Achilles Tang

Got this off WetWebMedia, an excellent reference for reefers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Formalin and formalin/malachite solutions are probably too dangerous and may well be disallowed by law in your area, they are in California. These cross-link peptides indiscriminately, destroying any and all proteins they come in contact with. In a very real sense, you're poisoning the "good guys" as well as the "bad". Hopefully the latter faster than the former. Due to their narrow range of safety, toxicity to livestock and handler, and legal constraints, I would avoid formalin mixtures for pet-fish applications. Malachite green, zinc-free is no longer even used at most government labs and fish hatcheries. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have been using malachite green to treat my fishes during FW dip treatments and had more or less bad results.... now I know. My marine velvet outbreak from new liverocks from a friend has resulted in it killing several of my fishes. Here'a a better treatment - Also info taken from WWmedia. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Methylene blue and fresh water! What? Disappointed? Hear me out, this stuff works! And it's very safe. Methylene blue and fresh water is useful for both marine fishes and many invertebrates against ich, skin and gill flukes, funguses, velvet (Amyloodinium) and most other external parasitic and infectious diseases. It has several other added benefits. It's a good oxygenating dye, sort of like our blood's hemoglobin, aiding in keeping oxygen concentration high. It also is helpful in reducing light penetration, soothing frightened livestock. These qualities are what make methylene blue particularly useful as an "anti-fungal" for transporting stock and rearing eggs. Add to this the low cost, ready availability and lack of restriction on it's use and disposal and we have a winner! Score! Should you have an impecunious situation, or are just a cheapskate (an inexpensive ray?), rather than buying methlyene blue solutions pre-made you can "make your own". Stock solid methlyene blue can be purchased from chemical supply outlets. Check your local "yellow pages". About one gram of dry material can be dissolved in about one hundred milliliters of water and about ten mils of this solution used per approximately one gallon of dip. Actual, keenly accurate measures aren't necessary as this material is safe and effective over a wide range of concentrations. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I had a brief discussion with Morgan yesterday as he gave me a lift home after the CoralFarm LCK visit. Because Morgan and I have bigger than average tanks... we discussed about saltwater and the trade-offs like costs, pollution, parasites, clarity and other stuff between using natural seawater and saltmix. For $60, he can get like a ton of NSW to fill up his tanks and I have to cough up like $180 for two boxes of salt to make just 150 gallons of saltwater. I would like to find out more about how many of our Reef Club members here actually use NSW and how many use saltmixes. What are the differences to your tank and to your pocket? Do you get higher nitrates, DOM or parasites from NSW? Do you feel that there is little difference?

Robe, even Rrrobt is inspired by your DIY skimmer! Why don't you create a thread in the DIY forum that explains your DIY skimmer? I am sure a lot of people would be extremely keen to learn how it's done locally. I mean with our pvc parts, prices and all...

Rrrobt would be banging his 'rocks' now... heh! He just bought a whole lot today! How much are you offering? Is it full of coralline or is it white? Flat, round, big, small, light or heavy? May take some off you for my new tank!

Yeah! I'm amazed... any reasons why you think it's having such a good start?

Going with Rrrobt... See you guys all there later.... gonna bring my cam! Look smart guys!! AT

Kel, I can't really give a good analysis on wave2k as I didn't get one. The flow seems a lot more natural compared to other means of water movement devices. There is this pulling and pushing effect of water that you will understand once you are diving and you feel the surge dragging you back and forth. That is the kind of movement wave2k does. The downside is that the wave2k unit takes up a hell lot of space....! Tanzy... I don't think I will the extra budget to get the reeftec clone, ie commercial version by Tunze... anyway... even if i bought the tunze turbelle stream, I will want it hidden by rocks... so it defeats the purpose already. I was thinking of building a surge device... actually... but that should be phase 2 of my project!

Going going!!! Which MRT station and what time? RRROBT, I will pm you my handphone no. can you call me? I need to rush to Hai Cheong now to pick up my racks! See you guys later!! AT

In my opinion, they are unnecessary if you incorporate a DSB in your tank... same results... less work. Maybe if you have an overstocked tank... or no DSB... the principle is kinda the same isn't it? Using bacteria to eat up Nitrates?

I bought mine 2 years ago from Sealife.

Used to have like up to 4 powerheads in my tank at one time in addition to the main return pump. Very ugly. Bought one of those oscillating powerheads but it stopped oscillating in a very short time! Probably not meant for saltwater use. Upgraded to the most powerful powerheads that I can find. Hated them as they are damn bulky, and the velocity is too high, capable of damaging corals and blowing up sandbed/shooting water out of the tank when the suction cups failed over time. Yes it happened to me countless times. IMO, powerheads fail to create turbulent flow that I wanted. I have been investigating the ultimate surge/wave making devices for a long time. There are two new products in the US market that have a lot of promise. 1. Wave2k 2. Reeftec I wanted to get both for my tank but gave up on the wave2k as they are facing problems with the drive belt, the units are extremely bulky and their email customer service sucks IMO. They don't seem to understand my concerns about euro-bracing and when they did... it seems it takes up too much space as the unit has to leave a big gap due to the euro-bracing. It's essentially a box with a motor on top that operates a plunger rod that rotates, bringing a plate up and down, forcing water in and out simultaneously through slit holes at the top and bottom at the front of the unit. I decided to order the Reeftec unit which in principle, creates a wide cone-shaped current that is capable of creating random and turbulent movements that is not high velocity, making it very ideal for reef tanks. The Reeftec unit is just a well made acrylic box housing housing a Little Giant pump PE-1, that is slightly modified to fit a plastic propeller into the impeller drive shaft. You have to order the pump seperately. So if you want to have higher/lower flow, you get the corresponding pumps and the Reeftec units/propeller. IMO, it can be modified quite easily if you are good with acrylic and can find the parts eg. drive dog and propeller easily. However, if you ask a shop to do up a similar unit, they will change an arm and leg for the effort. It's easier to order from Reeftec. One of these units is currently in my old tank... and my corals and fishes, especially the tangs, love 'surfing' on the currents! Two of these units on both ends of my tank should create a lot of turbulent random flow without hurting corals. The Hayward actuating valves are very very very expensive... very bulky, noisy and not worth the trouble and the money to get the means to simulate tidal movements. Two reeftecs on timers/wavemaking timer should be much more superior. Whew! That must be the longest post I made!

Derf... Shrimp need to be acclimitised SLOWLY.... they may get osmotic and temperature shock if you dump them straight into your tank. Put the bag in the water until the water temp is the same as the tank's. Then slowly dispose some water from the bag and replace with your tank water, do it until over a period of minimum 15 mins until the water parameters are more or less the same, giving the shrimp time to adapt. Some people take up to 30 mins to acclimitise their livestock.

Hi guys, May decide to do a rescue diver course in Tioman next week. It may be my last dive of the year as the monsoon season is fast approaching.... hope to see the big pelagic fishes and hopefully whale sharks! Any advanced divers here interested to join me?

MM is supposed to be a filtration thing... not a calcium supplement! Do you guys feel that your nitrates are under control with good macroalgae growth with MM in your tanks? I heard with MM you don't have to dose iron in your water as MM contains it already. Or would normal sand DSB suffice as efficiently? Anyone tried both and noticed a difference?

Crinoids are notoriously bad shippers. Even if they are intact in the dealers tank... during transport, they may drop a few arms already. They are very sensitive and fragile creatures and will wilt in a very short time ie. drop all their arms! Soon you will just see a centre bud like a flower bud with petals all around! Warning: the red colors of the arms can stain if left in the water or in contact with something. Crinoids are plankton feeders, so if you can't provide live plankton to sustain them... they would be better left in the sea. I see a lot of them in Pulau Dayang/Aur/Kota Kinabalu in my dives... and they are lovely creatures actually.

I doubt so... you can see any rotting sponges but you can't tell if the bacteria inside the rock has gone bad.... you can only smell it!

Okie okie... Hey let's see more face photos leh!!!

Only soft corals? What a disappointment! If they have lots of hard corals... I'll go mad then! Any space for me?

Actually, it made my blood boil when I read those accusations all over again. Anyone can come to my house and see that my 4 tangs are still happy and alive. I was flushed because I used the word DAMN... and since when was that a profanity compared to what the americans always love to say?! They edited my post and I went back in to restore it without knowing why my words didn't appear... and they thought I did it purposely. No warning nothing! It was really a bad case of authority abuse. *shudder* I will never allow that to happen here! Enough about my story in RC... it's SRC now! heh!

Brings a tear to my eye everything I go back to read about it. You should have seen how angry my wife was when I got accused of lying about my tank!!! Those americans!

Coralline algae is notoriously fickle and may not grow that fast.... my old tank took a lot time to grow coralline on my glass.... IMO, as long as water parameters checks out, corals should be fine. Of course, when nuisance algae comes, I am sure those hardy corals he mentioned will appreciate the water changes! I don't think Rrrobt will let the water quality degrade.... right?

550ppm calcium?? Isn't that the point where precipitation occurs?? You should be experiencing 'snow' at this levels!!! 10 dKH?! Without a kalk reactor or dosing? First time I heard of MM creating high calcium levels!! Your PH must be like 6!

? it leads to some listings... ?

Wei's right. As long as your water parameters are fine... you can put the cynarias in. They and the mushroom don't require extremely strong light too. What colour are the meat/donut corals you got?

If you have lots of money and time to do weekly water changes for a 4 feet tank... by all means... even a 100,000 gallon tank can get by with no equipment necessary (except lights) if you do weekly or daily water changes! I have not changed water in my tank for more than a few months already as my filtration system inclusive of skimmer and the use of Polyfilters seems to be stable enough for my corals and fish. But everytime I drain out, dump, make saltwater to change out 25% of my tank... my back aches like hell. Maybe I am getting old? A sump is not essential but it's a must-have for the reasons I stated below... especially for big tanks. Seems like a oxymoron right? AT