monzamess, I need to mention that before you go poking around with a metal pipe in a wet yard, make sure you know where any electrical or phone lines might be buried. :^O I wouldn't be surprised if there are two large trees growing directly over or into your lateral lines. Well fertilized and watered vegetation is going to put on some impressive growth in a hurry. That said, I have to tell you that is the strangest septic field I have ever seen. Sketched out in a bird's eye view, most would have a line running from the house to the tank, (with a vent pipe on the roof, and a clean out drain on the ground -before- you get to the septic tank), then continuing straight out from the tank with lateral lines branching off like the letter "E". After we finished reworking our septic system, our lateral lines form a modified "Y" because we had to work around existing mature trees, but the idea is to make it as easy as possible for water to drain away from the tank. It's JMHO, but a giant, elongated "s" shape would be highly inefficient to carry water; too many hairpin turns for something to back up and block the system. Not that someone couldn't put in such a system, just that it doesn't look like it would work well enough to be worth the effort. You don't say how old the "new" house is, but if it's less than 10 years old, you should be able to track down the plumber who was contracted by the builder to put the septic system in and find out what's up. You might also try calling a few local businesses that clean out septic tanks. The actual tank needs to periodically have the solids pumped out and disposed of. It could be that a previous owner has had that done, (especially if they had multiple children in the home), and the local company might be able to tell you something about the place. Once upon a time, you could have used a metal detector to find cast iron pipes, but nowdays, everything is plastic. :^/

Forgive me but has the betta died allready? I thought it was hanging by a thread. A 25 watt heater will keep the water a consistant temperature. If you go with a heater, do not get the type that is "factory preset" usually a kinda small box looking thing that claims it is good for bowls and aquariums up to 5 gallons. They have been known to fry fish, while some have had success with them, I wouldn't trust it. When it comes time that your bio-bag (I think thats what Whisper calls them)is tatered and shreded, just replace the bag, dont discard the old one, but cut it into pieces small enough to fit in with the carbon, don't replace the carbon for that change but maybe remove some to make room for the cut bio-bag.This will allow the bacteria that has grown on the old one to "seed" the new.-However, what I'm still unsure of is what the "biological" part of the filter is... ---- The biological part of the filter is where the beneficial bacteria grows. Because the bacteria is alive it is called biological.One of the bacterias feeds off the ammonia in the water collumn (from fish crap and decayed food, etc), it. This produces nitrITE,another bacteria that is growing on the filter uses the nitrITE and turns it into nitrATE. This is good, because ammonia and nitITE are toxic to fish, nitrATE isn't toxic as long as its kept at a low level. That is why we do PWCs, to remove the nitrATE that is produced, allong with other dissolved organics in your little ecosystem. Since your aquariumis small needs to be done more frequently, as a rule of thumb. After a while you can determine what amount of water and how often it needs to be changed. One aid in this determination is a complete water test set. In the case of your filter the best place to let it grow is the white bag with the clip. The carbon also hosts the bacteria, but since the carbon exhausts after a while (or gets less effective at its job) it needs to be replaced. Rather then removeing both hosts to the bacteria and leaving no biological filtration, you just discard the old carbon and replace and keep the bag that has bacteria on it allready. As far as aging water, if you are only doing small water changes, frequently the small amount of water you are replacing should not affect the water too drastically. This is not allways the case though some well water(and city) has a high concentration of CO2 in it. This causes the water to be very acidic. When the CO2 escapes'the pH can rise rapidly to a base. This can stress fish, especially delicate ones. I have this situation and I just use an airstone in a bucket of water to "gas it out" if I amdoing a large water change. Aging over night or for a few days will also do the trick. You do however need a good water conditioner, like Prime or Amquel, that removes chlorine/chloramine and ammonia, if you have treated water from a water co----Alagae, with all the nutrients that may have built in the water + ones that are allready there + light 24/7 will give you an algae bloom, no doubt. If you do the PWC's and limit the light the algae will starve and go away. For a quicker results, use no light, or very little for a week or 2. This includes sunlight from a window. Some people have even covered the glass with a paper bag or something for a complete blackout.Read the original link I gave you, its long but no more longwinded then me. Oh yeah, the food varied diet is good, some have had great success with just a quality betta pellet like hikari. If you want to try something else you can even get live brine shrimp from a good LFS or start a hatchery of your own one day, its pretty interesting. My betta is a typical betta, a pig, he'll eat anything.

I know you have quite a bit to read through here already, so I will try to keep this brief. Because of the doorways leading into your room, your sofa layout is most definitely the most practical, and having the TV over the fireplace provides with the best view from both seating locations so I would stick to your gut on that one. With regard to the tile, I would make sure to select a dark grout that blends in well. Without seeing the actual tile, my best guess is that a taupe would still provide you with a bit of contrast which you like in your inspiration picture without creating too much of a color difference to be bothersome while watching TV. When DH held up the cardboard over the fireplace, it was perfect. My suggestion is to get a TV mount that tilts so that you can have it slightly facing downwards to maximize viewing comfort. You can also certainly have a wood mantlepiece. However, for all of this to look great, I think you need to extend your tile to the corners where the wall bends. If you have a professional tile installer do the installation they can cut the tiles at an angle so it ends right into the wall. Otherwise, you can order a tile liner for the edges for a finished look. I attached a picture of a fireplace I did in grey with the TV up high with a tilt mount so you can see an example of it in action. If you have any questions feel free to check out my site! www.designmacs.com or my blog on Facebook at the Design MACS page Here is a link that might be useful: Design MACS

Holly-Kay, When you have time, we would love to see pictures. I have seen pictures of Sapele before it darkened and after it darkened and truly is a beautiful floor that is very stable, neutral and gorgeous. I know you will be happy. I also get nervous because a sample always looks different when the whole floor is done. The same with paint. A little bit on the wall is scary but when all the wall is done, it is amazing how different it looks. Paint also picks up colors in the room and lighting so it looks different in each room. What width did you go with? I may look at Sapele also for my new floors when I remove the damaged wood floors from my flood in March 2013. Suzannesl, I love your floors and I love your toy chest. The Sapele sure looks like Mahogany. KKSMama, any pictures of your floors as now I am thinking of looking at Sapele also but I have to find out who sells it in the engineered format as I have a slab floor due to the wetlands I live in.