Achilles Tang

Ah yes... the T-shirt issue. Will be discussed in a new thread! AT

Hey cookie! Wished you and the many others who weren't there...were there! It was fun. Never been so stoned tired in such a long while though!

Ever heard the saying: where there is people, there will be conflict? It's human nature to have disagreements. Handle it wrongly and we have world wars. Handle it well and we'll have kopi every time we meet! SRC will never be allowed to descend into total chaos. We went thru a few episodes where unpleasant matters were closed in a matter of days or at most a few weeks. People should enjoy a little thrill now and then. Just avoid hard feelings and we'll have no problems even meeting up later and discussing our hobbies and common interests. Different ideologies and different POVs do not mean we can't live together. Life would be extremely boring if we are all alike. I am all for world peace though (Beauty pageant statement!). Anyway, we now have a massive task ahead of SRC: Aquarama 03!! This will be a test of the collective strengths, realisation of goals & vision, and test the co-operation of SRC members!!! Let's rally together as I can't do this alone! SRC forever!!

Hmmm... since your tank is only 3 mths old... how about replacing it with a tank with thicker glass? And then you can set up your new tank the right way this time!

No problems. Plus your skimmer using a battery operated pump should generate more than enough oxygen for your tank.

I was away for the weekend and was utterly shocked at how fast things can degrade when left unchecked. This Linabbw character is also very interesting. A real protagonist. I will be closing this thread in due time after doing some investigations. I hope all parties involved will be forthcoming in the truth. As much as I do not want to get tangled in this, I think it is for the interest of the club to settle this issue and move forward. Being engaged in personal and emotional attacks will only result in chaos. Most of us are adults and can conduct civil conversations. It was fine until the past few pages. Please also refrain from words that attack people like 'stupid' etc. They only irk and cause retaliatory replies. I will be sending PMs to the parties involved in this dispute. Please keep your PMs private until I choose to make a public announcement on the conclusion. My decision will be final upon consultaation with the moderators and Snr Reefers. Achilles Tang Founder and Admin Singapore Reef Club

Read about DSBs, they will solve your nitrate problems long-term. You may also want to increase as much LR as you can pack into your little tank if you can't do a DSB. Canisters, like wet/dry filters, contribute to higher nitrates due to more aerobic bacteria activity due to its inherent nature. Also, do not 'try' any clams under your current lighting. I can guarantee you that they will die before their time is due as clams do much better under MHs or very packed rows of T5s and placed right under the water surface to do well long-term. Your FL lights will not be able to sustain them.

Tuna oil? I use that when I go fishing... makes the effectiveness of chumming even better! In a huge sea, yeah, tuna oil will attract predators due to its pungent smell. I hate the lingering smell of tuna oil for days when touched. In an enclosed fish tank, I think it's...er.... ridiculous. Aquarium fishes can detect food in a fish tank very quickly... no sense using tuna oil to get them all excited. It'll coat the water surface and affect your protein skimming. In terms of effectiveness, some fishes may not be predatory like tangs which are herbivourous.... maybe vegetable oil may work for them... haha... joking! Maybe it'll work for finicky sharks... I won't try it though...

Kennyoss, I can't help but notice that ALL your posts in SRC is with regards to you selling something. I hope you are not breaching my rule on commercial postings as I hear that you are actually associated with a LFS. Pls clarify this matter with me soonest possible. Thanks! AT

I have always discouraged the keeping of anemones, especially carpet anemones... coz I have been there, done that and hope that newbies will avoid this mistake. Carpet anemones are KILLERS!!

Old exoskeleton.

Why does this topic seem so familiar?

Hi starlight. I do not allow commercial postings in SRC. I therefore have to delete your post. Pls check your PM. AT

It's cyano, short for Cyanobacteria. Use the search function, enter 'cyano' or 'cyanobacteria', there are a lot of posts where this has been covered before, esp. how to deal with them. Let your fingers do some walking.

Pls keep all photo attachments to max 700 pixel width. Yours is 1284. Are you talking abt coral chips? What do they have to do for marine fish? They don't eat them. Please try to phrase your questions properly and logically like: Can these stones be used as a substrate for my marine fish only tank? It's so much clearer than : can i use this stones for marine fish If you mean 'Can these stones be used as a substrate for my marine fish only tank? '... then the answer is yes... they can... but not recommended.

Use the search function. Type in DSB. Your answers will be all there.

Seamarine, I guess you are on a very tight budget as I can see that your marine tank is inadequately setup. 1. Your tank is bigger than your stand. Watch out for instability. 2. Using small white rocks...what is it made of? Marble? Sandstone? White granite? You may want to research a bit more about sandbeds if you want a stable system that can process nitrates. Is it just for decoration then? 3. You have too little liverock or in fact.. not the rock that are used for marine. Yours look like a granite rock. These are very non-porous, dense and heavy and do not serve to be part of your biological filter system. 4. Your lighting is grossly inadequate for keeping hard corals. Please upgrade to a much higher wattage and quantity as soon as possible. 5. You are way overstocked for a tank that size and a filtration system which is grossly inadequate. Do not listen to Giritharan as he is obviously still a beginner like you. I suggest the following action to be taken or I can guarantee you that your marine livestock will die within a few short weeks. 1. Throw away your white pebbles and use #0 sand to form at least 4 inches of DSB. Recommended 6 inchs deep. You may lose some height but it will aid your system in processing nitrates to harmless nitrogen in the long term. 2. Throw away your rocks and buy at least enough Liverocks (LR) from LFS to fill up 70% of your tank. 3. Do regular water changes to dilute water pollution. 4. Get a sump tank to increase water volume and put in a larger skimmer to maintain your tank. You can use GA carbon to help your system. If you can't get a sump tank due to space... a big canister may be your next best choice but you have to do much more regular maintenance compared to a sump tank method. OHF systems are useless for marine (and there has been many reports of aquariums catching fire due to these pumps recently in the newspapers). 5. Add in more lights or upgrade to pack in as much lights as possible over your tank. What you have now is totally inadequate. 6. Give away 50% of your fishes. 7. Read up more. 8. Throw away that plastic photo background... it makes your tank look crowded but totally unnatural. This is not to scold you or look down on you, but you really have to stop listening to LFS advice and look at how more experienced hobbyists are doing things and don't experiment at this stage. Many people have walked down the newbie stage and now are passing on their experience to you to help you save time and money and prevent livestock losses. Learn from us and save yourself a lot of grief. If you are open to learning... we are more than happy to teach! AT

Ok... i solved the mystery.... using 50% gamma increase and 35% whiteness increase.... I found what we are supposed to see!

Anemones are NOT for beginners as they often fail to realise that anemones are not entirely reefsafe in the risky sense that they move around a lot, get chopped up by unprotected powerheads and crash the whole tank, may eat up their fishes, sting other corals and that they require strong lighting. Please do not give advice if you are a newbie so as to prevent the scenario where blind leads the blind. Thank you for your co-operation.

I hate the point out this massive flaw in your action plan. The alarm company will sent the police to his house within 10 mins once the detect a break in communications and there is no rectification within a very short designated time.

Wow! You have created the exact replicate of my last wreck dive! You just need to add in fishing nets and floating gas cylinders inside the galley!

What is Ne way? Your lights have to be way more than 15w each x 2. That's too weak... to support photosynthetic life. You should increase it to minimum IMO around 35w - 55w each if possible and pack in more light tubes. The weaker MHs are already at 150watts. You should take a break and stop buying stuff. Use that time to save more $$$ and read, read, read! Your plans to 'upgrade' is going to be a waste of money and time if you don't really know what's ideal and what's sub-standard for a marine setup. Do you know exactly what the advantages and disadvantages of using a canister? Do you know why if you use coral chips, what's the purpose it serves? A marine tank is not just a thing to admire... it's an ecosystem and many people start off by killing livestock through lack of understanding and knowledge and a poor setup. To setup a proper marine tank is IMO, 70% of your time spent on knowledge & info gathering, 20% to think it through and adapt it to your budget and 10% shopping and putting it together. Your cash should be saved up buy the right equipment of which is 80% of your first setup and 10% livestock for the first batch after one month of cycling and slowly using the rest of the remaining 10% to stock up in the following weeks. Most newbies spend 10% of time on knowledge gathering, 5% on thinking through and planning, 65% of time wasted on visiting LFS, shopping and asking about prices and questions of different equipment without understanding the pros and cons and functions well enough but yet buy them and the remaining 20% putting it together. Their cash is spent on 30% junk or wrong equipment for the first setup and 70% livestock. Then they waste much more money buying equipment to 'upgrade', or stuff to 'rectify' mistakes that shouldn't be made in the first place! See where I am coming from? Save time, save money, save livestock, save heartache - DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME!

Err... the two statements don't seem to match. It's pretty obvious when a hobbyist suddenly has 'a lot of livestock' to clear and determine if it's because he has to make room for new stock, or wants to frag his corals to make more room etc vs another 'hobbyist' who acquired 'harvested' corals and are selling them for commercial gain. To discourage the trading of corals between hobbyists is a little too much and doesn't serve any real purpose. We encourage the propagation of corals in our tanks because , who knows, one day, idealistically, we may reach a day where hobbyists may one day be asked to donate species back into our seas and oceans to replenish stocks or perhaps even ceasing to buy livestock from the wild because our corals have adapted well to tank conditions and propagating fast enough to meet supply (in an ideal situation where all sought-after corals are well kept by ALL aquarist) Therefore, all livestock from hobbyists tanks that have been kept for some time, will still be allowed to be sold or traded amongst fellow SRC members using the forum. Same goes for approved DIY projects or sale of 2nd hand/unused equipment of reasonable quantity. Commercial sales will NOT be allowed unless carried out by SRC official sponsors.

Hi and welcome to the hobby. I see that you stated your tank as one month old. I trust that you have learnt about the cycling process and the importance of establishing a proper filtration system before stocking up? If your system is immature and stocked suddenly, prepare to battle problemetic nuisance algae and possibly a crash. Your tank is small (but I must add that your camera takes a nice sharp photo! What is it? ) and you do not have a DSB or ample LR, your skimmer is small and inefficient and lighting is way underpowered... so you really have a lot of restrictions. Hope you will learn quickly on the do's and don'ts (mostly donts) on keeping a marine tank, esp. for a beginner. Patience and discipline is a must. If you can... upgrade to a bigger tank or better equipment as a priority and not how quickly you want to make your tank look nice with new livestock... coz they won't last very long... and you'll be guilty of poor reefkeeping. Do it right and you'll achieve a satisfaction beyond what you can imagine!

It's a water quality issue. Cyano is ugly and can grow on corals and affect them. You have to invest in a good skimmer for long term maintenance of good water parameters. There are many ways to deal with cyano. Suggest you do some homework on your own... use the search function (top right corner)... keywords: cyano, cyanobacteria, high nutrients, dissolved organics. You'll find this topic has been covered many many times before.