In my opinion and experience, the Paradise fish is a better choice for the small tank and will thrive in your two gallon tank if properly set up and maintained. Here's an article I wrote on keeping them happy and healthy in a small planted tank. You can find Paradise fish in aquariums stores in the US, Europe, and even the Middle East. The Low Budget Natural Fishbowl It does not take much time, money, or skill to create an affordable and beautiful, ecological, low maintenance aquatic world you can enjoy for years. While some fish traditionally sold for fish bowls do not thrive in them, there is one kind that most definitely does, macropodus opercularis, or, the Paradise fish, one of the first fish ever kept in home aquariums. Bettas, often sold in tiny bowls or vases with plant bulbs, require warm temperatures and do better in heated tanks. Goldfish, also frequently sent home with bowls, require large amounts water to thrive. The ones in stores are tiny babies these fish are meant to grow quite large and need a tank of 30 gallons, each, to do well. Paradise fish are a much better choice for a natural fish bowl or small tank. They are extremely hardy and long lived and they do not require any special care or conditions. Like Bettas, they can breathe air through a special labyrinth organ and so do not require an aerated tank. They prefer cooler water and so do not require a heater. They also do well living singly. Males, like male Bettas, will fight if kept together in close quarters. Mostly males, because they are more colorful that the females, with bright bands of turquoise and orange, are what you are likely to find in the pet store. The fish keeperÂs goal is not to have fish that merely survive, but rather that thrive. Here is how to provide a healthy home for an easy to keep, colorful, and intelligent little fish. These recommendations are based on my own set ups that have done well for years. You do not need to have ever owned a fish before to succeed with a Paradise fish if you start with a young, healthy fish (look for a small one, under two inches from tip to end of tail and ask to see it fed) and follow these recommendations. Shopping List: Large fishbowl or glass container (preferably 2 gallons or more in capacity) Small amount of bagged potting soil Small bag of aquarium gravel (natural, smaller sized, dark in color) One or two live aquarium plants that do well in cool water -- a bunch of Elodea or a Java fern will work; get small plants as they will grow quickly in this set up Spring water or tap water aged for three days and treated with water conditioners to remove chlorine and other chemicals that can kill fish. In the US, I found it easiest to just keep several gallons of spring water on hand. Also, in case of emergency, a gallon container of spring water with the top cut away makes a readymade holding tank for a fish. 1 Paradise fish Small canister of tropical fish food flakes Optional: Small net to catch fish Frozen food and/or freeze dried bloodworms to vary diet Decoration  keep a natural look with a stone or two (to be safe, use those sold in pet stores), or a very small piece of driftwood from the aquarium store, pre-soaked for a week or two in a bucket of water to remove tannins and water log it so it won't float, will look fabulous, especially if you attach the java fern to it by tying it with a bit of dark thread. Soon the fern will attach itself to the wood and you can remove the thread. Set up: 1. Clean bowl with salt and warm water, rinse well, and dry. Never use soap! 2. Line bottom with an inch of potting soil. 3. Remove plants from metal bands or pots and place on one side of bowl to create a backdrop effect and leave swimming room in front. Tall plants in back, smaller ones in front if you have more than one. 4. Add a one inch layer of gravel over soil and around base of plants. 5. Place a bowl or cup upside down on gravel and pour bottled water slowly onto it to fill bowl without disturbing the substrate. Fill about 4/5 of the way, stopping at the wide part of the bowl because more surface space means more oxygen for the fish. Pour very, very slowly so the gravel is not displaced, allowing the potting soil to mix with the open water. Even if you are very careful, the water will still be a little murky when you are finished, but this will settle in a day or two to crystal clear. 6. Add fish, following pet store instructions for acclimating a fish to a new tank (float bag, add small amounts of tank water to bag periodically, etc.) 7. Place bowl near sunny window for natural light to maximize plant growth Maintenance: Every day, remove one cup of water and replace with one cup of fresh water (bottled or treated) and top off evaporated water as well. This takes less than one minute and assures a healthy environment for both the fish and the plant. You do not have to do large water changes if you keep up with this every day. Do not just top off, however. Removing some of the old water will remove toxic nitrates and help keep the water clean. You donÂt want to remove too much, however, because the it contains also contains beneficial nutrients and bacteria. Some people feed their fish every day and others prefer to feed every other day. I feed mine as mauch as they can eat in 20 seconds, usually a couple of large flakes, a couple times a day. With the daily one cup water changes, this works well. Be forewarned: if food is sinking to the bottom, uneaten, you are overfeeding. The fish can easily miss a day or two without a problem -- underfed is actually healthier for the fish than overfed -- but if you will be away for longer that a few days, find someone to care for your fish in your absence. Better not to leave the entire canister of food with the caretaker, however. Just a pinch in a baggie is enough. This way, your fish is less likely to be overfed by accident. Overfeeding will pollute the water and undo all your effort to create a healthy natural environment for your fish. The plants will be well fed first by the nutrients in the soil and then by the fish waste. You will not need to fertilize them. Trim plants as necessary. They will sometimes grow very quickly in this sort of set up. My elodea was growing new shoots within days of being planted. Elodea can be broken off when it gets too long and the new section can be planted, thrown away, or given to a friend with a tank or bowl. To plant a new shoot, just remove the few bottom leaves and insert it into gravel and soil. Java Fern will grow new plants on runners. These can be left alone or plucked off and planted or given away. If algae should accumulate, it can be wiped off with a paper towel. The plants and water changes will likely prevent algae from forming. I have never seen algae in my small tanks, even though they receive a great deal of direct sunlight. Please note that with this set up, you would be wise *not* to vacuum the gravel or to dump out entire contents of bowl. The fish waste is necessary to the live plant and works with the potting soil to provide essential nutrients. The plant, in turn, helps keep the water healthy for the fish. The small daily water changes will more than suffice for keeping the water healthy. ThatÂs it! Enjoy! I have kept this sort of natural fishbowl in three different countries, on three different continents and have set up Paradise fish bowls for countless friends who have admired mine. Paradise fish are easy to find and easy to care for. They make delightful little pets and will charm you with their antics and desire to interact with you. They will soon recognize you and will feed from your hand even. The fish and plants absolutely thrive for many years. You can give your fish a larger home later if you like, but it is not required to maintain a healthy fish for years. My first Paradise fish, now age 8, is still going strong and the plants must be continually pruned so he has swimming room. One note of caution: Paradise fish do like to jump. I have never had one of mine land outside of the bowl but I have heard of that happening and mine have surprised me by jumping impatiently to take the food from my hand before I could let go of it. It is wise to cover the bowl with a bit of netting or a lace doily (something that lets air in and keeps fish in) and a rubber band to prevent accidents.

SR Thanks for the input. I have decided to add the expansion tank which i will connect to the 1" purge cart pipe on the return side of the system so I pump away from it. I found a nice potable water tank at www.blueridgecompany.com. It is a B&G tank with 10 gallon capacity - costs under $150 shipped. When I add the tank, I will also be adding an air separator near it. I am aslo adding a permanent pressure gauge so that finally I will have indication that the loop field is working. Based on your advise, when i add the water line to allow easier juicing I will only open the valve when I need to add water and then shut it off. Even though I have a backflow device rated to 200 psi for the new line, no need to risk contaminating my water supply no matter how low the risk. Since I have been manually juicing and checking pressure over the last month to make sure I am at or above 40psi, I found a tiny leak at the connections to the primary loop pump. This is why my system has not been holding pressure - I loose about 1/8th to 1/4 of a cup per day when the system is charged. I suspect that the leak slows down when the pressure drops which is why I haven't noticed it. The whole house dehumidifer that is close by is drying the little puddle before I see it pooled - I thought it was condensation dripping it was that slow of a leak. Once I fix the leak I shouldn't need to juice the system unless I get some air bubbles. There is no real technical issue about having a unit on the second floor as long as the lines are well insulated and the anti freeze level is correct. However, after all this I have had time to think about what might happen if I developed a big leak up there - it wouldn't be pretty. In fact any major leak inside the house would be horrible. If the loop pump came on and I wasn't home to catch it - I could have many many gallons of methanol water dumped into my house. So I have decided to add a low pressure switch onto my system near the expansion tank. I found a pressure switch with a 1/4 npt fitting that accepts a low voltage AC input and has Normally Open and and Normally Closed contacts. I can add the switch in series to my loop pump control circuit which is 24 VAC driven . The pressure sensor can be adjusted for low pressure down to 4 psi. If I sense that the pressure drops - say below 25 psi, I can automatically shut off the loop pump. I might add a few idiot lights to this new circuit so I can see a green light for good pressure, red light for bad. These mods should make the system work consistently in summer & winter, provide me a way to tell the loop field is working right, and provide a simple failsafe for a broken loop line. If I were doing it all over again, these would have been mandatory functions when the system was first installed. Thanks for the help.

Fixing the running toilet fixed the usage problem and the softener appears to be functioning perfect, which I guess begs the question, is it OK to leave the check valve in? It does not appear to be restricting flow in any way (valve shows maximum SFR to date of 13.9 gpm) and I don't think it is creating any back pressure. Wouldn't the check valve actually prevent any back pressure from reaching the valve and resin tank and in turn protect the resin tank and valve? Say for instance that the expansion tank was malfunctioning for whatever reason, and the water heater kicked on and created a brief expansion that drove the psi up to say 150 psi and that back pressure pulse was pushed back to the check valve since the expansion tank didn't work correctly. Wouldn't the check valve slam shut and prevent this back pressure from reaching the resin tank and valve? If the normal line pressure on either side of the check valve is the ambient 60-70 psi of the system under normal conditions and a back pressure pulse of 150 psi comes from the water heater side of the installation, isn't that precisely the set of conditions that would cause the check valve to close and keep the pulse on the water heater side of the system? I realize that with check valve in place and the theoretical malfunctioning of the expansion tank, the pressure pulse will seek some method of escaping which could cause damage somewhere in the house like a faucet or toilet, but at least it will not have blown the resin tank or destroyed the control valve, correct? I hope this rationalization makes sense, but I'm not sure that I have done a very good job of positing my questions or explaining the scenarios. Oh well. Take a swing at it if anyone feels like it. I am interested to hear some opinions on this one. I'm thinking more potential bad will come from disassembling a functioning, dripless install than from keeping the check valve in place. Thanks. Drew

"If it aint broke dont fix it is my mantra, does it ring true in this case?". When you hear a VERY loud noise and notice that you have a new skylight you will have your answer. a video for your enjoyment When you have a closed plumbing system, and you know it is cause the check valve makes it a closed system, code requires a thermal expansion device for a reason... SAFETY. A thermal expansion tank is less than $50 @ HD or Lowes and the T is already there. Learn about thermal expansion by... clicking here If you are monitoring your system pressure with a single needle gauge you may never see the huge psi spike cause it is transient. You need a gauge with a tattletale needle. Also, your T&P valve may be bleeding off or burping the pressure spikes and that is bad for the T&P valve. Repeated over-pressurization of the WH can weaken the tank and result in premature tank failure I would buy and install a correctly sized thermal expansion tank ASAP along with a new (correct specification & EXACT replacement) T&P valve... cause the cost of having my roof fixed is much higher than the cost of a thermal expansion tank.. This post was edited by justalurker on Thu, Aug 15, 13 at 9:59