If you want to see the sort of thing you can achieve on a lower budget you are welcome to come have a look at my reef- i have spent just over 2k so far and have been doing it on the cheap. give me a pm if you wanna have a look
pH crashes are caused by a low kH Caryl. What is in the tank RNBO? What fish, plants, driftwood rocks, substrate, what filtration are you using and are you using CO2- answer those questions and we may be able to help out!
i have a 4ft and am looking at doing the same sort of thing but with an elephant nose instead of a birchir. that rules me out of syno's i think because i think they would be too hyper! I was thinking perhaps some large tetras would be cool, Makoshark i dunno if they would be eaten when the BGK got bigger- Congo tetras or something similar. What other catfish would work in a tank with the other fish anyone know?
nelson lakes. (spent time at both)
oddballs tank with elephant fish, bgk, tyre track eel, butterflyfish etc, or big community tank with lots of tetra species- i'm still deciding what...
i was just beind silly- i knew those CA fish would nver fit in that piddly lil 8fter. thats my dream freshwater tank though- a 20ft central american ciclid tank!
dunno- anubias maybe. i would have thought it would be best to find plants which the silver dollars didn't like eating based on chemicals (taste) etc. prhaps, the only possible plants are java moss ava fern and watersprite. plants are overrated though!