Achilles Tang

White? You bought a bleached coral, my friend.

Just did a test after many months.... magnesium levels have fallen to 1170ppm, below the NSW levels of 1300 - 1500ppm! As you know, once magnesium gets too low, maintaining correct calcium and alk concentration becomes difficult. I have been ignoring magnesium levels after so long... wonder how many of you reefers actually bother to monitor it? What's your magnesium level today?

What's it called and who made it?

Marc, NO2 must be undetectable... as even minute amounts are toxic to sensitive organisms. Interesting question abt the NO3. A complete nitrogen cycle will include the NO3 being processed into harmless nitrogen gas. In practice, NO3 signals the end of the 'dangerous' stages of the cycling period... as a byproduct of the nitrification part. In terms of priority... nitrates is less toxic than ammonia & NO2. But once it builds up... it becomes a pain in the reefer's side as it is more difficult to deal with as opposed to ammonia & NO2 being dealt with once the cycling stage is over. BTW, to answer you about your view: Sorry if my answer seemed to imply that your question about 'when it is safe to put fish & corals in'... could not have been necessary to ask if you had studied about the nitrogen cycle in a marine tank and understood logically the process... and answered your own question. It's like asking 'when is it safe to cross the road'. Although a simple answer may be given like 'when there is no traffic'... it does reflect that you have little knowledge about road conditions, basic safety rules, common road hazards etc. To do you service, for someone else to explain what the markings on the roads are, what the green, amber & red lights mean, how cars move & are controlled by street rules, what happens when a car hits human flesh, what injuries can happen, how to avoid being caught in that situation... pls note that it does take a lot of time and effort. Put it in this hobby scenario...multiply that by 1000 times, the same basic questions being asked over and over again... when all a newbie needs to do is to pick up a good book and study or even to surf back a few pages and do a search/use the search function to zoom into threads where these questions have been asked over and over again...or read the PINNED UP links for newbies to read the FAQs.... I am sure you must be wondering why all the experienced reefers here are not bothering to answer these sort of questions... and I bother to... However, if your question was 'if I was driving and turning right at a junction, does the oncoming car that is turning left, wait for me or he has the right of way'... it would indicate that you are aware of basic traffic rules and only wish to clarify something that is more intermediate rather than simple basics... you can be sure that the more experienced ones will take the trouble to explain. Hope you know what I am driving at... this is not just meant for you... but for the increasing number of newbies into this hobby that seemed to be rushing in, setting up their tanks, and THEN asking questions later. By which time, it may be too late to undo mistakes. Was it wrong for me to imply that a little research is necessary in this hobby... or should I entertain Basic Theory 101 questions on a regular basis? It can be rather tiring. But I set up this website to teach & share... to inspire learning rather than encourage spoonfeeding... to comprehend rather than route-learn.... to understand, rather than to blindly follow.... get my drift? Don't take it personally... you are not the first reefer to sometimes get an impatient jab from me.... usually when I see a rise in basic questions have asked and I have to answer them all over again. God forbid... but I am seriously thinking of seperating all the 'SAME' questions asked repeatedly into respective categories so its MUCH EASIER for newbies to 'search'. In essence, a knowledge base. If you look at the overseas websites like RC.. you seldom find newbie questions like those asked here in SRC... maybe you can call the westerners more 'learning-inclined' and our local culture... more 'spoon-feed me!'... that disappoints me. Greatly. It turns off serious hobbyists. You know... this has gotten me thinking.... maybe I should bring it up as a serious issue for debate. The kopi-tiam section is for shooting off anything... its an offshoot/R&R/relax one corner/talk ###### sing song area. Most websites have such a section for members. Something to talk about besides reefing. Is there an issue? Whatever it is, pls don't be offended. It's my view.

Depends on which corals. Hard corals will probably be expanded with feeding polyps all out... to catch zooplankton at night. So in the 'morning', if you switch on the lights, they seemed 'bigger'.

Heh... you reaquascaped again! Can't really tell from the photos how it all looks like.... must come down and 'xin sang' again! Yeah... Morgan has probably has the largest tank in SRC... or are there lurkers around who haven't registered themselves and start posting yet? Wish my tank can grow up to be Morgan's size... kekeke!! BTW, lurve your AT!

Joaquim, That book you read the info from... can you tell us what's the title and when was it published? It may be a very outdated book... does it still have UGF recommended for marine tanks? Foxfaces and Powder Blue Tangs are definitely reefsafe... they don't eat corals or inverts.

Does not matter as long as you follow a routine light cycle... there should be a regular 'day' period and a regular 'night' period. It makes no sense for you to switch on your tank in the morning and come home to a dark tank at night if you follow the actual timing outside. My lights come on at 4pm and go off at 1am daily. Weekends... I manually switch them a little earlier... they get extra long 'daylight' during the weekends!

Joe_p, have fun playing with your CR... here's how much I have taken mine to the extreme.... Calcium Reactor effluent: PH: 6.32 Cal: 760 ppm Alk: 65dkh Scary right! I don't recommend trying this extreme tweaking with A.R.M.... the water in the reactor becomes no longer clear but foggy! SUPER-SATURATED!!!!! But the A.R.M. turns to mush! Have fun you all! Oh... I am tweaking my CR levels to be back around PH 6.5, 49dkh, 650ppm.

Sand or coral chips do not by themselves remove or add nitrates to water. Its how you use it. A DSB of coral chips will trap detritus, and when it rots... it adds to the nitrate levels. A thin layer of sand will not enable enough anaerobic bacteria to grow in it to process NO3. Good. You should use the search function in SRC more often. The answers are all there. Coral chips are small fragments of coral branches/skeletons. Coral sand is more finely eroded fragments of coral branches/skeleton. They have become that small due to natural erosion or having been crunched down into smaller particles due to the action of coral-eating fish like bumphead parrotfish etc. These fish are sand-makers..... DSB & usage of large quantities of quality LR. Realistically: You will get the answer when you read up & understand how the nitrogen cycle works, what goes into saltwater composition, what's the difference between the many ways of setting up a marine tank, understanding the pros and cons of each and then applying the knowledge. Do read up the newbie links in the New to the Hobby forum. Simply: test your water.

Definitely not an easy coral to keep. I had one that lasted a year.... before one of my heat wave episodes. They do better in higher nutrient waters and lying on the sandbed apparently but yet sensitive to nitrates. They succumb easily to disease, esp brown jelly, as pointed out by Tanzy. They are indeed beautiful corals. AT

1) flubberina13 - 1 cashew and 1 cornflakes. (Total : $16.00) 2) roidan - 1 of each pattern...LOL (Total: $24) 3) AT - 2 cornflakes (Total: $16.00)

Correct. That LR looks like it's badly uncured.... and that web thingy is the remains of die-offs. A whiff will confirm it. If his tank is cycled, he should remove the LR and brush off the dying organisms on it. If his tank is uncycled, he can either keep it to start the ammonia introduction (but he has to be careful that his tank doesn't crash due to too much ammonia killing off everything in this tank in a cascading effect) or he can brush it off if he likes.

Take that rock out and smell it.

What for? You're downgrading what.

Our latest sponsor, Reef Depot, is bringing in e-ballasts. Worth checking it out! Perhaps Glare also has them? Drop him a PM.

Oh.. The Onion.. I have been reading that website since the Gulf War... full of crap.... love it!

Having a steady and being married... not a lot of diff in terms of personal space and freedom. There will come a stage when you both have to sacrifice something for each other.

Which is why I don't really recommend anything smaller than a 2 ft tank for newbies. You have to really know what you doing should you go for a nano tank.

BTW, I must point this out to lightningstrike!!! Read this about posting in PRODUCT REVIEW FORUM.

You're welcome! At your service, AT

Well, if you have a CR that's big as mine and you have a tank that's Danano's size... yeah... it could raise cal/alk and then maintain it... but too big a reactor and too small a tank.... means you will experience huge PH drops.... There's always a fine balance to everything... never overdose anything!

chrislwp... it is an enzyme product which causes bacteria blooms to consume the nitrates and process it into something harmless. When there is a sudden increase in bacterial activity, there may be a drop in oxygen levels in the tank, causing stress to the tank inhabitants like fish and corals. You may have to standby an air pump to introduce more oxygen into your water. May.

Pospeh... you shouldn't be having to use AZ-NO3 if you're keeping SPS!! Why were your nitrate levels that high in the first place?? Max... I have been using AZNO3 before it even came to SG too... my HK distributor friend introduced to me when I was a newbie and suffering from high nitrates due to my first inefficient setup.

okie... it looks like a simple thing to solve. Since your tank's calcium levels are so low and your alk is high, you have to boost it up to around 450 first with calcium chloride. You can't expect the CR to produce enough cal and not push your alk over the edge! Too high an alk level will bring down your calcium levels,,,, were you dosing too much Reef Builder? If you overdose that, it won't be surprising to see your calcium levels fall. The CR should be a calcium level maintaining tool... and not one that can boost up calcium from 320 to over 450 in a very short time!! Don't forget that your CR is producing alk at the same time!! Luckily for all of us, Alk depletes faster than calcium.