I've just found an awful listing on eBay, a fish (mickey mouse platy) in a keychain. It mentions a "production line" so this isn't something where they're picking up the fish that have died naturally, these are fish that are being bred then killed specifically for this purpose in Hong Kong (apparently). Is this legal and should this be allowed on eBay?

My digital ones were cheaper than the glass ones :) Got 3 for less than £6 on eBay

I'm not sure about the website but I've seen it for sale elsewhere and people say it works OK, but it's just a cheap 3 stage unit. You're better off spending £10 - £20 extra on a sturdier second hand 4-stage unit which will last a lot longer and probably come with built in TDS meter and fixtures

It's a bit of a job but it isn't too hard to reseal a tank. The only real effort is removing the silicone, but if you have the right tools it's not too hard. I bought a pack of 100 industrial razor blades off eBay for £5, and a little kit for making a neat job of the silicone beads (fugi or cramer kit). The silicone itself was about £4 per tube for clear aquarium grade silicone, and the gun was £3 from a hardware shop. Total cost about £26, or £12 if you don't bother with the fugi kit (you don't really need it if you're not too bothered about how it looks).

To remove the old seals you run the blade under the silicone all the way round and pull it away. You then remove any excess with the blade as best you can, and rub it with a cloth dipped in household ammonia or a solvent cleaner such as isopropyl alcohol (available from chemist). Unfortunately you will have to remove all of the seals as you can't repair it as old silicone and new silicone don't stick together well, so there will always be a gap or a weak point at the very least. For a 6 foot tank this will take a couple of hours. Remove one panel at a time and you can probably manage it on your own.

Once all of the glass is dismantled and cleaned (the cleaning is really important) you'll need a friend to help you put it back together. If you do decide to go for it I'll point you in the direction of a website that demonstrates it better than I can. You need to work fairly quickly so just plan it out in your head. I found it handy to have some 90 degree angle clamps to hold the corners together but make sure you use something spongy in between the metal clamp and the glass to stop it slipping. This part takes about 15 minutes, then you need to leave it to stand and cure for a couple of days without moving it.

Good price that, but do they have a thermal cutout? I've started buying these and now they don't go 'bang' if they run dry, but the glass will still shatter if you take them from warm (25C) water to cold water (5C) as I found out... (doh!) I also got a digital heater from a LFS that was closing and got 50% off. I wouldn't have paid £40 for it but £20 was a bargain, it's my pride of place heater! :)

Not good is it, I've done it too - grabbed hold of the bare element on mine accidentally! I don't think it's 240V running through the coils so it's not as severe a shock as you'd get from a mains supply but it's still not pleasant!

I think I've broken 5 heaters to date... I have a few spares now but need to top up really.

"Another nightmare in the making...

Linky
"

Why don't PFK think twice before they publish something? It was clearly posted with a "how quirky is this!" attitude then after a load of negative comments an editorial to say that they don't condone it, but on the face of it people who aren't in the know might think that this is OK....

Oops sorry just read the first few posts, I see you did insulate the floor! I think I'll try that next winter. I'm going to get my garage tanks up and running again soon now it's warmer.

Did you insulate the floor? I found I was losing a lot of heat from my garage despite making a box with kingspan insulated walls, no windows, an insulated door and 3 layers of loft insulation in the rafters, it was still costing me around £4 per day to keep it heated!

Sadly the fish died last night, it was riddled with holes :(

But with death comes life, I found 7 or 8 eggs in a crack between some slates and an angry-looking female Julidochromis Ornatus guarding them. After a while I noticed some tiny babies (presumably a previous brood) clinging upside down to the rocks around the same area. These are fish I haven't kept until this year so as ever I'm pleased to see something new occuring in my tank. They will be transferred to a fry tank once the second batch of eggs has hatched. I will probably also move the pair with them as apparently this helps to maintain the bond between them and they seem like great parents too.