porc

hi all, i've just bought a cleaner shrimp and have just set up a drip to add tank water into the bag to acclimatize it. i know that these shrimps are sensitive creatures, so how long should i stretch out the acclimatization process. being kiasu, my drip rate is super slow now, abt a drip every 15 secs. don't think the water will even double by tomorrow morning... but acclimatize too long the water will foul up too in the small bag that it came in. so what's your advice? cheers...

Bro Chinmo, narrow-line puffer spotted at pasir ris. seems to be quite common recently. never saw it before few months back. dunno what's the name of the farm but it's at the lot back-to-back with pacific marine. the one with a few marine stores. think it's the one with the last shipment of clams (right at the back quite open-air one)... http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSum...name=manilensis and some small cute porcupine puffers at pacific marine. but condition don't look too good... the porc puffers at T95 better...

LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of clams at pacific marine pasir ris... Sorry dunno what kind (maybe some other bro can help) but I was literally awed by the 2 fibreglass tubs full of clams... guess there must have been more than 200-300 clams in all...

support arcanehacker and astrobol. mods may have acted too fast in this case...

well if you want to send them mail then i cannot help. But if you want directions here are some guides... You already know it's at seletar west farmway 1. It's location is almost towards the end of the road as you go in, think it's the 2nd last or 3rd last gate on the left side. There's a wooden signboard written T95. There's also some public works (sewage system, i think) going on currently opposite on the right side. As you walk/drive in through the gates, you will always see some "Dennerle" vans (aquatic plant brand) parked along the driveway. They are sometimes parked outside along the roads too. Go on all the way in and the tanks are on the left.

Hi, You're into puffers? Me too... before I started on reef few months back... But now I still have my favourite porc puffer (and hence my id), green spotted puffers (initially freshwater but converted to full marine), a humpback puffer (also called dragon puffer locally or T.palembangensis - freshwater) and Redtailed redeye puffer (C. irrubesco - freshwater). Used to have more but lost some to a massive ich outbreak... anyway don't know of any local puffer forums. but here are some international ones... 1) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pufferfish/ (has some local members lurking and appearing now and then but the main contributors are from USA) 2) http://puffer.proboards2.com/index.cgi#puffer 3) http://www.aquatiqterrors.com/forums/index.php (on all types of aggressive fishes. has a segment on puffers) btw, since you posted here in the general reefkeeping section, note that puffers are not reef safe. mine are FOWBT (fish only with bare tank) Cheers, porc

or get one of those tubiflex worm feeders and cut/saw off the cone part and voila! food ring... more pro looking too... or can just buy if you don't want to make... I know clementi florist sells...

bro melvin, you make great diy stuff!!! cheers, porc

Hi bro melvin, Remember the law of conservation of mass we learnt in school. The system in this case is the water in the main tank. What goes in must come out. If your return flowrate is high, and if you say you can adjust your output flowrate by the height of the output to the extent that the output can be minimum/no flow... then where would the rest of the water go to? the main tank would overflow... Your analysis is only partly true. the water flow rate can be affected by the level difference between input and output, but in this case it is only true in the static case (when everything is frozen at a point in time and analysed). What we have here is a dynamic system, which has yet to equilibrate. There's much more to explain but in short, at equilibrium the output flowrate WILL adjust and be equal to the input flowrate. case example: 2 identical water tanks at the top of 2 identical HDB blocks serving 1 flat per block. the first flat is on the 6th floor and the second on the 9th floor. assume that both tanks are being topped up at a constant flowrate (say 100 l/hr). yes it's true that the initial water flowrate (when you just turn on the tap) will be higher on the 6th floor as compared to the 9th floor, but the systems here are not in equilibrium yet. Let's say your initial flowrate on the 6th floor is 200l/hr and 150 l/hr on the 9th floor. since the inputs to both tanks are less then the outputs, both tank levels will start to fall (at different rates). as the level falls the flowrates in both flats will also fall to less than 200 l/hr and less than 150 l/hr respectively due to the reduced pressure difference. Still the system is not in equilibrium. The equilibrium is only reached when both tanks are empty and the 100l/hr pumped into each tank flows down to the respective taps almost immediately. At this time both taps will only give 100l/hr max, irrespective of what level they are on... P.S. no offence bro. i'm not intentionally trying to rebutt you point after point. I enjoy a lively debate. both of us are quite adamant that we are correct. Actually I'm hoping for more others to join in... Any physicists, fluid dynamicists, mechanical or chemical engineers out there care to comment?? Cheers, porc

Hi Melvin, i don't think this statement is correct. flowrate is not determined by the height of the output. It depends on the return pump flowrate. the more water you pump back into your tank, the higher the flowrate of the overflow device. Cheers...

hi everyone, seems like many people are interested in ths product... just want to remind you all to think through your system setups to make sure that it is fail-proof. A previous thread, http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=12434 reminded me that I need to ensure that my overflow pipe is clogfree, otherwise my main tank level will rise while the auto-topup keeps releasing water to keep the sump level constant. Then when you shut down the system for maintenance there will be too much water and the system will overflow. however you won't have this problem if you are not using a sump and are directly topping up into the main tank...

great job... you've incorporated a surface skimmer too. well done! have you thought of shifting your output further up? your input must be all the way into the bottom of the surface skimmer outer tube right? I would worry about the siphon breaking when the return pump fails, cause the water level inside the outer tube will fall all the way down to the level of output (near the bottom). and being so close to the input, it might suck sume air in too and break the siphon... and by the way what is the size of your pipe and how high flowrates can it handle? cheers...

besides victron (guess they're close on weekends since no one answer phone), where can I get mh bulbs today? Which aquarium shops sell at reasonable price? I'm just looking for a simple cheap 10k 150W DE...

hi charlie, I assume that you understand my very first diagram. blue is where water is and white is where air is... then imagine this. take it first that i am correct that water level is at L2 when the return pump is off. when the return pump is turned on, water is pumped into the main tank and the water level will rise to L3. the additional height of water (L3-L2) in the main tank will push the water to overflow down the pipe. this should cause the main tank level to drop to L2, but don't forget that water is still pumping in, so the tank level remains at L3 and whatever amount of water pumped in will push the same amount to overflow down the pipe. So when the pump stops again, because of the water height difference (L3-L2), water will still continue to overflow but because no more water pumped into the tank, the level will drop until L2, then there is no water level difference and flow will stop. I hope you understand, I don't know how else to explain. As for the "durso" pipe, it's the circled portion below. I'm no expert. read it from the forum too. but do visit this site http://www.DursoStandpipes.com. Hope it helps. Cheers, porc

double deionized water and double distilled water is being used in biological labs to achieve a certain level of purity of water, as called for by certain experimental protocols. not rocket science but definitely has rocket science uses...

the main reason for the opening is to break the siphon in the second bend so that it won't be a continuous siphon all the way down to the sump. Simulating for example a power failure, with the opening when the return pump fails the water level will only drop from L1 (water level during operation) to L2 and the siphon around the first bend is still maintained and ready for immediate operation once return pump is restored. (Note: I forgot to take into account the (L1-L2) difference in my original measurements that's why I had to further lower the "durso" part during installation to lower the main tank levels.) without the opening, the siphon may be continuous all the way down to your sump and when the return pump fails your main tank will empty all the way down to L3 and the siphon will also break and your sump might overflow. then when your return pump is restored without the siphon being re-established your main tank may overflow... double disaster... unless you leave a lot of empty space in your main and sump... from what I read in this forum, based on the "durso" design, the opening can also be used to control and lessen the gurgling noise of the overflow. You can still hear the water flowing for my case cause I've not attempted to tune it. I'm satisfied with my noise levels currently.

I guess adding a cup-like piece to the intake part would work, but sizing it to accomodate your flowrate may be difficult as you may end up ###### in air... I don't intend to upgrade yet... happy with what I have now... wait till my fingers itchy again

"it" costs too much... For those who requested me to help you make, why don't you try it yourself. It's easy... no electrical hazard to worry about... here's the parts list. All 35mm diameter PVC. 1) L-shape elbow X5 = $0.70x5 2) T-joint X1 = $1.20x1 3) End-cap(optional) = $1.50x1 3) straight pipe X2ft = $0.90x2 4) PVC glue = $2.20x1 5) more straight pipe and elbows depending on where you want to route it to Total cost = $10.20++ save lots of $$$

actually it's a very simple design. I'm sure others would have thought of it too. I'm just happy that it works and just costs me $10+. Only thing now is that it doesn't surface skim, but that can be incorporated too... Cheers...

final picture... the pipe leading to my sump/refugium...

the overflow in action... notice that i had to lower the "durso" portion of the overflow (as compared to earlier pictures), otherwise the water level would be too high for my liking. I'd want to leave space in the main tank just in case the siphon breaks...

bottom view...

another view...

to make it more compact the pipes are connected as shown below...

Hi, I came up with this design and thought i'd try it out. Best of all, it's cheap and effective... sketch of design