Bettarazzi

I think you have plenty of wriggle room where it comes to IAL. 8 leaves doesn't sound too much.

Yeah agree with Shadoh. I've not noticed any loss of colour in old leaves.

I love intros that include photos!! Top marks. He's a nice boy too. I used to have a very similar one. Welcome to the forum.

Welcome to the forum Steph!

Congratulations! When are you going to start feeding bbs? They should be able to take them fairly soon I would expect.

A couple of us have fallen in love with goldfish recently because of the YouTube clips floating around of that Japanese artist (whose name I can't remember and I'm too lazy to look up) who paints the 3D goldfish in layers of resin.

And surely one of the kids who isn't doing much could YouTube the day for our amusement. :P

At least she was given correct information and she got the message.

OMG you can drill round corners with that thing!!! I want one. Where can I get one? Is that actually you drilling these barracks? Or someone else on YouTube you found doing the same thing? I like the weirs. And the Perspex will look good.

@Joan

If Matt was getting it, that would explain the crabs. *lol*

That's a very interesting way of doing it. So presumably you'll have to take it apart in order to drill? Another way would be to drill one divider with a hole at the top and the next with the hole at the bottom. That will help with the water flow and mixing you're trying to achieve and should provide sufficient surface movement. However I do like your mini weirs though. It will mean that fins can't really block the outflow. The reason you can't embed the photos is because your hosting site doesn't seem to provide a link to the jpg file so the IMG tags on the board don't work.

MacBook doesn't like your link either.

HOB on the left will mean water will still flow clockwise. I still feel that you won't get good water flow through filter media placed in the back. To reverse the flow as Paul suggested you put a small pump in the back which pumps water into the first compartment which is where you put the filter media. Not pretty though having the filter media visible.

If you lift the central divider, how will the water pass through the filter media if you put filter media in the back? You need ALL the water moving from the living quarters and passing through the filter media. Water can easily form stagnant areas and what could end up happening is that water only flows in the bottom part of the tank. So let me get this right. The central divider is completely sealed off. If you pour water in the back it doesn't flow to the front. What if you keep filling the back section all the way to the top? Does it flow over into the front? Maybe these barracks aren't designed to be a recirculating system. Maybe the back section is simply so you can use a single heater to heat all the compartments.

Yeah I was thinking a heap of java moss or floating plants like water sprite.

Wayne's picture is exactly what I meant. Didn't have a drawing program at work. I still think filling the back section with plants is a good idea. If you fill it with filter media, most of the water flow is in the bottom because of the design. Filter media in the HOB and in the 1st compartment from the left, the one the HOB outflows into would provide more effective filtration because you're forcing more water to flow past the filter media. The plants will provide a little bit of nutrient uptake. Ahh.... I was typing same time as you. So how does the water get to the back? Surely it's not completely sealed off from the front, whats the point of that? It could be we need to reverse it and put the HOB on the left end.

To be honest I don't think the designer of these barracks intended for it to be used with a HOB. Maybe a smaller one might work? Can you hang it on the right end wall with the uptake drawing from the back section and outflow going into that first small compartment on the right? You could fill that compartment with a sponge or filter media like Seachem Matrix. Then just use the back section for the heater and if you're going to have a light over the barracks you could also have plants in the back section to act like a refugium.

You should be aiming for water to flow in a single direction through the system. Dirty water flows out of compartments, past the filter wool, through the filter, then back to the compartments. Where you put the HOB kinda depends on where the gaps are for water to flow which I can't make out in the pic. You have to force water to go where you want it to others it will just take the path of least resistance. If the uptake and outflow of the HOB at in the same section, water will circulate mostly in that area.

Dammit! Really sorry about that.

What the hell happened? Could there have been paint residue in the tank?

I'm with Busman. Definitely need a paint drying option in the poll *lol*

Welcome Mal. You must be the Mal from Aussie Blackworms. I love the freeze dried product. Such a relief when it first came out and I found my fussy fish would eat it. Would love to hear your thoughts on the best way to keeps serve of blackworms clean and alive until the fish can eat them all. Mine never do so well and I usually end up chucking them out after a few days. I've tried various methods eg in a bucket under a dripping tap (haven't done that in a while), very little water kept in the fridge, rinsing every day, etc. Some people here have had success keeping a culture going but I haven't tried it yet.

Happy Birthday Wayne! Wishing you a terrific day! :balloons: