vippy

Behind an internal filter or the top part of the heater (if the loach is small)?

I found that my loaches preferred eating the bubba snails, or at least the smaller ones.

A lot of it will come down to having a zoo licence (which covers the other issues).

Animals for zoo collections these days aren't purchased. I'm not 100% sure of their origin but I think they came from Auckland Zoo after they received a tortoise that was confiscated at customs.

They're Leopard tortoises that arrived about May 2006ish

AMMOFREE (TECHNO CARBON) Absorbs Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate (1.5mg/g), Suitable for Fresh and Salt Water, Suitable for Tanks and Ponds, Does not absorb medication, Does not re-release ammonia after absorption. Recommended to be place close to filter, Improves the COLOURS in fish as stress is reduced (pollution in water),treats 100 litres of water and last 2-3 months, Does not need rinsing before introduction, will not cloud the water, All natural (natural carbonised material NH-X) Balls are not refillable, Absorption of Ammonia most effective after 24 hours From http://www.vetproductsdirect.com.au/gbp ... AMF100.htm which is also on http://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/cata ... 87&catID=9 Hope it helps

That or those re-freezable ice-packs so that what goes in the tank melts and all comes back out (looks a bit dinky though). T'would cause less evaporation than a fan blowing over the top too I'd guess..?

Yeah, I just like to hammer nails into bits of wood. I'm too easily distracted to spend time on making a stand, let alone making it look like a decent job.

That enclosure looks awesome! And the stand too - very nice

Nice looking tank! I don't know if anyone will agree with it, coz I can see a few problems with it, but with my smaller tank and high output on the filter, I aimed the output along the shorter wall of the tank (over the heater) so it soon hit a wall and then moved along the long edge of the tank. The currents were wreaking less havoc on the plants. Does that make sense? I would guess that the water circulation isnt at it's best when doing this.

Yeah totally. Just bought another tank (3foot) last night which brinks me to 4 tanks but only one up and running. Thanks for the warm welcome!

Oh bugger. Was it still heating up your water with no problems?

mmm yeah I probably shoulda thought about that one before posting, haha

If you topped from from the hose but with a low flow rate, would the heater compensate and overall end up with less of a temp drop?

I've only had glowlights so I can't compare them to a group of neons, but my group of glowlights (have eight) are a good bunch to watch and are playful - you might not see it at the moment with 2 (and it helps that they're realtively cheap and a bit easier to breed if you get into that sorta thing). I swear by them