Fuzzy

lol no lah, just can't stop collecting.. Breeding Hawaiian Red Shrimp, CRS, Microrasboras Galaxy, Boraras Brigattae and Sakura (Cherry) shrimp. They cannot share tank parameters leh, so no choice, need to have their own tanks. Thinking about starting Dwarf Crayfish also, CPOs, but see how first, need to concentrate time (and $$$$) on Marine first.

I think 1 year is the maximum leh, no matter what brand, have not seen any of them recommend using for more than 12 months before for T5HO or VHO. But the light quality will start degrading after 6 - 8 months. Can maybe drag to 1 year, but if you don't mind 1yr old T5, I think your MH can keep using for 1.5yrs lol. Yeah have to calculate electrical consumption all the time for me, lol. I have 2 Computers which are running 24/7 and 3 FW tanks, 1 brackish tank (totalling 9 feet) And soon to add 1 more JBJ 28G and possibly a 2 foot crab tank

whoah, really sweet looking mushies bro, pity my tank isn't ready yet..

I also picked up a BLV but I went with the 20K, the only other option at RD was Giesseman..eek

Try calling C328, I didn't see any at Reef Depot but can give them a call and double check also.

Should be no problem bro, but the long term costs of ownership of the 4x 3ft T5HOs have always seemed unattractive. I've thought about trying T5HO for a long time on my planted FW, but chickened out and stuck with MH. You're going to be changing 4 tubes of T5H0 every 6 - 9 months, if you want to keep the lighting at its peak, and those suckers aren't cheap. Personally I would go with just 1x 250w MH for 8 hours a day (with 2 tubes of actinic if really needed or for viewing only.) And see how it goes, I reckon its enough for LPS. Or 2x 150w MH for 8 hours a day if worried about coverage. You'll only need to change MH bulbs around every 12 months and you can probably drag your actinics out for 12 months with them. Also your equipment (reflectors, ballasts etc) will be more standardized for easier maintenance / replacement. Or maybe can consider going 1x 150w, 1x 70w MH if you're concerned about heat or power consumption. Based on current electrical tariffs (which will be coming down a bit): 250W MH 8 hrs / day = $165 per year 2x 150W MH 8 hrs /day = $198 per year 4x T5HO 3ft 39W each 8 hrs / day = $102 per year Yearly tube replacement costs: 4x T5HO tubes per year (6mth replacement) = $240.00 1x 250w MH = $100 1x 150w MH = $90 If you're intending to keep your T5HOs at peak output and changing them twice a year, they are the most expensive option to run.

Congrats bro! good to hear everything worked out. Removing nitrates is the easy part! just need some elbow grease and fresh saltwater mix. Try not to change more than 50% water at once. Change 50% today, top back up to full. Then tomorrow change 50% again. There is some debate going on still about whether Treated Natural Salt Water (NSW) is a good thing to use, but I think most reefers here use a salt mix instead of NSW. The water quality is more consistent and guaranteed to be free of pollutants. You might want to consider visiting some of the more popular LFS and enquire about buying a jerry can of saltwater. Usually its about $10 for the 30L Jerry can deposit and about $15 - $20 for the saltwater, in a tank your size, buy one jerry can should be able to last 2 - 3 months of water changes. I used to buy mine from Aquamarin, but recently bought a Crystal Pro Deionization system so I can mix with tapwater at home, easier on the back those jerry cans are _heavy_. Avoid anemone in a tank this size, it will most likely end in disaster and become a tank bomb. They are really disastrous in nano tanks, especially if they die or get caught in a powerhead when wandering around can read up more on them in invertebrates forum. You can have a look at this link for suggestions on fish suitable for nano tanks, they have quite a big list. http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquariu...s.cfm?c=15+2124 Oh and also be sure to slowly acclimatize your fish to your new tank, don't just plonk them in. Floating the bag to equalize the temperature is not good enough, after doing that you need to put them in a temporary container, and slowly add water from your tank to the container over the period of 1 hour or so. Pour out some of the water they came in so there is not too much, but enough for them to be comfortable in the container for the time being, then start adding a few tablespoons of water from your tank every few minutes, until the water in the temporary container is about double what it came in, and you should be ok. If this sounds a bit tedious, you can look up the "drip method" for acclimatizing livestock.

31C is not healthy for most livestock for any period of time, not recommended to stress your pets out with high temps. Might want to try a fan and see if it can keep the water temp below 28C. Or you might want to consider moving the tank to a cooler part of the house, if installing a chiller is not an option.

Soak in hot (not boiling) water for 1 min then try again? You're supposed to change that wooden airstone every 1 - 3 months.

Bro if the ABCM buyer backs out, I'm interested in taking everything for $170.

When in doubt, with 2 bulbs of the same colour temperature, the more expensive one is usually more blue hehehe

My $0.02 as a neutral observer. You seem to have the budget and the interest to do this right! Don't rush into or commit to anything, I think you need to do a lot more research and reading first, before you decide on what to build. You should not try to rush the tank into your house with the rest of your renovation. You might seriously want to consider moving in, and getting everything situated and settled into before you get your tank set up. Yes it will be a bit messier, but you will not regret taking more time to plan and make the decision. I'd also suggest picking up a few books on marine aquariums and animal husbandry, You need to figure out what you want to keep in the tank, and how best to design a tank for that purpose. Don't rely on anyone, not even (or especially depending on how you look at it) aquarium shops to make the decisions for you! Even if they are 100% well intentioned, they will not be able to cater to what you need as well as they could if you knew what you wanted for sure. Something else you might want to consider for a tank this size, is a outside mounted compressor based chiller, that may need to be done at this stage, or you will potentially have a hot air blower in the middle of your living room. http://www.aquamarin.com.sg/productsDetail...?productid=1136 something along these lines, but it may be hard to conceal after all your renovation is done This forum is a wealth of information that I've been mining almost non-stop for the last 2 months, wish I had found it sooner.

Just a heads up to those planning to start a tank or add sand to your system. I went quite a few places today to hunt for 40lb of Black aragonite Live sand, I couldn't find a single shop selling it, or even regular coloured aragonite live sand. Coral sand some places still have in stock. There seems so be some kind of island-wide shortage of live sand (all colours and all brands at the moment.) I've visited 6 of the most popular LFS of our forumers and they are all out of stock. Most are expecting stock between "1 Month from now" to "No idea when stock will arrive" Only 1 shop (I won't name) had stock, but price was I got lucky and snagged the only remaining bag from Polyart Aquarium (Clementi Blk 328) at the usual price of under a blue note. So be sure to call ahead before you head down to your LFS looking for live sand, they most likely don't have stock. Also this thread would be more useful if any reefers could post the shops they have visited this week that still have live sand in stock.

I think his tank was freshwater. Those mineral deposits can be seriously stubborn, even a razor can't scrape it off. I've also had this problem with my 3ft FW tank, its fan cooled so topup is quite intense (30+ litres a week). So the mineral buildup is quite scary, even with bi-weekly 20% water changes. Last I tried, even undiluted 100% acetic acid (vinegar) couldn't get the water stains out, but I couldn't let it soak, as the tank was still up and running, applied waited a minute, tried scrubbing with sponge and scraping with a credit card, no luck. Going to try Rowa Ezeclean when I take the tank down next, will update when I get a chance to.

Can Try Bioplast (System and Control Engineering) very well known in freshwater circles especially for chiller repair and moss. I've seen many chillers there for servicing and repair but mostly JBJ and Teco, can give them a call and try though. They are pricey but they known what they're doing (as always get a quotation before you commit to any repairs, it may be cheaper to just buy a 2nd hand chiller here on forum.) Blk 22 Boon Keng Rd #01-23 ph:62964919 Hope this helps.

Yes because distilled water is neutral pH (7.0) so quite normal if adding water that is not buffered

might want to consider visiting AM at Jalan Kayu. For nano usually easier to just go hand pick the smaller pieces yourself. For a 9G nano the most you will need is 2 - 3kg will be less than 2 red notes.

Kelantan lane has two shops that sell O-rings almost exclusively, but I don't have their contacts on hand.

Start slow, you can get a lot of the equipment at great prices 2nd hand here on the forum. Maybe an alternative method would be to start buying the equipment you need first, then buying and setting up the tank last.

You don't have to buy bio home to fill the whole canister (yeah its $$$$ ) Can just use pieces of live rock to fill out the rest of the space. No need to use dechlorinator with distilled or DI water, thought you were topping up with treated tap water. Distilled and DeIonized water is all at pH 7 (i.e. totally neutral) but if you are using it to top up, it should not change your pH much, because the evaporated water would have raised tank pH above the ideal range already. And if you mix marine salt with Distilled or DI water for water changes, it should bring it back up to 8.2 - 8.4. I'm not familiar with your model of tank, so you'll have to take measurements and check the dimensions of skimmers online, maybe if you post some pics of the skimmer, tank and compartment in the equipment section of the forum one of the more experienced reefers might be able to help. Regular testing is good, but you might want to avoid dosing too much additives for now, especially in nano tanks. Purple Up and Marine Buffer should be ok, you shouldn't need to keep dosing Stress Zyme and you might want to hold back on the AZ-NO3 especially until you get your skimmer working properly, and just change 20% of your water every week for now. Copepod cultures I think can buy from LFS, but not sure who is carrying, the problem is you need a refugium for them to grow in, if you just put them all into the main tank the Mandarin will whack almost all within a few days in a tank this size which is good for the fish, but might not be good on the wallet, heh. I would seriously suggest to consider selling off the mandarin or giving him up for adoption to someone who has a huge mature tank full of pods for it. You could probably figure out a way to add a sump or refugium to your tank, but IMO its really not worth the effort, Save money and just stick with this tank as it is and build up confidence, then upgrade to a bigger tank with a sump later.

Maybe if you show us some pictures of what you have, and tell us what kind of budget you have to work with we can make better suggestions.

Relax! Do more reading online, research on livestock you would like to keep in the future. Go out drink a cup of kopi, grab a beer If on Day 30 your Ammonia still at 8.0 then panic stations!! Buy a new test kit and test again (get Salifert / Tropic Marin / API one). If there is still ammonia after 30 days...err not good.. Probably need to strip everything down, throw away that black gravel, buy Aragonite Sand and restart cycle.. But until then don't worry about it, and just let nature take its course.

No problem hope I can be of some help! All Canisters / Pumps anything with a motor and moving parts will contribute some amount of heat to your water, but usually not a huge amount. I suggested to avoid filter wool in the canister, as you already have mechanical filtration from the overflow, this way you shouldn't have to maintain your canister as often, because nothing to change inside. The bio-rings will trap food and waste, which will add nitrates to your tank. Biohome or live rock will not do this as much and house more of the beneficial bacteria, that is why bio rings are not recommended for marine tanks they are ok for freshwater or planted tanks, because the plants will take up the nitrates. For marine tanks usually only water changes or expensive denitrators can do this pH 8.3 is good! 7.8 is too low, the distilled water didn't increase your pH it is totally neutral, something is making your water acidic, possibly your antichlorine is sulphur based and lowering pH, if you give it a sniff you should smell it. Live sand increases the amount of biological filtration you have in your tank, basically they serve the same purpose as having biohome in your overflow compartment. Dead sand will eventually become seeded with the beneficial bacteria from your live rock, it just takes longer. Looks like you got more than 4kg of live rock, good start! Hmm if there is no air pump the skimmer is not an airstone type then, it is pump driven type, any manual on adjusting the amount of air intake? Consider the AquaC Remora, or the Tunze Nano 9002. If you notice your mandarin starts to look skinny, or the stomach area seems a bit sunken, quickly give it away to a reefer with a mature tank, or an LFS which has tons of copepods in their tanks, that will be the only way to save the poor guy. I have never seen one that eats pellets, and very rarely hear of mandarins that will eat frozen food. The mandarin needs Copepods, it cannot eat rotifers. Such a pity they are so beautiful, but I don't want to have the death of one on my hands. You shouldn't need to vacuum the gravel as long as you don't overfeed. If your biological filtration is all ok, and you don't add a lot of livestock at once or severely overfeed your fish, you should not experience any ammonia spike. Am guessing you're using the Seachem ammonia indicator? It works, but the problem is, by the time it changes colour, many of the tank inhabitants will probably already be dead, make sure you use water test kits as well, don't rely on the indicator. Best way to monitor parameters is test kits. Try to test weekly. Good brands of test kits you might want to try are Salifert or API (Tropic Marin if you're feeling more spendy). I would suggest looking at the API REEF Master Test Kit to start with. It is quite accurate and easy to use. Around a blue note for pH, Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite tests.

Bro got pics of the chiller? is it still under warranty and is the internal thermostat working fine?

Oh and what kind of lighting does your hood have? You need very strong lights to keep clams alive, at least T5 High Output tubes, and you have to situate the clams close to the lights so they can photosynthesize.