smidey

yeah i agree with nudge. there is a good source of paradise stone from portland, other than that you'll most likely need to order it. I use river rocks which are available from garden centres i think (got mine out of our garden). There is a really well priced shell website, i can't think of the name right now but RYANJURY will post what it is, they have almost every tropical shell available and crazy prices so are a good option. probably easiest for you if you decide what you want then find a source, i would google "cichlid tank" images and see what you prefer.

i have two cf1000's and cf1200. there aren't many snails in the tank as the fish munch them but plenty in the filter. they are ramshorn snails

i can lend you a seeded cf1000 filter if you want although i have snails that you may not want.

hi and welcome

what part of the rei are you in?

this is the new text language for over 60's :rotf: haha

they are from the congo rivers and are commonly kept with africans, they did very well when i kept them. they are noted as being in PH from 6.0 to 8.0 so that is probably why they do well, that and they are fiesty when it comes to large tank mates. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1353

totally agree but we do need to try to keep them as pure as we can here due to limited access and supply. In this case we were discussing a empress crossed red zebra which could not be further from natural species they should be pet food IMO.

i think Joe is right with that statement with regard to africans specifically which the topic is about, i'm not sure he meant new world species.

i think you just need to accept that slang or abbreviations of words in any hobby, activity or life in general are what they are and learn them so you can understand what's being discussed. My mrs would have no idea what LFS, EBJD or any other of the abbrv's we use are but there's no way she will get us to stop using them so she would have to adapt to understand. You have the right not to use them which no one will have an issue with, just the same as everyone has the to use them but you'll never succeed in changing popular ones so just run with it and things will be a little easier.

there are endless examples of words that locally (within an area or group) mean nothing like there actual meaning. you ever heard any cockney rhyming slang? in that "apples and pairs" have nothing to do with fruit, "boat race" has nothing to do with yachting.... this could go on forever.

as far as i was aware "frag" was short for fragment and i don't have corals. Most hobbies & activities develop their own terms as time goes on & in the hobby of marine fish keeping that's what frag means. In golf if a right handed player hits the ball and it curves right is known as a cut or slice of the ball but that has nothing to do with taking frags from it

it is a tough choice but seems to be the right one. not pleasant for anyone, enjoy your time with him until then.

i hope the bloodworms give them bloat

i hope the four guys are very strong, that tank should be around 250 to 275kg and awkward as to move.

thanks, there are three in my household.

hi and welcome. what size tank are you going to keep them in? Convicts aren't africans but do well with them all the same.

the metal framing they use in housing is just folded tin basically

welcome. what type of cichlids? africans in hope

the diagonal brace prevents the top moving forward or back while the bottom remains in the same place so it is no longer a square but becomes a parallelogram and as it moves further the joins will fail and the tank will crash down. it isn't about the uprights moving in or out, it's about the tank which is very high tilting a little and making the top move. it's about horizontal loads. here is a short youtube showing what i mean. as above the ends may be ok with 7mm ply but i wouldn't trust them to hold 2 ton and the centre part of the stand has nothing.

well either you don't understand in which direction 7mm ply is strong or you misunderstand the diagonal brace function from front to back. ply is strong on its edge vertically but laying it horizontally it is flexible enough to curve the face and make a skateboard ramp out of it. i think he needs to brace the stand so the stand wont distort/lean forwards or backwards which only the end ply panels will offer bracing so the middle part of the stand needs so strength. the panels on the back and front offer very little strength in that direction, they will offer bracing if the tank moves towards either end.

the ply is only on the ends which i don't think is enough as there is a great length between them. It is a very simple and costless task to add in 3 braces which will mean there is no chance of there being an issue so i cannot see why someone wouldn't do that and prefer to reply on a few screws and 7mm ply to hold it square. this set up will be pushing 2 ton once aquascaped and filters are running so it's probably a fair amount more than parking a car in the office as it has the footprint.

yep i allow that product every day in material schedules but it is only a very small part in the bracing of wall framing which also has other walls at 90deg, dragon ties and roof framing, angle braces, interior and exterior linings to brace the walls. it is not the difference between the walls falling over or not, simply an assistance to the overall bracing of the structure.

yeah thats it, to stop the stand crashing forward or back. i would put one at each end and one in the middle and one at either end on the like in my pic. that way there is no way it can wrack and become a parallelogram and collapse.

nicely built, excellent for vertical weight support. i suggest add some diagonal braces from front to back as the joist hangers won't give you any bracing.