Achilles Tang

I wish I got a laser gun to burn off the ich off the AT! The ich parasites seem to just love the AT only... somedays its very bad... some days it seems to almost clear. Now its delicate skin is not so nice as it has scratched itself on rocks... time will heal it I believe. My AT only eats nori and it must be bite-size!! Spoilt!

Man! Hope you're ok... not hurt? Gee!!! What's the damage to your wallet.

Uhmm ok, Max. If that's all you can elaborate.... really would have liked to learn a little more. Nitrates and Phosphates can already be hard to manage in a DSB system, not to mention a Berlin system... I am sure a lot can learn from your expertise/experience.

Getting a lot of attention from my yellow neon goby!

He's still an ich magnet but he's eating like a horse! *crossing my fingers that he will fight off the ich* Sorry about the blurred pix... borrowed a friend's camera and it has limited functions or I'm just a stupid user!

Ahhh... the Boss and I still maintain a cordial relationship and its a well known fact that although we don't see eye to eye on quite a few issues but we still do go out for makan sessions with other friends, he still comes to my place, we still play war board games together and besides... I have and still will be a $$$$ customer... Mutual respect.

I give my vote of confidence to Paradise Reef and their ability to present their livestock seemingly in very good condition. The Boss there may seem a little high-browed at times but hey... nobody's perfect man!

Nic did say he copied my design when he consulted with me on this some time ago! He certainly did make a big wave over at UR.net.... and look, they talked about me here too! *head big liao* hahaha!

I would like to know why the fan placements are different in some chillers. For example, the fans for the Artica chillers are placed at the opposite end of the casing and the fans for the majority of the other chillers are placed right at the cooling fins. Is there a reason for this and what are the advantages of this. Also, some fans are blowing from the front to back and some are blowing back to front! Anyone care to share as there seems to be many chiller experts in SRC now? AT

Wah... time for the birds to wake up and we are going to bed now..

and some of you are such nightbirds like me??? GO TO BED!!!!!

Hi Max! Got some questions on some of your statements.. hope you don't mind enlightening me as I am blurred by some of them. I highly doubt the amount of food to feed SPS on a daily basis can rival the amount of food fed to fishes, gram for gram. IMO, on a pollution scale, a 10ml of rotifers fed to SPS will not produce as much No3 & P04 problems as 20gms of frozen shrimp, flake, pellet or nori fed to fishes, of course this is just an example. Logically, a reef tank is quite nutrient free in terms of ample zooplankton for SPS to feed on like in the wild and I doubt if we pour in more than a few tablespoons full of live rotifers, or GPs or frozen zooplankton on a daily basis but we certainly do feed more than a few grams of fish food to feed our fishes, and not just once a day! If this fish food remains uneaten, it will definitely cause problems when they rot but even if they are eaten and digested, what goes in must come out and you still get No3 and P04.... So since we are debating on how to accomplish a nutrient-free environment via the Zeovit system and the demerits of a DSB system and the merits of a berlin system (which you say give you 0 levels of NO3 and P04)... I hope you can share how you achieve it... So... when you said.. Neither do most of us. So nitrates must be removed via NNR in the LR? Mechanically skimmed out quickly? Frequent water changes? Use of nitrate-reducing solutions? Yeah, with the very minimal fishload you have (like 3 or 4 fish in your tank I believe) and the very little feeding you do, that's not surprising. But for the majority of us, our P04 levels will definitely be much higher as we stock up a lot more than you do. Agreed for the mixed product Rowaphos (500ml) as tested for myself. Not for Contraphos Konzentrate as it is the SAME as Rowaphos. Read here! That's goes without saying. But what has it got to do with water quality that we are discussing? Or is this in relation to the Zeovit system that you're saying that only T5s work with it but MH can't? Errr.... can you elaborate? So let's hear it for your bag of tricks... we are curious to learn about your quoted tricks to to keep PO4 & NO3 down in a Berlin style system and your trick or two with T5. At least for the benefit of the newbies here, coz isn't knowledge sharing one of the key points of SRC? Thanks Max!!

The recommended container to hold this Zeovit is something like a reactor. This is a system where you are supposed to follow the instructions.... well... for maybe as long as 9 months to see good results or as short as a few months?

These are the NSW levels the Germans practice... vs the high calcium, high dKH levels that the Americans recommend. Interesting again the different schools of thought.

Sorry guys... I spilled the beans too quickly... info won't come out officially until a month or so later.

Bum, This workshop is meant for academics and I don't know if we hobbyists will find it suitable. Konda's an interesting chap... I learnt a fair bit from him when I was at TMSI doing some stuff there a few months ago. Didn't know you're that interested in Seahorses!

Max... yeah... I need to go back to secondary school... maybe even kindergarten. I shouldn't have used the word 'totally' as it implied the need to stop feeding... oops. Anyway... its 'simply put' and I dun have much time to elaborate. My bad. Don't know what context you made this statement from, but you have to remember this is in reference to the Zeovit system which makes the water a lot less 'polluted with some nutrients which may cause overproduction of zoox and thus make SPS corals browner'. Yeah I know that very well... I advocate feeding of SPS corals in SRC all long, havent I? As you said it yourself... the Zeovit system helps to maintain a low nutrient environment. ie. what for... so that the SPS corals don't get affected by high nutrients to turn brown. Yeah, yeah... I have never implied that feedings are unnecessary in this thread. The Germans use a lot of liquid amino acids/additives vs the Americans theory of zooplankton feeding being better. The way I see it... and I don't think I have deviated from my statement... is that the Zeovit system is supposed to: 1. Make the environment very low in nutrients. 2. Make the SPS rely on light + amino acids for supplementary energy. You forgot that bleaching is a stress response also (I am not going to insult you by asking you to go back to school). Heat and too much light intensity also causes corals to bleach. Put a goniopora that is found in turbid waters and place it right up to the surf level where the SPS are and see what happens when it gets too much light!

Chanbi... woah... Deltecs will cost an arm and a leg comparatively to any other brand. Good build though! If you have the $$$, go for it! The best needlewheels would be the H&S, Schuran and Deltecs. Performance-wise, they should be pretty close to each other. Then you have to look at other factors like size, ease of maintenance, build quality, power consumption, pump reliability (some people hate the Aquabee pumps) and of course pricing. There is a new skimmer coming out by one of the exclusive product range that Bio-Ocean Technix carries that we may bring in due time coz it promises to blow the socks off even a beckett skimmer but yet doing away with the energy inefficiency!! How it accomplishes this is because it uses a less-energy consuming but extremely powerful pump and it has been modified to produce a lot more foam than a beckett skimmer!! It certainly does have an extremely interesting design and I can't wait to see it in motion! But I hear that its going to be very expensive! You heard it from SRC first!

I was pleasantly surprised to note that the customer service at the Singapore Immigration Centre was not too bad. Almost on par with the private sector. I guess its really up to individuals to give good service. On the other hand... I really dislike Citibank officers.

A sulking Goniopora coral.

Maxima... what kind of tricks do you have? Berlin-style tanks means you have to have very little fish/controlled feedings + very good skimmer + use of good ample liverocks to accomplish low levels of PO4 & N03 down. Some people even use a denitrator + loads of phosphate removers to help. Any other interesting 'tricks' that I left out? T5s need to be paired with good reflectors and good ballasts to bring out their best. What other tricks are there? Chanbi, Yup... as Hon has stated, the German Zeovit guy doesn't recommend DSBs to be used in conjunction with the Zeovit system coz of the reason Hon gave. Simply, how this system works is that is makes the water so starved of ammonia, nitrites, nitrates & other nutrients that the SPS corals have no way of absorbing nutrients from the water and brown up as a consequence of zooxanthellea overgrowth but now has to rely totally on light... and thus develop the colourful UV pigments when there is good lighting and to prevent possible oversaturation that causes bleaching. AT

Take a look at my signature...

I feel like the Goberment, making the decision to curb the sale of chewing gum so that the majority of citizens don't have to get sticky feet & bums, dirty floors and jammed doors.... Trust me... it's for your GOOD!! Sigh... very hard to please people... website slow.. kenna complain.... newest threads search results no longer around... kenna complain.... aiyoh. Woe is me.

Sigh!! More work for the Admin to do! Click on my signature... there is a link to tips/instructions on how to resize your photo attachments before posting. Going to delete the oversized pix now! But appreciate your kind compliance in future! AT

If heat is just your main concern... then possibly the T5s are cooler comparatively. But then again, it may not. Depends on your hood setup, ventilation and wattage of your T5 tubes.