jquek

Thanks bro! I am using Caribsea live sand. Can't remember now, but I believe I mixed the Arag Alive Bihimi Pink with the Ocean Direct original grade.

After receiving some aquascaping advice, here's after a minor rescape after removing some live rocks I long wanted to remove: I like the more open feeling to the tank: Got this from ML today, lets hope it stays put: Finally able to get a nicer shot of this after the rescape:

Added a few sps frags recently. Here is a recent FTS and some closeups:

Thanks! Just experimenting with making a movie. Glad you like it.

Beautiful AT bro!

Awesome frags, Cedric. Polyps all opened already in my tank!

Beautiful! Love your scaping.

Thanks bro! Tank is rather bare though ... Did it for the fun of it.

My 2nd attempt posting a video and 1st attempt making a movie: http://youtu.be/P93zNf4n-NI

Time for an overdue update. Lots of things had happened in the past two months. Started with an algae (all types of algae but mainly VERY stubborn hair algae) outbreak. In fact, the algae was there since the tank started but I guess I didn't manage to keep the spread under control. Following that, SPS started to STN. I figured it was probably due to the unmanageable nutrients. I thought the fish would be alright, but unfortunately an introduction of a new fish started an ICH outbreak. And I was travelling quite a bit in March so felt rather helpless when I hear that the fishes were slowly succumbing to the parasite and dying. It was a sad time. The ICH wiped out almost all the fish in a couple of weeks and I was left with three survivors. All the SPS were gone (being inexperience with SPS, I wasn't sure how to further prevent them from STN anyway). Surprisingly, most LPS survived the episode. The only thing that grew all this while was a Kenya tree coral that was introduced as a 10 cent coin hitch hiker. It grew to a tree as can be seen in the top left side of the tank below. Not about to give up, I decided to stop any new fish introduction (its been a month now - still left with 3 fish). Meanwhile, using this opportunity to step up my maintenance - water changes, keeping my sump clean, changing out filter socks more frequently, cleaning up my FRs, etc. And lastly, swapping out the existing live rocks with new ones from CF in batches since those hair algae, which almost completely covered the rocks (in fact, I think they looked nice if it was a planted tank) are not showing any signs of receding despite my constant plucking. A theory is that the algae growth was due to the live rocks leaching out stuff since they were from my old tank that had been neglected for years before I started this tank. Shouldn't have used back those rocks - at least not without boiling them and killing everything. At last, things are looking up again. I am happy with the new rocks, new scape. Started collecting some frags again. No new fish for now. Water parameters had never been better since I changed the rocks - NO3 = 0; PO4 = 0; Ca = 410; Alk = 9.5. Nevertheless, most important lesson learnt: PATIENCE! Anyway, here are some current pics of the tank: Current FTS This survivor is growing bigger - afraid it will cause problems when adding new fish later A purplish tip Acropora sp. Green Mille Candy cane Fungia Tubinaria and pink Gornio Lobo?

Thanks for the very nice frags and nice to meet you! Upz for the rest of your sales.

Truly inspirational!

Saw many in cf last weekend.

Just want to share some experience I had with PO4 test kits. Did a comparison and Salifert shows 0 mg/l, Elos shows 0 or 0.024 mg/l (its hard to tell but I thought its closer to zero), and DD (always) shows 0.08 mg/l. Just to be sure the DD test kit is not faulty, I just got myself the refill and it still shows 0.08 mg/l. Wonder if anyone ever tested < 0.08 with a DD PO4 test kit (by the way, their reference solution is conveniently at 0.08 mg/l)? Conclusion: Salifert and Elos are consistent, so it's 2 against 1.

Waiting for your comeback, bro!

Thanks bro! Still battling an algae problem at the moment.

Sorry forgot to update. Tank was sold. Now want to clear live rocks.

Remaining live rock to give away. See pics above for reference. Interested please contact my brother, Gerald at 98428103.

Short video update (first time posting video) of Lyretail Hawkfish bought from ML's shipment from EcoAquarium PNG. nice and healthy fish.

Using DD NO3 test kit. Didn't compare with others yet.

Here's the color strip of the DD PO4 test kit.

I think the color difference is more distinct. Will try to get a picture of the color strip tonight. Yup. Understand that algae is not cause by PO4 alone. My NO3 is <1 ppm last time I checked (still working on bringing it down further) and I am preforming water change / top up using DI water. Because I am using live rock from a previously neglected tank (kinda regret this), I suspect that the rocks are leaching stuff out and the algae is feeding on it. I am using LED light (which I read can cause algae growth) ... not sure if the spectrum is optimal ... but I guess I will wait and see. Telling myself that hopefully, the algae will slowly recede since its only a 3 month old tank.

For my current tank, I started out using D&D test kit and keep getting 0.08 - 0.16 ppm regardless of what I do. I bought a salifert test kit and it is always transparent without a tinge of blue (0 ppm), but algae is still growing like crazy. I don't know what to believe anymore.

Oh ok. I think this photo was darken. The parts that are jet black have some shading due to the rockworks and coral placements but its not as dark as in this photo. I am actually not 100% happy with the current lighting setup as its not really sufficient to cover 2.5' by 2.5'.

Hmmm ... can't deny that there may be some shadow areas in the tank but did you mean that the photos look dark? They seem to look ok on my monitors though.