albinosage

Eh bro, I thought you reservist? AWOL to go buy fish ah? JK.. You're very committed to reefing man, precious weekend also go back office to tend to tank, LOL!

Salinity go up cos of evaporation, you must top up the difference with enough fresh water (distilled) to maintain the salinity.

Paper cuts occur more frequently because of brittle skin on dry hands, and most of us have dry hands cos of prolonged exposure to salt water. It's best to frequently moisturise your hands to prevent papercuts

Who? Me?? I only use up 1/2 teaspoon nia! Don't saboh me leh, later everyone bomb my PM hahahaha. I think there is 15% discount for orders above a certain amount, and 50% off shipping for orders above USD$200 or something like that. I don't mind ordering in future if there is enough interest, but it is the collection that's the problem.

Hey bro amby, why you don't want to keep this thread??? Don't be shy lah keep this thread alive, I think it is a visual treat.

Hi Mark, the product is the one in the first post: http://www.iherb.com/ProductDetails.aspx?p...293197697039798 I ordered a small bulk from iherb to maximise the savings and shared with some bros here

Yeah sure, just PM me when your reservist ends. By the way, I'm not endorsing the vitamin c, just posting my observations as it is and let everyone judge for themselves. If my first trial with the vitamin c had failed, I would consume it myself anyway hahaha.

I didn't expect any immediate results so I didn't take pics, but the "before" state of the zoa was not much better than the pic I posted, not an exaggeration, cos I didn't change water or tinkle with the tank at all besides moving that piece of zoa further back cos a snail pushed him around. The main difference I noticed was not the better colours, but the skirts around the polyps were opening up symmetrically in a perfect circle, previously, they were all lopped sided and of irregular shapes. I don't know how to explain, but basically a couple hours after dosing, they all closed up 100% as if lights were off, then one by one over a few hours, they opened slightly to vomit small blobs of black goo, before blooming 100% again with better colours. I can't say it was the vitamin c for sure, it could be a perfect coincidence resulting from something else, but my finger is pointed at the most obvious "culprit". I hope this means I will have better luck with zoas from now on

There you go: The single polyp that is not opened is in the final process of vomiting out the black stuff. I couldn't get the lighting to match exactly even though I shot at the same settings and white balance, probably it's cos they were shot at different times of the day. But you'd get the rough idea from the pics

Will take pics tonight if there's time! Update tomorrow morning

Backside itchy, so I bought a bigger nanocube lor hahaha! Was using a 12 gallon at home, bought a 24 gallon recently

Yah I guess it was detoxing itself. But it's really unbelievable how fast it reacted and how it suddenly colours-up to a level I've not seen for the last 5 weeks, all within one day. Not complaining though. Will continue dosing it to see how the rest turn out.

DOH! Forgot that it was a nano tank

Actually, there is no difference between using market prawn or damsel fish to cycle a tank, as mentioned much earlier, the purpose of this is to introduce decaying organisms to set off the ANN cycle. The only difference is of course, the excitement of having live fishes swimming around in a new fish tank. I understand most people who are starting this hobby would want to see instant results by having some life form in the tank. It is that "shiok" factor of visually seeing something inside, after spending so much on the set up already - as opposed to switching on the pump for weeks in an empty tank. That said, you would have to consider if you are in this hobby for the long term or is it just a passing phase. You would be tempted to buy other nicer fishes once the tank is cycled and would have to consider what you are going to do with the damsels after your tank is cycled, because damsels are extremely territorial and aggressive, and hard to catch once you have set up your rock scape. Do get yourself a set of test kit, at the bare minimum if you don't want to spend so much in the beginning, get the NO2 test kit, if read properly, this can indicate the completion of the cycling. If NO2 peaks and then disappears to zero, the cycle is most probably complete. Not a perfect solution and definitely not recommended, but better than nothing at all. Contrary to what you believe, what we have advised is actually the most basic knowledge, and is not something done exclusively by senior or experienced reefers. Although I have helped my friend maintain his tank for more than a year, I'm considered new to reefing myself, having owned my tank for 3 months, and the information I have were all gathered when I started researching 2 months before buying my tank. Never had any livestock die at my hands, besides some corals that were unhealthy when bought. Good luck with your new tank, and do read up more if this is not a passing phase.

According to the numbers in your table, I must have severely OD-ed! Hahaha. But still, everything has been normal so far. Maybe will dose another pinch of vitamin c in a day or two.

I started the vitamin C yesterday, hoping to get better growth and colours for my zoas which are not doing well, looking pale. Very skeptical at first, but since I'm gonna decom my current tank soon, I thought "just whack lah, anything go wrong can start all over in the new tank" Started by introducing a small amount, about 1/2 teaspoon, of vitamin C into the IOS compartment of my nanocube, 2 or 3 hours later, i was HORRIFIED to see 2 polyps of my eagle eye from the Irwana US zoa shipment produce a thick black goo from the mouth. It is not the usual brown strands of zooxanthellae, but thick black blobs. The few hours that follows, more polyps vomited the same black stuff. THEN..... .... .... . . . At night, just before the lights went out, I checked on the zoas, and despite a couple of polyps still vomiting, the rest of them suddenly bloomed with at least 100% better colours than they were in the afternoon before the vitamin C! I will get some "after" photos to back up my claims tonight or tomorrow, but here's the "before" photo taken 2 weeks ago: The green skirts were faded and the pink centre looked "dirty", and a few polyps were closed or dropped off due to zoa pox. The colour of the zoas last night was bright green on skirt with bright pink centre, all polyps opening evenly. I didn't change water since that photo was taken and water parameters were similar, except that it was pouring yesterday afternoon and the temperature dipped sharply. The vitamin C and miracle cure for colours could be a coincidence, but still, the simplest explanation is the best explanation for me

Doesn't look like an isopod to me too, the part that's supposedly the legs are too fat and chunky. Looks like a bone or growth of some sort protruding from under the skin to me. Best for bro MbmC to observe it closer, shouldn't be a problem cos I see that somebody is using D200 with 200mm lens

Try live brine shrimp a.k.a sea monkeys, dunno if it's the same as what bro skyrunner recommended, but it is sold in some fish farms at $2 a pack. AM Jalan Kayu sells it too, not on display, but you gotta ask for it. One $2 pack can last 4 days to a week if kept refrigerated (not frozen).

Wow Lemon, sharp eyes! I thought it was a grain of sand too, cos my mandarin always gets sand all over herself.

What's done is done already, so let's not be too harsh on threadstarter too, since he has the humility to admit his impatience and for lack of a better word, "mistake". As said by bros earlier, it is indeed disappointing that you've gone ahead and done exactly what we told you not to do. But I believe we have all been there, and we all know how exciting it feels to start a new tank and succumb to temptations to introduce fish to an empty tank. Regarding your current situation, it is not entirely a "mistake" or a wrong way to cycle, just as we have pointed out earlier, it is regarded as a cruel practice. A complete ANN cycle can still be done if this is the path you've chosen. From this point, you would have to feed them daily as you would normally, but you cannot change the water, no matter how polluted it becomes, because that would prolong the cycling period, or cause your tank to be unstable in future (read up on new tank syndrome, this is the point where newbies usually post on the forum asking why their fish keep dying). You can only do a water change once ammonia and nitrite peaks and disappears to zero, and nitrate (NO3) appears, that is when you know that the cycle is complete.

You should have your test kits on hand because you need to chart the rise and fall of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Watch ammonia rise and peak then fall as nitrite rise, then peak and fall... It is a long and boring process, but you need to know that the ammonia and nitrite has maxed out before falling naturally, that is how you gauge if the bacteria population has grown large enough for the volume of the tank. In my opinion, adding bacteria or whatever quick start system is unreliable, a waste of money. It is beneficial, yes, but doesn't speed up the cycling process significantly. Let's say you're hungry, you take a gastric pill to neutralise your stomach acid, then the hunger pangs are gone - but does that mean you are already full and don't need to eat the meal anymore? If ammonia and nitrite doesn't hit its peak -- because of water change, adding chemical filters, etc -- it will give you an illusion of low ammonia or nitrite. They may not be present, but the essential bacteria that consumes them may also not be present. Please take everything the LFS says with a pinch of salt, why would they want to misinform customers about the nitrifying cycle being 5 days to a week? Surely after being in business for so long, such mainstream knowledge should be the most basic we would expect them to have right? My theory is that they want to strike while your interest is still hot. An excited newbie returning within a week is sure to spend more on buying livestock, as opposed to 4 weeks later when he could have lost the enthusiasm, researched more or realised that you don't need to buy so much rubbish, or discover other interesting LFSs. Annnnd..... if your nitrifying cycle is incomplete, they can tell you that your equipment is lousy, sell you more chemicals, equipment. And of course can sell more livestock when they die from ammonia and nitrite poisoning or whatever parasites But, of course there are many reputable LFS who are honest and knowledgeable in sg, a simple search here will turn up quite a few recommendations and testimonials from fellow reefers. To cut the long story short: Cycle for at least 4 weeks! LOL

Eh bro you forgot to include me ah? I didn't know it arrive already, if not would have asked you to bring just now

Yeah, it turns red when it starts decomposing. I think it is safe to remove once you cannot stand the smell, or you can test for ammonia to see if it is present.

And most of these are nuisance crabs, gorilla or stone crabs, not reef safe. They will disturb your corals at night

Not enough for you, but I keeping nanocube nia, no need so much, 450 grams is a lot leh. Anyway, vitamin C kept for prolonged periods after opening will lose its effectiveness. Cannot buy too many to stock up too. Not just for this product, but for all vitamins. Once opened, it reacts with air, so it's best to store in air tight container away from light