David R

I think most loaches will eat snails, the dwarf ones certainly do, and I'm pretty certain the pakastani/striata/yoyo/etc types do as well. You could always check loaches.com to make sure.

Bristlenoses and clowns would be fine together, but unless you're planning on upgrading from the 300L tank I'd recommend going for one of the smaller species of loach instead of clowns.

It's more a capitalist celebration of wasting money isn't it?

So far seems to be working very well, maintaining the tank at a more consistent temperature (within ~1C) than the individual heaters thermostats, and the display is easy to read and you can see at a glance whether the heaters are on or off. Worthwhile investment for anyone running more than one heater IMO!

I know that look very well, just with orange fur not grey...

Perhaps your water is naturally hard Caryl and will be more resistant to fluctuations from wood etc. A canister filter is an ideal place for adding the shell, or as suggested a piece/pieces of coral rock could be used instead, either in the tank or in the filter. If you're using sand substrate you could add a small quantity of beach sand that is mostly made up of shells, just don't add too much as its hard to remove!

What is wrong with pH 6.4? If you're concerned about the pH slowly add small amounts of crushed shell to one of the filters to help provide a buffer.

Right-o, time to bump this up seems how I've finally got around to buying a couple of adapters to get this thing running! Seems to be doing everything its supposed to, thermometer seems fairly accurate (if my memory of how far out my other digital ones are!), very easy to set, plenty of cable on the probe. Only downside is the length of the power cable from the plug to the multi-board where you plug in the heaters etc, only about 30cm!

Not really a Geophagus in the true sense of the genus, still awaiting reclassification. Temperament more in line with its central american relatives, wouldn't keep it with other true eartheaters (Geophagus/Satanoperca) but probably alright with more robust tankmates (chocolates, severums, or most central americans) in a large enough tank. A 4' tank should be enough for a pair though.

+1 to what Hovmoller said about the wild types, not that I'm trying to organise a group buy or anything, cos that isn't allowed...

Yeah I'm kinda jealous at the yanks being able to buy massive acrylic tanks like that off-the-shelf...

next thing my tank room looks like a server room... (link to epic build here) Will do some googling on it Ira.

you know what they say about assumption... I'm sure with that kind of money there would be a few places willing to help you out, but not many of them frequent the forum, but I'd suggest doing some searching online or in the phonebook and contacting them directly, might make them take it a little more seriously. For curiosity sake, are you after wild types or the flashy coloured ones?

Cheers Scott, certainly looks like bang-for-buck compared to the Hanna! What happened after four years?

"coc brownes" sounds like a rather dubious drag-queen... :-?

Maybe that was easy enough back in your day when you didn't have contact from people outside your own village...

If it is only 400 high then the weight spread out over the stand won't be that much, and it would be fairly simple to make one from 4x2. Smidey has a fairly good thread in the DIY section (although my personal preference would be for the horizontal runners at the top of the stand to be on edge so the tank is sitting on 4" thick timber instead of 2" thick, especially if the tank was much taller) that would work well for a tank your size, or have a browse thru here for some ideas; http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... DIY-Stands

Not even close...

So my trusty API pH test kit has nearly run out as I've been using it a lot since switching to rainwater for the tank, and I'm considering spending up to get something like this for the sake of both accuracy and convenience; http://www.amazon.com/Hanna-Instruments ... =hannah+ph I do have a TDS meter already but having the all-in-one unit is quite appealing. Any feedback from someone using this kinda thing would be greatly appreciated, I believe Hanna is a fairly reputable brand but certainly not the only one out there. I see there is an AquaOne electronic pH tester available, but I'm a bit sceptical of buying precision electronics from a "cheap" brand like that...

I laughed, still the best cartoon on TV IMO.....

GET A VOLVO!!!! :thup:

Shouldn't matter unless the intake is coming out of a lower than than the return...

60L ain't much space to play with, I think upgrading to an external filter (preferably with an inline heater) would be a great idea simply for cosmetic reasons. Big awkward filters and heaters look terrible in small tanks, IMO.

Don't under-estimate pumps/filters, a 51W FX5 running 24/7 would be equal to 150W of lighting running for 8 hours...

Enough for what?