Recent content by ProAquarist

Unlimited budget would be a custom house with whole wall aquariums with full green house rooms above them. Large enough to truly have anything, go swimming in the tanks, etc. Realistic dream tank(s) would be a couple 265s and/or 300 deep dimensions. Fancy goldfish in one, fw community in...

What company makes a tank that size? The usual 65 is 36x18x24.

I wouldn't use a tank unless it fit the stand properly. The stand should be replaced. Is it an actual aquarium stand or was it originally for something else?

Which canister is it? What do you mean 'gagging'? Breathing heavily?

Unless you spend A LOT you are going to pay $35-60 shipping. Anywhere you buy anything will reflect what it cost them to ship it to them. Pricing corals varies on a lot of things so that is harder to say. I know Mr. Coral was pretty cheap but I am not sure if they are even around anymore.

I have had Via Aquas do it. The controller would just use the plug the heater currently uses. Buy another power strip.

I would only feed as long as it takes to get them switched over to high quality pellets. Live foods are usually protein, some fat, but not much else. Pellets provide all the macronutrients plus micronutrients and minerals. They get a complete and balanced diet in every bite. Try bowl feeding to...

I don't think HOBs need a higher flow rate (especially since most are slower than canisters and still manage to keep ammonia and nitrite at 0ppm). In the end I think most tanks need less biomedia than we would believe. There are all sorts of factors that dictate how many bacteria there will be...

It is certainly not a freak occurrence. Doing retail and service for well over a decade I can't even tell you how many times it has happened. We all reminisce about the good old bimetallic plate heaters and how the new 'better' ones can't seem to last as long. It seems like no matter what heater...

I would buy underpowered heaters before worrying about a controller. By being underpowered they are not capable of overheating, at least not to lethal levels. Better yet is to take that underpowered wattage and cut that in half into two separate heaters. For example, instead of putting 100 watts...

I don't worry about tap on media. I routinely clean it under tap, that is how you get it the cleanest. I don't think tap is as bad as you would think, after all you can't put tap water on your kitchen counter to sterilize it, so why think a few minutes of rinsing would do the same thing. I...

Do not put words in my mouth. I never once said it was the lone contributor to poor water quality. I said that it can have a great impact on it and water changes can't completely compensate for a canister turning in to a nitrate factory. As stated I have seen tanks with massive weekly water...

Then why filter it at all? I have seen tanks go from 80ppm nitrate to 10ppm just by cleaning a neglected canister. Canisters are great but if you aren't going to take care of them just get an AquaClear that is easier to clean so it actually gets done.

In my experience it is more than preference. The sand that I use requires no cleaning ever. Not before it goes in, not once it is in. I actually had to stop putting it in clients' tanks because it made them too easy to clean. They would see how little work it was and some started doing it on...

This isn't a good thing. Not cleaning a filter just means all the debris is rotting. The filter's job is to house bacteria that eat ammonia and nitrite and to COLLECT particulate matter. It is your job to REMOVE that particulate matter from the system. If you don't it just rots which ruins your...