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Taken under both white & actintic (both are 55w high output PL tubes): Taken under actintic: Note that pics are taken at night so most polyps are retracted partially. Sorry I think the orange "favia" might actually be an acan, pls pardon my bad ID-ing.

If you look at any of our tank threads, the stones/rocks that you see in the tanks are live rocks. Just trying to troubleshoot for you, hope you don't mind. 1. How much and how often do you feed? I am assuming you keep them in a 3ft tank, having less than 5 fishes in the tank should be low bio-load. 2. Has your tank consistently been having high NO3? Or it NO3 built up gradually over time? 3. Did you conduct massive water changes after your cycling period long long time ago? 4. Coral chips are also detritus trappers and can contribute to NO3 levels. You will be surprised how dirty your coral chips are. 5. Have your test kits expired or are you testing your NO3 correctly? SPS thriving and growing in NO3 >50ppm environment sounds too good to be true. Anyway, if you really want to reduce NO3, Gouldian's advice on de-nitrification is excellent.

Kudos to you, cabby reefer. Good deeds begets good rewards. BTW, you should wait for your tank to complete cycling before adding any livestock. During cycling, your tank water contains abnormal amounts of substances harmful to livestock. Don't subject them to unnecessary suffering. You wouldn't swim in a poisonous pool, would you? Below are some articles you can read on how to cycle a tank without using livestock and also information about the nitrogen cycle. http://fishwhisperer...m/articles.html http://saltaquarium..../a/aa042403.htm In reefing, patience is key and knowledge is power.

Hi Pandagold, Liverocks are the same ones in you use in your main tank. However, since right now you are lacking in anaerobic bacteria housing, one of the solution is to have large piece of liverocks. The reason why you need large pieces (approx 5-6inches) is that smaller pieces will not have anaerobic zones. If I were you, I will remove coral chips vs bioballs if I suspect that its is the detritus accumulations that causes of my high NO3. This is because bioballs have smooth inert surfaces that do not trap as much detritus as compared to coral chips. Also, corals chip does not really act as buffer in marines set-up, this is due to 2 basic reasons: 1) Organic films (Bacteria colonization) and detritus build-up on the surface of the coral chips preventing direct contact between coral chip surface and the water. 2) Coral chip will start buffering at pH 7 or lower (Marine Tank optimum pH - 8.1 - 8.4). Thus, by the time your pH reaches the coral chip melting point, your tank could already have crashed. Reefers who uses Calcium Reactors will know, calcium media will not melt if you do not introduce CO2 into the CR chamber to lower the pH to 7 or lower. Coming back to bioballs and corals chips, sintered glass or even liverocks in sump to increase the anaerobic zones. All of the above will work well if you have a good pre-filter (mechanical filtration), this is why you find reefers placing polyester wool to trap particulates prior to the bio-filtration chamber of your sump. If you do not have or maintain a effective mechanical pre-filter, you will still not get effective bio-filtration regardless of which media (bioballs, corals chips, liverocks etc) you changed to. Now that you mention the fishes you are keeping, can you give us more info? The number and sizes of the fishes and your feeding regime will help provide more clues to your high NO3. Also, do you have a skimmer and whether you are getting sufficient skimmate may be another reason. Like some of the bros here have advised, try to be prudent and do not jump into any conclusion without exhaustive investigating your actual reason for the high NO3. Do drastic changes will do more harm than good. HTH

bro have went though ur write up what u done is correct so just do it if u need help to hook it up call me i'll go over to ur place and help u and bro peter the power cord is already drawn there on pin 11 & 12

Price wise is high esp for anything above the standard 12 mm, E.g a 3ft 12 mm 3 side low iron tank cost around 400 but a 15mm can cost u near 1k. (need to check with tank maker) Clarity.. very clear infact i find it too bright esp when my 10 tubes of t5 fire up. Low iron scratch easily so u have to exercise great CARE... however after said this.. u shld do a low iron shallow tank. join me in the shallow tank club

yes, distilled water is the same as RO/DI water. The NTUC brand of distilled water that I used previously had a TDS reading of 1-3ppm so it is definately useable. However, cost wise, buying bottles of distilled water is going to be more expensive than using RO/DI in the long run. Of course if you have a nano/pico tank, then it doesn't make sense to get a RO/DI unit either.

upz

Dont wish to add anymore fire, FYI, Encrusting Coralline Algae is what gives many saltwater aquariums their color and a good covering is the goal of most marine aquarists. Coralline Algae exists in a variety of different colors (green, pink, white, purple, red). The last Rock that is reddish in colour is not red slime algae because its not furry, and has never grown to be red slime algae, Pls guys do your homework before you start to comment..

3. 20kg of premium Fiji LR from CoralFarm - $8/kg (Snails FOC with item#4 purchased) - Sold. 8. Tunze Nano 6045 x 2 - $50 each - Reserved.

has got it acclimated to our normal room temperature dont need a chiller.