comycus

haha maybe play the lotus sutra music underwater to curb their murderous instincts! Anyway bro hellbliss got Trochus snail, according to liveaquaria, they are not so easy to kill coz of their shell shape. Maybe I should get them too. can pm where you got them from and how much bro?

ooh thanks! will remember to drain the liquid from the frozen food. I'm thinking of feeding pellets (formula 1&2) in the morning before I leave for work, coz need to save time and hassle. Night will vary between reef nutrition's Arcti-pods, hikari frozen brine, ON's frozen prime reef and spirulina, and Henry's. err... is tt overkill? I see all these variety also feel hungry le

hmmm even the dwarf red tip hermit crab? I thought it's herbivorous. Maybe litter the sandbed with empty shells so they won't disturb the snails? Would be sad if I can keep both snails and hermit crabs.

Thanks bro! Gonna start stocking up slowly as my tank conditions seem to have stabilised. Will keep your pellets in mind!

maybe can take pic? then can identify. if other bros here interested we 'co-catch'? i know bro hellbliss looking for 3 blue green too, but think he would prefer to wait at least 2-3 weeks before adding them in his tank.

bro are you refering to blue green chromis? how big are they? willing to break them up for me? I'm only looking at getting 3... small tank

Wanna find out if there is any difference in feeding fish frozen food or pellet. (ie. holding all other factors constant, compare say ON's formula 1 pellets vs. frozen) 1. Is frozen more readily accepted by fishes? 2. Does feeding frozen food have more potential to pollute the tank? 3. Is frozen food more nutritious or better in any way than pellets? I'm leaning towards a 50/50 feeding regime made up of frozen and pellets. One each per day. How does that sound like?

I agree. The build looks great and I'm sure the finishing will be first class! Really hoping to learn some tips here n maybe gather up enough courage to build one myself. So many shifu here, anyone care to accept me as disciple?

yeah we must try out best not to stock too quickly... so much temptation... looking forward to seeing pics of ure goby paired up with a pistol shrimp! so u added some snails n starfish too right?

hehe bro u also thinking of getting the blue green chromis as first fish? From the forums I've been reading, they are v. suitable for first fish after cycling. Hardy and peaceful fish, with some tolerance of higher nitrate levels. Hope bros here can comment. How many are you thinking of getting? I'm thinking of getting 3, dunno whether they will school with so few...

Beautiful! Absolutely vibrant colours you have in your tank!

true true! hahaa i stand corrected maybe I should consider getting some insulation for my tubings. Wonder if these insulation will look unsightly...

wow! bro Steven really spend alot of effort to tweak your efficiency! didn't know having sandbed helps in cooling too, makes me feel better for spending $$ on live sand! just wondering, is 6 hours of 4Xt5 light time enough for non sps tanks? Based on my research, for soft corals and LPS, recommended photo period is 8-10 hours.

Great step by step DIY in the process! will be following this thread closely

tsk tsk... next time I sell things also must use same strategy le

My parameters last weekend already 0 ammonia n nitrites. Nitrates were ard 50ppm, tt's why did 50%water change, nitrates also reduce by 50%. I thought i'm supposed to do that right? using d-d h2ocean salt... reviews looked quite good online, so decided to just take the plunge chiller still at my place, will arrange with them tmr coz i called them in the evening when they were all knocking off. hai, already take me >1hr to chill from 29 to 28, if i set to 26 will prob take half the day! lol sigh vortech not running yet... Victor says can exchange only if its in new condition, so hoping it will come in soon... sometimes I feel like some higher power trying to stop me from getting into this hobby... give me problem many many even before i put anything into the tank.

Trying to check the chiller's efficiency of everyone here... my Teco seems take forever to chill my tank. I know there are many factors not stated here like chiller power, tank size, type of lighting, number of pumps etc... But pls take the poll! at least everyone has an idea of how 'efficient' their chiller might be compared to others. Thanks!

Just checked my water parameters. Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate 25ppm Phosphate: 0.5ppm KH: 12dkh Calcium 430ppm Salinity: 1.025 ph: ph meter broke down! as of this morning, it was 8.40 Temperature: 28 deg C. hmmm how are the parameters? Think Phosphate is toxic levels right? Added 200g of SORB-4 into my skimmer, hopefully it will bring it down to more manageable levels. Should I do another 50% water change? I already did a 50% last weekend. Super tiring! My big bucket of salt is depleting so quickly, n salt isn't v. cheap. So is my cycling finally ending soon? I am thinking of adding 3 blue green chromis and maybe some snails this weekend.

Reason I chose Teco was coz of its slow recommended flow rate. min. 400L/hr, AM recommends 500-1000L/hr. I'm quite sure even after media, flow rate should still be fast enough for the chiller. Actually have quite a few issues with the chiller. Called up the service center today, and they are offering to send someone down to either check if my settings are off or do a 1 for 1 exchange. What a breeze compared to my Vortech! Will ask them how the flow indicator thing works too.

yeah tt's always the case for me too! The 50mm f1.8 usually is a favourite amongst us amateurs who don't need that extra 2/3 stops. Extremely good value for money! think its just alittle over $100. I was thinking... has anyone tried using the Raynox dcr-250 mounted on a 50mm prime for shooting corals? If it works, that would be great! I think Mcgill brings them in. Can check out their website for more details. I have to agree with iskay that when taking photos of kids, you probably want a fast zoom lens because they run around all the time. I know iskay prefers Sigma, an excellent alternative is the Tamron 17-50mm f2.8. Again, alot of reviews out there to educate us, and testing the lens personally is v. impt, especially for 3rd party lens. QC normally is not as good.

lol after so much research, i am convinced that having sump tank is good. Pls dun flame me, but can I say that 1) aesthetically I prefer the look of a canister in my cabinet, coz its more tidy, no water splashing here n there 2) kinda like my side panel with skimmer, salinity monitor, thermometer, ph reader (its not as messy as it sounds ) 3) super obstinate and wish to prove to myself and others that sump or no sump, the reef tank can still look nice, and function well 4) hehe the most impt factor is I already bought the deltec 600 for my previous setup... so kinda limited by it

oh dear... well, then no reason not to turn this into a full reef tank Looking forward to seeing more beauties!

*patiently waits for pics...*

So onto my equipment list: Lights: Hopar 4x39w, Aquablue special, Blueplus, True Actinic 1xHydor moonlight aquacolour Skimmer: Deltec MCE600 with SORB-4 Chiller: Teco TR15 Wavemaker: Vortech MP20 (lotsa problems with this... hope to solve it soon) Canister: Eheim 2075 with 1kg Biohome and PUR-II Live sand: 60lbs Caribsea Ocean direct. Mixture of grade 0 and 1 Live rocks: ~140+lbs of huge live rocks from a friendly reefer Firing up the skimmer for the first time. Deltec rocks! Just cleaned up the goo from 3 days worth of skimmate... it is absolutely disgusting (n I haven't even added any LS! *shudders*). Forgot to take pics of the skimmate, was too turned off by the smell to run for my camera to snap some shots lol My current headache... got the MP20 at a great discount at Irwana. To my dismay, the main wire was frayed, and the serial numbers of the controller, instruction manual and packing box doesn't match!!! It's already 4 weeks of waiting, and still no word on replacement. To Victor's credit, he has been v. patient and accomodating to me. I just wish the replacement unit comes soon! Have emailed Ecotech Marine and Ecotech Marine Asia to complain about the delays. I don't know if anyone has any experience with them, but in my opinion, their customer service/after sales support is a joke. Mailboxes are constantly full, and head office seems to be sleeping. Really quite disappointed in Vortech... Bro [d]3v|L: Since there are no obvious markings on the flow indicator, to my primitive knowledge, firing my eheim on at full blast of ~1250L/hr, the blade spins relatively fast. Will update again on my chiller as I'm doing some 'tests' on it now

Thanks bro reef999! gonna get my epoxy tmr, hopefully securing it will be easy for a clumsy person... haha