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I just love having a concrete floor, no worries about where I can put the tanks.

Ah...So basically, "Be patient and leave it alone" for a few days? BTW, Pies, any idea when you'll have those test kits for me? And, just because I felt like it...

The pump doesn't seem to be underpowered. It's a 3600 something LPH pump and Desh must have been using it with the skimmer. It's been running since about 8pm last night.

Got it running now and...It's doing nothing but dumping bubbles into my tank! If it doesn't start producing in the next hour or two I'm going to see if I can rig up a way to remove the venturi and give it a clean. What would happen if I bought a wooden airstone and dropped that into the center tube? Or is that just a stupid idea?

Did someone forget to warn you about that little detail with guppies, Binkle?

I wouldn't sell mine if I had one. They definitely are available though maybe not easy to get. Try your LFS and see if they can order them for you. They're normally $150-200 each, if I remember right.

Yup, looks like it. And might be pretty close to dropping from the looks f it.

Bring a few dozen Neolamprologous ocellatus if you come.

Small plecos? You mean Bristlenoses? Doesn't Australia get them?

I don't think I've ever seen one of those before. They must look really impressive at 2 feet.

Well, yeah, it's not a fish, but in topics like this "Fish" has a broader definition to cover anything that swims, 'cause I say so. So pbpbpbttt. Been reading up on them in aquariums a bit. Looks like if you're in the US or europe it's not actually that hard to get and keep them, they're the easiest invert anyway. Average life span is only up around 2 years, but seems they're not too hard to breed...

Yes, I know what it is, Pies. Though, they technically aren't squid, they're an independent branch of cephalopods like octopii. I wouldn't want a Giant cuttlefish, I don't think(They're australian, yuck), I'd be happy with the more common ones that usually only get to around a foot. Just a dream, though.

Hehe, Yeah, editing it now.

Nice, how much did that cost? About $400? Hope you can keep it alive, sounds like something like 99% die within a year even in very big, well run tanks. Here's my dream fish, probably even harder to keep alive.

The skimmer from Desh finally arrived today. It's a Berlin Classic(Yeah, I know you guys aren't a fan of them) powered by a Laguna Powerjet 2000. I'd thought I'd be able to just put it on the floor next to the tank,connect everything up, turn it on, adjust it and I'd be done. Nope. I'm going to have to buy a bunch of hoses for it, maybe replace the impeller, buy a new inlet filter for the pump, maybe a ball valve to adjust the flow of the pump. To begin with, because I don't have a sump, I think I'll have to have the skimmer sitting on the kitchen counter next to the tank because it'll have to have the outlets at least that high. Not a big deal though, if I can figure out a way to get the hoses to stay in place in the tank. Not pretty, but hopefully should work. Anyone see a problem with this or have any suggestions? I did have a little incident with the pump. Dropped it into the tank and plugged it in to see if it was working. Hmmm...It's not working. Lifted it closer to the surface and looked at it. Hmmm...Impeller isn't working. Maybe if I tap itAHHHH!!! Big fountain of water flying out of the tank all over the wall behind it. I guess I underestimated how much flow 3800 liters/hour is, hehe.

I think the best cannister filter for the money is a fluval 403...Unfortunately you can't buy them new anymore, but they seem to be more reliable than 404s. Though, 404s are a lot easier to clean, mine seem to be really fussy, the water flow varies for seemingly no reason. BUT, I think in 2002 they were changed and are apparently a lot better. If you can find somewhere to get a 403, I'd suggest that. But a 404 with the newer motor is still probably one of the best for the money cannisters, even with its problems. Though, that being said, I've been considering if I ever set up a new tank from scratch I might try something different, like a reverse undergravel filter powered by a couple Via Aqua 1300 powerheads or a sump setup.

If you're doing the experiment and want it published or for a doctoral thesis or something like that...Yeah, 30 or more is better. But, like interfecus says, for a science fare experiment or just for curiosity 5 is more than sufficient unless you wanna go for extra credit...

I'm surprised you didn't recognise the severum, Pegasus.

I think I might have ID'd the cories. Though, they're not easy to see so it's just a guesstimate. I think they're a Julii, a Metae/Bandit cory and a Pepper Cory.

I had a couple bristlenoses before. But now I've got a few more and a nice big male.

Ok, the fish are all in their tanks. The seem to be doing well. It was fascinating when I dumped the angel in the cichlid tank. It swam into the front right corner of the tank and tried to hide. My two green terrors slowly glided up to it, looked it over then backed away. Then my green severum slowly glided up to it and you could see him actually turn his head back and forth examining the angel:) then he just sat there for a minute and backed away. Then a couple jewels came up and had a look then swam away. It's almost like they all were actually being careful to look unaggressive when they came to inspect the new guy.

Hmm, Since they'd have been around 1.5-2 weeks from laying to free swimming, that'd be close to 4 weeks since the last batch. So it's not really that out of the ordinary.

My father in law basically said he doesn't have enough time to take care of his tanks, so he's giving his fish to me. Of course, I'm already overstocked, but anyway after scooping the fish out of the pea soup and black hair algae I now have... 5Xcardinals 5Xpearl Gouramis 2Xclown loachs(VERY sick and skinny looking) 1Xbig male bristlenose 2Xsmall bristlenoses(Unsure of sex) 3Xcories of different species 1Xwhite/yellow Angelfish The angel is going to go in with my cichlids. Hopefully he'll be fine, not sure I trust it with my tetras. Everyone tells me they eat cardinals, I'm skeptical, but have never had an angel before. Same with the gouramies, never had them before. But the gouramis and clowns are going into a tank that was almost empty, I can't really quarantine all the fish, but since the clown loaches look sick i'm putting all the fish that were in that tank into a seperate one in case they do have something that kills clowns floating around in there. Right now they're in buckets scattered around the house having a cup of water added every couple minutes. I'm going to net the fish to make absolutely sure none of the black hair algae gets into my tanks. I swear some of the tanks they came from were more algae than water.

Hmmm, I wonder if that might work for whiteworms too?

Sounds good to me! Lemme know when they're ready. Hmmm, not sure when my membership expires, actually...