Setting Up A Tropical Aquarium

.. While there are some dandy ball, swing and spring type check valves, they all eventually fail in these applications. Dont rely on check valves to hold water back when you want (like when servicing a pump)... and especially dont rely on them when no one is around... during power failures, at night...

About Cutting Tools:

Dont chintz yourself by trying to cut plastic pipe and even flexible tubing with anything other than

We will up-date this list from time-to-time. Please note that not all members of a listed Genus or Family are difficult to keep. Many species that are closely related to those listed here are hardy. If you disagree with any of our selections, or feel weve l

Having true unions and flush type valves will allow you to take your pump and/or other gear out of line and inspect it, replace it w/o having to drain your tank, sumps... useful to you? Yes.

About Balancing Water Flows Twixt Uneven Containers:

"Oh, Ill have equal rated pumps just shoot the water from one tank to the other..." Have I heard about flow valves, shut-off switches, magical siphon loops? On yes I have... There are folks who try to "defy gravity" by seeking to pump "just enough" water twixt and tween parts of their system... Alas, these all ultimately fail. Dont rely on a "make-up" siphon to save you

setting up a tropical aquarium

"Here we go again"; this time its me, not Ronald Reagan. Dont overfeed; especially flake foods. Why? your livestock wont be able to find and process it all. In fact, the extra ammonia might overwhelm your microbes and your macro-life, either necessitating a minor/major re-establishment of nutrient cycling, or turning the whole system into a bouillabaisse.

Ever see a microbial culture system in a school or hospital laboratory? Notice all the care taken to keep the temperature at a certain point and c

Your success in keeping aquatic life depends on establishing and keeping these bacterial populations in sufficient numbers as your biological filtration.

So, what are these magical microbe helpers and how can you get them going for you in your aquarium? Theyre are a few approaches here, with variations therein, and all with their various endorsers and detractors. Again, dont let these differences of opinion faze you. Bear in mind that the end result of all these different efforts is the same. This is to make a home for sufficient numbers of beneficial microbes to help keep your tank clean and healthy.

Of the Many Ways t

New Corycat Group

elpono_njg posted a new topic:

Come one and all, your corycat pics here...

www.flick.

Scratched Glass
Most of us have run into this problem at one time or another. Care to share your experience with scratched glass? "Does any one know how to fill some scratches....

Hitchhikers !! Part 1 & 2
Part 1 http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-04/reefslides/index.php Part 2 http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-08/reefslides/index.php.