I grew up in New York about a half hour from the Bronx Zoo and I can tell you the conditions you describe weren't always that way. Nothing made me angrier than to see a tiger in a cage walking back and forth without too much room to turn around. Happy to hear they are caring for their animals and ...

Thanks for your replies guys. I'm reading on other forums that people are using the spray can Fusion Acrylic paint for plastics with no problems in the tank at all. It was developed for plastic kid's toys so I'm guessing it would be safe in aquarium as well.

Thanks L I had planned on coating them with sand and then growing some type of moss on them with a net. Like minds huh?

Hey guys, I've heard that the Fusion brand of paint from Krylon are safe for painting PVC pipe to put into an aquarium. Just looking for some answers here if anyone has used it without any problems. Its acrylic made for plastic so I'm guessing its okay.

Thanks guys, I am using pure ammonia for a fishless cycle and was afraid the carbon would remove some of the ammonia I'm trying to build up. Its outta there now.

I'm in the process of cycling one of my tanks with pure ammonia. Should I remove my carbon or leave it in while doing the cycling.

Great looking tank traumatic! Love the pile of driftwood looks like a natural habitat for catfish. Good to see someone do it the right way!

Glennie, any trouble with the shrimp getting sucked up into the filters. How did you prevent this happening.

Hey Glennie, what kind of background are you using in your tank. Looks like some kind of tree bark.

Thanks Old Man and Mats!

Don't see any plant bulbs with a 4 sraight pin 21" configuration. Coralife makes a 10000K 65w, 10000K 55w, and 6700K 55w. Which one would you say is the best for my purposes. Comes with 2 10000K 65W Daylight tubes and 2 65W Actinic 03 tubes.

How would this lighting setup work for my 90g planted tank. Enough light for the plants. Plan on using low - med light plants.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... atid=12109

Hey Aserdar, what kind of background is that on your tank, its really nice!

Okay, I've decided to give this live plants a try. I have a couple of questions first so bear with me. My tank isn't set up yet so I'm starting from scratch. When I cycle my tank I want to do it with liquid ammonia instead of fish. Will the ammonia hurt the plants in anyway. Can I add Flourish right ...

I read that thing about eco complete over on the waterwolves forum. Guy said his catfish got so bad that their skin starting coming off and he could see their muscular system before they finally died. Said the only thing new in his tank was the eco complete. Sounds kind of fishy to me too but ...

Still undecided on the live plant thing but wanted to ask a question. Would Eco Complete be a good substrate for my plants. I'll be keeping plecos and probably some corys in the tank. Anyone ever heard of Eco Complete harming plecos or catfish in general. Read something on a different forum about ...

Thanks guys, I guess I'll have to give him a call and see whats what.

Anyone order any fish from these people. I've read good and bad about them but they do have the largest selection of plecos I've found yet.

I think I'll just stick with the silk plants. A whole lot less trouble and maintenance. thanks guys!

What kind of fluorescent lighting are you using as I'm sure my actinic 03 isn't going to be enough. I would like to use low light plants in the tank.

I've always used silk plants in my tanks probably because I keep large cichlids and thing get torn up and uprooted. I'm toying with the idea of real plants in my upcoming 90g pleco tank. How much trouble are live -plants to get growing and to care for. Seen pics of tanks with live plants that are so ...

Sid, I've got a 90g I'm using for my pleco tank. Going to keep it South American not African. Didn't think the water ph was too far off but have to check the hardness. Thats harder to adjust than the ph. Raising it isn't a problem but lowering it is. I may just leave it alone as I don't like using ...

Thanks again guys. I've decided to just let the ones I choose to adapt to my water conditions and not screw around buffering water which could lead to more problems. L Banana I didn't know about the advanced search feature specififying water condition, size etc. Thanks that was the biggest help so ...

Thanks guys, sounds like a tricky procedure trying to balance the ph and hardness at the same time. I don't want to make the water quality unstable as I think in the long run it will hurt the fish. I guess I'll just try letting them adapt to the water conditions and go from there. My waters ph I ...

Glenny, I'm new to planted tanks but would like to try one. Is there much maintenance with the live plants. Did you start your tank and establish the plants growing before adding your catfish. Any tips you could give me just starting out with planted tanks. Thanks

Thanks guys, will the peat lower the hardness as well as the ph.

Whats the easiest way to lower the ph and hardness of my tank water.

Thanks Mats, I'll try 6 corys and see how it works out.

Thanks guys for all your answers. I think I'll just stick to what I have now until I really need RO.

I'm still in the planning stages of building my 90g with 7 or 8 plecos no bigger than 6-7" long. I want to put a school of regular sized Corys in it also. How many would you suggest would be a safe amount without overcrowding the tank. I filter with a Marineland C360 and an Emperor 400.