madmac

Sold. thnx for your interest.

here's lookin at you.

left facing :

Right facing :

Feeding very well, a very hungry pig of a fish. Will take any food off your fingers and even in the water column. He is about 4 inches from mouth to tail. I can guarantee that he will keep away from SPS and but not LPS, zooanthids or star polyps. Selling because the fish is a real king of the tank as he bullies new fishes introduced... to death and also the tank maybe too small for him. Letting go for $50, on a first come first serve basis.... the fish now in my sump, not a conducive place for him. If you like to test feed, bring your own fish food as the fish still eats while in the sump. I'm staying east, at Loyang. If interested, pls reply in this thread. Preference to those who can collect today... Thnx.

Expensive bottles of live bacteria? thats is enterprising capitalism. Bacteria, lives for about longer than 1 day, in all conditions, weather 'good' or 'bad'. They are limited by about only two things, food and space. They can reproduce before they die and can cannibalize off each other for food; they simply cannot multiply(as in increase in numbers after the max is reached) when there's no more extra space, other than the ones already available. Some may need O2 and some don't. For those that do, and in the event of a depletion of O2, they can meet their respiratory demands from one of the following natural oxidants, : •nitrate (NO3-), •manganese dioxide (MnO2), •iron oxides (e.g., FeOOH), and •sulfate (SO4 2-), They are tougher than you think

Well you'll have to know what are the ions that make up seawater, besides Sodium and Chloride (which by themselves constitute 84%), there are is also Magnesium and Sulphate... (another 3% and 7%. Together they form close to 95% of what is seawater. If you add 1 tsp of baking soda(sodium bicarbonate) to 3 L of seawater, you can bring up SG from 1.023 to 1.027. About the same goes for Calcium Chloride(CaCl2), same for or MgCl2(Magnesium Chloride) or MgSO4(Mg. Sulphate). Pls apply some sensibility before you add, by testing the SG. Depending on where the SG of the new solution is, you may dose immediately.

Why would NSW become stale and useless after a few days? Have you tried keeping one for a few weeks and using it after that. Why would bacteria die? when you can buy live bacteria in sealed bottles and packets of 'live' sand sealed tight. Why would you prefer to, instead of adding 400l of live NSW to a new tank, add the same 400 l sterile tap water(maybe with chloramine still present), with no live at all, made with artificial sea salt, which may come with batch production problems or with certain elements/ions missing or in short supply(when compared to NSW, the real standard), only to have to supplement it later.? SG too low. Have you measured the SG of NSW lately, over a period of no rain for many weeks? The one at Iwarna tested 1.029. So now jus add a bit of water lah. In situations where they are low, there are many, many ways to bring up SG instantly, without having to buy artificial sea-salt. In fact, due to evaporation of your tank water, your SG increases, so adding a lower SG NSW balances it out very nicely. Try it. You either store bags of sea-salt and standby good water for mixing, or have NSW on standby. So you ask Ah-beng, how long NSW can be kept? Is he a business man or not? Does he want you to return back to his shop often? Now what answer wud he give. Finally if you are locked up in jail, do you want to breath fresh natural air thru a window, smell the seasons of times or breath artificial air? Air made with some chemicals and piped into your cell?

Gee, thats tough. We take so many things for granted. Some tests are pretty easy, like dKH test. Its starts off as 1 initial colour then changes, the moment it changes, you stop. Some like Ca(tropic marin) requires you to compare with the original tank water. A bit more difficult. For pH, if you can get a metered reading that would be easy. The ANN ones are about the most difficult for you I think. But once cycled, they don't require regular testing. Otherwise, ask for a family member to help out. Best to you.

Besides liking the look of sand, sometimes its more what you'll like to keep. Some things jus need sand, while others don't really care if there is sand or not, but what sand does to the system.

Try this link. : BB Coding basically you need the apply the IMG tags, with the pointer to where the pic resides within the tags. e.g.

I'm keen. PM sent.

Thats because it doesn't. Done correctly, its a lot lesser equipment, a lot lesser resources, a lot lesser heat, and a lot lesser $$. I have nothing against sandbed substrates users, weather is aesthetically pleasing to you or otherwise. I think Bomber said it well when ask. If you like DSB, know what it does, if you like shallow SB, know what it does, if you like BB, know what it does. : ) ... and nakazoru, I seriously hope it didn't take you too long to realize, you can never mimic the ocean...oh and make that a ... BUT I'M GETTING A SMIMMER.. if u don't get the pun, PM me. : )

Jervis, malu man!. No expert here, jus sharing what I know...

Oh that. Theres also some coverage here but maybe not so extensive,... do a search on red-carpet algae or cyano. If you can read this link covers it quite extensive : Say Bye-Bye to red algae. or use Chemiclean by Boyd. Difficult to get in this part of the world. If you're going with Erythromycin, an antibiotic, then stick to the recommended method, and dosing amt. It won't affect the good bacteria or your corals. Although some has argued that it may affect SPS corals... Increasing your flow will help a great deal. I've read that some have experienced this and diatoms, in the setup of a new tank but after a while, it goes away. Is there a way you could reverse the setup, such that the skimmer comes first, then the mechanical filtration... or remove the mechanical filtration altogether and crank up your skimmer.

It'll probably take quite a few water changes... if going that route, then a one-time 80% water change would be better. Alternatively for an instant correction, do you have access to vinegar or dry ice, dump in and measure, dump again to correct. Correcting pH alone is alot easier, but for your case, I think you've buffed up to much CO3, and thats what's holding your pH steady. Do a kH measure and lets see the numbers. 8.8 is bad.

Go ahead, give it a shot. IMHO, its the best you can give, about the only problem with it is, its heavy. I use NSW. That being said, success in reef-keeping is not tied to using only NSW. Hence, failure is not exclusively NSW also. However, all things being equal, NSW tips the scale. BTW, I have some SPS that are tolerant of NO3 and phosphates... ... you jus won't like them, thats all.

Algae. Ok where are they growing on? Glass, sandbed? rocks? If its the glass, then you have a water issue, if its on your sandbed or rocks, thats the place where its leeching nitrogenous compounds. You'll need to remove the source or clean it. Your system is turning into one thats supported by algae instead of bacteria. When your lights come on, its algae thats takin in the CO2 and your N compounds. Thats why you think its low, when its not. If the algae keeps growing, you have excesses. It'll still work though, its an aesthetic thing. Sponges require very, very 'clean' water.

I got confused too, between the Aquaz Blue-Pro and thought it was more like 20k or 14k. I am grateful to Aquaz for letting me try out some of their tubes... at no cost. Aquaz has 20k T5s and they give a bluish white look, like what all 20ks. The Blue-Pro are truly blue when fired up. So blue, it looks ghostly at first. I think its something akin to the colour of ATI's blue-special. Aquaz still carries Actinic range of T5s. Actinic lighting brings out the florence pigment that some corals have but do not show under normal lighting. I think their Blue-Pro a single blue spectrum of lighting. Blue spectrum is known to out-last, other colour spectrums as it goes into deeper depths. Photosynthetic corals are known to be able to harness this blue lighting for their energy requirements.

yes... remove your sandbed...

Ignoring the numbers, what's your main concern about NO3 at 20ppm? At that level, fish and softies wud live, most LPS too. If you feel, its not reduced enough, you could export,... add an algae scrubber, skim wet, syphon dirt; or control imports,... maybe reduce feeding. In a close system like our tanks, the nitrogenous compounds are tightly cycled and closely coupled to one another... unfortunately no two ways around it.

Except also that GAC cartridges are not size rated. i.e. you can get a 5µ, or 1µ or even 0.5µ carbon blocks... aids it acting as a sediment filter also.

for those who have enquired: The company is purolite; www.purolite.com The product is MB-400 Price is S$(8.50 * 25 liters)+GST Delivery is S$24+GST Total is S$236.50+GST = S$248.33 So that works out to jus under S$10/liter Am attaching the datasheet for those interested rickster88888 are you in for 5 liters ? boxfish? MB400.pdf

You've got PM. I've posted all the details you've requested and will need for the coordination. Thnx for taking over, jus a little busy of late.

Hi. the price won't be more than the last bulk sharing, ie. definitely lesser than S$10, GST included. Anymore takers? Thnx 1.) madmac - 5 liters 2.) rickster88888 - l?