soggycookies

imo when still small, tangs can be kept in smaller tanks but as they grow they will definitely get too big for a nano- especially acanthurus species like blue tangs that need a lot of space to swim. you could also try smaller species like those in the ctenochaetus (bristletooth) tang genus. Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

give it a run, personally i find it a lot quieter than the 200 series. the flow directors also allow you to place the gyre really close to the water surface without having water splash out of your tank or cause a vortex under the intakes. if you have the icv6 i’d say definitely an improvement over the 200 series. Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

clams certainly aren’t corals but it’s amazing how stunning they can look in a reeftank! the ones with variable mantle patterns really bring a lot of texture to the display i feel Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

nice hammers. are those bounce mushrooms to the bottom beside the hammers? Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

what T5 bulbs are you using? your lights look very yellow for a reeftank. reminds me of classic halide fixtures from way back in the day Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

agreed, especially with zebrasoma tangs from what i’ve noticed. my yellow tang and sailfin tang don’t look as fat when they get less algae in their diet, even if they seem to be eating plenty of chopped seafood and pellets Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

thanks for sharing some other options to acquire piping for diy purposes via online delivery. for the past couple of years i’ve been get most of mine from tropical fish farm @ pasir ris farmway(not recently due to cb closure though). Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

amazing back wall carpet of gsp you have. looking great even after 1yr without water changes! Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

Are these jebao wavemakers you’re referring to? I agree, their pumps are really good at pushing a lot of water. i’m still using a RW-20(one of the much older models) and it hasn’t failed me yet. The main downside is it’s definitely much noisier than other pumps, at least ime. i used to have 2 rw-8s running at max speed which was a better option for creating more turbulence, but their controllers didn’t survive till today so i’ve replaced them with a maxspect gyre instead and cranked the rw-20 to near-max speed. Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

some of the fish I’ve QT-ed in these tanks in the past: 3.5” Regal angel in QT: in main display: 2” Scopas Tang 2.5” Kite Butterfly(trained it to eat shrimp while in QT) Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

Golden cloves beginning to colonize more of the rock. Certainly a welcome occurence. These guys make for lovely fillers in between some of the more centrepiece coral in a display Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

they were only used to house fish, and i kept them in a shaded semi-outdoor part of the house. the pumps/filters in each system were too small to generate significant heat above 29 degrees and in cooler weather helped to regulate the temperate around 26-27 degrees. definitely not a setup for coral, but enough to reliably qt fish. Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

Some of my old QT setups. Simple 2’ tanks suitable for fish between 1~4inches in solo quarantine. Got a 3-tier shelf unit from Ikea and added additional bracing for support. Each tank held about 50L of water Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

By far the favorite flake food among my fish. Definitely gonna need to grab a couple more of these since I just ran out yesterday. Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

copper won’t “damage the media” unless you plan on using the same media in a system to house invertebrates like coral etc. it just means you should only use them in fish-only tanks. typically for copper the dose should be 0.3~05 ppm to be effective. often when fish perish in copper-treated tanks it’s likely due to stress and poor acclimation and water quality rather than the copper itself. i’ve quarantined supposedly difficult fish like a regal angel in a copper-treated QT with no issues(see below). remember to keep your QT well-oxygenated too. i know it’s not recommended to have airstones for saltwater, but qt systems are an exception imo. add a strong bubbler or position a wavemaker at/near the surface to create better surface agitation for better oxygen exchange if necessary. also something to note: the lower the salinity, the more toxic cupramine/copper is to fish. many times the failure comes from trying to combine hyposalinity with copper treatment, in which case a typical dose of 0.5 meant for 1.020~1.026 salinity is possibly twice as strong in the reduced salinity of below 1.015. if you plan to combine the 2 methods(which i don’t recommend), i’d stick to half the cupramine dosage at maximum. hope this helps Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

11. I believe using the larger/more powerful UV with a slower flowrate will definitely be better for parasitic pathogen control, and the faster flowrate on the smaller uv better for algae issues and bacterial blooms. reason being the dwell-time is definitely gonna be longer through a larger/longer unit + with the higher watt output, it’s gonna be able to zap the parasites much more efficiently. also from what i know the reason most would recommend a high flow through a uv sterilizer for dealing with bacteria blooms is so the unit can process more water more quickly, but it doesn’t take as much power for them to be dealt with as compared to pathogenic parasites, so the dwell time isn’t as pivotal for the former. i’ve never used 2 different uv sterilizers at once before but ime with running the same uv at different flowrates, i’ve found that drastically lowering the flowrate(950 lph on a coralife turbotwist x12) does wonders for pathogenic eradication(visible signs of reduced parasitic infection in all fish like no longer breathing fast, swimming in front of powerheads, scratching or white spots on body) while a faster flowrate(1,800 lph on a coralife turbotwist x12) was effective for algae control and i found myself needing to clean the glass less frequently. based on my observations both low and high flowrates seem to clarify the water and prevent cloudy bacteria blooms the same so i feel the main distinction when installing UV in a system is whether you intend to use it for algae control or parasite control. the toxins and bacteria blooms appear to be the easiest to manage when a UV sterilizer is in the mix just my 2c Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

Just to add on, IME hyposalinity is great for treating ich without using copper and so is ttm, but like Rob said, it stresses the fish out a great deal, especially if you’re doing hyposalinity in conjunction with ttm. it’s great that you have a cycled qt. one thing you could do is dedicate all the media in it as one that will only ever be used for that fish-only QT. most medications like this won’t kill all the beneficial bacteria in the system, mostly just the ones in the water column and not the ones that have already colonized the media(which is where most of them are anyway). Also ime it’s not a good idea to add that many different meds at once, as the chemicals in each of them may not be compatible with each other and will probably end up stressing the fish further. one example is when cupramine/copper is used together with something like seachem prime, reacting and creating unsuitable water conditions for the fish. personally, i find the least hassle-free/stressful method for the fish in qt is to do something like this over the course of 1 month: day 1-3: observe the fish in qt without adding any meds. start feeding sparingly on day 2. week 1: if fish starts eating, slowly add copper treatment in low doses(brands like seachem instruct for half dosage in first 2 days before going full strength; i typically do this over a 3-4day period gradually before maintaining the recommended dosage instead) week 2 & 3: leave fish in treated water(copper at 0.3~0.5 mg/l3 and prazi can be used together but i would stay away from adding other meds at the same time) and observe their habits. best results if the fish is quarantined alone, and you can get it used to the foods you feed it too. week 4: do a water change and make the qt’s parameters(especially salinity, pH and temperature) as close to the display tank’s before adding in after the 1mth of quarantine. i’ve tried hyposalinity, ttm and a steady 1mth qt with copper treatment and imo the last one is the most effective. plus if the fish happens to have velvet(god forbid), you essentially save its life if you immediately start treating with copper in a qt- something hyposalinity is ineffective at treating. since you already have a cycled qt, you could dedicate it as a hospital tank too, and avoid the need to set one up everytime you run into an issue. the main challenge to this is you probably need to keep it running most of the time, but as long as you keep a steady salinity for it, the bacteria colony in it should survive(of course, the more media in it the better). that said, i wouldn’t expect it to be able to handle the bioload of multiple fish or larger fish(5-6inches and above) in a 2ft system, but if it’s only 1 fish or 2 smaller fish, it should be fine. i would still rely on water changes every few days or so to manage nutrient levels, but also remember to maintain the treatment dosage levels if you’re doing this (cause water changes will no doubt dilute the concentration rendering it less effective or not at all). If your cycled qt has a significant bacteria population or if the bioload is low, this might not even be necessary. depends on the fish you’re qt-ing as well. the most impt(and difficult) thing about qt imo is the patience and diligence to monitor it as much as possible, cause the bottomline is: water quality in a qt is always going to be less stable than that in a main system, meaning more frequent monitoring is to be expected. hope this helps, and best of luck! and apologies if I’m hijacking your thread[mention=25915]R0B[/mention] :x Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

The tomini is another one i would put in at the same time as the whitetail bristletooth since they’re both in the same genus. i find zebrasoma and ctenochaetus tangs go after algae the most aggressively so just having the yellow tang and whitetail might be swell too.. less to deal with aggression issues Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

Probably a good idea to get the blenny in first. just my 2c hahahah. What other tangs are on your list? Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

Always great to see modern technology being used in simple but wholly effective ways. Thanks for sharing your experience with 3D printing in reefing!

Agreed, definitely something different compared to the usual yelloweye kole tang from hawaii. i went with the indian ocean white-spotted variant for the same reason. Ultimately they’re all from the same genus though, and yes they’re very diligent at keeping the algae(especially film algae and diatoms) at bay, are slow growers and don’t grow very large so definitely a great tang for smaller setups. that said, ime while they don’t bother other tangs at all(i can understand most are concerned about tangs going at each other as a commonality in the hobby), they can for whatever reason get very aggressive towards algae blennies and stuff that resembles those in shape, like gobies. my hawaiian kole tang in my older system back then used to chase the salarias blenny till it disappeared whenever it saw it peep out of the rockwork. it didn’t kill it, but the blenny got considerably skinnier after i introduced the kole tang to my system and it had gotten very comfortable. in my current 6ft, my indian ocean yelloweye kole tang wore down a lagoon goby i had(by chasing it whenever it came out and essentially caused the goby to starve)and eventually murdered it. they seem to be generally very peaceful around tangs from other genus but from what i’ve seen their aggression is underrated when it comes to harassing other fish that it sees as a threat to its supply of algae(especially rock blennies and fish that resemble them in shape). also if i may, for fish stocking, apart from tangs for their utility, you could consider a pyramid butterfly(Hemitaurichthys polylepis) or 2. or 3.(they school, just like anthias, and aren’t heavy eaters like squirrel/soldierfishes. their diet is more akin to anthias). they are perhaps one of the few truly reef-safe butterflyfish out there and definitely not something you see in most reeftanks cause most will just assume all butterflies aren’t reef-safe. also a good conversation piece when others see it in your tank and immediately recognize that it’s a butterflyfish, but how are you keeping one in a tank full of corals!? 🧐 Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

By white tail bristletooth tangs do you still mean the ones that are considered yelloweye koles? like the one in this photo(from the internet): if yes, the 2 places i’ve seen them around before are iwarna and ah beng. generally ctenochaetus tangs are considered the least aggressive genus of surgeonfish but i have a spotted yelloweye kole from the indian ocean and for its small size.. it’s a terror. I can’t keep algae blennies nor gobies in my system with it even in a 6ft cause of how aggressive it is towards them. but perhaps mine is just a jerk hahahaha Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

I opted to run my system’s water temperature in the mid 27 (degree celsius) ranges, with the max hitting 28.0 degrees. Two reasons for this: 1. Main reason being to ameliorate large temperature swings in the event of an extended power outage or chiller failure and I need some time to get everything running again. 2. I’m running a system with a fairly large water volume for a home aquarium of approx. 1,200 litres on a 1hp chiller. I had to compensate for the reduced efficiency that wouldn’t be able to hold up punching above its weight in terms of chilling the water to temperatures more than 2 degrees lower than the ambient temperature, particularly given our typically hot climate. I’ve also gotten used to reading the temperature a la fahrenheit, as I find it more attuned when monitoring a smaller temperature range. While I plan to upgrade to a better unit in the future, I have no qualms with the chiller I’m using now in tandem with an external thermostat. This external temperature controller with its own probe allows me to adjust more precisely at what temperature I want my chiller to kick on and off. The main benefit of this is I can more closely tweak the temperature range of my system for better stability, for e.g. having less than half a degree celsius’ worth of difference in between the chiller cooling the tank and shut-off periods. Currently, I’ve calibrated it to switch the chiller on when the probe reads 27.5 degrees celsius on its display panel. I set it to kick on with a temperature difference of only 0.3 degrees celsius, and going by these settings, the chiller kicks in on average every 50mins~1h20mins depending on the ambient temperature/time of day(also influenced by my light schedule ramping up and down, max intensity etc). It usually takes between 20-25mins to cool 0.3 degrees, which is acceptable to me considering the large overall water volume in my system. The controller also allows me the customisability of a delay time between switching the chiller on and it kicking in, which I’ve set for 60seconds. Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

besides the GHA dying down, do you notice(if any) changes in the growth of other algae in your tank? like regular green film etc. completely absent after treatment. haven’t used fluconazole but my experience with vibrant has been that it certainly works with less pesky algaes but stuff like GHA/bubble algae is a many-pronged approach to fully deal with. there isn’t a miracle cure imo, but the chemical treatments definitely make a large dent. Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

really depends on your stocking level and whether your system has a high or low bioload. IME running too many nutrient export options over time might cause a major die-off of one type of algae while another monopolizes most of the nutrient intake. also have to factor in how mature your system is. the older it is generally the less of a need to run both an ATS and refugium together IMO. saves on the lighting cost too. Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app