Warren

File is on it's way. I'd remove your email address or it will get picked up by a spam search engine...

Do you have Autocad or an application that can read Autocad or DXF files? I can send you the CAD drawings for my tank if you like...

Sounds pretty good to me. I recently built a tank of similar size but it was 950mm (37.5") deep using 19mm glass. It used a metal frame however. If you double-butt all the vertical joins and all the bottom joins it will be fine. I would go for at leat 150mm wide strips along the front, back and sides and 200mm wide braces front to back on about 700mm centres. If you can get the edges of the glass ground square it will make the tank a lot stronger as all the glue joins will be of uniform thickness. It is not a big expense and is very well worth it on tanks this size. Make sure you have 2-3 people to help assemble it + you'll need jigs to hold everything in place. The vertical glass will be so heavy it will squash out all the silicone. You'll need to slip a 1mm thick strip of wood in 5-6 places along each edge to stop the glue squishing out. Once it's almost cured the strips can be pulled out. Also make sure the glass is spotless. Use an alcohol based cleaner that leaves no residue. Once the glass is cleaned, handle it with gloves to stop fatty deposits getting on the glass.

It's because he lives where the sun never shines!! 8)

I always say bigger is better, but don't listen to me cause I always take things to extremes! Get the biggest tank you can afford $, time and space wise within reason. You won't regret it. Once you're hooked, you'll just get it anyway. I've got a medium sized tank (2400x820x670mm (1200L)) and it's the best move I ever made. It's very stable and doesn't require all that much work (about 1-2 hours a week).

Really high nitrate levels are also toxic. If your real nitrate level is over 80ppm, long term exposure to this level will kill the fish. It damages internal organs. Get a nitrate test done. If it's over 80 you'll need to do water changes more often. When I first started keeping fish I have really high nitrate levels (probably from over feeding) and ended up having to do water changes twice a week for 2 months until things settled down. Until then my fish would mysteriously die for no apparent reason.

Do you have lots of plants too? Brush algae absolutely hates CO2. It's possible to completely remove all brush algae with the combination of good fertiliser (you're already doing this), SEA's and CO2. Only problem is you need to have lots of plants and no plant eating fish.

I think Rob's hit the nail on the head. 4-5 months is about right if they are well looked after. They grow pretty slowly.

I tape mine to polystyrene then tape the whole thing to the back of the tank. You then get insulation as well!!

Ok, just a bit of research: Plate glass is approximately 4% stronger in ultimate tensile strength than float glass. Couldn't find the difference in the process to make it but who cares. The term 'quality' seems only to refer to the flattness... The problem with plate glass is it is not anealed like float glass is and it has more air bubbles in it. It's primary purpose is for mirrors as it is flatter than float glass although the human eye can see little difference straight-on. It has a much higher level of internal stress than float glass and is less suitable for structural purposes. The internal stress makes the plate glass less strong overall. Am am actually wandering if the tank is made of plate glass at all or if it was just a term used by Tetraman, like plates of glass or panes of glass...

Ok then!!

Wasn't talking bout fish...

You can have my young if I ever have any, - I won't want them...

Plate glass is float glass as far as I know...

Welcome Aaron, May I suggest not getting a Pleco for a tank the size of yours. A Bristlenose would be a much better option as it only gets about 100mm long compared to 500-600mm long!

I use 2 x 300W Jagar's in my 1200L tank. You don't need lots of watts unless your tank is located somewhere very cold. It's risky putting big heaters into small tanks. The most common failure mode for a heater is 'on'. If the heater is oversized it will cook your fish before you notice. You are better off using multiple small heaters even though it is more expensive. If one fails 'on' you have a better chance of noticing before the fish get cooked. You would be best with 2 x 100W heater or 1 x 200W as a maximum. A single 100-150W would probably also be fine if the tank is in a fairy modern house where the temperature never gets really cold (inside).

I'd go for 75mm wide strips, we are talking about a lot of force here. Have done the calcs on 8mm glass assuming bracing as suggested above (but 75mm wide all round instead). You will have a safety margin of only 150% on the front and back glass. It is risky having a tank this big and long made only from 8mm glass. There are many tanks like it around with no problems at all however. You will probably get away with it since most others seems to. You will have to make a very good stand for it though and make sure the top surface is very level (less than 1mm curvature in any direction) or you will risk creating a stress in the glass that will use up that 50% headroom you have. If you only fill the tank to 550mm it will increase the safety to around 200% and 500mm to 265%. It's not the same as having a shorter tank but the forces on the glass will be lowered by enough to give a very good safety margin. The glass thickness has a cube-law relationship to depth so it only takes a small drop in the water level to significantly improve the safety margin in the glass.

Welcome, are you a member of the Hawkes Bay Aquarium Society? If not, why not join? We meet on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at the National Aquarium at 7:30pm.

Haven't looked at anything but pH testers myself. I'd expect specialised testers for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate would be quite pricey. pH testers range in price from $60 on special to $120. You can buy really expensive lab-grade gear but the cheap ones will do for your tank. The problem with electronic pH testers is they need a certain electrolyte balance concentration to work effectively. You need about 40-60ppm carbonate hardness or more for the meter to be accurate. I have an electronic tester that doesn't work on my tanks because I only have 10-15 ppm carbonate hardness and 20-25 general hardness. I use RO water and add just enough of the salts to keep the pH stable between water changes. Thus I am fairly closely simulating nature... If you have a high enough carbonate hardness then you’ll be fine using the pH meter. Just keep it clean and check it’s calibration every 6 months or so.

If the old filters are going to be used, you should be able to swap everything all at once with little need for the new filter to cycle. The filters you have now are doing the job. Fill the containers with your old tank water and put the current filters in them still running. This will keep the filter active for the short time it takes to transfer eveything over. It will be effectively like doing a 50% water change on your old tank so the fish will be fine. The new filter will need 3-4 weeks after everything is transferred before you start adding more fish. This will give it time to come on-line before the load increases.

Sound's like you are on the right path for filtration. Good idea putting the new filter on the old tank. It will mean a very easy changeover. You'll need to transfer the new filter to the new tank and leave it for a few days. You'll then be able to move the fish across a couple at a time a few days apart. This will let the filter gradually adjust to the load. You can't over-filter, only under-filter. The size of filter you have will be ok with the fishload. Are you going to use internal and/or undergravel filters as well. Watch the effectiveness of the undergravel filter if the Firemouth is digging right down to the gravel plates. It can stop it being effective completely... It is normal for the Firemouths to dig a nest. It's the breeding instinct taking over. Just keep an eye on the other two to make sure there is no fighting. If the other two are females, check he is not being too aggressive with them.

It's probably the protective spikes clown loaches have in that position. When a clown loach is being threatened or a larger fish tries to eat it, it sticks these spikes out as defence. They are razor sharp so don't get your fingers near them. Are the spikes sticking out all the time? It's probably stressed out at being moved. I'd let it back into the tank. The other fish rubbing against him won't cause a problem as clown loaches are very social and do this all the time normally. Try releasing it and see if it pulls its spikes back in. If a fish is showing signs of recovery, don't muck with it. They often stress out really easily and that on top of being weak isn't good.

Sure, any time, just let me know when you'll be here and I'll make myself available...

Sounds like you have a deficiency in something. Most probably Potassium or Magnesium or both. Check the fertiliser you’ve got. If it is not rich in both then don’t use it. You may have to buy some from your local chemical supplier or hydroponics store. Maybe you haven’t got enough light. Give tank dimensions, type and watts of the lights. What is the tank temp? Try reading this article, it may help: http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Fertilize ... onlin.html

Turtles make a lot of mess making it difficult to keep a tank with gravel and fish clean. It will just mean cleaning more often if you don't want the worms.