Recent content by thrak76

+1 on a 75g. It's a much more versatile tank. Honestly I don't know why anyone gets a 55g when comparing it to a 75g standard.

Lol! Believe me, I have tanks to spare! I've been through MTS and back! However, my largest is the 75g and really the only one suitable for a nice colony. I suppose I could start growing them out in a 40b.... hmmm.... Really the main reason for not adding more tanks is a 3-year-old kid and a...

I tried for a few years to maintain a planted tank with this water, and it was... difficult. I'll try again some time, but not until I can set up an RO/DI system. I've been transitioning for like 3 years now! I can't bring myself to rehome any fish, so until my show fish kick the bucket, I'm...

5 or more Corydoras, and a small school of ember or lemon tetras to contrast the blue gourami.

Liquid rock. I'm slowly transitioning to an African cichlid tank. Perfect water for that!

I have similar (well) water to you, and I'm on the other side of the lake.

Is that 4:1 RO/DI water to tap water, or reversed?

Cool thread! I (over)built my stand from dimensional lumber, skinned it with red oak ply, and made solid oak doors for it. I mounted an under cabinet light in there too. Really comes in handy! The CO2 setup is not being used right now, but there's plenty of room under there to just leave it.

I've done that too. I do not like the wear and tear on the faucet. If I had a laundry sink I would use that, alas, I do not. Also, I save on propane by just sending the cold water into the tank, and the inline heater gets it back up to temp within an hour.

Aquabid for live fish not obtainable at your LFS. For supplies, I use Ken's Fish and Big Al's. Sometimes I'll look at ThatFishPlace, but they always seem to be more expensive.

If I'm only doing a pwc, on a 75g it takes about 45 minutes. I send a hose out the front door to the garden to drain (even in the winter), and then hook that same hose to an outside to tap to refill - slowly, so that my inline heater can take some of the chill off of the incoming water.

I don't think that a 2217 would be overkill on a 29g. I currently run 2x 2217s on a 75g, and it's definitely not too much. With the spraybar, you can direct the outflow pretty easily, and you could always do a little bit of throttling with the quick connect ball valves.

I have well water, so i rinse with abandon. Occasionally i'll even put the media in a colander and really rinse it well. I've never had any (observable) adverse affects.

It's debatable whether vaseline will degrade o-rings over time. IDK, something about the petroleum. I actually use plumber's silicone grease.

I've got 2 Eheim 2217s in service now. For maintenance I'll change the filter floss, rinse the polishing pad and sponge, and dunk the media in some water to get off the accumulated sludge. I've put all the media into filter bags rather than leaving it loose in the canister. I'll also give the...