breakaway

My loach was fine, thanks to the canister filter. I took out the sponge cartridge, nothing. Then took out the media baskets, nothing. Put it all back together, and checked the bucket where I had stored the cartridge / sponge, ant there he was! The loach that made its way into the filter was younger (therefore thinner) so he could fit through the strainer! Hopefully when he grows he will have more sense / be too big to fit through there.

My loaches are now doing great However I hadn't seen all 4 of them in the tank at the same time in a while, so I opened up my Fluval 205 and there he was. How does a fish this long make it past the impeller without jamming?

According to the buyer, after he bought the fish and took them home, he immediately emailed me concerned that they looked 'skinny'. Can someone experienced check my youtube video and tell me if these fish look 'skinny'? Apparently after he added them to his tank, he found they got skinnier and skinnier, at which point he isolated them and despite being fed a 'range of fish foods', the male eventually died, but the female is still okay apparently. There are simply too many variables for me to blindly claim this to be my responsibility. I didn't sell him sick fish - they were 100% okay when he picked them up, and he could see this. He did report them to be quite shy and not as bright as they were when he picked them up after he introduced them to his tank - but this is usual behaviour - fish are freaked by the move / new environment and take a couple of weeks to recover. Have experienced this many times myself.

And I'd like to mention that the fish died 2 weeks after he had them. He said on the first day that he added them he noticed some loss of colouration and 'wierd behaviour' from the male. This is pretty normal though isn't it? Because fish would be stressed from having been moved and all. He then reported that they came right, and 2 weeks later, this.

22 Jan 2010 to 12 March 2010 (I'm extremely meticulous about my fish and keep an excel files with all relevant dates / costs and parameter details.) He now claims that his water parameters are fine although he didn't report them to me when I originally asked.

"a way to settle the matter peacefully". i.e., his money back The fish in question were a pair of imported german blue rams at HFF. Retail value of about $100 for the pair. They were living happily in my established 200L community aquarium (Which I have now turned into a puffer only species tank after selling everything off) Fish were living happily eating bloodworms in my tank. The guy picked up the fish, and they were fine. After he took them home, and put them in his tank (Unsure if he acclimatised them properly), he expressed concern that the fish was 'hiding'. I asked him to check pH, Nitrite, Nitrate, Ammonie etc. To this, his reply was: "Not sure what it was but hopefully they will both be fine. Will check out my water parameters although I think they're fine (hopefully)." Well, looks like they weren't, and apparently the fish lost color and eventually died. While I feel sorry for his loss, I can't seem to find why he thinks I'm somehow responsible. This is not my fault! Anyone been in this situation before? Whats the protocol with hobbyist-hobbyist trade when fish die? We didn't agree on anything prior because the fish were healthy.

Obviously I was talking about ornamental plants

Looks sweet Are there any plants that are tolerant to brackish water?

Possibly - Also seen one of the puffers have a go at him once since I added him. I'm not particularly concerned if its just an injury. As long as this isn't an illness I'm happy.

You can see the substrate pretty well in this photo. And its only one of them that has this. Also I've never seen any of these guys digging. They prefer to hang in the driftwood / hairgrass

Just added 4 of these guys to my puffer tank. I've just noticed that one of them has some white stuff on his body / head (see photos below). Keep in mind that it doesn't seem like this is a fuzzy kind of thing - it seems like his original coloring has been 'scratched off' his body. Is this something to be worried about? Photos:

Also, do you guys reckon that a 4/5 day blackout will help with this? It did last time, but it grew back. This is because I stopped using ferts and CO2 because I believed they were eBay was causing the hair algae.

Okay. I've been dosing flourish constantly (every 3rd day, 4mL/200L). And have had my CO2 mixture going well too. What ratios of ingredients (am what brands) do you use for your diy co2? And how do you diffuse it? And Hiw long does it last? I've also just found a small amount of cyanobacteria on the tip of my rotala rotundifolia. What does this indicate with regard to what's missing / is in an abundance in the water column?

@AquaVitamins you didn't buy a fixture, you bought a bare ballast. Now you need to mount it and invest in some quality reflectors otherwise you'll be wasting light. With regard to cheap bulbs, I have a Hagen Glo T5HO 2 x 39W unit, and bought two 39W 865 Daylight tubes from here http://www.lampsx.co.nz/Lamps-Ex-Company-Profile.htm at a price of $13 each. Plants are growing really well / pearling with DIY CO² + Flourish Comprehensive 4mL / 200L every 3rd day. However red plants don't do too well in my tank - plants tend to not stay as bright red as they were when I got them from the shop. Not entirely convinced that these power glo tubes are that much better. And at $58 a piece, the better make my plants come alive and eat my brains while I sleep! I'm keen to buy some and see if it makes any difference. What do combination is recommended? 1 x 6500 Power Glo with 1 x 18,000 Power Glo? 2 x 18,000 Power Glo?

The problem with this hair algae is it grows everywhere. Up near the water level AND down by the lowest plants that are just 1 inch off the substrate. It's getting really bad now - I'm pulling it out every day by hand but it just re-grows and I'm worried it'll starve the plants of light and stunt their growth and take a stronger hold in the tank. I've added DIY CO² and have been dosing 1mL / 40L Flourish Comprehensive as per instructions on the bottle to try to help plants outcompete the algae. This only seems to have made it worse. I'm very close to shutting off light and covering the tank with a blanket to block off all light for 3 days to kill all the algae and then keep dosing Flourish Comprehensive so plants keep doing well. I'm going to be adding an additional 78W of T5HO and pressurised CO2 sometime, but that's still a fair away away. I'm trying to get rid of this algae in the mean time. I really wanted to try this, but didn't because I was concerned about the carinotetraodon travancoricus' ability to stand up to this concentration of excel. Perhaps puffers weren't the best choice for this tank, but they're here now, and I really like them so I want to keep them. What do you think JenniferH?

I actually priced it all up, and the nano is going to cost about the same amount as a full tank, with the only savings being in the inital cost for the tank/stand and halide fixtures etc. Decided that this measly saving isn't worth the lack of space for livestock etc. So I'm saving for a bigger tank :bounce:

Yeah it's from melv's reef. Which limitations? The only ones I've come up with is 1. Air locking due to air bubbles - but I plan to rectify this by making a hole in the top of the wier and connecting an airline to the venturi of a power head 2. Flow rate - plan to make it exactly like shown on the image, it should be able to handle the rate of flow in my 40L tank without any issues.

How well would this setup work? Have access to a laser cutting / CNC routing machine via a friend now, and considering getting a scaled down version of this made: Obviously scaled down to fit a 40L tank.

Alright. After all this research I'm considering getting a proper overflow designed for the corner of the tank and drilling 2 holes down low and having 2 pipes to drain to sump. This way I can have a proper durso setup with the minimum amount of hassle

Came up with this after couple mins of searching: Can you use this with this internal overflow box like this one Or is it simply not necessary?

Not really an option as I want it to look real neat and fit into the cabinet and all that jazz - this is why my sump is pretty small I'm now trying to figure out ways to keep the overflow quiet. My original plan was to drill the tank up high and then install an overflow box and then a PVC pipe to drain to the sump but I suppose that wouldn't be quiet at all now would it? Pff, forget it. Google's already found me what I need. However the guys that use durso pipes have overflow compartments integrated into their tanks. I can't really implement that because space in my tank is at a premium. Can this durso setup be somehow scaled for use with an overflow box?

Ah okay - thanks for the heads up Gannet, will test it extensively (on the deck ) before putting it into service. Another thing about overflow setups (the main tank is going to be drilled with an overflow box, and then pumbed with PVC down to the sump). Is this setup going to be quiet or generate some gurgling noise? If it's going to gurgle, how to make it quiet?

Yeah - since it's an overflow based system, the pump controls the flow through the system, so if the pump stops the water will stop overflowing. Ah I see, will forgo the dividers then. Just wanted to keep it all nice and neat. Anyway - are you able to help with the rest of my questions? 1. Is this setup going to be quiet? The display tank will be drilled with overflow box and I will plumb it with PVC pipes. If not, how do I make it quiet? 2. The sump will be lit by a single Cree XRE Q5 LED. Is this sufficient or do I need to get more?

Here's what I drew up - this is an initial draft. Can you guys see any reason why this setup is flawed at all? High resolution image: http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/5043/sump.png Notes: 1. *IMPORTANT: Is this setup going to be quiet? If not, how do I make it quiet? 2. I'm not yet sure what to put in the 'Initial Compartment'. I guess in a freshwater setup you'd put bio balls right, what's the saltwater equivalent? 3. Have placed heater and UV filter (Have one lying around) In the 'final' compartment. Is this good/bad? 4. The carbon / phospate removing media will be placed in the 'final' compartment. Is this okay? 5. Refugium area will be lit by a single Cree XRE Q5 LED. Is this sufficient or do I need to get more?

Hi, Im setting up a nano reef, and I'm setting up a small sump too. The size of the sump is 180L x 240W x 300H. Volume of approx 10L. The reason it's small is because it has to fit neatly into the cabinet below the display tank. The total water volume including sump is around 35-40L after adding liverock. For now, I need help with what I actually have to put into the sump. So far, I've got: 1. Heater 2. Skimmer (Not atm, but in the future) What else is needed? What sort of substrate (if any)? Which plant should I grow in there to take care of nitrite? How much area is needed for these plants? Any help appreciated!