Achilles Tang

Shuttle Columbia was 22 years old.

The space shuttle Columbia just broke up over Texas upon reentry. All believed dead. What a way to enter the Year of the Goat for the Americans... Wonder if they are gonna blame that on Iraq and start the war.... or start it just to distract the public's attention or as an excuse to vent their emotions.

Can you give us a clue on your feeding patterns, stocking levels, biological filter setup, skimmer capacity, water change habits etc? DOM and phosphate are contributors to excessive algae growth... once you control the above with the right setup and good husbandry.

?? Same place lah! The pink SPS was bought for Robe (remember I told you he msg me that night?). Bug said we could buy two each only... the purple and the green-tipped is mine. I think he knows Robe well... so he allowed me to take one extra piece. When I paid for it already... I then called Robe to say i got a pink one for him.... when I described it... when he heard it was a pocci... he didn't want it... so it became mine. I blew my budget that day... sigh! Oh well...

Budget? If you have $1300... get the Canon G3.

No worries you get good quality GAC.

For your QT tank... 1. No substrate. 2. No liverock. 3. FL lights sufficient. 4. Drop in filter or canister filter. You can used a sponge left in your main tank (that has been populated with bacteria) inside your filter. 5. Add a flowerpot or a PVC pipe section. 6. Powerhead. Maybe you can have slightly lowered salinity to let ich tormonts or parasitic pods drop off their hosts. ------------------------------------------------------------- For treatments, I recommend a seperate treatment tank: As above, without filter, no hiding places etc. Just the tank with SW at right salinity/PH. Medication will probably kill any filter bacteria. To remove medication, dipose water... rinse, add tapwater, add carbon, add polyfilter.

An average height of 8" off the water surface is the norm. Again... it depends very much also on the light spread from the reflector. You can bring it lower if you get a very good wide spread from a parabolic reflector. If you have a less efficient reflector, you may have to lift it highter so you get more light going in.

You better start feeding plankton or plankton substitutes... Gonioporas are considered one of the hardest corals to keep for long durations... one year at the most. Anyway, congrats on your baby! Uhrmm... you seem to have lots of green algae on your substrate....

The pink pocci is Robe's... but he didn't want it when I properly IDed it... he only wanted pink acros... so it became mine... Ouch... $60 bucks more... TTboy's and my acquisitions seem to be stressed from the shipping... the polyps are not opening up yet... and the pink pocci has one or two branches at the bottom that has RTNed. Actually, half the sps for sale had signs of RTN... some were half gone... heard that the shipping was delayed... that could have been the factor.

Hmmm... you sure do need a lot of reading up! Go read the Reefer's acronyms in the New to the Hobby Section.. it's explained there.

Also called zoanthids.

If you are looking for someone good to DIY stuff... there is only one genius here... Alvy! Get in touch with him.

Hosting it overseas... cheaper in some aspects, and any maintenance problems I can get quicker response coz our nighttime is their daytime... and I do most of my work at night. Servers are US-based. Downside is that we do not enjoy the high-speed network locally. Most of my sites are hosted over in the states.

I gave up trying to catch them... they scoot away faster than adult brine shrimp!!! I am sure once I turn on the water circulation, they'll be gone... if they make it into the main tank... they'll be fish food in a flash! Uhh.... no intention to be the 'boss' here... not intending to break the record of being the first to raise harlequin shrimp to maturity either.. lol! AT

Hi Wei, Nice exchanging opinions too! But I'll still stick to my opinion that a PS plays an impt role in the success of a tank! And happy new year to you too bro! AT

As you guys know... I have a refugium. As I was battling hair algae and cyano due to an undersized skimmer, I have shutoff my refugium (which was also overrun with nuisance algae) from my circulation system. I suspected that when my macroalgae crashed (and I was too lazy to remove them immediately) inspite of my iron supplements... the nuisance algae happily used the excess nutrients instead to explode... anyway... my refugium has been neglected of late... no lights for the last 3 days (to kill cyano and hair algae) with my two harlequin shrimps inside(one which was pregnant when bought). I knew the fry was released... but that was a few weeks ago... but just NOW... as I was looking into my refugium... I saw the biggest pod I ever saw... no wait! It wasn't a pod... it looked like a shrimp!!! A shrimp fry!!! Not just one... but a few!!! It could only be the harlequins! I fed the remainder of my live phytoplankton culture inside my refugium and it must have sustained them to this size! Should I start a harlequin shrimp farm? Anyway, take a look at this photos.. hot off the press! Here's a closeup... with a baby snail above. Another shot. I also noticed some baby worms on the glass... and a flatworm!!! So it's true that higher temperatures do encourage their growth... my refugium no longer receives cold water. Another shot. Here's to give you an idea of the scale. The shrimp fry is the size of an adult brine shrimp.

hmmm.... theoretically, once no3 levels are low, it means that your harmful ammonia and nitrite source is already processed. The initial cycling is complete. That leaves behind other less harmful dissolved organics (which are not rotting stuff) behind... how do you explain that even without adding livestock, you can get diatoms and cyanobacteria growing? Something in the water is feeding them. Once you add a livestock to your tank, you are essentially creating a mini-cycle as they introduce waste into the tank. But because the different bacteria (for different stages of the nitrogen cycle) is already present, they will grow to feed on what's introduced and processed. Do your stocking conservatively, and you and your LS will not even notice the mini-cycles. Err.. are we going round in circles? LOL! I think I was just trying to justify why a PS will help a newbie from the onset... and you're telling him not to worry abt a PS for the cycling process.... well.... we are both right in some ways....you can have a PS/without doing more water changes or you can do with a PS/but need to do more water changes. And we both agree... that in the long-term... you will need a PS anyway... just get a good one without regret!

Hi Wei! hmmm.... what do you mean by not recommending removing 'excess nutrients'? As long as you have enough rotting material to produce ammonia... you are already starting the cycle. Some people make the mistake of 'over polluting' their tank by having too much rotting material/excess nutrients right at the beginning and nearly bringing their tank to the edge of disaster. I think Ernie experienced this. When this happens, a partial water change to remove excess nutrients is required or he risks killing more micro-life and bristleworms on his LR. That would be silly if we pay good $$ to get LR in the first place or he could save money by just getting DR. So once the nitrogen cycle kicks off and is completed... the issue of excessive nutrients in the tank is still unaddressed. What do we do with it? Do you leave it in there to 'prolong' the cycling process ie. more nutrients > more ammonia > more NO2 more N03 > more bacteria needed to process. Chances are... nuisance algae will take over from here.... and you get your diatom, cynano, hair algae BLOOMS! Once you test that your N02 and N03 has dropped to very low levels, it doesn't mean that other DO is rendered harmless... That is where a PS will come in and clean up excess nutrients out of the water... or you can start partial water changes (for those without skimmers). Once you start stocking, and nuisance algae and bacteria are still feeding off excess nutrients... mmmmm...

A skimmer will probably be a better long-term maintenance solution and cheaper to run as opposed to constant use of carbon. Carbon can be used intermittently to supplement a PS. The primary function of good carbon eg. GAC, is that it is excellent at immediate removal of dissolved organics and chemicals in water eg. medication, yellowing components (which a PS may not properly do/can't do without ozone supplementation). The shortcoming of GAC is that it becomes saturated quickly and its effectiveness diminishes quickly within a few days (depending on bioload). However, it could become a biological filter if kept for a long time (not recommended). The danger is that it could leach back the stuff it absorbed if not replaced quickly. Treat carbon like a sponge... once it absorbs the 'bad stuff' till saturation... throw it away. Also, poorer quality GAC may actually leach phosphates into your tank... causing a new set of problems. Note that overuse of GAC at one time could shock corals as the water becomes cleaner and clearer, causing light to penetrate deeper, potentially causing sensitive corals to bleach. It's a possiblity which has been highlighted before.

Not too strong or their polyps won't open... slow to moderate currents only. Agree with Pospeh.... utilizing of carbon is recommended.

Sinn, You have to control the amount of air going in ie. using air intake valve/gauge control. Too much air... and the foam will be 'wetter'.... control the air intake till you achieve 'drier' foam. Here's what my skimmate looks like after a few days.

Wow... i left my pc while typing halfway for breakfast.... and resume typing out my reply... and there were a few replies already! Is everyone on holiday already? Anyway, I agree that there are many methods to reefkeeping. But we are helping out a newbie here... and the importance, function and safety net of a PS cannot be underated here. So woonming, you decide for yr yourself. 1. Go skimmerless and keep a very very low bioload. Frequent water changes. No mistakes to be made. 2. Buy a medium range PS at least and keep within the limitations ie. med bioload, reasonable feedings, less. frequent water changes. Upgrade to the best PS you can afford later. 3. Buy a good PS now and enjoy the wider margin of being able to keep a heavy bioload, heavy feedings, possibly lesser water changes. Your tank will be more forgiving of mistakes made and recover faster.