JiaEn

The rationale of adding bacteria products periodically is to minimize the chance of mono-culture. Given a aqarium condition, some bacteria may thrive and out-compete others. Thereby reducing bacterial diversity. Mono-culture system will have less capacity to overcome system fluctuations. If the aquarium condition become unfavorable to this strain, then there is a good chance for cyano or dino to take over. As for if the bacteria products are any good, that's a huge can of worms.

This set up is very young at almost 4 months old. After my previous aquarium sprung a leak, I take the chance to make some design changes to the setup while getting the replacement under warranty. This is the technical specs of my Acropolis. Display: 4.5' x 2.5' x 2.5'. Top and bottom euro-braced, Front and left view, backpack overflow on the right side, with Herbie drain. Sump: 3' x 2'. floss -> media -> reactor chamber -> return pump Circulation: Vectra L1 x2 as return pump, which double up to create gyre flow in the DT. Jebao SLW-30 x2 for random flow. All pumps are on the left side of the aquarium. Biomedia: Maxspect Nanoplate x 8 Reactor: Skimz ZAR-157 for zeolight. Carbon and bacto-reef balls are used passively in media bags Skimmer: Aqua-excel EC80 Chiller: Drop-in coil with compressor Light: Wyatt lightworks 240 x 3 Dosing: Kamoer X1 dosing all for reef Monitors: electrical probes for ORP, dissolved oxygen, pH, nitrate and calcium Decommissioned equipment: Gyre xf350, macroalgae reactor thank you!

After lurking the forum for a few years, allow me to share my reefing experience. This is my aquarium-in-progress. ACROPOLIS Acro: 1. (greek) the highest point; 2. Acropora, a genus of coral -polis: (greek) city This aquarium draws inspiration from the famous Acropolis of Athens. This scape reminds me of the majestic ruins on top of the acropolis, the meandering path climbing upwards, as well as the sprawling civic districts at its feet. Coincidentally, the name also can be interpreted as acropora city, a good fit of the corals home to this aquarium. I did not document the build and the transitions, but I would like to share my experience here. I'll start with the overall visions i have for this set up. My aquarium should be balanced-minimal. There must be large open space balanced by dense growth and complex structure. There must be large organisms balanced by fine details. Although minimalist is the characteristic of this aqua-scape, the balance is the soul. The feeding tube on the right side and the labyrinth on the left encourage fishes to adopt a more natural behavior. They will take advantage of the shelter in the main scape, only to venture out into open when opportunity (feeding) arises. This creates a interesting shifts in dynamic. The rock work is the skeletal foundation of the main "acropolis", but I want organic growth to obscure most of it. eventually the rock should be almost invisible. The tank is placed in the corner of the living room. Therefore it offers two-sided view. The aqua-scape needs to be well proportioned for both view; there should also be minimum clutter of equipment on the viewing side. Uniformity is over-rated. I want to direct flow at where flow is needed; shine light on where light is needed, give food to where the food is needed. Efficiency is the name of the game here. My reefing decision needs to be deliberate. if a hardware is setup in a certain way, I must be able to justify how it helps my tank to do better. This aquarium is still work-in-progress. Thank you for reading, and feedbacks.

Clams with lower light requirements (derasa, squamosa) tends to grow huge. Clams which are more manageable sized (crocea and maxima) generally require strong light. Both groups are equally demanding on water chemistry because they grow fast. It will take a lot of effort to keep clams long term in a nano/pico tank.

That's sounds good. I suspect I had the problem of light overheating because the hood compartment is small and quite well sealed. If have enough volume in the hood like you., probably will be much better.

That's good, this will prevent light set from overheating too

I would suggest that you buy something like maxspect nanoplates and bury it just under ur sand bed.

Do take into account for the heat generated by light set in the enclosed hood. Maybe u want to build in some ventilation

I see. Hope it works well!

I doubt this will reduce ur phos especially since ur nitrate is at very low level. In ur case if u want to go carbon dosing route, you have to dose nitrate as well.

In my experience, feeding fresh seafood such as live Venus clams or mussels can provide good nutrition so that the immune system of the fish can combat it. If not, soak the pellets in hufa such as selcon will help quite a bit as well. From my experience and reading articles online, garlic may or may not have much effect in dealing with parasites.

Maybe you want to hear from others as well. All the best!

If it works, a reactor is good because it ensure the water flows thru the media instead of around the bag holding the media (which will reduce flow and/or be clogged). But in my tank, I find nyos too unreliable, Probably because my tank has quite a bit of suspension due to heavy fish load. I have the reactor pop off dumping almost a litre of carbon into my sump. In another occasion, the top of the reactor popped off half-way, and quite a bit of water spilled on the floor. If ur tank has little suspended particles, guess it will work well. But for my case, definately not worth the risk.

I had quite a bit of problem with nyos. The top and bottom plates of the reactor is held in place with an O ring only. So if the pressure inside the reactor build up (like a clogged sponge) the reactor can pop open by itself. Nice concept but I would feel much safer when there is a mechanical lock

Also, chloroquine phosphate is quite effective for ich treatment, provided you can get the fishes to eat medicated pellets

Polyp-lab medic can give fish a breathing space but what you observed could be the normal life cycle of ich. The parasites will drop off and reproduce. So do keep adding the treatment even if you see less spots or none at all. So far, the method work for me is to feed fishes diligently with as "live" food as possible from ocean. Such as live clams, fish egg etc. Not only do they provide lots of nutrients, they also contain lots of different bacteria which may help fishes with their immune system.

What I mean is that the rowaphos won't be able to tumble when used in the same reactor as carbon

Thus the problem with multi-medium reactors such as torq. If you set the flowrate based on carbon, which shouldn't tumble, then can't effectively fluidise GFO.

Please don't fluidise aluminium based phosphate remover in a reactor. It will release fine dust which can lead to Al problem very quickly. Gfo however, needs to be fluidised to be most effective.

It's because the pump and wavemakers. Once the power trips in the house. There is no more electric current. On the other hand. Without circulation, live stocks dies fast.

I think lots of aquarium equipments are two- pinned. For example: submersible pumps, submersible heaters etc. If there is stray voltage, and you have a grounding probe, it will form a leaking current. Which can potentially trip your whole house. If there is no ground, stray voltage will just remain in the tank, more or less harmless, until you dip your hand in and get shocked. Either way. Your fish should not be affected. When I have my first aquarium, I accidentally disloged a cooling fan into the tank, the whole house tripped. But the fishes are unharmed.

Maybe your plug live wire and neutral wire are wired wrongly. Switch is on live wire. So when u switch off, it's not live. But if your extension or house circuit is wired wrong. When switch off the test pen will still light up.

And stray voltage won't actually electrocute fishes. there is no path for current to flow through the fish to the ground. When u put your hand in, it's a different matter coz now current can flow thru you to the ground, then you will feel the shock.

Oh. What I meant is to use two pumps as return pump at the same time. Like there is a fail safe.

If you can, use two smaller pumps instead of a large one. In case one pump fails, your system can still keep running while you get it fixed. If have the budget, run two m1 at 3/4 power would be nice.