SubzeroLT

Finally got down to update the Alkatronic firmware (4.0.2) & calibrated the 3 pumps. Took out the ATS (that was straddling over the bio media section). Don't really need it at the moment. Can finally gain access to the bio media for rinsing & top up. Feeding the rock flower anemone Fed Blue ricordea. Willing for trade for patterns/colors which I don't have.

Very impressed with your coral stock! Very nice Look forward to more pics

Nice! More pics of your euphyllia corals please

I think a bottle is around $32 or around there. Bought some time ago and it lasts a very long time. Madpetz & ReefmarketSG carries it. Probably available at other LFS too.

During quarantine, AT was fed with a mix of Ocean Nutrition Formula 1 & 2. And always enriched with Selcon to boost the nutritional value. As mentioned on BRS website : Selcon is a vitamin supplement for marine fish and invertebrates. Use to help maintain a healthy reef system, protect against disease and assist in boosting nutrition for breeding tanks. Combine with freeze-dried or frozen foods or feed to brine shrimp to enhance the nutritional value. Contains Omega-3 Fatty Acids, Vitamin C and B12 Will NOT alter water chemistry More reef pics : Hate these vermetid snails. Popping up everywhere & killing stuff. This one killed several heads of duncan The 2 halves of the split sea cucumber started moving (eating & shitting) about 2 weeks ago. Interestingly, they remained in one spot for almost 2 months.

Used a DIY isolation box with a fairly large door. I think the trick is the food for luring fishes into the trap. Best is dried seaweed tied to a rock. Fishes tend to linger around longer in prep to nip on seaweed.

Thanks. Its really hard to say which is 'more effective'. Don't think anyone has done a quantitative experiment on this. Roller mat/fleece filters filter very effectively & quickly winds the clogged media out of the water. So that's very strong plus point versus filter wool/sock. Protein skimmers effectiveness is very subjective. There are many brands/designs with various pump power. Nevertheless, its a very critical equipment for mechanical filtration.

Its probably necessary to 'displace' the existing territorial fishes before adding new ones. Just sharing this video in a hope that more reefers have a better shot at keeping ATs alive. Its such a pity to hear so many dying in the initial phase. Having said that, its still very uncertain how my AT will do. There are 2 models of the Clarisea fleece system. Maybe the smaller one may fit or place it in the skimmer compartment & feed it with a pump. The filter wool section can be used to place bio media.

Lovely!!

I think that the Apex pods are a worthwhile purchase. Though $38 seems quite steep, its actually very dense.. Possibly denser than 6-8 packs of the the $5 bags combined. And Apex pods (Apocyclops panamensis) are known to be easy & multiply well in a reef tank. Its perfectly alright to pour the contents into your tank directly. Do temperature & water acclimatize.

This is the MP10 wavemaker profile for the QT. The AT seems to do better with strong flow since. Then slow speed at night to allow it to rest.

Several reefers asked me via whatsapp to share more about the Clarisea fleece usage. One key concern folks have is how fast its consumed which ultimately affects running cost. Some reefers say the fleece last 3wks to a month. That's possibly because they push too much water through the unit, causing water to rise prematurely & roll to advance too fast. I had this issue initially but realized its not necessary to do this especially if you have a high flow rate system (I'm running 2x Vectra M1). I opened up the bypass valve on the Clarisea to let more water pass through. Now the fleece is consumed less quickly & looks 'darker' in color => fleece is fully saturated & not advanced prematurely. Currently NO3 is running around 2ppm which is right where I'd like it to be. Opening up the bypass has absolutely no effect to worsen water quality. Pic below shows 1 week usage. Added a small Achilles Tang recently. Its clear that ATs must be quarantined to ensure survival. It took a week in a 'quiet' isolated tank for it to eat comfortably. Dumping it into the display tank on day 1 & be stressed by other fishes will very likely end up with stress & ich. I added display tank water & bio media into the QT early on. As there were other large tangs in the display tank, the introduction process had to be threaded carefully. Once the AT is deemed resilient enough, I added the most aggressive yellow tang (and 2x larger) into the QT to stress it out & for them to make peace. If they were to get hurt or ich appears, at least its still in the QT. Fingers crossed it survives. A short clip of the journey

Just rescape. Make it 'different' & improved. Everyone goes through that phase

I'd put the marine pure blocks in a bucket of your old tank water. Pour in some bacteria product. Run a small pump (eg 600l/hr type) & cycle it externally. You can 'feed' the bacteria with skimmate or fish food. After a few weeks, the marine pure blocks would be ready for use.

Maintenance weekend. 1) Changed Clarisea roller fleece. The last roll lasted 6wks 2) Replaced Rowaphos (every 2 months routine). This small amount has been running in a BRS reactor for 2 months. Did a quick measurement. 21ppb phosphorous = 0.06ppm phosphate. Still quite OK numbers but its time to change the rowa anyway. At this rate, this tub of rowa can last quite long. Don't let it dry out as it'll be damaged & render the absorption capacity useless. One thing I do is to place a small tub of wet sponge in the tub to humidify the container. 3) Topped up the kalk reactor (every 2 months routine) 4) Send water for ICP testing

Nice! Thanks for sharing

You can try to siphon it carefully & minimize stirring up the detritus. You can put a filter sock in front of the return pipe for a while after siphoning to catch excessive stuff from getting back to the display tank. Personally i siphon it occasionally. But only the accessible areas. I find its good to siphon it out instead of just letting it decompose in the tank.

I'm in the process of QT a tang as well. Very similar set up as what you have. Temp goes up to about 29-30DegC. How 'clean' is the bio media you are using? Do you think it has parasites in it that is being passed on? Or is it 'new' media recycled after a successful QT cycle? About water parameters, do you have an ATO to ensure parameters like pH & salinity remain as stable as possible since you are using a fan? Worst case is to purchase those small chillers (about $200+)

The 1/4HP rating is just for the compressor. You need to factor in power needed to run the fans & electronics. So, using the 400W number is correct in your calculations - that is the real power usage. Real Power (P) for AC circuits = Current (I) x (Voltage) x Power factor (pf) Old reference on Artica chillers. Its about the same. 1/10 hp = 225W 1/5 hp = 360W 1/4 hp = 430W 1/2 hp = 600W Also, for the cost calculations, factor in only the time the chiller is on. And the on time for day is different for night. Assume 400W chiller and on a total of 4.5hrs a day (based on chill 40min + 3hr off for each cycle). It'll come to roughly about $0.43 a day or $13.20 a month based on 23.65 cents per kWh tariff.

I understand the Vectra L1 issue has been resolved. So no concerns about it anymore. Vectra pumps push a lot of flow. Personally I'm using 2x Vectra M1 for my 5ft tank. Each running around 40% power. And also an S1 for the various reactors. The feed mode feature is also very good to have to slow the pump down so that no food goes into the overflow during feeding times.

Pressure gauge shows zero? Perhaps the gauge is spoilt (happened to mine before). Madpetz sells replacement parts. The sediment filter (the yellowish one shown in your pic) will get yellow/brown after some months of use - it is normal. Personally i change the sediment filter & 2 carbon blocks as a set once a year as part of regular maintenance. Some folks stretch it to 2yrs. It really depends on usage (tank size). The RO membrane is not easily removed. Need to use pliers, so i'd suggest not taking it out. Change the RO membrane if the 'clean water' output slows down a lot or if the TDS after RO membrane is very high. For reference, TDS is about 5 after my RO membrane (before DI resin).

Another option is Pinnacle Aquatics. Usually have a big selection of fishes. About 800m from Tampines MRT. Their facebook page is up to date on shipments : https://www.facebook.com/Pinnacleaq/

Interesting indeed. I just read they can grow to 15".

Can enter. I would suggest to be accompanied by Auntie or a staff. Just ask them. Most of the containers are covered which means its hard to identify/see in the dark room. There have been folks who entered on their own & lifted the containers out of the water or shine bright torch light in an attempt to see the fishes. Not good for already stressed fishes. So best to be accompanied to prevent misunderstanding.

You may be detecting the nitrites from the dead prawn (if its still in the tank). Can probably remove it by now. Then cycle for another week. 3-4 weeks total should be sufficient based on what you have described. BTW, very nice rockscape you have there