Joe_P

Pistols and Mantis shrimps normally come as hitchikers on Liverocks... I have quite a number of pistols in my reef...... they came as hitchikers ..... There shouldn't be much concern unless you are bothered by the noise they make and fishes start going on vacation never to return....

Aiya .... I go open tap and gas now .....

Whats your effluent drip rate like??? Dunno whether if the rate of effluent drip does affect the system overall Calcium/alk levels... And that is what I'm trying to point out... Sorry for the misleading title.....

Sorry ..... 40 drops per min.... And thanks for the entertainment....

Hi Guys, jus wondering how's your reactor working on your reef?? Have been runnin my DIYed CA Reactor on my reef and noticed the following... Combination of bubble count at 1 bubble every 3 seconds and effluent drip at 40 drops per second... with resultant pH of 6.5 for a single chamber can't meet my Reefs Calcium demand..... Reading of dkH from the effluent is above the 32 dkH that the salifert can register.... So i increase the effluent rate into a constant drip.... and increase the bubble count to 1 bubble per second..... Resultants pH of effluent 6.8 .. dKH of effluent ....47... used 2 ml instead of the usual 1 ml for tiltration.... and using low resolution... with reference to this... from this thread... "Calcium Reactor tuning" http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?...calcium+reactor Anyone has this problem...??

The Magnesium and so called stuff only get depleted from the amount of water used to mixed the Kalk... ain't it... Dunno how much that is but reckon it won't offset the balance of the reef by much ........ I would assume then that Kalk be mixed with vinegar before saltwater is applied??? right??? so as to prevent precipitation...??

But the amount of precipitattion only happens with the saltwater mixed with the Kalk... ain't it??? The resultant clear solution release back into the reef wouldn't cause any inoic inbalance in the main reef...unless kalk is directly added into the reef.......

Heh.... if you are lookin for the the schoolin habit to be portrayed in a reef... you are most probably gonna be disappointed.... such schooling habits tend to wane as time goes by.... IMO, think its better to go for specific and interestin specimen due to the following.... 1) Space in a 2.5 footer is limited.... and 2) Space in a 2.5 footer is limited ... and 3) Space in a 2.5 footer is limited... Get the point...??? As a reefer with a small space to cater too, one serious consideration would be the kind of livestock you would like to have... with the understandin that once something "that moves quickly" is in your reef, you gonna have a really tedious time getting them out....

This is actually a pretty interesting point.... Why not mix saltwater with Kalk and only drip the the clear solution back into the reef..... there should not be any issue with calcium precipitation if the insoluble part is left behind.... and it does sound like a alternative to low evaporation rate..... Only reason from my understand is due the high pH of saltwater.... any other points to consider?????

You are really givin me some crazy ideas.... Think need some lessons from Mrs AT.... maybe can build a mini underwater detonating device which we can jus dump into his reef when hes not looking during our next visit.... heh heh heh.... Frag time!!! better stop here or I think I'm gonna get a life time ban or restraining order keepin me at least a mile from his reef....

Liveaquaria.com is a good place.... Fuei's advice on keepin gobies for small reefs sounds good... I would too if I'm holding to a 2.5 footer... A goby coupled with a pistol shrimp would be interesting.... watchin their behaviour in reefs would be fascinating.... frankly smaller reefs with fauna possessing interestin habits would be a plus point as such habits normally gets unnoticed in huge reefs..... Do take note that if you intend to get Jawfishes, they would require rather deep sand beds for burrowing if you desire them to do well..... The carribean yellow headed Jawfish is a very interesting specimen with a really interesting pricetag....

Serious..... think we had this discussion previously in SRC.... think Tanzy brought up a thread regarding the usage of glass beads as a alternative to coral sand... Can't really recall whether the thread got woped out with a previous crash.... but one of the points mentioned from the experience of reefers in UK was that such media does create problems with Liverock stability.... think it had to be due to the consistency of the beads roundness which create problems for media to "hold" to each other..... and I reckon that this is definitely a issue to be aware of.. therefore rock racks are recommend for the long term stability of rock structure.....

1) Nope... saltwater ain't gonna be much good trying to dissolve any part of kalk.... Some reefers here use white vinegar to increase the the calcium levels per dosing... but ain't recommended till you find out how's your reef Calcium levels and its consumption jus like what Morgan mentioned... 2) you can get the evaporation rate to increase by adding fans.... or utilise vinegar as a solvent... That is if you are trying to get as much Calcium into the reef per dosing.... the other method is definitely a autotop-up combined with a Kalk Reactor..... which will assist in the maintanence of your salinity and water level....and also adds calcium to your reef. One of our sponsers here carries such products ... you might like to contact him. and yes, the Sponser is TUBBY alt.. contact cookiemunster...

One point to take note of regarding the usage of glass beads in replacement of coral sand and that is : due to the consistency of the glass beads.... wouldn't there be difficulty for the liverocks to hold themselves on the sand bed without toppling down????

Yup.... Reef looks terrible now.... All colonies shifted to left side and utilising only one MH.... my holding reef's full... might need another large container..... Sigh... this migration event is taking too much time and effort....

Very interesting.... Would very much like to have them as part of my new reef project...

In remembrance.....

Never though of phyto culturing at all.... since hearing much about the culture crashes from the reefers here... prefer to buy them from reefers who have been successful in culturing them so far..... but really am curious of how this phtyo reactor's suppose to function... and if its not too difficult, would be interested in a attempt to DIY one....

If phyto feeding can get such results, I would be keen too.... Was wondering if I could DIY a phyto reactor that has 2 compartments, one housing phyto and the other rotifers... like some of those featured in RC... there will be 2 drip tubes from the phyto compatrment... one into main reef and the other into the rotifers compartment... and a final outlet from the rotifers back into the mains..... have a constant 24/7 drip of food into the reef... Only one question.... where can I get fresh supply of SW into the reactor...cos heard that these cultures crash easily .....

What do you mean by fade off??? Bleaching... cos if its bleaching, then recovery could be expected...

Ok... so what happens when your return pump ceased operation.... will there be water feeding the closed loop pump????

Tanggy, Your close loop seems to have a problem... cos you can't have one side functioning from the overflow .....

Any improvement to your reef through the phyto feeding??? does the SPS show better health???

Hi Guys, I'm thinking of feeding phytoon a consistent basis to my SPS Reef (soon to be mixed reef) for the following year..... jus curious regards the benefits feeding would do for my reef..... and what would be a safe measure for feeding per gallon of reef and how often....??? Currently with DTs which is soon running out... and of course with the intention to upgrade the pump feeding my beckett....... Any comments...??

LCK 110 is open....