albinosage

Ah okay...... Then your system should be quite clean and stable, such a low bioload, no wonder no need skimmer haha.

Very nice additions bro, must have cost you a small fortune. Just noticed something from your last two FTS....... Your tank no fish one ah? I thought you had a couple of clowns?

NTUC house brand water is the most economical so far, $1.25 for 3 bottles, after discount, or $5 per carton of 18 litres. If I'm not wrong, this is cheaper than buying the large 19 litre barreld s of water for water cooler, which is around $6.50 each.

The first record I ever bought was Bad, on cassette tape. I think it is safe to say that in this age of Mileys, Britneys and Jonas brothers, we will never witness an artiste as talented and universally popular like MJ. Like a black hole, he is a star that got so massive that it collapsed under its own weight. May the King of Pop rest in peace

Wow, 10 cartons? That's 120kg! If I recall correctly, your office is very near a supermarket right? Your boss never complain about your water taking up space?

Actually I can't remember what glue I use leh, been a loooong time since I worked on acrylic I seen people recommending no.4 online though..

Lazy and impatient mah hahahaha. Should have bought an acrylic tube instead I know, cos it was a full 2 months before I even use the cup

The OLFA cutter works like a glass cutter. You score a deep line with a metal ruler as guide then snap it off, can easily score through 50% depth for 3mm acrylic, but 5mm acrylic may have uneven edge after snapping off, depends on your skills. 90 degree measurments I usually just find some squarish object lying around haha. As for the density of the sand block, you referring to the sanding belt of the dremel I use? I have quite a lot of different grit sanding bits.

Olfa cutter should be available at Homefix, around $10 or so, can't remember how much exactly. Dremel is quite expensive at homefix, about $150 to $220 depending on whether you want to buy corded or wireless. Only the bigger branches carry the full range.

Olfa acrylic cutter for fast clean lines: Dremel mini tool kit for sanding, polishing, drilling etc: As for gluing, I never had any luck with it, only done small scale work, never anything that's required to hold water

In response to original article CEOs Without College Degrees #9. Bill Gates 6 Inspiring Rags to Riches Stories (That Are Bullshit) Everyone likes a good "rags to riches" story. After all, if some dude can go from living in a cardboard box to being the CEO of a major corporation, we can do it too! Unfortunately, it doesn't take a lot of digging into most of these stories to find out they've been, well, inflated a bit. And sometimes, they're complete bullshit. #6. Bill Gates The Rags to Riches Story: Bill was a college dropout who finessed his way into the upper echelons of IBM to sell his operating system. Now he sleeps on a bed made of solid gold. According to the media, Bill Gates is the Rocky Balboa of the business world. They've compared him to other college dropouts; from Kanye West to some guy who runs the IT Department at Bradley College. Gates proved that if you're smart and willing to work hard, you can build an empire! And you don't even have to go to college! Yay! Why it's a Load of Crap: First of all, the college Gates left was Harvard, not the community college that most of the people who cite his story are thinking of leaving. He entered Harvard by scoring 1590 out of 1600 on his SAT--the man was, and still is, a genetically mutated genius. But one with the type of parents who could afford Harvard. In fact, Gates's parents have a lot to do with his success, and even why he was able to drop out of school. At a very young age, Bill was staying up all night experimenting with computer programming. Keep in mind, this was the late 60s and early 70s, so having access to a computer was like having access to a helicopter. He gained incredible amounts of experience because his upper class parents were able to enroll him in an exclusive prep school that had a computer available. This was only possible because Bill's father was a prominent attorney, and his mother's side of the family wasn't exactly poor either. Full article from cracked.com here

Bravo on your DIY skills, you put MacGuyver to shame haha! This is truely impressive, your entire system is practically scratch built. I'll be watching this thread to see what else you are gonna wow us with ps. Your cycling was faster than normal because of the live sand, the parameters are alright now.

Hi, welcome to sg in advance. Here's two existing threads that may interest you: Map of LFS in Singapore, with address and phone number GPS Coordinates of LFS in Singapore Those are not exactly up to date, as far as I know, Jir3h and Aquamarin Tanjong Katong have shifted location. Also note that the LFS are mostly in suburban areas, some literally at opposing ends of the island. If time is short, two locations worth visiting are Lim Chu Kang and Pasir Ris Farmway as mentioned by angelfishlover. There are small clusters of farms/wholesalers there.

You are too sensitive lah, I've never gotten any stares when I buy large quantities of distilled water, except from people who are whacking many bottles too. If you want to talk about stares and strange looks, you should see the looks I got when I walked past a meet the MP session at my void deck a few months back, carrying a jerry can sloshing with "suspicious" looking liquid. LOL!

I buy by the carton, easier to carry in a box than in plastic bags haha. Sometimes I will order in bulk from NTUC together with groceries and get them to deliver, only $5 to $8 extra. For NSW, I use a collapsible jerry can, those used for camping. Can fold and keep in my bag when not in use.

The water parameters will depend on where the farm get their water from and how fresh it is, cos organisms may die off during transport or storage. Here's a repost of Thexder's findings from another thread on water from CF:

Yup, I also got red slime and diatoms only after switching to salt mix, had no problems with NSW. In fact, my nutrient levels were more easily managed with NSW, the nitrifying process seemed to be better — my tank then was skimmerless and had a higher bio-load, filtration was purely biological. With salt mix, my nitrates climbed very quickly even though I had less fish and fed half the amount. I think in a nano tank, it is easier to observe and elimate the external factors that affect nutrient levels Gonna slowly switch back to NSW now..

I believe all farms sell NSW. Reborn is the only LFS I know that sells fresh sea water, Aquastar too, but when you see the quality of the livestock swimming inside the same tanks holding the water, you will think twice about buying water from them haha.

I didn't really test for anything else, but NTUC water contains 2ppm of NO3, which is similar to fresh NSW which is usually between 2 to 5ppm. Considering that your hand will touch the water when mixing, all the minerals from your hand like sweat and dead cells will dissolve in the water too, adding more nutrients — pure water is a very powerful solvent

Looks yummy...

Girlfriend get married to who?! Just kidding

There is no way to completely eliminate heat from pumps, just imagine how many revolutions per minute the motor got to spin to move such huge volumes of water. That is sure to create friction between the motor parts which will create heat. Since the pump is in constant contact with water, heat will definitely be transferred to the volume of water. There are pumps that do claim to reduce the heat generated, like Rio pumps which are magnetic driven, so there is less friction, but I don't think the difference is that significant. To manage the temperature without a chiller, you can use a fan as many have suggested, but a fan can only help so much (weather damn hot these days ah...). You can also help by providing more ventilation, if the pump is located in the sump, in a cabinet, you can leave the doors open or blow a fan directly into the cabinet. Oh, and don't bother with the ice pack... for a 3ft tank, I don't think it will reduce the temperature for more than 30 minutes

NSW contains minute traces of ALL the known minerals and elements in the world. This cannot be replicated 100% by the best salt mix in the market, not to mention the beneficial bacteria, plankton, micro organisms. Salt mix is practically sterile, so depending on how you look at it, it can be either a good (parasite and disease free, can keep indefinitely compared to NSW which needs aeration if you need to store for more than a day) or bad thing (lack of bacteria, micro organisms that are beneficial to the reef). The essential elements for colour and growth are also pumped up to optimised levels. NSW is logically the best option, what else provides the best natural environment for corals and marine fishes than... their natural environment. The problem is, most, if not all of the NSW sold locally is from surrounding waters which we all know is far from pollution free. I know that NSW bought from the same LFS can contain differing levels of NO3 and PO4 from week to week It all comes down to cost and preference in the end. A good salt mix is several times more expensive than NSW, litre for litre. But NSW is hard to transport and store if your water change routine requires large quantities of it. I personally find that my nutrient levels are more stable when I use NSW. I only started getting algae issues after using salt mix. The NO3 level in my tank climbed to 25ppm, when it was previously 5 to 10ppm. It was maintained with 100% NSW previously, but I decided to change to salt mix for a while cos I liked how freshly mixed salt water is crystal clear and shimmers more hahaha

I totally agree. Need to put warning label: Caution! May induce nosebleed.

I like to find materials for DIY from the weirdest sources. Oh okay, I know liao. Anyway, I think all china brand skimmers are like that haha, my Boyu skimmer also, break in for 2 weeks, then produce almost clear skim mate, might as well don't use.