Free contest... Any one can enter.

[jwcarlson]

Greg, good on adding some plants! Just FYI, that java fern should not have it's rhizome buried, it might kill the plant. I usually super glue mine to something, or wedge it in somewhere.

[dspeers]

Today's addition is a self designed 4 chamber sump pump. Did this because system came stock with a 12x12x58 Sump tank which effectively ate all of the cabinet space. Although it was a 40 gal tank,given the height of the partitions, only held ~30 gal. I went with a 39 high with 4 chambers and built some shelves on one sidenext to the sump tank. Amazing how fast stuff accumulates. Doors still off (had to pull to insert tank and install shelves) till I go live. System ran for about 2 weeks once completed. So of course I decided I did not like my blue film background on the DT so pulled it all apart to replace that with a LED system, as yet to be designed. In the last 3 years I have lost the ability to lift this tank with 2 people so have to construct a rolling table of some sort to slide the tank off of the stand to reach the rear panel. Typical, 2 steps forward, 1.99 back. As an aside since I have kinda bashed the company. The tank operation is almost silent. The spiral insert they use on the single drain is actually silent. In addition the pump is also very quiet.

[dspeers]

Sump 1.jpg

[Greg-Florida]

Greg, good on adding some plants! Just FYI, that java fern should not have it's rhizome buried, it might kill the plant. I usually super glue mine to something, or wedge it in somewhere.

Thanks Jacob! I did NOT know that! I love learning!!

[brewmaster15]

Guys this is a super easy contest. We now have a book and a hand made Discus cone for prizes. The more participation the more prizes are possible. I don't think I could make this any easier for you all.

al

[jwcarlson]

I've never really bred fish in earnest and never bred any egg layers, but I have a few pairs of apistogrammas set aside in algae grow-out tanks to see if they'll spawn for me. So far... eggs a few times from one pair, but nothing past that yet. Have eggs again now so should know in a few days if things are progressing beyond the normal failure time.

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Regarding prizes... I'm not a sponsor and it's not fish related, but I do have raw honey that my bees produce. I can throw a quart of raw honey in as a boobie prize, Al... if you'd be interested in lumping that in. I can't ship honey internationally, though, so whoever gets it would have to be US based. Would just need an address to ship it to. Tom (iminit) and his wife seem to like it, also... Tom should clean out his PMs.

[LizStreithorst]

I do not want to win. If you draw my name, trash it and draw another. I do have a nice pic of my number one pair, Big Guy his nameless wife. And since I'm "anyone" I post it just because I like it.

The dang pair flirts, shakes, bows, and pecks at the cone. They simply aren't in the mood to get down to business.

[brewmaster15]

I do not want to win. If you draw my name, trash it and draw another. I do have a nice pic of my number one pair, Big Guy his nameless wife. And since I'm "anyone" I post it just because I like it.

The dang pair flirts, shakes, bows, and pecks at the cone. They simply aren't in the mood to get down to business.

Lmao Liz! Are you sure that you don't want the book "Discus Breeding For Beginners" maybe you can read it to that beautiful pair.

al

[captainandy]

Some of my wilds.

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[LizStreithorst]

Lmao Liz! Are you sure that you don't want the book "Discus Breeding For Beginners" maybe you can read it to that beautiful pair.

al

Al, read it to your pairs before you send it to me if I win.

[brewmaster15]

Al, read it to your pairs before you send it to me if I win.

Deal lol!

[brewmaster15]

Andy I fixed your picture so your beautiful discus was not headstanding

al

[Second Hand Pat]

So I joined SD back in 2010 with the idea of getting into wild discus. I did four months of research before buying any discus. I finally bought a group of wild six wild Nhamunda Red discus which where added to a 100 gallon oceanic in my living room.






The tank had a sand bottom with a sump. You can see from the pictures I tried plants in this tank which were later removed.

More on this tank here if you are interested http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...-Wilds-Journal.

Pat

[Greg-Florida]

Good Morning!
This is a picture of our "rarely seen" Goby in Nick's reef tank. I see him and his boxer crab about once a month.
He's a neat and mysterious little fish about 3" long. I believe he's a Steinitz goby.
I wish he would come out more often. He usually runs when he detects
human movement, but not always.

Next is Nick with a Peacock bass he caught near Miami on one of our fishing
trips 3 years ago... Peacocks are aggressive fighters. We practice catch and release.

Have a great day!
Greg

IMG_5314.jpg NicK Peacock Bass - small.jpg

[jwcarlson]

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This is my aging barrel set-up. It's changed a bit because I hatch brine shrimp in the same area now and have added a small RO unit (on a different wall), but functionally it's about the same. It's made the big daily water changes of about 90% a breeze. Everything is semi-permanently installed with hoses and valving so I can go from draining to filling without breaking any connections. I can start draining without going downstairs. The wifi power strip makes everything super easy because I'm not screwing around with timing or cavitating a pump when water levels get low, I can control it all from my phone. It's not automatic water changing, but it's pretty close. In total it might take me 10 minutes of actual touch-time for the water change. The rest is waiting to drain and fill. Which I run timers for to remind me. It was absolutely the best thing I've done for my discus other than heating the water, probably. And it makes it easy to do water changes in everything else as well because I have two barrels which is RO when I need it for those applications and regular, aged/preheated water when I need it.
The "smart strip" also allows me to turn on/off the heating systems automatically so I'm not needlessly heating water and keeping it at 85, instead I know how many kWh it takes to get the water from tap temp to 85. So I just kick the heaters on at 10 AM every day. The controller is just there for two things 1) quick check of the temperature before I pump the water up to the tank and 2) overtemp protection if I get to the water change a few hours later than normal which happens sometimes.