blueheaven

yeah you can try stacking the LR instead of placing them on the sand

so what's the pricing like? high side or low side?

And here you see a white nudibranch (in red) and a huge pod (in blue)

Here you see a cute mini starfish taking refuge under a red mush

Nah, I just let them stick to the sand Think it'll be easier to place in tank

Those look like strawberries And that mushie at the top looks cool

looks like a lobo

My heart breaks everytime I see you post here :cry:

Ok, this is pure sai Check out the traditional cone shape

This is pure mud Empty tank with 2 tangs, 1 fox and 1 clown and 1 rock of mushies already like that, i can't imagine what it will look like when my reef is complete

I received very few posts in this thread I wonder why? Anyway, I cleaned my skimmer compartment today And I present to you all the sai

Tell me you're joking.... :ph34r:

And I forgot to update a new addition to the main tank This guy cleaned my Sohal of its parasites

You can see how long this bugger is And I spotted another brittle star in the same LR

This guy hitched a free ride on live rock express into my tank Wonder if I break off all its arms will it still survive?

Here's another one enjoying a meal

Here you see one red mushroom baring its ferocious teeth at me Just joking :lol: Its actually eating a piece of crab meat

Total of 5 frags Will see whether this propagation attempt will be a success

As promised, I cut the mushie up

Ok, this is a follow up from nicholas's thread. I feel that here is a more appropriate place to post articles so that beginners can read them Here's my article on Sandbeds Many people have conflicting ideas on setting up a refugium, especially one with a sandbed. I have seen set ups with a DSB (Deep Sand Bed) of about 4" to 6" thick. And sadly, a lot of people think that just by putting in some sand and macroalgae, they have a working refugium. I firmly say NO. In my opinion, its important to know and understand the thing you are doing before doing it. Although sandbed dynamics are still being researched, I will provide the current information available. Bacteria and zones The main purpose of adding a sandbed is to allow bacteria to colonise on its surface. Many people think of diseases when the word "bacteria" is mentioned. The bacteria we are talking about here are those that convert certain compounds to another form. There are mainly 2 groups of bacteria, namely the aerobic and anaerobic. Aerobic refers to the presence of air and anaerobic refers to the absence of air. And the confusion comes as each group will split into 2 groups. The 2 groups are the autotrophs and heterotrophs. Autotroph meaning the organism is able to synthesize its own food from inorganic substances and heterotroph meaning an organism that cannot synthesize its own food and dependent on organic substances. Basically, there are 3 groups of bacteria we are interested in. The aerobic autotrophs, aerobic heterotrophs and anaerobic heterotrophs. The aerobic heterotrophs will break down organic substances into inorganic compounds (eg. ammonia). These inorganic compounds are then taken up by aerobic autotrophs which will perform nitrification. The anaerobic heterotrophs will perform denitrification. The aerobic autotrophs are usually found on the suface layer of sand since they need oxygen and light to synthesize food. The other area around the top 1/3 of the sandbed will be colonised by aerobic heterotrophs. And as oxygen levels decrease down the sandbed, anaerobic heterotrophs will colonize there. An important point to note is that anaerobic zone actually consisted of 2 different zones. The zone that has oxygen concentrations of 0.5-2 ppm (test conducted by Sam Gamble) is named as the "anoxic" by Bob Goemans. This zone will contain facultative (bacteria that live with or without bacteria) bacteria that fully oxidize nitrate back to nitrogen gas. The other zone that has no oxygen at all will consist of anaerobic heterotrophs with only convert nitrate into ammonium which is a better fertilizer than nitrates for algae. This explains why I think that really deep sandbeds are not good as your ultimate goal is to achieve an anoxic zone. The recommended sandbed depth should be 3"-3.5" Grain size and size of refugium Normally, people try to use the smallest grain size for their sandbed. This differs between systems and I shall explain. It is good to have small grain size as it increases the surface area for bacteria to colonise. But this only applies to systems which have the skimmer output there or any other source of oxygenated water. If the area is in lowly oxygenated water, the oxygen diffusion will be limited to the upper layers. For those people who have lowly oxygenated water in their sandbeds, it is advised to use bigger grain sizes and a bigger sandbed. This will allow oxygen to diffuse deeper faster. Infauna and their importance The word "infauna" is new to many people. It actually means the fauna (animals) IN the sandbed. So why do these animals make such an importance in sandbeds? The infauna consist of mini-stars, micro-stars, worms, flatworms and a myraid of other small animals. These infauna will constantly shift the sand and their action will prevent the sandbed from reaching a completely anaerobic zone. This action also ensures that the sand does not clump together as a result of precipitation and bacterial actions. I really hope that LFS will start to bring in recharge kits consisting of these infauna that reefers can add to their sandbed. If not, these animals will come as hitchhikers on live rock. Quorum Gene Sensing This is a relatively new concept to sandbed dynamics and it involves bacteria. Quorum sensing is actually a way bacteria produce this gene that senses the population of the bacteria. The researched bacteria is the Vibiro spp. and it is found that the bacteria will produce toxins that kill human cells in high populations. It will be interesting to do research on the nitrifying bacteria and see whether they will be detrimental in high population sizes. And we could see whether we can stop the production of the Quorum gene . This comes to the end of my article and I hope readers will find this useful and I will type another article on different types of sumps next. The top information on different types of bacteria and zones are from Sand Mail, FAMA Aug 2004 by Bob Goemans

Yep, SRC is reaching 2 years old this 17 September. I suggest we go for a full day tank visiting to different reefer's tanks or to various LFS. Or we could have a big gathering where we can share information and get to know each other. Anyone has other suggestions please post it here to share

My beckett skimmer It churns out 1 full bottle of gunk per day (imagine that) Not good to state price And in par is a FR I do not have a single spot of diatom from my tank's start up till now

Maybe this is nature's way of saying "Stop taking from the seas and propagate yourself"

Hamilton. You can get those from eAN

First, may I request this thread be moved to the beginner's forum Here's my article on Sandbeds Many people have conflicting ideas on setting up a refugium, especially one with a sandbed. I have seen set ups with a DSB (Deep Sand Bed) of about 4" to 6" thick. And sadly, a lot of people think that just by putting in some sand and macroalgae, they have a working refugium. I firmly say NO. In my opinion, its important to know and understand the thing you are doing before doing it. Although sandbed dynamics are still being researched, I will provide the current information available. Bacteria and zones The main purpose of adding a sandbed is to allow bacteria to colonise on its surface. Many people think of diseases when the word "bacteria" is mentioned. The bacteria we are talking about here are those that convert certain compounds to another form. There are mainly 2 groups of bacteria, namely the aerobic and anaerobic. Aerobic refers to the presence of air and anaerobic refers to the absence of air. And the confusion comes as each group will split into 2 groups. The 2 groups are the autotrophs and heterotrophs. Autotroph meaning the organism is able to synthesize its own food from inorganic substances and heterotroph meaning an organism that cannot synthesize its own food and dependent on organic substances. Basically, there are 3 groups of bacteria we are interested in. The aerobic autotrophs, aerobic heterotrophs and anaerobic heterotrophs. The aerobic heterotrophs will break down organic substances into inorganic compounds (eg. ammonia). These inorganic compounds are then taken up by aerobic autotrophs which will perform nitrification. The anaerobic heterotrophs will perform denitrification. The aerobic autotrophs are usually found on the suface layer of sand since they need oxygen and light to synthesize food. The other area around the top 1/3 of the sandbed will be colonised by aerobic heterotrophs. And as oxygen levels decrease down the sandbed, anaerobic heterotrophs will colonize there. An important point to note is that anaerobic zone actually consisted of 2 different zones. The zone that has oxygen concentrations of 0.5-2 ppm (test conducted by Sam Gamble) is named as the "anoxic" by Bob Goemans. This zone will contain facultative (bacteria that live with or without bacteria) bacteria that fully oxidize nitrate back to nitrogen gas. The other zone that has no oxygen at all will consist of anaerobic heterotrophs with only convert nitrate into ammonium which is a better fertilizer than nitrates for algae. This explains why I think that really deep sandbeds are not good as your ultimate goal is to achieve an anoxic zone. The recommended sandbed depth should be 3"-3.5" Grain size and size of refugium Normally, people try to use the smallest grain size for their sandbed. This differs between systems and I shall explain. It is good to have small grain size as it increases the surface area for bacteria to colonise. But this only applies to systems which have the skimmer output there or any other source of oxygenated water. If the area is in lowly oxygenated water, the oxygen diffusion will be limited to the upper layers. For those people who have lowly oxygenated water in their sandbeds, it is advised to use bigger grain sizes and a bigger sandbed. This will allow oxygen to diffuse deeper faster. Infauna and their importance The word "infauna" is new to many people. It actually means the fauna (animals) in the sandbed. So why do these animals make such an importance in sandbeds? The infauna consist of mini-stars, micro-stars, worms, flatworms and a myraid of other small animals. These infauna will constantly shift the sand and their action will prevent the sandbed from reaching a completely anaerobic zone. This action also ensures that the sand does not clump together as a result of precipitation and bacterial actions. I really hope that LFS will start to bring in recharge kits consisting of these infauna that reefers can add to their sandbed. If not, these animals will come as hitchhikers on live rock. Quorum Gene Sensing This is a relatively new concept to sandbed dynamics and it involves bacteria. Quorum sensing is actually a way bacteria produce this gene that senses the population of the bacteria. The researched bacteria is the Vibiro spp. and it is found that the bacteria will produce toxins that kill human cells in high populations. It will be interesting to do research on the nitrifying bacteria and see whether they will be detrimental in high population sizes. And we could see whether we can stop the production of the Quorum gene . This comes to the end of my article and I hope readers will find this useful and I will type another article on different types of sumps next. The top information on different types of bacteria and zones are from Sand Mail, FAMA Aug 2004 by Bob Goemans