Hamstar99

I agree. The silicone between the join is what you should worry about. I hate seeing silicone like that smeared on the glass. Silicone needs to have size/ depth to it to have any strength. The edges should not be feathered like that and are a weak spot to let water/air under which looks dodgy but until you get air/ water bubble in the glass join i wouldnt worry.

Air locked in the pipe? Can happen if you have a lot of pipe. Maybe try and force some water through with the garden hose or something till it is coming out he outlet.

i dont have fx5. But i have sponge, then Bio balls, noodles, coral. Pretty sure i have it set up as per instructions.

I used to use regular rock salt now just used non- iodised table salt. No problems that i know of

maybe stop feeding it the fish water as well?

Mine does the same and doesnt seem to come right. Hasnt died either though and ive had it a couple of years. Doesnt seem to grow or get new shoots either. Roots are healthy. They supposedly dont like rich soil or food so i dont feed it my fish water just rain water. I would love to know how to make it look healthy too.

No need. Just use basic de chlorinator. You shoudnt be effecting the bacteria when water changing and the balance is already there so no need to add more.

Another trick that we use is once you have applied silicone to join making sure that it is a nice constant bead with no gaps, lightly spray the silicone and the surround glass with a spray bottle filled with water and a couple of drops of detergent. this prevents the silicone sticking to everywhere where you dont want it to. You can then use a popsical stick or you can get some little silicone tools from bunning for about $3 pack of 4. They are way easier to use and clean the silicone up to however you want it with varying sized champers.

Ideally what Ira has said. However i have just repaired the mine which has been duct taped on the out side for a couple of months. I fixed the immediate leak only.I transferred all to a bucket clean it then refilled to find out exactly where the leak was. (its not always where it leaks out) and with mine i found that water got behind the silicone then travelled down to where it could drip out a pin hole. As it was near the bottom of the tank i cut out the silicone form a bit above the leak and down to the bottom. You need to use a very sharp blade to cut clean and not compromise the rest of the join. Completely cleaned the join removing all existing silicone and resealed then let cure before refilling. Key is to make sure you don't interfere with any silicone that you are not removing and make sure you remove all the old stuff and clean thoroughly. If i had the time id redo the whole tank as like Ira says the rest will probably start to give soon. Silicone does not last for ever.

lol. score. I read through the odd one as well. Get a few FedEx parcels and random estates peolple want to give me.

Yeah i agree that seems to be one big difference between the US and here where cycling with fish is still recommended by many. I havnt cycled with fish for 10years now and use Clear ammonia. I dont really think the "my fish survived so it must be ok" justification cuts it really. I guess its that old education thing cropping up again.

Hah on the subject of Thomas, my wife follows a face book page about "wanting to hit Thomas in the face". See if you can find it. Tis rather amusing. Unfortunately was sent a link yesterday that told me who won! Spoiler!

Repco, over by the batteries

Your set up isnt ideal but i cant see it being a problem once you have the air out and the flow going. It doesnt really matter where you pump is once its primed. At the end of the day there will be water going up and water going down no matter where your pump sits, it just that initial pull untill it is full that you might need to help it with.

If you dont shake the API test tubes with the Nitrate kits you get dodgy readings. It is only the nitrate tests that need the shaking. All the rest just need the tip up technique.

The majority of houses are setup for 1.5k loads. 2k loads are for decks etc that get wet all the time. However its not really relevant as those loads are mostly taken up by the support structures itself anyway. Any load bearing walls will have a double joist running under it -albeit running the same way as the wall- or they should have a row of pile under them if going across the joists. Being a lockwood you probably want have any load bearing internal walls but what would be ideal -like has already been said- try and position near a bearer line, that is the support for the joists. Try and avoid being in the middle of a joist span. If you are really worried you can climb under the house and install an extra bearer. You wouldnt need to concrete in any piles but just chock it up firmly under the joists. cheers.

try using a razor blade. Once you get started you should be able to pull the divider away giving you more room to work with.

The silicone should really be between the glass joins (between where the glass meets) not necessarily in the corners outside the joins.

strange. :dunno:

Like has been said it is possible that you are getting ammonia spikes from cleaning your filter. Id go back to your fortnightly water change maybe wit ha gravel cleaner, and leave the filter for as long as possible. Re your nitrate reading. It looks suss. Id re test making sure follow the instructions and do the 30second shake then 60sec shake with bottle #2. This can be the difference between a 0 reading and a 80ppm reading.

if you were just worried about the little that the driftwood may remove then some coral, lime stone in your filter would easily counter that. Id be surprised if you have to worry about it at all with the SA species. Just keep up the water changes to keep it stable. Otherwise baking soda for Kh, epsom salts for Gh.

I keep mine at about 8 and have have quite a lot of limestone in my tank. I still use baking soda, epsom salts to keep my KH, GH around 10. Dont expect the limestone to do alot. It basically just leaching calcium as it slowly breaks down. I like the higher Ph as its a little more natural but like the others have said they are happy at any level of Alkali water as long as its stable.

Also make sure you dont have a bubbler any where near the intake.

I've always beleived that syphoning the gravel does not affect the bacteria much, running 60+ undergravel filters and never had an ammonia spike even when the tank is at full capacity

What sort of gravel do you have? Could it just be fine sand, silt. Its not ammonia- you cant see that. Fish waste is the colour of your fish food. Dont stir your gravel up so much. Do you have a gravel cleaner? Just work your way around the tank plunging it into the gravel and giving it a little wiggle ull see the waste free up and get siphoned out. Fully cleaning your gravel (thus giving your good bacteria a hard time) could have killed your cat fish with the subsequent ammonia spike as you have upset the balance in your tank by killing your bacteria. A test kit would help monitor ammonia, nitrites after you have given it a good clean. A nitrate test would be handy if you dont feel like cleaning your tank but want to check if you have too much waste in there. Easiest way is to stay on top of the maintenance, depending on your bio load, every 2-3 weeksish.