madmac

'I need more information...', What you need to ask yourself first is, how can I meet the energy requirements of the SPS I have, and specifically using light only. From a biological standpoint, FuEL is absolutely right about using jus about any lighting, irrespective of brand, .... so long as you can meet their requirements, they will grow. Generally speaking, a lower colour temperature will result in faster growth, while a higher temp will bring out different shades of colour. There are ways to determine if they have receive enough, too little or too much light, alot of it is only after you get started, and not before. The difficulty in answering a question like this is, we don't know what type of SPS you have in the first place and what your intention is, besides a new SPS tank. All this is assuming you have what it takes to keep them alive for more than a short period of time.

The sand tunnels/holes are good. They allow for natural aeration under the rocks and prevent dead spots from forming. Pistols are very vigilant in cleanliness, and will keep those tunnels clean for you. If you still wanna remove it, look for a clear acrylic tube, like the ones given for holding souvenir pens, put a bait within and place in the one of the tunnels, then wait for it to enter before removing the tube.

I'll take the dosing pump, thnx.

Thats called a sump. Thats called a return pump. Not sure if you already have one, a device to test for salinity levels will come in useful later. The chiller and add a few more pumps for better flow.... even for a fish only tank, it really looks to static for comfort. The rest will fall in place in time. The skimmer is fine... for the current moment... with better flow, you'll be able to get more 'tank turnover' thru the skimmer, so get more flow in tank first before considering a bigger skimmer. Long term though, and if your serious enough, then IMHO (pls I say this will all humility), and if I were you, I'll work-on your hubby and his self-defeating attitude, you'll be able to achieve more that way. This hobby sure has a good way of teaching egoistic and impatient ppl how to go on... oh... no enough live rocks, save the money for the chiller and more flow pls

Clownfish, nailed it... thats what you need to do... you should be able to access it from your mac, with the URL he specified. You shouldn't need to configure it to accept your Mac's IP addy. Your mac will 'latched-on' to it automatically. Jus make sure you have the password ready when it is asked. Remember to check the box which says, "store password in the keychain", that way you'll never need to rekey-in that crazily long password again. As for the mac... enjoy,... theres no turning back to windoze... j/k only...

Nice piece. SPS don't feed on phypto. Phyptoplanton is "plant-life". They prefer tiny 'meaty' animals, like zooplankton.

I think Scarab also runs 3*250 W MHs and some T5s for his 3.5 feet tank, and he has great results to show. So I'd go for that. I think 2x250W would be the minimum to consider. When will this be coming?... See your new baby would be on the way soon too, all the best.

Agree with Firestream, thats what I was told to improve bubble count from the guy I bought from. Is there a way you could remove the elbows, and connect the pump directly to the Mazzei?

Gary, those are some awesome looking pics! Must be great to view them live, thru your own eyes. Love to see them in person some day.

Hi, anyone interested in a frag exchange meet. I'm looking for SPS frags, in exchange for SPS frags. I'll be trimming most of the bigger pieces shown in the pics below. My tank is small and colonies take lots of space. Venue: Changi Beach, Car Park No. 6 Time: 2:45 pm to 4.00 pm Pls bring your own containers/plastic bags and sea-water. I won't provide any. I'll be taking the kids for a beach outing, so bring yours if you like. There's no obligation for exchange if interested parties don't like what you see. Exchange is strictly on mutual consent. Pls note, if any exchange takes place, don't hold me accountable for disease or loss of LS, that may pass to your tank as a result of the exchange. Do your own QT on the new pieces obtain. Pls put you names here if you like to go... at least we'll know if no one else is going. Thnx and have a happy and restful Labour Day.

Thats a nice piece.! Yes agree with RP, about the high random flow and mid to high light. It may be a good idea to acclimatize the fella to high light. The piece I have is a different type from yours and and for the first few weeks, it started by browning out and the tips got light burned, before getting better. Yours look so fine and delicate, so be careful. Sometimes they encrust, sometimes they don't. But once secured, they grow much better. What are you providing for it? besides the tunze mini..

Yes very beautiful.! They all look so happy there. Great testimony of your dedication and husbandry skills. Still very interested in a tank view... if possible.

Colin, whoops sorry.... yes that is my sump. Lionel, the pump comes with rubber suction cups. I stick that to the bare glass below. If you touch the pump, you can feel it vibrating, but its very quiet.

Like a canister filter? There will be head loss and the pressure won't make the 2011 effective. I'm using a Eheim 1200 l/h plugged directly into the venturi inlet, i.e. no head loss. Even with that I feel the 2011 needs a stronger one. It looks like this:

I think one of the great points about BB is the control it affords you. Its almost as if you are fully in-charge of the system. You could keep SPS, softies, or LPS if you wanted to. The control mechanisms you employ would be good flow, design, in such a way that what goes to sump goes thru the skimmer. The skimmer skims wet. Very little else is needed, of course not withholding what the corals themselves take out, those need to be replenished. So carbonates and Ca, and even Mg sometimes. What corals don't need you don't need to worry, as waste is removed before it can be broken down to nutrients. This theory holds in practice. The bad part it there is no nutrient buffer/store. So your system tells it as it is... it doesn't lie. Slack for some and you'll immediate be informed. Some find this bad others ok, it depends.

RG, many thnx! The normal sun coral is pretty hard to feed, I tend to leave it alone. The dendro is alot easier to feed. I jus drop fish food and those that the fish miss out on, drops directly on the open polyps. The red stylo has purple polyps, incredible considering that this was what it looked like :

Hey thnx LinkinPark, Do you know, it was after seeing yours that I wanted to have a red lobo. I remembered you had it for a long time now, it was the first thing that I saw in your tank pic, always stood out. I'm glad yours is still doing great. That red piece is starting to split and have 3 little babies now. I'm intending to prepare for fragging it soon.

Thnx Cool. Ive recently acquired some things for experimenting. A set of ATI tubes to replace the Aquaz 20000k and 10000k when they wear out, and l also bought a Mazzei venturi to hook up the weipro with it, not sure if it'll work, but I'm hoping for... hehe don't know what to hope for actually, things are looking ok so far. I have had a recent issue with some STN at the base of some SPS, and I discovered that the magnetic cleaner could well be the culprit. The inner magnet(the one in the water) was exposed, as the rough was only held to the ###### magnets by glue. The magnets were not enclosed! There were 'rust' stains at the sides of the casing... and I think thats very bad. anyway its been replaced.

Rt end shot: This will be the last pic as the battery dieded on me. Thnx for viewing.

Top middle :

Forget to mention, that the lighting is supplemented with a single 250W BLV MH, 10000k right in the centre. Some top pics:

Right side: somewhere in the middle is a blue mille, thats truly beautiful. I dubbed it, the TinEng Blue Millie, intense blue all round, a real joy to behold.

The tank is still primary SPS, with some LPS, added around December. Equipment is still the same: Lighting :- T5s are now the Aquaz BluePro*2 and 1 Aquaz 10000k and 1 Aquaz 20000k. I love the Aquaz's BluePro. IMO, they're quite intense and go very well when mix with 10000ks. I wanna thank Aquaz for letting me have the tubes without cost. I'll be sure to keep the BluePros on my next purchase when it wears out. Skimmer:- a small Weipro 2011, driven by a 1200 l/h Eheim, it skims wet. I've hooked up a top-up device to top up NSW, so what the skimmer skims out, the device will replace with SW. Return pump:- Aquabee 2000, in line to chiller before return to tank. Maintenance: Still dosing baked baking soda and calcium chloride. The pics: front left side.

Found the old camera and some batteries with juice left. Not done much except gotten some frags from around. I had to trade in Jake, the Regal, He's gotten too big or rather bold of late. Bullying, biting, etc. Here's some pics of him in the sump just before his traded off. Good Bye Jake.

What time are those readings taken, the 8.1 one.? Is there a nite time pH reading or a range of pH?