Paul & Lana

After doing some reading, I think what we'll do is go towards a sump. That of course means getting a different stand, but that's not a huge issue, I'm sure we can trade or figure something out. The canister can go on the tank downstairs and we can get rid of the filter there.... One thing at a time... Lana

So we could do soft corals without a sump? The stand we have doesn't have the space for one, and the tank isn't drilled. Upgrading the filter or adding one is an option though... a reef tank would be my first choice. The tank should be fine, it had fish in it until we redid the floors and moved them down to the other tank, where they're all doing well. Lana

Hey guys, We have an empty 90 gallon tank and filter etc. that we'd like to convert to salt. Without selling everything and buying a whole new set up, what options for tank set up do we have? The stand has two cabinets, one side houses a rena xp3 filter. The hood has a 3 foot light fixture (2 bulbs). There's also a heater, some powerheads and so on kicking around. If we go with FOWLR, can we still run the rena with more rock? Or? Or do we not need it? Would we have enough light to do anything with soft corals of any type (with the right bulbs of course)? I know we'll have to get a new heater, and protein skimmer, and some powerheads as well as live rock and sand. Just want to know what our options are for set up before I spend hours reading up on what to do next. Every site I've gone to has all different information . Thanks! Lana

perfect, this will make building the volcano a lot easier.......

neither of the above will hurt the fish....?

Hi list, I'm building a big volcano to house an aerator in the middle of our 90g tank.got the lava rock...now what can i use to hold it all together.. we triedc this before, with aquarium sealant...but the stuff took forever to dry enough to hold rocks in place...is there anything else fish safe that will dry quickly or at least have a high initial tack... all the rock goes around a pvc pipe pieve that houses the aerator....any alternate ideas for attaching the rock are much appreciated as well..... Thanks Paul & Lana

Hi guys, We are redoing the floors on the main level here, which affects the 90 gallon tank - it will have to be moved around. Anyhow is it ok to move the fish in the 90 gallon to the 66 gallon tank, hook up the filter from the 90 as well for a few days? Neither tank is really overstocked at the moment. What's the best way to do this - all the fish at once or a few at a time? I'll put in lots of extra hiding places etc. so nobody feels out of sorts. I don't think there'll be any issues as far as everyone getting along but will put mr crayfish into a separate tank. Thanks! This would be the best option for us as a tub on the floor would get 'fished' in - one of the border collies has discovered fish herding and the golden pup would want to 'swim'.... Lana

I did a big water change yesterday and filled the filter with floss, let it run for a bit while the water level was low and stirred up the gravel a few times. Added what I had left for salt while that was going on. Refilled the tank last night and this morning when I checked there is nothing on him. I'll keep an eye out to see if it happens again and keep my fingers crossed. How sensitive are the plecos to salt? Can they have some in the water? The crayfish seems fine too, he had something like that a bit ago but didn't seem bothered - I assumed it was because he liked hiding in the tunnel that was at the bottom of the 'mountain' in there and it tends to have gunk settling into it. The plecos are too big to go there.... Lana

Just noticed one of the plecos in the tank has a patch of 'fuzz' on his side. It's about the size of a penny and looks like he's got dust on him. Any ideas as to what it is??? Doesn't sound like anything I've read about so not quite sure how to treat it. I'm debating between doing a salt treatment and using the ich medication. Leaning towards the salt but also don't want more of a breakout... any advice? Also there's a crayfish in the tank, will he be ok with a higher dose of salt or should I move him? Thanks! Lana

Hi all, Can't seem to find anything about this online so thought I'd ask. I have a crayfish who moulted last month or so, big healthy guy. Anyhow today he came out to eat and I noticed he seems to have algae growing on his shell - light brown fuzzy stuff. Is that normal? Should I do anything about it? Thanks! Lana

There must be something not right, just found out it's been leaking..... of course I have a dayhome interview set to arrive in minutes... so the canister is in the sink for now. Good thing the fish behave..... Lana

It's due for a cleaning but it hasn't been long since every thing was cleaned, the hoses are a few months old and the other parts seem fine... would running dry because of the intake coming off damage anything? I'll get hubby to clean everything this weekend.... Lana

Our intake for our xp3 rena filter came off overnight, I put everything back together, primed it and it seemed to be fine.... tonight though I noticed it wasn't pumping as much water as it should be. Doesn't sound any different and everything looks fine... Any suggestions? What should we be checking for? Any place in Calgary where we can take it to get checked/fixed (fast?). Thanks! Lana

True True... Dying fish is always tough to figure out when it is someone else having the problems. and on top of that they are clown loaches which can be even harder to figure out, being suseptable to alot of things. GL Lana hope you figure it out. Keep up on your tests and maybe try a touch of salt to help. Will add some more salt to the tank when I go sample the water. The four left are doing ok and seem fine, not sure why they are though, there's a mix of sizes as far as who made it and who didn't? Oh and Matt, on a side note, Rocky the crayfish is doing fine, he took on the redtails today over a chunk of shrimp..... Lana

Today it's somewhere between .5 and .25 for the ammonia level, pH is still at 8, will test in a bit again. Good news though, went to check on the tank and another clown loach was swimming around, he's now in a baggie over the small tank waiting to join his buddies..... For water changes, I have been adding the chemicals, then pumping the water from the tap really slowly (15G an hour or so)... Lana

The nitrate/nitrite levels were fine.... Will be testing the water again this morning and doing another change between chasing dayhome kiddos.. The clowns in the small tank seem to be doing well too, I turned off the air/filter and offered them a bit of food, they ate and swam around for a bit.... all active. Lana

So any suggestions for the three that are still alive and in the 5G? How often should I change the water? What water should I use (there's also a 90G that's been fine)? Thanks again, Lana

They had a ton of hiding places, between rocks, pipes and so on. They hid a lot for the first few days then were busy swimming around the tank. Just found three remaining that seem to be doing a lot better (had a hard time catching them in fact) and will be putting them into the smaller tank that's almost ready to go. Lana

Ok just finishing a 30% water change.... Ammonia level is at .5, so treated and waiting to see if it goes down between the water change and that. ph level is 8, also treated and waiting to see how things go... There is one remaining clown loach who seems ok so far, and one that's not doing well. I can set up a 5 gallon tank to move them to, with better water - or would that be too hard on them? I'm going to go get started on that, will check back in a bit... Lana

We got a 66 gallon tank about 10 days ago or so, with everything included - filter, fish, etc... Anyway we brought everybody home, including about 10 gallons of the existing water between the bucket of fish and the sand (might have been a bit less). Set everything up, filled the tank with treated water, let the fish in the tank adjust to the new water a bit at a time (I put new water into the bucket, took out a bit of their water at the same time) over the space of an hour or so, then put the fish in. They were all doing well, nobody died overnight, all of the fish were looking good, swimming around and digging (clown loaches plus some algae eaters and a few others). All eating well too. We were going out of town for a few days, which we've done with the other tank, we fed everyone before we left on Christmas day, were gone for boxing day and returned the next evening to a bunch of dead clowns. Six dead last night, and one more this morning! :cry: Needless to say a water change is on the books for this morning, to hopefully help things, but not sure what went wrong - there's no extra food sitting in the tank, the filters were moved intact (we were going to start replacing media this week), nobody was acting ill or looking stressed when we left, or showing any signs of problems (I was more worried about the other tank as we have some babies in there and we lost a tiger barb the week before). I'll test the water too of course, just thought someone here might have some ideas.... don't want to loose any more clowns if we can help it! Lana

I have a 20 gallon tank that is currently empty and I'd like to start a nano reef... Just looking at lighting and have a few questions: Right now it has a 18 inch bulb which I'm sure isn't enough light. Is there a way to convert the existing plastic hood to hold more lamps? Barring that, is there a simple option as far as hoods go, that will hold enough lighting? My concern is if I go with an open top and light above, that the lights will get hot and burn someone (it's in the dayhome's play area, so little ones are in there most of the time, not that the lights will be close to them, but still...). If the lighting is 4 feet off the ground or so, I'm not expecting them to get close, but one never knows. Also, if it's an open top, is there any risks of kids sticking their fingers in (to the tank of course, kids can be replaced)? Thanks, Lana

It's been a bad week for fish here... I currently have a 5 gallon tank that needs a resident as my son's beta died. Also have a 15 gallon with a few guppies and a dwarf frog, all of which have homes waiting if I need them to go to make room. In the 90 gallon, we have plecos, red tail sharks, angels, yoyo loaches, tiger barbs, bleeding heart tetras, electric yellow males, zebra danios and a crayfish. I would like to add some more color to the big tank if possible. Not sure what to do with the 15 gallon - plants and some puffers? We're planning on a big salt tank for next year but I've tossed around the idea of a small salt in the 15, depending on cost to set up and so on. Suggestions? I'd love some direction on what to do... Thanks! Lana

We'll see what we can do when we take it off this weekend, maybe we'll replace the solid wood covers with mesh or something. Or move the crayfish into the smaller tank and leave the boards off... Thanks!

The wood was stained and I'm assuming sealed, knowing my father in law. We have a glass top on as well but of course it's not tightly sealed.

My FIL built us a topper for our big tank, and it looks great. I've noticed though that there is mold growing on the inside of it. We keep the tank covered because of the crayfish, so it's pretty warm and humid. Anything we can do to treat the wood so there isn't a mold issue? Thanks!