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Showing content with the highest reputation on 12/07/2016 in all areas

  1. Have 2 fans that im giving away as i upgraded to a chiller Self collect at cck
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  2. ** Update ** For those coming to the Coral swap / show , Iwarna is kind enough to sponsor 30 entry ticket to all hobbyist from Friday 10 am onward base on FCFS basis. Please contact PCW ( Chun Wai) @ 9220 9277 for the ticket collection arrangement when you are there . See you !!
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  3. WYSIWYG. No separate sale. 1 pack ONLY. $100
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  4. Hi Guys, selling my RBTA. $30 FCFS Location: west coast PM me to deal
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  5. So people have been asking me where I got the Aqua Scapefix from. I got it from Iwarna, and was told that it'll be available at all FM retailers this week. Now for my feedback on the product. The TLDR version is that I like it and yes, I'll continue to use it. Overall, it's quite value for money at only $25 per bottle. I'm quite a heavy user of glue/epoxy when I glue my corals, and I use about 3/4 to 1 tube of ISTA glue per SPS colony that I glue (about 1/2 tube of BSI). So far I have glued 7-8 colonies using Aqua Scapefix and I haven't even used half a bottle yet, so I can safely say that 1 bottle of this is worth at least 10-15 tubes of BSI or 20+ tubes of ISTA. This is my personal estimation - your mileage may vary. I find that following the instructions and using 42 degree celcius water is not sufficient to prepare the product properly. The individual beads that make up the product need to individually absorb enough heat before turning into the putty. When I used just hot water (didn't measure temperature, but slightly above what my hands can bear so probably above 42 degrees), I found it hard to make the product pliable enough - I ended up not with the described transparent putty, but no matter how much I mixed it in, I could still see the individual beads not mixed properly. Colour was transluscent. So I tried another way instead - I poured boiling water into the bowl, and immediately the beads softened and joined into a transparent putty just as described by the bottle. I then poured away half the boiling water and replaced it with tap water. I did this a few times until I was left with warm water just bearable for my hands, and it remained at that ideal consistency and I could knead it and then use it. On to my feedback. I'll list out the various pros and cons that I feel this product has, and my thoughts on each point, if relevant. 1. Convenient to use - It's much easier not to have to wield a tube or bottle of glue especially when navigating tight corners in the tank. With this product, you can use it epoxy style by breaking off a piece, sticking it on the coral, then using your hands to press it against the rock. Let your fingers do the walking to press it in to stick to the rock. 2. Remains malleable/pliable for quite some time after preparation - One of my fears before using this product is that it will cool down too fast and basically harden before I can properly position my corals on the rock. This fear was unfounded. What I did was to keep the putty inside the bowl of warm water I described above, and just take it out to break off pieces to use and put it back in while gluing my corals. Using this method, the putty remained warm and pliable even after 20 minutes when I finished my first batch and had to go make my second batch. Even inside the 25-26 degree tank, the putty took a few minutes before it hardened. There's definitely sufficient time to work with it and position your corals properly and press the putty into the rocks to secure the hold. By my estimation, I had to hold it slightly longer than ISTA glue and slightly less than BSI glue before it hardened sufficiently for me to let go. 3. A little bit goes a long way - Already touched on this point above. Fauna Marin estimates that a 500ml bottle is equal to about 20 tubes of glue. However, my estimation is more generous than that, as described above. Maybe their glue tubes are bigger than ours. However, that being said, the actual amount of putty I used per colony ends up looking like more in volume than what I would use for glue. So for example if I use about 500ml of glue to hold a colony, maybe i'll need 800ml of putty instead. Figures are for example purposes only but you get the idea. Also, I found that with more practice, I was using less putty per colony than when I started. 4. Skimmer skims normally - unlike epoxy, my skimmer doesn't go crazy when using this product. Fish don't seem affected either. Fauna Marin claims you can eat this product and be fine, but I'm not so adventurous. 5. It is sticky - one of my biggest dislikes about using epoxy, other than making my skimmer go crazy, is that it isn't really very sticky. This product sticks well and in fact, I even had some minor wastage as there were bits stuck to the bottom of my bowl that I simply could not remove. I had to wait till it cooled and hardened then peel it off the bottom of the bowl. I would be pissed of at this wastage, except that this product already exceeded my expectations for value, so a little bit of wastage is fine. So far overnight the colonies that I glued have not fallen, so its sturdiness does hold up. Only time will tell whether it holds long term as well as glue does. As mentioned at the start, I do like this product and would definitely continue to use it. I find it's great value for money in terms of how many corals you can stick with just one bottle. All in all, another great product from Fauna Marin. P.S. This post is not sponsored. I have to pay full price for this and all my other FM products purchased
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