomussa up front! The rest of the shops, pretty meh...

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I'd be in... As long as it's a different version - the version we got last time where the thermostat plugs in makes for a HELL of a wiring nightmare when used on racks I saw they had some with real power cords leading to the thermostats - Those would be good! Andy

I doubt it, basically they're a halogen bulb, but instead of the 'common' 3000-4000k spectral output, they're full spectrum / daylight bulbs. From searches it sounds like they should be pretty common - but I'm apparently not looking in the right places. Seems like a lot of collectors, stores, and art people use them... Andy

Hey folks, Ok, dieing to try out something new... In the US there are a few retailers selling full spectrum (5300k) MR16 halogen bulbs - apparently they're fairly commonly found used in trade show display lighting. Calling around to a bunch of the local lighting retailers, I got a lot of "huh?" and "sure we can special order you a case" answers. Has anyone run across them locally? Andy

All I'm going to say, is if you check out simplydiscus and any other reputable discus site - the accepted method is always salt and heat. Andy

Rule #1 with discus... If anything doesn't seem right, heat and salt. Discus are super hardy fish (contrary to popular belief) and other than parasites - any time you have a problem, knock the temp up to 90, and 1-2tbsp per gallon of salt. Since they are new additions, I'd definitely look at a prazi treatment to get them cleaned out. Andy

The simple answer is it's the macronutrient that you're not thinking of. Without enough CO2 the plants can't metabolize enough Ammoni(a/um), basically you want the other macros in check (Phosphate, pottasium and CO2), so that the tank is Nitrogen poor. Thus once nitrogen is added (fish poop) it's almost immediately metabolized. Otherwise, you risk standard cycling problems, aggravated by algae. Andy

Depending on the initial level of planting - often you wont even really need to cycle a planted tank. With what you've mentioned, the water sprite and the Hygro will both greedily 'eat' the water borne ammonia produced by the fish. But that said, you'd need to get the plants over their initial planting 'shock' and in many cases over the hump from emersed to submersed growth; but once they're set and established - they will be able to suck up a LOT of nutrients very quickly. Plants will generally take up NH3/4 before NO3, as it's easier for them to transform into useable nutrients (NO3 requires the plant to take a few extra steps to convert it to a useable source for them of NH3/4) One would also need to be very careful at the rate with which one added fish - 1-2 small fish a week at most, the plants and very slowly emerging biofilter need time to 'catch up' to the extra nitrogen source. If you're going to do it, get your tank running, add your plants - definitely wait a couple weeks for the plants to adapt - make sure they're growing at their best (You will absolutely HAVE to use CO2 injection - preferably presurized not DIY CO2) before adding fish. Otherwise you could risk one heck of an algae outbreak, and a lot of dead fish. Andy

Well the marble x silver pair likes em - I hate the paint... So now version two will be coming up - with a few modifications. Going to leave it clear - so I can see the eggs before wiping them off doing daily tank maintenance... I'm also going to add a step - a place for wrigglers to collect near the bottom, to keep the wrigglers on the slate until they go freeswimming (help the parents in the loosing battle to keep them in place). Andy