kira76

Guess it's up to the individual fire shrimp. Cos my fire shrimp alway snatch food from corals, fishes and whoever that have food. They even try to clean my hand when I was doing maintenance.

Me also just used. changed to PO4x4 over the weekend. What I prefer this over rowapro is that this one no need to rinse. And it requires much less flow than rowapro.

Ya, I'm hoping to get some tinker butterfly in HK. Told my wife I wanna buy the fish back from HK and she say I'm crazy. Any idea how much a tinker is selling in HK?

Pity, such a nice butterfly. Am interested in a reef safe butterfly fish. Wonder if I can get tinker from HK? Am going during x'mas.

When we say head lost, it refer to the height of the outlet and the extra energy that the pump needs to overcome the gravity pull to push the water to that height. In this case, my concern is that the compact 3000, though gives a faster flow rate, but with the height of your outlet, might not provide faster flow. I remember that there's a website that let you calculate your actual flow rate based on you total distance of pipe, no. of bends and difference in height between pump and outlet. 5 to 7 times flow rate I think is what usually ppl recommend. I'm sure a lot of us actually reached 10 times flow rate. Though I must say this is the first time I'm hearing about synchronizing flow rate with skimmer efficiency. and when you say combine flow rate, does this mean that ur chiller outlet goes straight back into your main tank? Or back to sump? Actually, as compare to flow rate, it depends on what you're keeping. I'm keeping SPS on my 3ft that's why I'm using 1264. But seriously speaking, even with a 1264 return pump alone, I find that the outlet of the return pump is only okie. Not really that strong. As for flow rate through chiller, it depends on what type of chiller you're using. As long as it's within manufacturer's recommendation, it's okie.

Hmmm, is Chaetodon selene consider reef safe? Since it belongs to the same family as Tinker's.

Sorry. But why use Ehiem 1260 for pump to chiller while using the compact 3000 for return pump? Cos the compatible version have lesser head than the universal version (aka 12xx series) For me, same tank size, but I using 1264 for return pump and compact 2000 to chiller. Btw, welcome and happy reefing.

I've 2 crocea (3inch) and a maxima (1.5inch) in my 3'x2'x2. My current lighting is 6 tube T5HO (4 tube blue plus n 2 tube blue special). Hope this helps.

Thanks for interest. All peppermint shrimp sold.

Post some pics. Taken from my iPad. Sorry for the blur pics. Don't know why but their tail looks black.

No. The external temp controller is set to on the chiller when the tank temp reaches 26 degree and off when it hits 25 degrees. So the temp fluctuation in the tank is only 1 degrees.

Hahaha, chiller temp set at 20degrees. External temp controller set at desired temp of 25degree. This is so that when external controller activated, it will on the power of the chiller. Once tank temp reach 25degrees again, the external temp will off the chiller.

Flow rate affects the contact time of the water in your chiller. There's 2 school of thoughts. Some say faster flow rates better cos more water gets through your chiller. Some say slower flow rate better cos then the water will have enough contact time to chill down. Personally, I say both are true, as long as your flow rate is within the manufacture's recommended flow rate. I personally am using a slightly faster flow rate as my temp controller is external, thus I do not depend on the chiller's temp controller to determine when to on/off. There's a reason to this. As the chiller temp controller only reads the temp in the chiller, it will off the chiller once the temp in the chiller reached the set temp. When I use an external temp controller, the ext controller off the chiller once the temp in the tank reached the set temp. See the difference?

Ehiem!

Yes, pm or SMS me your e-mail. I e-mail you the pics to confirm. Stupid iPad doesn't allow me to upload the pics using safari.......

Upzzz, contact me for pic. I don't know how to upload picture from iPad.

1/3 n 1/4 HP usually refers to the power of the chiller. Of cos the bigger the no. the more powerful the chiller is, and shorter time taken to chill down your tank, that is, if we consider everything else as the same. Of cos, other then chiller power, the pump flow rate and placement of inlet n outlet also plays a part.

I think for FR wise, it depends on what you put inside. I heard from ppl that FR with biopellets needs to have the return popped back to the skimmer to skim off the excess nutrients. As for the return compartment running dry, I think shouldn't be a problem as long as your down pipe is big enough because, what pumps up to the main tank = overflow down to sump. Thus, the flow rate up to main tank is the same as flow rate down to sump as long as the pipping allows for it. If drainage pipping undersize, then main tank will overflow as ur pumps will draw water up to main tank faster then the return piping allows for the overflow to drain down to sump.

You took the words right out of my mouths. Well said.

I got my chiller for $400 plus. Am using the 1/4 HP chiller from hailea for my 3 x 2 x 2 ft tank with sump. I realize the problem with my hailea chillers is that the inbuilt temperature probe tends to be inaccurate thus, I've DIY an external temperature controller. You might want to consider this if you're getting a hailea chillers. my chiller have been wit me for about 7 months. Heard that it needs servicing but am not sure how long then need to service once.

Okie. Who knows how to upload pic from iPad? Been trying but can't seem to do it.

I'm very sure it's peppermint shrimp. Did a bit of researched and found out that indeed not all peppermint shrimp are reef safe. After all, when all the aiptasial are gone, why wouldn't the peppermint shrimp eat corals which are somewhere similar to aiptasia.

But hor, if only one crab, will the eggs hatch?

Yes, water will come out of the small drilled hole but it's insignificant. Where u drill the hole will be where the water level be when u off the return pump. I don't think vortech will work like wave box. Even without a wave box, I think vortech can create huge wave.

1st n 2nd pics, you might wanna consider just drilling a hole on the return pipe just below ur water level to break the siphon. Cos I've the check valve that CFOh show in all my tanks and realize that they usually don't work. I use the drill hole method but still install those valve cos I kiasu. Btw, why you wanna built wave box for Vortec MP pumps? If want wave box, might as well get the tunze wave box. Since cost wise about the same as vortech.