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I recently added a 20G Long to my basement fish room collection. I created a female Betta sorority tank. I have 10 "girls" that get along fine. I do have one female who is a little too aggressive; I have her in a 3G tank by herself. It was fun traveling to a few nearby Petcos (they have the...

I understand the pain it is to clean canister filters. I have three on my other tanks. However, I ditched the canisters on my 125G (had sufficient room behind the tank) and replaced them with two AC110s. Tank has been running with them for about three years with no fish fatalities. I have a...

I had a Ghost shrimp kill one of my largest snails. In the same tank, the Amano and RCS never showed any signs of aggression.

My diatom problem is caused by my tap water. I have diatoms in all my tanks including one set up over four years ago. What convinced me without a doubt is when my sister gave me her 75G tank. She had it running for over ten years. Her tank was spotless (she has well water and I have public)...

It is the twisting force from an uneven stand that is causing many of the busted seams. Not un-level, but uneven is the tank killer. To demonstrate, place an empty tank on a perfectly flat concrete floor. Place a nickel under one corner and fill it up. If the nickel was on the back right...

I have gone full circle on support for under gravel filters. I used them exclusively years ago. The only problem was that the gravel got clogged over time with all the decaying matter; especially from driftwood. I then switched to HOBs; now canisters. Recently I ran a tank with a relatively...

I would put 1/2" insulating foam (pink, blue, or silver backed from Home Depot or Lowes) on the back, sides, and tank bottom (you should already have some foam or rubber mat between the tank and stand) during the winter months. You could also put some on top of the tank; just cut strips and...

Blood Parrot. Here is mine swimming with two small Angel Fish.

I have an ETH In-Line 300W on my 75G. Amazon.com: ETH 300 In-Line Heater UL 300W f/16mm & 5/8" Hose: Home & Garden Best heater I have owned. Very easy to adjust, no need to unplug it during a water change, and the temperature is very stable. The best benefits is that you don't have an...

I would recommend an external In-Line heater. Amazon.com: ETH 300 In-Line Heater UL 300W f/16mm & 5/8" Hose: Home & Garden Very easy to get to and adjust; plus it is one less "unnatural" thing in the aquarium.

BTW - Toys R Us sells the 3/4" interlocking blue foam. I was at a birthday party for a 1 year old and they had the foam down on the floor to protect the boy from falls. Regarding forum arguments; Forums, in addition to being a source of information, are also a source of a bit of...

Here is the link to a company that sells the perfect foam for use under a tank. This is the same stuff I purchased at Target; only they offer thicker versions. Exervo Interlocking Mat Set - 24 sq. ft, 3/4" thick set I would use the 3/4" exercise mat for tanks up to 125G.

meegosh, Do you have alkaline and hard water? I live in the eastern part of PA, and my water is alkaline and hard. I could not get GBRs to thrive in my tank. I went through eight over a six month period. Most died within six months; one lingered on for nine months. They all start off...

dskidmore, I added the 210G to the chart (I used an educated guess on the weight). The frame force is nearly the same as my 150G Tall and the blue foam is too stiff for that. I need to look for resilient foam in the 10lb range.

dskidmore, I would think twice about using the blue Lowes foam. I needed 15 lbs to get the test frame to make a small dent in it. My 150G Tall has the highest force/inch frame of any of the tanks on the list @ 10 lbs.; yet after 2 years, the blue foam under my tank is not compressed at all...

dskidmore, Here is some information a Nerd would enjoy. I created an Excel spread sheet that calculates force per frame inch for some popular tanks. I also tested three different foams I had available to see how they match up to the various tanks. Pic 1 - The spread sheet Pic 2 - Foam test...

BillD, That's why the 1/2" exercise mat is perfect for under the tank; it's designed to take hard impacts (compression) and then restore it's original shape.

SpeedEuphoria, The first picture I took a few hours ago. The tank has been set up for close to 3 years. If I did not have the foam under the tank, there would be a gap between the tank and stand in all the blue areas. When I first put the empty tank on the foam/stand, there were no gaps...

dskidmore, Here's a better picture of the entire front of the tank. I put three small pieces of uncompressed foam on the stand for reference. Here is a rough representation of the frame and force distribution with and without foam.

dskidmore, Good work; the world needs geeks like you to take theories and separate them into facts or myths. That what I have been saying: foam selection is most important. The perfect foam for a 75G tank is the 1/2" interlocking black foam exercise mat that Target sells. It comes with six 24"...

Kurt, You need to read a book on physics or go back to school. The same force that is compressing the foam down and transferring the force to the stand is also pushing up on the tank. In relationship to gravity; when the top force is higher, an objects sinks; when the up force is higher, the...

Kurt, Your theory, if I understand the above statement, says that after the foam on the sides (36") compresses (50%), that no other weight is being supported by the remaining 112" of foam that is compressed anywhere from 49% to 10%. I don't think so; in my calculation: Without foam, each of...

Kurt, I generally agree with your statement. Foam will not completely even out the force (only a sealed fluid bed would do that) but it will lower the extremely high forces, especially on a raised corner. On my 75G tank with the sagging center; without the foam the entire weight of the tank...

dskidmore, I agree that you should use a fresh piece of foam when moving the tank. The same tank/stand combo will have a new floor structure to conform to. I even had a case of moving a tank from one spot in my finished basement to another. I thought the concrete floor would be uniform, but...

cccapt, When I first filled up the 75G in the picture, the foam was compressed about 20% all away around the perimeter. That was by design as I tried a few different types of foam. As the stand sagged in the middle over time, the ends compressed to about 50%. The center is somewhere between...