Achilles Tang

Sometime ago, there was a thread here on keeping jellyfish. Read this. One word: DON'T!!!!

I have lots of hitchhikers in my tank recently... I must have spotted 3 diff species of nudibranches in my tank! Two of the biggest came with the red algae... and they consume the algae only... very quickly! No bother thinking that they will hunt down the aiptasia... just nuke it with kalk paste... fast and quick. AT

Yup... that is definitely not a goniopora.... PB.. The Galaxea coral is a much much meaner coral... I have one in my tank and I keep it very isolated as the stinging tentacles can go very long. Perhaps one of you might want it?

If you can't provide live plankton regularly, you will find your sponges shrinking... I didn't have much luck with liquid coral food supplements.

Are you saying that the very same rock the corals grow on is also hacked out and then seperated later as 'liverock'? Nah... they harvest by chipping the corals off the rocks... corals are too delicate to be lifted up with the base rock coz having too much weight would make it hard to handle too. Where did you get this info from or izzit speculation? AT

Agree with Alvy... love the look of braceless tanks.. but thick glass distorts a lot when viewed sideways and affects viewing the true colours of your tank inhabitants. I prefer euro-bracing for its strengthening purpose and that it also prevents water from going over the sides easily, especially when landscaping!

X-Japan... I always thought that Liverock was mainly harvesting from deeper waters as most of them come devoid of coral encrusting & algae... of course those that come with algae would be from shallower waters... and thus would be important for coral reefs to grow on. I doubt if they actually hack off rocks from the coral columns themselves... but if they are doing it.. by all means... BAN THEM!!! But I guess the fact that many governments are sinking ships and other structures to become fish attracting devices and artificial reefs is a good thing... AT

Duh Hong... he said it was pacific marine.

Hmmm... may not be appropriate to broadcast it here... but actually nothing bad.. just a biz decision loh. AT

Correction: only 1 boss now.

I posted a thread about jellyfish some time back. I strongly discourage the keeping of jellyfish as we are not able to provide: 1. The kind of specialised jellyfish tank that doesn't damage them ie. free of corners, and has a circulation system that doesn't suck them into the filter. 2. The food that they require ie. plankton and zooplankton. Drop the demand and they'll stop supplying... let them be in the sea.

I think the moral of the story is that we hobbyists and LFS are subjected to the laws of demand and supply, whether it's motivated by greed, controlled by authorities, supplied by smart alecs and bought by fools and vice versa. To be honest, I think the majority of CITES laws are good coz as a diver and marine lover, the sea is a beautiful place that is under threat and they serve to prevent over harvesting or harvesting using illegal methods. However, there are is a rule which puzzles me to this day and that is the one about liverock. To me, liverock has not much need to be protected as we can always replenish rocks from the land back to the sea if we 'over harvest' them. They will become 'live' in short time! So we have this situation where LR in LFS are not CITES cleared and they in a way, become 'contraband'!!! So we have hobbyists running all over the island to find our 'smelly and heavy gold' and LFS jacking prices up to make a killing, hoping to clear the shipment before the authorities come a-checking... and loose lips sink ships (to quote an old British WWII slogan)... I don't where this post of mine is heading... but I think what I want to say is that till the day we accept the fact that we have to pay CITES-cleared livestock prices... and LFS only stock CITES-cleared livestock... then let's count our lucky stars every day till that day happens. If by sharing info discreetly and not jeopardizing our sources of certain livestock, would it not help you and your hobby? Or do we all take the moral high ground and tell the LFS that we only want to buy CITES-cleared livestock RIGHT NOW and reject what they have NOW? *hic* If I don't make sense... it's the alcohol speaking... TGIF!! AT

Hahaha.... yeah... they are really rare!

6500k has peaks in the greens and reds. It also has a high peak in blue but your eyes can't see it because the green and red is overpowering it. It appears yellowish green. 10,000k has more peaks in the blue spectrum, so it appears more whitish blue. It has a cool white look which a lot of reefers like. From my past PL experience, don't waste money on 10,000k as the price diff is a lot to a 6500k... just use that money on actinic 03 PL bulbs to offset the yellow light from the 6500k.

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I dunno... honestly. Maybe for a start, you can show me your A*A pass... hahahha! It's a suggestion that proof be given by making the effort of a personal introduction, proof of your reef tank etc, active participation etc and that you're not some goberment squirrel trolling forums for where to get the illegal arowanas, LHs, LR, Hard Corals, clams, exotic frogs and snakes, dogs and cats are so you can go and raid! Anyway, I never meant to get involved in this process... so my idea of a private forum for such info posting could be a bad idea. But I'll leave it to you all to decide who you want to share such info with (with the buddy list via PM). So if you are on someone's list... then good for you! AT

Hmm... sorrie if I offended you. But then again... if you read into the word "trustworthy"... if you're not guilty of being in this forum for other purposes than to advance your knowledge in reef-keeping... then I see no reason why you should be offended. If you want it straight... then I won't mince my words: Who knows whether the A*A is posing as hobbyists to hear the latest info on which LFS has LR or hardcorals or clams so they can swoop down and raid? Have you noticed how often you hear news of A*A confiscating livestock without the proper paperwork recently? I believe the internet is good for news to spread quickly... but in the wrong hands... well... I am in some way responsible for our LFS's continued bread and butter... as some of them has already beseeched me to control such info. I'll be keen to hear your response to my explanation. AT

That is the fastest way to raise PH, using Reef Buffers. To ensure stable PH... you must know how PH is affected... and counteract those. Agents which lower PH includes livestock respiration and leakage of CO2 from calcium reactors as well as decomposition. Good oxygen flow (via overflow, via skimmer) will help. A refugium on reversed lighting cycle will also help maintain PH levels at night (when it commonly drops).

Didn't you read my post here? http://www.sgreefclub.com/forums/index.php...e18990d21356e5f We can fine-tune our sharing of info... within a trusted circle of hobbyists... the rest can go all over SG to hunt for whatever they want to buy or to confiscate... heh! I dunno... maybe I can create a private forum for those who are deemed trustworthy?

TTboy may be able to chime in here...

The Radium 400 will operate the best on the pulse start. The pulse start will give you the longest usable lamp life but the Radium will be blue (too blue for some people). The HQI 400 and other Sodium ballasts will operate the Radium harder (overriding the lamp) making the lamp whiter. The Ushio 400 will operate on the pulse start ballasts but under drives the lamp. The HQI and other Sodium ballasts will give you the best light output. Note: not all Sodium ballasts are compatible with metal halide lamps. PaulErik is right on the money (as usual). I am currently running two 400W radiums on a Sunlight Supply pulse start ballast (m135 I believe) and it is just what I was looking for. The Radium is marketed as a Blue bulb so why people like to run it on a 430 Son Agro (sodium ballast I believe) is beyond me. The Radium is really a 360W bulb and overdriving it with a 430 Son Agro brings on premature lamp failure. I want my bulbs to last a little longer than 6 to 9 months. On the m135 pulse start ballast the bulbs burns a nice blue color and works really well if you use them in conjunction with Euro 10K bulbs. That is what I do and the blend is just right for me. By themselves on a M135 ballast you would probably not like the blue look. Using them in conjunction with 6500 sakis or Euro 10K's is really the way to go. The Radium 400 will operate similarly on the standard MH ballast but the standard MH ballast is not a good match for the Radium lamp. The standard ballast doesn’t provide the proper type of lamp ignition needed. The BlueLine electronic will operate the Radium whiter/brighter (to the eye) than the standard/Pulse Start ballast but not as white as the on a HQI or Sodium ballast. A bare M135 ballast will work prefectly with the Radium. BradR, sounds like the ignitor isn't working properly. Any 400 watt ballast with an ignitor will start the Radium. jonboy, Sorry to say but a H33 MV ballast won't operate the Radium lamp properly. The Radium 400-watt lamp is designed for mercury vapor ballasts plus an ignitor (starter) but North American mercury ballasts are unsuitable for the Radium (400 watt only). A north American Pulse-Start M135 will operate the Radium close to specs. The Pulse-Start provides the proper starting voltage and correct burning amperage. I personally don’t have any pictures to compare. The Radium on a Pulse-Start M135 will not be as bright as on a sodium ballast or a PFO HQI. The lamp will appear blue but not a solid blue color when used on the Pulse Start M135. Its hard to explain the color of the Radium on a Pulse Start ballast. The Pulse Start operates the Radium close to specs meaning it operates the lamp close to the manufacturers recommended ballast. The sodium ballasts are not recommended by the manufacturer (for the Radium 400 only) because the ballast provides the lamp with higher current than its designed for. Pulse Start ballasts will operate standard probe start lamps but its not recommended because of the ignitor. I tested standard lamps on pulse start ballasts a little over 8 months ago. This is what I found out: The lamp starts normally and reaches normal light output but some lamps when turned off really fast and turned on again (like a short power interruption) this would cause arcing where the starting electrode is. This is because the ignitor keeps trying to fire a hot lamp. This only happened in a few lamps but can cause problems. The ignitor could fail or the arc could damage the inside of the lamp. This is one reason Pulse Start ballasts are not recommended for use with North American standard lamps. All from this thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/showt...ghlight=wattage

German= AB, Osram and Ushio brands. (someone correct me if Ushio isn't) Also, to a German, HQI is metal halide. We are learning that these HQI ballasts can actually light MH bulbs up quite differently than standard MH ballasts (the current Radium with 3 ballasts thread is a great example of that with the PFO HQI ballast vs the 2 e-ballasts) mbort, all HID lamps have a quartz envelope that contains mercury vapor or sodium and other metal halides and these compounds are excited and produce light. There is no filament. If you look at your HQI bulb and your single ended MH bulb, you will see a complex of wires and supports holding up the quartz envelope in the single ended bulb. The mish-mash has been severely reduced by having two contact points at either end of the HQI bulb and the outer bulb glass envelope is now much smaller not having to surround all that other junk in the single ended bulb. But.....there is a filament in each end of a flourescent light. And there is a filament in a "Quartz halogen" bulb (POS for a reef, don't even consider it) which really is just a souped up incandescent lamp.

Metal halide comes in 2 distinct flavors (not including DE [double ended]), they are - Electronic or Magnetic. This is referring to the ballast. Electronic ballasts are more efficient in output and use less energy. However, they do cost more. I and others find that the money they save in energy, makes up for it in the long run. They are also smaller in size and do not get as hot as magnetic ballasts. The other type is magnetic. Magnetic ballasts are bigger, run hot/really hot, not as energy efficient and cheaper. Thats the ballast information. There are also many flavors of bulbs to choose from. You have 6.5k (good for sps growth, but not color- yellow in color), 10k (the standard for most tanks - good growth and good color - crisp white or crisp white with a blue hint, Ushio - AB and others), 13/15k (a very blue bulb that has growth and color as well, but there is not alot of long term data about them), then 20k bulbs (very blue, also known as radiums). They vary in price from 50 on up to 120. Average life is around 12 months. Now, there are different watts. You have 150, 175, 250, 400 and 1000. For your size tank, anything over 250 is IMO a waste. The higher you go, the hotter the bulb. In turn, the hotter the tank gets. Sometimes this is not an issue. Knowing that, there are several companies that manufacture ballasts - IceCap (come with 3 year warranty - great cust. service and considered the best! Electronic ballasts only), PFO (warranty is around 2 or 3 years, not sure. Good product from what I hear - magnetic ballasts only), Sunlightsupply (very good from what I hear, new to the reef scene but they have been making them for years. Magnetic only), Blueline (don't hear alot about them. Electronic only). There are a few others, but those are the major players.

What happens when you do it wrong... http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/attachment...s=&postid=40065

Metal Halide Lighting Components http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-06/jg/index.htm