25 watts per 5 gallons is reccomended. Get one that has a control knob. The 7.5 says it is good up to 5 gallons and may be. But I don't think they have an adjustment on them. If a heater is overworked it will have a greater possibility to fail or worse over heat the aquarium. A 25 watt with an adjustment knob is the way to go. I like the freshwater master test kit by aquarium pharmaceuticals. I prefer the reagent type vs. multi test strips. In the long run the set is less expensive. The color cards are easier to read then some others, IMO. It has the vital tests you need pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. The strips ammonia test are sometimes skewed and are not accurate in some instances. It's like a Jr High chemistry set. You can get a small bottle of Prime by seachem or amquel+ ( I use prime, again a price thing you need less to treat more then amquel+, so it goes a long way) even though this is mainly for dechlorination it also removes ammonia and other crap. It can be double dosed to keep very high ammonia in check. Zeolite also helps. Usually just frequent water changes will dilute the water. If you read any of the bio-chemistry articles in the link I gave you you can see how pH plays a factor in the toxicity of ammonia and nitrites. Having well water is nice but you "could" have other issues to contend with. One major factor is pH, not so much for type of fish but it can really mess with establishing a nitrogen cycle. Water parameters will determine What% water to change and how often. After it is established, for regular maintainance IME with smaller aquariums I have found it better to do a smaller% more often, rule of thumb is 25% every 2 weeks minimally. If you have a Bio-wheel then you can change the cartridge part as the directions for it state. If you want to save a little$, make a slit in the blue fiber and dump out the activated carbon and replace it with new from a bulk container. I never had a problem in the past ( when I was a kid) establishing an aquarium. When I decided to start it up again (after 20 yrs.) I had alot of trouble. The city supplied water in the town I grew up in was pretty good quality and all I did was keep buckets of tap water on hand for water changes. I only had one test kit, pH, the litmus(sp?) paper. When that ran out I never replaced it. The only difference was water chemistry everything else I did was identical. The things I am mentioning are not gospel as the only way to do this. However, down the road when you may want to try different fish, live plants etc. it really helps to know how your system works and what is needed to maintain it. The only time I test the water now is if I suspect a problem or it has been a while since the last test. I always test new aquariums until I'm satisfied that they are OK. If Victoria's doesn't have what you need maybe Fredrick's ?? Also, don't get me wrong, I support independent fish stores but the link below can help for some of the things you may need that they can't order for you. Just click on the fish when you get there. Here is a link that might be useful: The good Dr.'s

Hi Tomkaren, Grow some Tumbling Toms in the fall in hanging baskets. My sister lives in Lecanto and that's what I give her because she can move them in at night when frost is threatening. Also, it's so much cooler there at night during the summer that you can usually start some late season cherries in March, shelter them and set the last week of April and they'll produce til August. Tom

I agree, you might want to talk to a lawyer just to see what could happen. They might just threaten you with action but not do anything. I'm never sure how far these companies are willing to go when it comes to one person (well, a whole bunch of people, if everyone illegally downloads). For now the bigger issue seems to be his computer usage. I would definitely move that thing out his room until he understands it is YOUR butt that something happens to if he does something illegal. The stuff you've been warned about could be just the tip of the iceberg in terms of illegal material, i.e. explicit images, etc. What you need is the help of a computer specialist that can teach you how to put the basic security measures on your computer. And tell them that your son is a whiz at figuring stuff out. If it doesn't completely stop him, it will at least be a deterrent and you can take some action in the meantime. While he's at school, go in there and look at everything he's been looking at. Then have it completely erased and move the computer to a central location where you can monitor access. My sister (who does know a thing about computers, fortunately for her) went through this same thing with her similarly aged son. It was no picnic but basically she played his game...very well...and it scared the crap out of him. :) Needless to say, he is much more respectful of her and I don't think she has that problem any more.

Thanks so much for replying, sierraeast. What you say is how I understood it too (esp. the preference version), *not* the way these are. One first problem is that they're 22.75" interior measurement, and with rafters who are 22.5 apart edge-to-edge. With no drywall on them. The drywall would end up inside the screens...is this normal? Then there's the problem of how one of them is mounted on the pre-existing curb (which was made for a smaller skylight, I think--unfortunately, I don't have the old ones anymore)--sitting up on top of it, with the curb protruding further into opening. Not even flush with it. I've taken some pics to try to show the problem. I'll try to have DH upload them tonight.