Achilles Tang

MORE PIX OF OSAKA AQUARIUM!!!!!!!!!!!

"This hair algae outbreak's gone out of control! I'll have to call the lawnmover blenny in!"

Achtung! Englander Schwein!! die Amerikaner! Nein Nein! Mein Gott! Wunderbar! Mein Kapitan! Himmel! Ja! Blitzkrieg! Nicht! All the German I know from reading old WWII comics!

WOW!! This is the most interesting DIY job I have ever seen! *mouth drops open*

I make reasonably good money in my last job... but I lost passion in it after so many changes of management, crap management support and unreasonable loading of responsibilities that were beyond my original JD. I quit and I'm happier now. I know many people who made lots of $$$ but are unhappy with their jobs... they eventually quit to do something they like. It may be lower pay but they're happier now. But I guess different people have different priorities in life! Money may be more important.

Vicky, Seriously, do you wish to retract your statement? I can re-edit the topic title for you. If higher prices = worst LFS... you should visit a LFS in Serangoon North. Anyway, I don't see why you should feel so offended that no one seems to be siding you. If the majority echoes an opposing view to yours, there must be an element of truth to it. Just take it easy. Just because a LFS owner doesn't back down from your hard bargaining means that you have to condemn him. Solution: Bring your money elsewhere lah! Just go to a LFS which sells cheap stuff! You're happy and the LFS is happy. Case closed. For a moment I thought Henry cheated you of a million bucks or sold you a dead fish and said its just sleeping in the bag. He's a nice dude and I'm not getting him a cent from him to say that! Chill, dude, chill. AT

Do they like bryopsis?

http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=11737 Did you test every day of the first week for ammonia and nitrite? A week is too short to be true, unless you used very cured LR & water from an established tank and if there's very little die-off, there could be sufficient bacteria present causing the tiny amounts of ammonia & nitrite to be easily converted to nitrate, thus making the tank seemed cycled in a short time. The risk of a very short cycle would you start stocking up quickly... your bacteria count may not be in sufficient amounts to deal with the sudden influx of ammonia from the metabolic wastes of the bioload/feeding, causing a crash. Therefore, IMO, the best way to kickstart the cycle would be to induce a sufficient ammonia source to get a good reading, shocking enough bacteria growth of the right kind to start bringing down the various stages of the tank cycling. Don't add too much ammonia source or you'll have a tank crash also.... I have heard stories of people putting a packet of tiger prawns and half a table-sized fish into their tank, causing the whole house to stink! LOL!

As above? Aside from their spider like appearances... what's the feedback on these crabs? I believe they are seldom imported but now they are pretty common now in SG. What's the verdict on these crabs? Pls share your experiences, AT

Its so easy for a reefer to commit suicide or to kill someone! Death by 'buttons'! Seriously, there are many toxic, venemous and poisonous creatures in our hobby and that is why knowledge is so important to ID and know what you're handling. Hope this will spur more reefers to improve their knowledge quickly by reading, reading and reading!

Bear in mind that seawater is not sterile. They are tiny living organisms & bacteria in seawater which require oxygen to survive and these will die quickly when oxygen is gone. These will add some bioload (not very much) into the existing water which may already contain levels of dissolved organics which continue to decompose. (These will make the water more acidic, causing a big drop in PH.) Bear in mind all these and not use back all this water without testing all the parameters first to rectify what's not right.

Brown Bee Pee!!!!

Theoratically, You can start keeping even SPS in a 1 month old tank which has completed its cycle. But it should only be attempted by an advanced or knowledgeable/experienced reefer who knows what he's doing and knows how to rectify problems or even prevent them from happening in the first place. But somethings may be beyond his control and there's no guarantee that the SPS will survive long term due to NTS (new tank syndrome). You have to keep a very close eye on the water quality for a new tank. Probably maintain a very low bioload, feed little, go fishless for a very long time or have a very efficient skimmer and have a very good water maintenance schedule. The signs of 'New Tank Syndrome' is an unstable environment due to the immaturity of the biological filtration causing many mini-cycles when new livestock is added (sensitive corals may not be very understanding why there are spikes now and then) causing the growth of nuisance algae (which SPS corals hate) or dissolved organics that are not processed/exported fast enough and thus affect the SPS (I am sure you don't want to keep brown SPS in your tank). Probably, if you start off a new tank with SPS frags, and even though they may all turn brown initially, they may adapt a lot quicker to the environment and start growing a lot faster than say... wild colonies.. which may not be that forgiving and die on you in flash! Like I say, the experienced reefer will know what has to be done and what equipment and husbandry methods are required for SPS in a very new tank. My 2 cents, AT

I think once the DIY people get hold of the right kind of solvents, problem solved!

Hey Weisoon, Looks like someone stole my idea of a hybrid skimmer... bah! Oh well....

Man, I wish I was back in Japan again! I miss the sakura flowers... but not the biting weather...

Guys, I understand that this is done as a service to fellow hobbyists for little profit... so I'm allowing this to happen. I'm giving Platax the leeway to promote this service as he has to work hard for it and is not really a commercial posting because he is not selling something that he didn't create/do/plan himself. I really hate lugging a 5kg CO2 canister anywhere by myself too.

How about stuff like Weld On? I think a lot of acrylic makers use that overseas and I think its easily available in SG?

chloroform is one of them - a highly controlled substance.

私達に日本の女の子の写真を示しなさい!

Even commercial acrylic stuff will leak over time if the workmanship and QC isn't up to scratch. Most DIY projects will likewise leak if the workmanship is not good enough. In the case of acrylic, what kind of solvent grade they use for a permanent weld and the workmanship in doing the sealing/welding is important, DIY or commercial... it involves human skill and knowledge.

You want black reef sand? How radical!

If I am not wrong, one of the top sand sculptors in the world actually hails from Singapore!

GPs is artificial zooplankton. It's not alive!

Nicholasloh, I don't think excessive calcium levels would hurt fishes. Kalib, Your readings are unusually high. For a FOWLR tank... you do not have to keep such high levels of calcium and alk unless you intend to scrape coralline algae from every surface on a weekly basis! What you can do is to NOT do anything, all these levels will drop naturally. If you're worried, you should do a 50% water change. And take a look inside your pipings and pump, do you see calcium deposits? Maybe you borrow someone's test kits to verify if yours is inaccurate or just get new ones straightaway!