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GOLDEN OCTOPUS is having sales of their beautiful replica rocks at AQUARAMA 2011. Last day today.. hurry sale sale sale.. Also Aquarama sale of their GEMS CORAL too. Have fun and a beautiful day ahead..

Hi. I like to get these. My no is 97392575. Thanks. 4) American Marine Pinpoint pH Monitor $50 Black cap Basslets $70

It is not ill advice and it certainly isn't misleading. If your calcium levels are within 380 to 450 ppm then there isn't an issue. These levels get depleted as your reef matures. Having said that if regular water changes are done the salt mix you use will take care of the extra calcium needed and having a calcium reactor if you have stoney corals is good if its used properly. Yes there is a relationship between calcium levels and alkalinity. If you test for Calcium and its too high i.e. in excess of 500ppm then there is a tendency for alkalinity to drop. Conversely if alkalinity levels get too high then then calcium levels will tend to fall. If your calcium levels are stable then your kh levels will be stable. (7 to 10 dkh).Dkh and kh are one and the same thing. Kh is basically the alkaline buffering capacity of your aquarium. It isn't a measure of the actual alkalinity level in your aquarium. PH levels will tell you how acidic or alkaline your aquarium is. if you have a very unstable KH level in your aquarium look into causes such as a large amount of decomposing organic material. We have all too often seen a mess created with the zealous use of test kits. Wrong readings and expired batches result in unnecessary dosing with disastrous consequences. This following article is useful. http://www.reefecosystems.com/reef-facts/water-chemistry-and-parameters/calcium-alkalinity-and-magnesium/

Dear friends, First of all welcome to the hobby of marine husbandry! This article is based on intensive research / interviews with most of the reef experts & my experience in this area. This article is intended for those who are starting out small i.e. tanks up to 60 litres and thereabouts. 1. You will need a good tank and a sturdy table to put it on. Please remember that you don't have to cough up thousands of dollars. Its just about 70% more expensive! The only real difference in a simple marine set up and a fresh water fresh up is, (a) you need a hang on back protein skimmer in which case you don't need a sump; ( you will need a chiller, assuming you don't have 24 hr air-conditioning (you need a pump to direct water through it). You don't need an external filter which many of us use for our fresh water tanks so 1 of the expenses cancels the other out. Now we come to the lights. What to do? Are T5's good enough? 2 white and 2 actinic tubes? It's cheap and it works BUT T 5's generate more heat as opposed to LEDs and they are not as bright, Halides are the hottest. I'm not a Halide fan. If you want your tank to look spectacular then go for LEDs. Will cost you a couple of hundred more. 2. One of the biggest issues relating to the tank is: - What should the right thickness be? Salt water is denser and heavier then fresh water so is this really an issue? Well, I'm using a Juwel Rekord 600 which has a capacity of about 60 litres and the dimensions are 61x31x42cm - glass thickness is 6mm. No problems. No explosions. Tank has been running fine. Always remember that its the height of the tank that determines the thickness of the glass. Not the length of it. 3. Next we come to the blood and soul of the tank. The salt water and live rock. On the water, there are mixed opinions. The safest bet is using a salt mix. Its not just salt but it has all the other important elements that your little tank needs. When preparing the mix don't add salt into the bucket before adding the water. Add the water first then add the salt. How do you mix it? The best way it to have a power head in there. A cheap one which draws water and pumps it out. A couple of hours and presto. You don't need to leave it overnight. Coming to the water. The best way to do it is to run your tap water through a DI/RO unit and after that add a little anti chlorine/anti chloramine liquid for good measure. IMO just adding the anti chlorine to tap water is not enough. You will need around 20 table spoons of salt for a standard sized bucket of water to bring up the SG to 1.205. After a couple of hours test the SG using a Refractometer. It costs just 50 bucks and its accurate. 4. Next comes the live rock. Its BEST to use live rock which has been stripped of all external living matter. Sponges etc. It should not smell. There should be light purple splotches on it and thats your good algae. Coraline Algae. No need to boil it etc. How many KG will you need so that your tank doesn't look over crowded? 12 to 15kg should be more then enough. The live rock should go in on the initial set up. 5. Now what do we do? We wait for 3 weeks and then add snails and hermit crabs and after a couple of days we add fish. I'm not a fan of test kits. I've used the elaborate ones but IMO things take care of themselves. The live rock will take care of forming colonies of good bacteria and as long as your SG is between 1.202 to 1.205 your tank will be fine. Just do water top ups from time to time when you see that the water level has dropped. 6. Water changes? Small frequent partial water changes are the best. 10% every 3 or 4 days. 7. How much should all this cost brand new? Approximately $1030.00. Second hand about half the price. Approximate Break down as follows:- Tank: $170 (you dont need a cabinet! Just put it on any old table) Skimmer: $100 Wavemaker: $20 Refractometer: $50 Live Rock: $120 Chiller: $250 Salt Mix: $40 Pump: $50 Sand: $20 DI/RO: $100 T 5's x 4: $100 Anti Chlorine: $10 Voila! (Fish & Coral Not included - how many fish to put in? 6 to 7 small ones) P.S. Plug and play systems might cost less - my tank is a Juwel Rekord 600 (you may want to leave the built in bio filter inside and fill it with activated carbon media)