livingart

essentially yes the males sort of dance with their feet neat little man made finches good fosters for foreign finches

the key to running your tank is the same for a funambulist all in the balance

would that be 2 seperate compartments to achieve that or does the top half of the sand only circulate in the top half of the filter where there is supposedly less oxygen?

in my case 5' 8 inches is tall enough

personally i don't think you can have too much filtration you can have too much flow in the tank though

2 canisters or 1 big one on a 5 footer i think the point being reiterated is that no matter how much surface area for bacteria to live on they are still reliant on a food source to keep their numbers up so a larger number of bacteria needs a larger food source and larger space to live on you can't have one without the other love and marriage horse and carriage

do you know how to sex them?

looks almost like a scale pattern but probably too obvious an answer

sorry i am too far away darkfur

please remember when playing or lazing outside in the sun to apply sunscreen so you don't get a nasty burn as a bad burn can lead to a melanoma which may require removal it sometimes takes very little exposure to lead to problems so remember to slip, slop, slap to keep that burn away this message supplied by your fishroom sage in the interest of forum members safety over the holiday season the correct sunscreen will keep the burn away http://www.sunsmart.org.nz/

so you have the day off then?

oh and beware of powercuts if the sand stops moving and settles ro the bottom it doesn't take long for the bacteria to start die off in the bed

surface area is not the only factor influencing bacteria growth in an enclosed system as you have said once tank is established, same fish, plants and feeding regime then a balance is also achieved between bacteria and bio load temp drops or rises, over feeding or extra fish in tank will change the balance if it is changed too dramatically then a crash can be precipitated until the balance is achieved frequent water changes work to water down ammonia etc. levels our large malawi tank has a large wet/dry sump on it with a large flow through i am also a minimal feeder of my fish as over feeding can create all sorts of unseen problems

i am not running any substrate in the tank as gravel vac to 1,2 m and 3 sq metres of it will be a chore just a personal opinion but i believe substrate, the tank walls and any media all provide a serface for bacteria to live on a balancing act is created between the bio load and bacteria levels the idea behind the semi tower construction is keepimg a good flow through the media of oxygenated water, it is dropping from 2 metres and delivered back by 2 spraybars filter wool to take out the big crud and sediment flowing through the media with a drain at bottom to clear detritus basically just a bigger version of a canister filter i ran a 4 foot local marine tank with 1" of shell substrate, 6 airstones, a berlin skimmer and weekly water changes for 4 years i have a couple of those fluidised bed filters sitting in the shed, got them when they first came on the market in nz used one on an existing local marine tank, i think they take a short while for bacteria to build up in the sand as leg before wicket (cricketman) has said they generate a bit of heat aand i think you may need a prefilter to stop any food getting into it

does consuming the wood affect their breeding ability?

there would go their scientific collection arguement

i have found that excellent recently when setting up a new tank

is that the TLC one?

powerheads are usually designed to run in tank so generate a lot of flow but not much pressure putting the canister level with the tank will help

i think so long as the canister is slightly below the bucket water level you should be right i have my spray bar vertical and the last 2 holes just out of the water when power goes off the syphon is broken when power is on again the pump starts again because you are using a hole in the tank it can only drop to that level the spray bar end is the one that will syphon. i think best idea is to try it while you are watching it

replacing the base is best option or getting a piece cut to fit inside base and silicining in

do you have an overflow on your tank as you will need to get water out of the tank to the bucket before your canister can pick it up and return to the tank an overflow drilled in the tank is the safest way though there are other ways of creating an over flow system there is an excellent thread here http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... p?t=219465

i am running an eheim 1262 currently but will change to a big pondmaster when i have put another overflow in you could run your canister as you have suggested by using the barrel or 20 litre pail as a huge prefilter

nice to see some lower case typing BURN i have met a few people in life who are full of capital letters

how long have you been keeping fish burn?