Achilles Tang

So which came first.... the chicken or the egg?

I think the NY skyline's dropped in value after the 9-11 episode. *sorry - joke in poor taste*

Well, Maxima shot from the hip and the truth hurts. Both to the industry and the hobbyists. PB, I like your stories but the the question still remains unanswered "So what's stopping LFS from complying with AVA/CITIES rules?" The answer's so pure and simple, there's no need to blame the customers. There's no arm-twisting from anyone to bring in 'cheong' corals, it all boils down to one thing... $$$ making. For the record, how each business runs its business is none of my business. They have to answer to the AVA for any AVA/CITIES violations. This ridiculous rumour has no grounds to implicate us because there is simply no motivation or motive for a hobby club/me to be whistleblowers unless we fashion ourselves into an extremist conservation society like Greenpeace or PETA. Maybe they should point their fingers at the same conservation group that is trying to force Sentosa to free their pink dolphins. And as Max has rightly pointed out, we all have to solve our own problems before trying to rectify how the industry works (a task that the industry themselves have to do). SRC's mission is to make sure that each reefer knows what the priorities are as a hobbyist when it comes to down to purchasing livestock and being responsible in ensuring that these get maximum care with the acquiring of good knowledge coupled with investment in good equipment to make up for possible lack of experience and husbandry skills.

LOL! True... we fight over corals too.

Pacific Betta... you make it seem like it's totally the customers that are controlling the industry's decisions on how to run their businesses! I have never heard of customers blackmailing LFS into selling them prized specimens cheaply in return for them buying other stuff that also helps sustain their business. It still doesn't answer the BIG QUESTION "So what's stopping LFS from complying with AVA/CITIES rules?" It's like the bus driver beating all the traffic lights and speed limit and trying to blame his behaviour on his passengers who need to get to work or home on time!

Yeah... my torch coral is hosting my tiny false perc. Big ones can forget it. They will harass the coral so much it can't fully extend.

It's historically their own homeland and heritage and the very basis of an age-old religion that explains why its so important for the jews need to return to Israel. If there is finally peace there... it would mean that something's bad gonna happen... for those who believe biblical prophecies.

Consumers ALWAYS want the best prices and the best variety & selection. It applies to EVERY aspect of the consumer market. Not just corals. How about the industry.... tell me what do they want? Why take the risk of 'cheonging'? Laziness? Foolhardiness? More profits? You tell me! It's supply and demand. Demand is always there... but supply is not! So what's stopping LFS from complying with AVA/CITIES rules? Interesting, didn't know that CITIES will specifiy the colours of corals in their quotas.

*Tick Tock*

Arrgh! You are tempting me to try seahorses again! Nice tank and sea horses!

I'll say it simply. IMO, NSW from Singapore shores 'probably' has a high risk factor and is inconsistent in its components, usually lacking in something that requires you to supplement it. The high risk comes from the possibility of chemical pollution. Lastly, it's usually quite dirty, requiring some form of mechanical filtration. Synthetic salts are consistent in their makeup and usually balanced to provide the optimal PH, salinity and calcium levels. Downside is that they usually contained higher than normal heavy metal trace elements than NSW and are suspected of contaminating DSBs and Liverock with heavy metals causing 'old tank syndrome'/DSB crash. I use synthetic salt and do not trust local NSW. Perhaps if one day, we do not have that much commercial sea traffic, land reclamation, proximity to parks and golf clubs etc.

Max. How did you come up with an OEM rating for beckett skimmers? All beckett skimmers are based on the beckett foam fountainhead... there is no 'real' commercial beckett skimmer.... everyone of them is more or less a DIY'ed one.

Hi Jackson, Yeah I read it. The jury's still out concerning whether the polyp capture means its actually gonna ingest it or spit it out. Acro polyps apparently capture anything suitably sized, even tiny plastic beads. I certainly hope that they will eat Cyclop-eze too! Hee hee!

Suggest you talk abt skimmers in a new thread. It's totally off topic here. Liquid coral food is usually poo-pooed by serious hobbyists who question what really goes into it. Lab tests have actually shown two popular liquid coral food to have almost zero nutrititional values ie. almost just water!! It is suspected that it's just yeast added into it. Oh well. *shrug*

Hmmm... beckett skimmers are not inside. They are considered the best skimmers but are not cheap to run.

RAV, If you feed live zooplankton like live rotifers, only when they die, they will pollute the water. But because they are so tiny... I highly doubt if they will affect the water. If you feed zooplankton substitutes like Golden Pearls, which is essentially protein powder, they will also eventually break down and decompose. I consider 'liquid coral food' the worse culprits for water pollution when it comes to food. If it is not consumed or is broken down too quickly... it will be skimmed out in time or in a worse case scenario, fuel cyanobacteria or nuisance algae growth. Every living creature has to respire and produce metabolic wastes, fishes, anemones, corals and even bacteria. That is why I advocate people to buy the best skimmer they can afford so no matter how much they feed, that insurance (a good skimmer) will be there to keep the water from being too polluted.

heh heh... you got the hint. As requested... I am changing the thread name from 'anyone diving' to 'anybody interested to dive in march???' There... doesn't that accurately describes your thread now?

Guys, here's the information I found about the importance of feeding your SPS corals zooplankton/zooplankton substitutes! This could also explain the phenomenal growth of my corals!

SPS keepers, read this! I'll pick out some statements which jump out the most: C.M. Yonge was the first to demonstrate that zooxanthellate corals (many diverse species) could survive "indefinitely" if provided with adequate zooplankton, even if totally deprived of light. In contrast, corals provided light and deprived of zooplankton did not survive. Many other studies confirm the predatory abilities and requirements of "SPS" corals. It should not be surprising given the fast growth rate and fecundity of many small polyped species. In other words, more growth and reproduction requires more energy, especially nitrogen for tissue growth. Finally, I have provided a column that shows the percentage of feeding on zooplankton compared to feeding on bacteria or dissolved organic material. Once again, there are no obvious trends except that some species rely more on zooplankton than others and that, if anything, the "SPS" corals feed on zooplankton a lot. In fact, most corals show linear feeding saturation dynamics under all but extremely high particle concentrations. What this means is that corals have a hard time "getting full." They continue to capture prey and do not get satiated until prey densities become so great that such levels are almost never possible. To put it another way, even if you were to pour a pound of food per day into an average sized reef aquarium, the corals would still "be hungry." Many years ago, one of the only complete energy budgets for a coral was done for what might be considered the ultimate shallow-water "SPS" coral, Acropora palmata (Bythell 1988, 1990). The study showed, basically, that 70% of this coral's nitrogen needs were met by feeding and that 91% of its carbon needs were met by light. At the 2002 conference, Bythell et al. examined three more corals, the larger polyped Montastraea cavernosa, M. annularis and Menadrina meandrites. They found zooplankton to provide 20-80 times the carbon and 112-460 times the nitrogen previously shown for Acropora palmata. Finally, Fanny et al. (2002) investigated the role of zooplankton consumption on the metabolism of the small-polyped coral, Stylophora pistillata under 3 different conditions of light (80, 200, 300 µmoles m-2 s-1) and 2 feeding regimes (Artemia and natural plankton). They found that regardless of light, fed corals had higher chlorophyll a concentrations, higher protein levels, and had photosynthesis rates 2-10 times higher than those deprived of food. This group also measured calcification rates, both in the dark and in light, and found that calcification, as is well known to be the case, is enhanced by light. However, for the first time it was shown that feeding results in calcification rates 50-75% higher than in control corals (not fed). It was also found that feeding does not affect the light-enhancement process of photosynthesis on calcification. To make these results completely understandable, if corals can feed on zooplankton, they will calcify 50-75% faster irrespective of light levels provided. Phytoplankton, while a very beneficial addition to aquaria, does not feed most corals (Borneman 2002). Something as significant as zooplankton to both coral and coral reefs would seem worthy of the highest efforts in trying to produce, add, grow, substitute or in some way provide to tanks. I cannot think of a single greater accomplishment and advance for aquarists than to provide by whatever means (higher export and higher input, larger refugia, purchase, plankton tow, culture, etc.) significantly greater levels of zooplankton or zooplankton substitutes to their corals.

Basically, all livestock entering Singapore.. including all LR, Softies, hard corals inclusive of LPS & SPS corals, fish, inverts (even snails) have to be declared with the AVA. An import permit will be approved and granted after it has met with ALL their criteria & rules. Generally, softies are not considered endangered as they are very common. But hard corals because of their intrinsic nature of being 'reef-builders' (as in their hard bodies grow fast and form the bulk of the physical reef) are monitored closely by CITIES. Again, I must state for the benefit of all newbies and ill-informed... that hard corals inclusive of LPS and SPS are NOT illegal as CITIES allows international trade in them as long as their harvesting do not exceed the exporting country's quota given by CITIES. Locally, all importers are EXPECTED to do the necessary paperwork with the AVA who enforces the CITIES rules. Failure to do so means that AVA has the right to deem the shipment in breach of the CITIES/AVA rules and therefore illegal. Why some importers are still doing it illegally is for the measly one hundred dollars cost-savings per shipment for the CITIES/AVA permit and better retail profits. It is much more troublesome to apply for the CITIES permit for hard corals esp SPS because having to ID the corals properly is troublesome and probably delays their shipment... so that is why some don't bother and take the risk of having some smuggled in with other 'easier to declare and approve' livestock like fishes, softies, inverts etc. Someone with more accurate info please correct me if I am wrong. AT

Wrong forum. Pls post correctly next time. Moving out to the Equipment forum.

Simply put, most corals will calcify & build their skeletons during the day and rest at night. So in theory, you can switch off your CR at night but you have to pump up the CO2 and speed up the effluent rate. This is PROVIDED you have an extremely LARGE reactor to produce that much calcium during the 'DAY' hours or risk going back to Square 1 and having to dose manually to supplement your CR.

Read this.

I've changed the title for you. Hope you understand the rationale for better descriptions required. It doesn't waste people's time.

If you really want to feed them something marine in origin & nutritious... go and buy fresh tamban fish from the wet market. You have to chop them up into suitable bite size if you can't get them small enough. Sometimes, fishing shops will sell small tamban caught from the sea by nets just for anglers. It's pretty close to their diet although prawns will be 'cleaner' to prepare and not pollute the water as tamban fishes can be quite bloody and oily. But oil is good coz it is usually Omega-3 or something similar. Prawns don't have that. If you keep predatory fish, you should also look into upgrading your skimmer to cope with their wastes or potentially face some pollution problems like cyano and nuisance algae outbreaks.