samuel88

that's a great idea, i'll try it out.

thanks for the encouragement, right now i drip my freshwater right ontop of the wave maker to make sure it mixes well. maybe when i'm feelng braver i'll stop using a drip system and pour it over my wave maker slowly instead.

well, i would love to, but erm, i'm not really working yet so i can't afford the RO/DI unit.

yeah i only dechlorinate, i doubt its me not using distilled or RO water cause my tank has been using this source of water for 6 months without any incident, it was only when i poured in the water in a hurry that it happened. so i can only conclude that its probably pouring in too much water too quickly i guess, but thanks for all the help. i really appreciate it, i've learnt quite a bit.

i feel so confused because every one seems to just dump in water into the aquarium be it a water change or freshwater top off and be fine, but when i do it something bad happens. :S and i know its definitely not my water that's contaminated cause the fish have been living in it for 6 months.

so.... correct me if my conclusion is wrong, but i'm thinking cause most of you guys pour your distilled water in the IOS the water gets mixed up well before it gets into the display tank so there is no adverse effect on the nitrifying bacterias? has anyone tried to dump freshwater right over a piece of live rock in their display tank? cause that's what i did and i ended up with a bacterial bloom and lost quite a bit.

do you guys put any biofilter media in your IOS? cause if you pour freshwater right over it, won't it do some damage to the beneficial bacteria? or do you use the IOS mainly for chemical filtration?

yea i do dechlorinate with seachem prime. i don't have IOS, so i dumped it straight in the main tank, think i shuda added it slowly over the wave maker. right now i do the top offs with a drip system, so shud be ok, if i use drip system still got this problem that means my water got something wrong. been doing it for 3 weeks already so far still ok. thanks for all the advice.

i'd like to ask if any of you have nano tanks 15 gallons or less, without a sump or auto top off system. how do you replace water lost to evaporation? in my 15 gallon tank i used to take a 1 litre cup of freshwater and usually i empty it slowly into the tank, but one day when i was in a rush i just emptied it in a few seconds into the tank. within 24 hours my tank had massive bacterial bloom that would wipe out my entire tank. i'm thinking that the freshwater washed over the live rocks with beneficial bacteria and caused a huge die off? but anyway after that incident i now use a airline tubing to slowly drip my freshwater into my tank, i also bought more live rocks for more biological filtration. i just want to confirm if my assumption is correct and what do people with nano tanks without sumps and auto top off systems go about with their top offs?

hi guys, i have a question regarding filter systems in tanks. i've read from lots of books and internet articles that you can run a fish tank with ample live rock, live sand, lots of water movement and a good protein skimmer. (its called the berlin method?) but i'm a lil confused cause i hardly see anyone using this form of filtration, its always used with wet/dry filters, canister filters, sumps, etc etc. and alot of people say its not enough. so my question is, if so many books and article say that the berlin method works, why do people still have to use so much more equipment?

perhaps the reason he keeps one FOWLR and one reef tank is because not all fishes are reef safe, compatability issues i guess. and i don't think he put his two tanks close enough to connect them with a pipe, i wouldn't put 2 300 to 400 gallon fish tanks in the same room. anyone here with a clam tank has any opinions on this? do clams improve water quality since they are filter feeders?

the reef tank didn't just have clams, he had quite a amazing array of SPSes as well. it looked pretty impressive. the tank with clams was a display tank as well. and well according to the author, the nitrates dropped straight to zero in a few days. regarding the calcium and stuff, he did use calcium reactors and kalkwasser. but if it really does work i think it really does save alot of water and salt. i guess using macro algae to filter water is good as well. but i'm not sure if they'd be nice in a display tank like the clams are.

this isn't really a question but just to share some info that i read recently. i read this book, i forgot what it was called (the captive reef? or something like that) but in it, the owner had a FOWLR 400 gallon and a reef 300 gallon tank. in his reef tank he had almost no fishes and had around 30 clams (more or less i forgot) so he said that clams take in absorb dissolved organics and nitrates so in a way clams filter the tank water. and what he did was, every one or two weeks he would take water from his FOWLR to put into his reef tank, and his reef tank water into his FOWLR tank. it's a win-win situation cause the reef tank needs some nutrient rich water which the FOWLR provides, and the FOWLR needs clean water which the reef tank provides (via the clams which absorb the nutrients and maybe other corals that require nutrient rich waters) so in this way he saves alot on salt and water at the same time. has anyone here ever tried this, and do you think it works?

i've never had luck finding any at LFSes, does anyone have and reefsafe hermies for sale? or any LFS to recommend that brings them in often? preferably west side. looking for small ones that won't topple your rocks all the time.

if you dump freshwater into the sump won't it kill some of the beneficial bacterias?

thanks for the advice.

if lets say, i have a 15 gallon tank, which is about 55 litres, and i dump in 3 litres of freshwater directly into the tank (not the sump) where all the corals and fishes are displayed, would it be bad enough to cause the bacterias and little organisms in the tank to die and cause the tank to become cloudy?

do you just dump the whole bucket of freshwater directly into the tank? or do you add it in bit by bit?

wow, i hope i get to have a tank in my workplace next time.

just use something that covers your hands, its not just for keeping bacteria from your hand to the tank, but also from any harmful saltwater lifeforms, like bristle worms, certain corals that can cause skin irritation etc, etc.

i go to golden octopus for corals, they ALWAYS have corals in stock. and it seems that you can always find whatever coral you're looking for there, their frogspawn, bubble, torch, candy cane, acropora, etc etc. there's always stock, and the owner is friendly too. marine life hobbielist at west coast always brings in only the rare stuff, so its a good place and the owner is knowledgeable and friendly. another alternative is the sell off/pasar malam section in this forum where you can occasionally find other reefers selling off corals, and they're pretty rare too most of the corals, and in a way its also better for the environment because rather than taking another coral from the ocean, you're taking it from someone else.

i use gloves, and i usually wash it with running tap water. i'm a little scared of using soap cause i'm afraid if i don't wash the soap off completely it'll get in the tank.

typically how many weeks does it take for a SPS frag, for example montipora to encrust their base?

i use trochus snails (i think they are) as well as nassa snails, they'll crawl all over my sand bed keeping it clean. sometimes i stir up the areas that look a little dirty as well.

thanks for the input guys, i saw some videos on youtube when ppl were feeding their frogfish, and occasionally i would see a hermit crab running around in the back ground so i just wanted to confirm they wouldn't eat em. can't imagine what would happen if a frogfish swallowed an urchin, ouch.