Morgan

Hi loonz I would not mind to help but he must bring his skimmer along. Call me.

Well said robe. There always no guarantee that you have a good coloured acros in the tank. Too many variables to consider.

It is coraline alright. Does it cover your LR or just the overflow box? They grow best where the current is moderately strong even when the calcium/alkalinity and nitrate is not ideal.

Hahahaha Any colours will be better than brown in my tank even it is shit green.

Are you sure it's coraline algae and not macro algae. What are the colours of your algae?

Hi Phang Lighting is 1 of the factor affecting the colours of sps. Yes it will colour back over time. Not too sure the brown will change but new growth will. I think this also affect other species as well.

Hi wedgee There is no way that the head will grow back. Under good condition, the remaining heads will split and grow at a relative fast rate. Mine grow from 2 heads to 6 heads in 5 mths.

6' tank is total different from a 3' tank. The parameter are more stable cos of the volume. You can afford to make small mistake. On the hand, if some thing goes wrong with a 3' then everything might also die too.

AT I think flourescent colour spray paint is the cheapest way to go. If they fade, just give it another coat. Phang Is your acro under MH lighting? Is it a wild colony? If it is a frag from someone tank, then the colour will come back pretty quick. If it is a wild colony, then who knows when they will decide to colour up. I bought a blue tip sometime back and it has turn to dark shit brown. I am still waiting for it to colour up. <_<

The corals from LFS are collected from the sea. Most come from Indonesia. Whether they "pluck" from reserves, no one knows. Your guess is as good as mine. There are no "farm" corals locally available.

Not really. That is why certain sps coloured up under 10/20KK lighting and turns brown under 6.5KK. There are many factor affecting the colours. BTW do you acros and what's the colours?

Combination of both. Deeper water and shallow water species have different requirement.

Hi Phang Base on my limited experience, for acros to colour up 1 Lighting Intensity and colour. Wrong lighting will cause the acros to turn brown. 2 The acros must also be the type that have colours (blue, red, green) in the 1st place. If you have a green acros, chances of it turning blue is very slim. They normally turn brown when 1st introduced, and later (depend on the tank enviroment) it will colour up. 3 Nutrient in the water. Too much and the acros will stay brown cos of the algae in the tissue. Acros are found in nutrient poor water.

It is not effective. You will never lower your tank the temp cos you can't cool the water of the pool cold enough.

Have you consider the amount of water you are going to waste for every 1L of RO/DI water you get?

NO

PCK What do you mean the water mass is big? What is your tank size? As long as there is a reading for nitrite, it is not save to add fish. Corals cannot tolerate nitrite. They will die. You have no choice but to wait till your tank is cycled.

ep4546 Could you resize and repost the pic.

What is your temp fluctuation every day? Between 29C and .................. BTW this time of the year, it raining season so the water temp is lower, When the middle of the year comes around you'll see your temp soar...........

[d]3v|L There is no corals that can tahan high temp. <_< Monitor your temp, if it hit 34C you will see the coral melt before your eyes. Adding ice is only temporary measure and not practical. It is diffcuilt to maintain hard corals for long if your temp is around 30C constant. BTW corals require a very stable enviroment and plenty of light for photosynthesis.

No you do not require CO2. This will drive the ph of the water down which is not good. Macro/Micro algae gets their requirement from the water.

I think that keeping it alive for 6 months only is a waste of money. The life span for these fishes is definately longer than 6 months.

I do not think there are culture corals in Indonesia. Most are harvest from the sea. I read somewhere that there is a quota on how much and what spieces they can harvest and export. Unless you are buying in large qty, I do not think the exporters will entertain. Best bet is to place orders thru LFS, but you must buy it good or bad.

Phang, You mean to buy from the States? I do not think that they will survive the 3 days or more shipping time.

You can get alot of information from the net and it is free. Just don't rush into it. Cycling a tank takes time. For small tank it can be a disaster with live stock. Sorry for your loss.