Achilles Tang

I have a good mind to demote you to Lagoon mud-###### bacteria.

What coral?

It seems that the database server has been disrupted in some way... so if you have been trying to login again after logging out... you may be facing a white screen. Those who did not log out will not be facing this problem. My host should be working on this problem and hopefully a solution will be available soon. I hope it's not related to the virus that has been disrupting the internet a couple of weeks ago.

hmmm... I have no idea how a Prizm skimmer works... perhaps you can go back to the person who sold you this for advice? Or maybe some Prizm users here can help?

TTboy bought a H&S Sulfur Denitrator... and thinks it's a piece of expensive crap. Or he doesn't know how to tune it properly. I think Sam from Sealife has no experience using it too so he gave some advice which TTboy doesn't seem to be able to apply. Perhaps you can enlighten him?

Oops! Did I say PH and alk? It should be calc and alk! Must be the 2 glasses of wine at 3am in the morning... heh!

CFD = COMPULSIVE FRAGGING DISORDER!!!!!

Hi Wei, How was ang pow collection? I had to give out almost $400 in cash... Oh well, back to the debate: Ahh... but I think this trend is beginning to lose ground over time as even advanced hobbyists in the US who used to advocated skimmerless tanks are not realising that the long-term condition of their tanks cannot be ensured. They have begun to understand how skimmers are an important component of keeping their water quality at a high level. The Germans never seemed to advocate going skimmerless as much as some radical US hobbyists.... maybe they did in the beginning... but now look at how advanced their skimmers are. I doubt if a newbie would take up the challenge of going skimmerless, especially for big tanks... for nano tanks.. they have no choice. Frequent water changes has to be part of their maintenance schedule. But then again, I would never encourage newbies to start off with nano tanks. It would be too much work, too much livestock at risk. Yup! Agreed! I have learnt so much and I feel that we have to share with our fellow hobbyists so we can bring Singapore's level of marine tank keeping to a high standard.

Onghm, IMO, dosing kalkwasser in conjuction with a calcium reactor is the best way of introducing balanced levels of calcium in a reef tank. Kalk also has the added benefit of precipating out phosphate as well as raising alk and ph in a 1:1 proportion. This feature alone will contribute to creating bad conditions for cyano/nuisance algae. Using B-ionic is good but may be not as cheap to use for the long term as compared to using kalkwasser.

Look for Phang... he has CFD.

Nah, dun see that happening here! What flame fest? If you want flame fest, go to Reef Central! This is SRC! And I won't allow that kind of atmosphere here. We're friendly folks exchanging different views that's all... I am sure we're not petty people.

Hi Wei... So can we take it that you are an advocator of going skimmerless? You seem to be encouraging newbies to try going skimmerless. Whatever the case, you shouldn't feel too personal abt exchanging opinions... as long as we dun force our opinions down other people's throats or having baseless accusations. I think Rrrobt was equally confused abt why you seemed to be advocating 'going skimmerless' to a newbie but you are personally upgrading your skimmers. I dun think he meant any offense and there should be none taken. Perhaps you were trying to teach self-control in reef-keeping?

In case some of you are wondering how come this thread started so strangely... it was actually part of another thread that became out of topic... so I moved it out to its own.

Bro... you already went so far to have 400 watts x 2 and 250watts x 2 lightings... what's another 150watts of pumps? Hee hee! Your skimmer is as important as lightings... so dun skimp too much on the right equipment. Reefing is an expensive hobby....

Hmm... I'm not home now. At my in-laws' place! Let you know later.

Is that a plate coral next to your new acquisitions? Better put it further away from them. You should also put your plate corals on the sandbed where they will be better off. In my dives, plate corals which have been blown up onto rocks tend to dead.. ie. I see skeletons. Plate corals do not like rough edges digging into their tissues. BTW, nice SPS... montipora sp. or poritites sp.... hard to tell without close-ups.

I have moved out the skimmerless debate out from this thread... as they were out of topic to here: http://www.sgreefclub.com/forums/index.php...t=ST&f=6&t=1372 Pls carry on!

Phang, Try hunting down the epoxy in hardware shops... I realised that the epoxy sold in LFS are the same kind... but many times the price! Look for those which are used for marine repairs... but dun get those with metals in them. They look similar.... green tubes with white centers. Oh... and i'll take those turbos...

Cool! Finally we have a thread to talk about skimmers! For an SPS reef tank, high quality water lacking in dissolved nutrients is recommended. That means overskimming has to come into the picture, because the water around coral reefs are usually free of dissolved nutrients, unlike areas near mangrove swamps or lagoons which have limited water flow. High nutrients in water tend to make colourful SPS corals turn brown. True... the German brands of skimmers are usually efficient in design, in terms of concept, maintenance and pump efficiency. The US brands tend to be also good, but like American cars, tend to be big, noisy and consumes huge amounts of fuel... in this case, electricity... Were you not aware that Beckett-styled skimmers require a pump of substantial capacity to run properly? The Hailea 6540 is a copy of the Aquamedic Ocean runner 6500.... but uses so much more electricity. Best bet is to get an Iwaki pump. Too bad the Oceanrunner pumps are not being brought in anymore. At least, its working well! Your concern now should be whether it's working fast enough. It may be better to get one good and efficient unit of sufficient capacity than a few smaller units of your current kind. Coz if I am not wrong, you need to get three powerheads for another 3 units? Or x 3 amt of airstones? And take up 3 x as much space? If you lack headroom, the 2 good German brands like Schuran and H&S are designed to be short in height but that doesn't compromise their skimming efficiency.

Just 1 week old and you have stocked up heavily already? Assumingly, even if your NO2 & NO3 have fallen to low levels, your established bacteria is unable to cope with the sudden influx of new nutrients/pollution, you have to standby for another round of cycling as new bacteria has to grow fast enough to cope and cycle the new ammonia > no2 > no3 > low levels again. So right now, nuisance algae is blooming cause the nutrients are there for them. You will see them in your tank for sometime till the cycle is finished again. Maybe the only thing that can help now... is water changes. Newbies... it is bad practice to stock up a newly setup tank so quickly, inspite of what the LFS says. Only bad things happen fast in a reef tank.

As a guide, soft corals tend to have more toxic qualities. Only a few species can cause adverse reactions in people if somehow the slime gets onto a cut or enters the mouth. So don't handle corals and lick your fingers!

From my experiences with Tangs, I suggest you don't treat them at all... FW dips etc. They are delicate creatures and stress kills them faster than ich will. Try to provide a stressfree environment as best as you can for the PBT ie. no competitive/agressive tangs. You want to make sure it's eating as much as it can.... so the best form of treatment is... making sure it eats quality food. Use food soaked with garlic juice. A compound in garlic causes ich to drop off their hosts. Once its immune system is strong, it should overcome any further external parasitic attacks. Good luck!

Aiyoh.. Rrrobt... I think both of us misunderstood Wei.... he meant to say that a newbie may not need a PS during the cycling period and provided he doesn't stock up while waiting to save up enough to get a good skimmer. I think the word 'setup' can be highly misunderstood and subjective. Add the word 'initial' before 'setup' and I think that is what Wei meant! For a 'permanent' setup.... a skimmer is a MUST, unless one decides to go without one knowing the consequences. Wei... when you stated 'a successful setup'... you made people think that a 'long term setup' doesn't require a PS. Now that this explanation is settled... no one should be confused why Wei said one thing and does another thing. He meant the 'INITIAL CYCLING' only. Now let's get to topic... is the gathering still on?

QT. But dropping an established filter media in the QT should speed things up. You may have to do more water changes though... if your filter can't cope with pollution. Or add a small PS.

Agree with Tanzy... the beckett must be enclosed tightly.