
New project opinions needed.
#21
Posted 17 February 2014 - 08:24 AM
Aqueon products seem to be a little higher end for my taste. Nothing wrong with them, just seem to pass themselves off as the Cadillac of tanks, stands, hoods, etc. They do a lot of business in bowfronts and corner tanks. If that's what you want, go for it. Nothing beats a used AGA in my taste. Let us know what you come up with.
#22
Guest_cjohns_*
Posted 17 February 2014 - 09:20 PM
#23
Guest_tomterp_*
Posted 03 March 2014 - 06:49 PM
I don't see the point of canister filters. ... And by the way I don't use CO2 or T5HO and I grow lots of plants, so really they're just a thing you sink money into with no benefit. Like the canister filter.
Canister filters offer several advantages, it depends on your situation whether or not they make sense.
1- Lower maintenance. Hang on back filters require FAR more frequent cleanings than do canisters. My Fluval 305 I clean about once a year, my Eheim I open up once a year or so, and can see nothing to clean. Amazingly efficient at breaking down biologicals.
2- Noise - hang on back filters make more noise, as the water cascades into the tank. If you change your water weekly perhaps this isn't an issue, but for those of us who suffer rapid evaporation, inevitably the noise starts in a few days and not all spouses/S.O's are fully appreciative.

3- Profile - the HOB take up more room, requiring the tank to be further from the wall. The canister tubing has a narrower profile, allowing the tank to be closer to the wall, leaving more space for whatever.
Sure there's a bit difference in price but there's value in the canister. But my Eheim was on my Christmas list (thanks Bro), and the Fluval was included along with a 55g tank and standard lighting at a Potomac Valley Aquarium Society auction for $40 all in. Those are frequently available used, and parts are widely available so no reason if you like the other advantages not to go canister.
#24
Guest_cjohns_*
Posted 09 March 2014 - 09:21 PM
#25
Guest_cjohns_*
Posted 11 March 2014 - 04:07 AM
#26
Posted 11 March 2014 - 07:14 AM
Why do you want to use artificial plants? These are so hard to keep clean. And they don't "do" anything. Live ones look better, grow, filter, etc. and they are not that difficult if you stick with some of the easier low light things like java fern (not a fern) or even some micro swords (mine is growing like crazy with just a shop light).
#27
Posted 11 March 2014 - 07:34 AM
"No thanks, a third of a gopher would merely arouse my appetite..."
#28
Guest_Erica Lyons_*
Posted 11 March 2014 - 09:50 AM
API Quick Start?Tank is set up with store bought bacteria...
If you were within the expiration date on the bottle, you don't have to worry about filters from other fish tanks or feeders or any of that.
Check out this graph:

http://www.theaquari..._Nitrogen_Cycle
(Those levels can be taken with a grain of salt; ammonia's 72 hour LC50 [concentration to kill half the population in 72 hours] is 0.5 ppm, so it doesn't have to get up to 10. Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm....a lc50 scallops I think the people making the graph just eyeballed the y axis, but they got the main point.)
Now compare with this graph:

http://www.apifishca...ience_Sheet.pdf
The API Quick Start provides enough beneficial bacteria to instantly convert ammonia to nitrite then nitrate, skipping the normal 40 day cycling time. Now you just do water changes like normal (frequently enough to keep nitrate below 30 ppm or whatever concentration is safe for your fish species).
#29
Guest_cjohns_*
Posted 11 March 2014 - 01:13 PM
#30
Guest_Erica Lyons_*
Posted 11 March 2014 - 01:40 PM
What length, wattage, and type of bulb is that? (For example, T8 fluorescent? T5? LED?)
#31
Guest_cjohns_*
Posted 11 March 2014 - 02:46 PM
#32
Guest_Yeahson421_*
Posted 11 March 2014 - 10:47 PM
#33
Guest_cjohns_*
Posted 12 March 2014 - 04:03 AM
Edited by cjohns, 12 March 2014 - 04:04 AM.
#34
Guest_cjohns_*
Posted 12 March 2014 - 04:06 AM
I would add sand to fill the gaps between the rocks, otherwise that will become a nitrate factory.
10-4 I did not think about that. Thanks
#35
Guest_Erica Lyons_*
Posted 12 March 2014 - 09:26 AM
A single bulb, two, three, or four?Its a T8 32 watts 48"
This is actually the same bulb type that I have, except the fixtures I use are two four foot long 32 watt T8 lithonia shop lights from Home Depot ($20 per fixture). The bulbs I use are Philips Daylight Deluxe, and there are two bulbs per lithonia shop light fixture.
Here is a link to the bulb specifications. They are 2750 lumens each: http://www.homedepot...22949/203466585
For my 55 gallon and my 75 gallon tanks, I use four daylight deluxe bulbs over them on a timer for 3 hours before I leave for work and 5 hours when I get home. The plants grow great and the timer solved the cladophora algae problem (cladophora algae used to grow, but since using a timer, it doesn't).
#36
Guest_cjohns_*
Posted 13 March 2014 - 01:28 AM

#37
Guest_BenCantrell_*
Posted 13 March 2014 - 08:03 AM
Single blub
That's the sound a fish makes before it dies.

#38
Guest_cjohns_*
Posted 13 March 2014 - 09:59 PM
HAHAHAHA!.......bulb*That's the sound a fish makes before it dies.
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