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At the request of a member, here are a few shots from my current set-up showing my PVC looped air supply. Its based on my old set-up (see link below), but rejigged for a rack. For those of you who are unaware, this is my rack: Circumstances were such that I could not build the air supply onto the back of the rack until the rack was in place with tanks running. It would have been much nicer if I could have set it up first, so I encourage you to do this if you want to make something similar. I will show you the main problem later on. A (really) simple schematic for the loop is: The PVC loop is cable-tied onto the back of my rack system so is able to be dismantled if I need to move the rack. The top line is joined to a Resun LP20 air pump using a rubber hose with a special joiner that can slide (in and out) and twist (i.e. rotate) - this minimizes vibration and therefore noise from the pump. I can't remember what this joiner is called, but I found it at Bunnings. Hose clamps are used to hold the rubber hose in place (for peace of mind). Luckily I have a high shelf nearby that I can use to sit the air pump on. Remember it is very important to position the air pump above the position of the tanks so that if the power goes off, the water from the tanks will not back siphon into the air pump and ruin it. Alternatively you can use a one-way valve in front of the air pump, but having seen so many of them fail, I do not trust one-way valves at all. Each 'rung' on the loop has a series of 4mm outlets which I use to attach air line to the sponge filters in the tanks. Details for the taps are in my 'air supply' thread (linked above). The taps can be found at specialist irrigation shops or online. Bunnings does not carry them. There is one regret I have with this system. The top 'rung' does not reach the top of the tanks on the top level of the racks (see below). This means there is some risk that the water from these tanks could back siphon into the air supply if the power goes off. So far that hasn't happened, but the potential is there. Unfortunately it was a consequence of the rack and tanks being set up first - the rack was too close to the wall to fit the air supply around the blind that sits behind the tank. If I need to move this rack I will cut the PVC pipe and add inserts so the top 'rung' sits at the same height as the tanks.

Just a suggestion if anyone wants to get rid of snails in there tnk add one cheap loach I use pakistani however if you have shrimp in there you will need to remove them first they will eat all your babies too ??? from my experience they eat all the baby snails first and then work on the larger ones when the get hungry enough Ps snails are a natural food of loaches cheers Dan.

Yes there's some great info on water chemistry out there on the web and it's well worth checking out for anyone interested. I seem to recall that above text by Carl Strohmeyer is from an article about ORP and possibly UV sterilisation which are both very interesting topics in their own right. Yes the wording is a bit iffy Callan, he mentions 3 predominant sources of carbonates in Sodium, Magnesium and Calcium but has worded the statement ambiguously. I'd have to disagree that a set level of KH (50ppm) is necessary to deliver a stable pH. Many shrimp keepers do fine with 10-15ppm, not even 1dKH. What IS important is the balance between background acid production ie stocking density and the KH value. A value of 50ppm would be appropriate for a community fishtank at a typical stocking density. I'm sure Carl understands this, but he's simplified his comments to the extent that they can be misleading. Randy Holmes-Farley is an interesting author to check out and his articles are usually a good read. All nitpicking about chemistry aside, most aquarists don't need to understand the theory behind everything to keep shrimp or fish - and hopefully aren't scared off by theoretical discussions! The practical reality of adding Salty Shrimp or a different conditioning salt of your choice, correctly following instructions on the packets and using test kits will adequately lead to the right water parameters. Routine partial water changes and replenishment of the removed salts with fresh will help to keep them there.