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....OK think i better not put any more pics here, wait get thrown out by AT, heheh.... 1. Anyways, can anyone enlighten me wat's causing my high Nitrates? (I see red on the Sera Test kit result, and i dont even bother to narrow it down to exact numbers, sigh...) Btw, the NO3 seems to have risen after i removed bio balls from one compartment of my overflow and replaced it with sand (as advised by a guy from Redsea Balestier)!!! I still have bio balls in another compartment, so wat gives? I even removed the balls slowly over a week... 2. Wat effects do high nitrates over a long period of time have on corals? 3. Are those NO3 reducing solutions sold in LFS effective against controlling NO3? 4. How come my green 'bubble' occasionally spits brown and white slime out from its 'mouth'? Esp when i change water... THANX IN ADVANCE

Sorry if this page too picture intensive, but got another one, hope u guys can teach me abt...looks like a bubble coral, but slightly different leh?

Q: This is an Orange Finger issit? I think they need supply of food and are non-photosynthetic rite? (got clues from a previous thread here...) They tend to collapse and rise frequently...wats up?

Q: Wat is this? Issit a Polyp colony? A sea mat? Wat care does it require? Bought this cheap at Havelock Road LFS

Hello gang, this is my first month into reef keeping, and luckily not much casualties as yet (except one bullied damsel and 4 snails)... Seems to be doing ok for now, but the usual NO3 problem exists, even though i have a skimmer, change water every week (10%) and have a mini DSB in my overflow compartment... Q: Anyone knows why the NO3 is so high yet the corals are fine? Here's my tank:

Well, i'm quite fazed out at the moment, cause the algae are all going haywire (good ones dying, bad ones growing like crazy), YET my corals are all doing fine and dandy!!! Bubble, Hammer, Finger, Anemone, Polyps... All thats bad abt my water is the dreaded Nitrate, which is quite high...

Me having trouble with all sortsa macroalgae too, the purple and green grape, and the 'banana' type dat sticks individually from rocks...seems that they always turn transparent and then become empty shells within a week or two! Even worse, my green grape algae started to grow these 'antenna' or root-like stuff pointing upwards...wah sad sia... Only kinda algae i DONT have any problems with are those pesky hair algae and diatoms...SH*T!

"Live rocks: US $20 per kilo - Stony coral 10cm: US $150/200 -Surgeon fish 5/6cm:US $80/90 " WAH!!!! Maybe we shld put up a website for those italians and offer our frags for sale?!?!?! Or we can buy here and ship to them piece by piece hahah!!! SURE RICH...

I dont know whether to laugh or cry when i read yr reply, DERF... Dono which silly idiot came up with such a confusing concept in the first place! Worst of all, there are ZERO instructions abt how to get the reading down to exact numbers, only dat stupid scale there... PLS, ANYONE? HELP US!!!

WELL SAID, Barra!!! Down with CAPITALISM! heheh

ZeroCool; me using all out attack against those damn 'brownies' - Raising my PH to optimum level, Using Phosguard, Using RO water for water changes, and 3 hermits who have scraped much of the liverock for the stuff (guess i got lucky to have algae-eaters)... I dont see much being done yet, but keeping my fingers crossed, hope to see results soon... U trying any measures dude? BTW, can anyone answer my previous query regdg the test kits? --> Me using Sera NO3 tester too, and to be honest, I HATE IT! So inaccurate; i always get the yellow color (unless the water is REAL BAD), and why so troublesome, have to use distilled water? Can RO water be used? --- And if i test 20ml of tank water alone, and the result is in the yellow color zone, it means that the water has 0mg/L? Or do I have to use another approach (mixed tank and distilled) to get the reading down to a specific amt? How do u get ppm anyways? Issit equal to ?mg/L... Me so confused by the test kit, unlike Aquamedic sets, which use color changes after certain no. of drops to calculate the KH... Pls teach me, o' mighty pros...

Me using Sera NO3 tester too, and to be honest, I HATE IT! So inaccurate; i always get the yellow color (unless the water is REAL BAD), and why so troublesome, have to use distilled water? Can RO water be used? --- And if i test 20ml of tank water alone, and the result is in the yellow color zone, it means that the water has 0mg/L? Or do I have to use another approach (mixed tank and distilled) to get the reading down to a specific amt? How do u get ppm anyways? Issit equal to ?mg/L... Me so confused by the test kit, unlike Aquamedic sets, which use color changes after certain no. of drops to calculate the KH... Pls teach me, o' mighty pros...

I have the same problem too, 3 snails have died, and i thot it was the acclimatisation (maybe i rushed), so now testing again with anither 3. My water tests turn out fine - negligible NO3... funny thing is, 3 hermits i bot 2 days ago are doing fine now. The snails seem to be stoned out once i put them in...they dont move an inch!

.....MAN, this is sooooo IRONIC!!! My tank is full of brown dino, and yet I just discovered one green(so cute! looks as if someone painted it with a brush!) pod darting in the overflow compartment...Arent these guys 'good water' indicators? Wat the hell is happening to my water!?!?!?!

Hmm, one question abt normal household used products tho...do they leech or contain any harmful stuff which would affect the corals in the long run? I guess we really dont know for sure, so is it advisable to trade a few dollars for whatever the risks? I, for one, do support the use of un-aquatic yet practical tools (using a japanese brand cooking bag for smoothing out micro-bubbles from my skimmer; cost me just $2), cause i think brand name and 'specialisation' is the manufacturer's excuse to charge more for simple objects!!!

Wow! My previously mentioned drinking-water filter really is deadly! The protein skimmer output dropped tremendously when I replaced 10% of my tank water (had to turn up the water inflow way up), and the SG of the water from this unit was really difficult to catch! I guess cause it's very pure; i'd keep adding salt, then correcting with water, adding salt, adding water... Much more different than using plain tap water! Hope it'll help with my dino problem, sigh...

WOW! This post becoming a health thread! heheh...Actually, I HAVE one of those filters dat u talking abt, Liverock (or at least something similar...)Brand Multi-pure, has met several NSF standards, and has been giving my whole family good, clear water for years...the muck i remove every few months from the system is out of this world - if only they could clean or replace those water pipes into our homes once in awhile! But u know, when it comes to spending $$...sigh... Hmm, until i lay my hands on an aquatic RO or DI unit, guess i'll make do with this power filter. Only problem is the water flow...rather slow cause the water goes thru 2 large filtration media (highly porous carbon, etc stuff i think)

WHERE TO GET THESE 03 TUBES?

Hey, i'm going the same way as u...RO or DI unit! I feel it's better to eliminate or minimise the causes right from the start (water), instead of using filtration or liquids to remove them later, when they are already in the tank... Btw, where did u get yr DI unit, and how much? Is it good? Wat diff is it from RO?

Hope this thread is still alive...anyways, i just got one Philips "Actinic" 18W from Pasir Ris Fish farm, but I'm wondering if it is REALLY an actinic... It costs just $24, just like Loonz described. But why the big difference between pricing compared to Coralife? The tube is TLD model, and it's written as "Blue" on the tube itself. To be honest, I'm all blurred out here!!! Is this a real Actinic? Wat makes a real Actinic? Where can I find true Actinic 03 tubes?

Hmmm, sounds like true RO units are expensive! I searched the net and the brand AquaFX seems to be very popular...think plus shipping will cost well over a few hundred each...Then how come Petmart quoting $75 for an american brand (i cant recall wat it was), single cartridge unit? Issit one of those "fibrous filter" that Stenopus Hispidus was describing above? Sea Life sells DI units made by themselves, and its also $75 a piece. Which is better? An RO or DI? Wats the difference? Btw, ROBE, is the JBL good value? How many cartridges does it have? Man, if i cant lay my hands on a decent one here, guess I'll have to resort to the NET...

Hi guys, anyone using Reverse Osmosis units now? Where can i get one? Wat brand is better? How much will it cost approximately? Asked Petmart and they say no stock for now... I hope this thingy will help solve my water problems better...

I've just tested the water for NO2 and NO3, but zilch! Now all i know how to do is to change water, change water...

SIGH, there's more....there are tons of worm or individual-fur like stuff on my tank walls! Wat are these!?!?! They dont seem to be moving, but they can sway in the current...HELP!!!

This is the first rock to have the stuff popping out initially; it's under the strongest light, so i guess it was the perfect catalyst? I observed the stuff, and it's not sticky or floating like someone described b4 in another thread, and i can scratch it off with my fingers... Wat the hell is this stuff? My mushrooms and a bubble seem to be fine, and nothing has died in the tank (in fact, more stuff have been popping out from the rocks after i put the lights in!) HELP....