kaykay

Haha, why does COB come out as CO*smilie*?

Hi John, the LED u mentioned are the chip on board (COB) LEDs. Yes super bright. I'm tempted to custom make 1 too, if not for the Aquastyle LED option available at similar prices. Hi Reckless, care to share more on the Aquastyle LED? I want to order it but I'm doubtful of my soldering skills. May I view your set at your convenience?

Toyogo at toa payoh. I saw large bins for sale there. I was using a black trash bin to prepare water change when I was running a 6footer. You can consider it too. Price around twenty-ish $.

Please take note that NSW will be for your water change only. For evaporation top ups, you still have to add DI water. A cheap source of DI water can be found at Fairprice. 'Life' brand distilled water. 2 x 1.5L bottles for 95 cents.

Hi. Read that u do not intend to upgrade if the setup is successful. This is another strong reason why you should start with reliable equipment. This tank to be placed in your living room, do you intend to get a good strong cabinet for a nice display? Do take note that this is one item you should not compromise. This should add a big chunk to your setup cost. However, if you don't mind compromising reliability, then here's my 2 cents' worth of opinion. A custom made 2' tank with ios should set you aside $150-$200. Another safety-first consideration. Otherwise troll the buy sell forum for tank set. Currently there are a few reefers decomming their nano. My recommendations (brand new equipment) Rio return pump. Just go for the model with flowrate at least 10 times the total volume of your tank. Bubble Magus Skimmer. Sunsun wavemaker. Beamswork 400 LED light. Test kits. A cooling fan. If you want to automate, then consider timers for lights. The list is not complete yet.. The above will add up to more than half a grand already. All above brands are from china, bros correct me if I'm wrong. Many reefers will agree with me that it is wiser to bite the bullet and start with good equipment, even if it is 2nd hand. It may sound cheaper to go with cheaper (=lower reliability) alternatives, you'll end up spending more to replace them when they break down sooner rather than later. Remember Penny wise, pound foolish. I'm not a rich guy too. Thats why I troll the buy/sell forum frequently for good equipment at a fraction of their RRP. Also doing a bit of DIY. It's real fun, and the sense of achievement is priceless. All said, do consider the pound foolish" principle.

Bro, care to elaborate more on the bio mat? I assume you're not talking about those amethyst bio mats?

Finally constructed a PVC stand with 4t-joints, forming a 3-legged short structure, and placed a pc of egg crate as base for the skimmer. (See past the pump at the foreground in the pic) Then stuffed 2 pcs of floss between the baffles. But the current kept pushing the flosses halfway out of the baffles. The bag of carbon I stuffed at the baffles are worse! It could not hold position at all. Got difficulty stuffing in. Even after managing to stuff in, it got pushed out in 3 seconds. So gave up that idea, and left the bag of carbon sitting next to the return pump Well, at least the micro bubbles seemed controlled alot. There are still stray micro bubbles returned to the display tank, but quantity is so so so tolerable now. Thanks for all your advice.

Wow nice. Super like!! Can see the well-thought planning. Hanging the lights must be a real challenge ya?

My 2-day old, 7 mesh plastic screen is not standing as straight as I would like it to be. Now considering ways to stiffen it or prop it up with some stuff to keep it upright. See pic. I cable tied the wooden air stone to a plastic egg crate at the bottom to hold it in position. The bubbles created by the wooden airstone are quite fine. Is there any other thing I can use for bigger, better-distributed bubbles?

Hi John, C328 & polyart do not stock much marine life stocks. But do check out the hardware for your tank. They indeed price their items lower than many other places. On the other side of the AYE is MarineLife, helmed by the experienced, helpful and friendly Henry. You will find excellent livestock there. As you are going all the way to QH, you may also want to travel just a bit further to check out Coralfarm and LCK for livestock too. Otherwise, the buy/sell thread here is vibrant. You just have to constantly browse to look for value. Some patience required though. I got some of my items here at good prices. It's also a good way to get to know reefers here. You may also drop by the Pasir Ris farms here at the east. Cheers.

Hi bro, I'm intersted. You have pm.

Thanks for the advice. I've placed some filter floss + a small cut-out piece of filter sock at the baffles between the skimmer & return, though not much. Will increase the floss and add a bag of carbon there as advised. Plus, will be elevating the skimmer permanently too, as it did drastically reduced the micro bubbles.

Hi... I've raised the skimmer, now it's only less than 1/3 submerged. However, due to the sheer amount of bubbles produced, some still got returned to the display tank. Currently dosing brightwell microbact daily. Could this be linked to the high amount of bubbles? Switched off the skimmer after dosing the microbact, as recommended on the bottle instructions. If don't remember wrongly, there weren't so much mbubbles initially. So is the dosing the culprit?

Thanks. I never thought of chiseling the polyps out. Most likely will do that. After that... HOT WATER BATH!! Hahaha. **evil face**

The polyps are very small.. Each is just slightly smaller than a 5 cent coin.

Sorry first pic too tiny to see the aips. Here's a bigger pic .

Hi currently in my 10th day of cycling. Found these few polyps on a liverock. But!! Tiny aips are also found on the same rock. Can any reefer help id this polyps? They're just brown. Should I keep them? I can choose to.. 1. Throw the pc of rock away It's about 1 kg. using as base rock. 2. Nuke the aips w pouring boiling water(but it would mean these polyps will go too) 3. Get aip control via peppermint shrimp or berghia nudis. 4. Any other suggestions? All ideas welcome. Thanks.

The skimmer is currently about half-submerged. Will try elevating it higher tomorrow. Thanks Razali. Will try posting some pics or vids tomorrow. Will chronicle the Before and after of the elevating.

2'x1.5'x1.5'H (with ios space of 2ftx6inch at the back) so display tank is 2'x1'x1.5'H Skimmer in 2nd compartment. Return pump ehiem1250 in 3rd. Millions of Microbubbles were returned to the display tank once I turn on the skimmer. Tried all ways possible with my limited mind. 1. Stuffed a small piece of filter floss at the outlet pipe of the skimmer. Result: skimmer overflowed. Scrapped the plan immediately. 2. Rotated the skimmer so that the outlet is further to the return pump compartment. (this is illogical flow as the skimmer inlet takes in the skimmed clean water again). Rotated the return pump so it sucks water from the furthest side from the skimmer outlet. 3. Stuffed a piece of filter floss in between the baffle between the skimmer and return pump. 4. Wrapped a 200micron filter sock (albeit loosely) around the skimmer outlet. 5. Finally stuffed a piece of the filter sock in the baffles together with the filter floss. The micro bubbles are still there!!! I'm at my wits end already. Now I totally left the skimmer off. Just kinda gave up. The only thing I haven't tried is to sew a piece of filter sock and tie it securely at the skimmer outlet, hoping it will absorb the bubbles. But I'm quite pessimistic on this.. Note. Skimmer atman pumps at 1,350L/hr. Return Ehiem1250 pumps at 1,200L/hr. Does this have any effect? Note 2. I'm building an upflow algae scrubber at the first compartment of the ios. Now I'm banking my hopes on the effectiveness of this uas, which will render the skimmer redundant. If it fails, I'll be back at square one. Again. **Tearing hair out** So if my uas backup plan fails, reefers pls contribute practical ideas on what else I can do. Thanks!!

To confirm the price...

Thanks for the advice. I'll run the warm white LED for the ATS, since I've invested in it. Will update periodically in a separate thread, tabulating the progress and success / failure of this LED. As for the main tank, I'll put on hold this COB LED project till I research further. But if any bros here can provide any concrete or conclusive opinions on the viability of this LED, or any alternative workaround, do share, as I'm really interested to integrate a low cost system for my nano. I am also aware that there is the Aquastyle LED system I can order for slightly less than this price. for a similar wattage set. However, I have never done any soldering before, neither have i the soldering equipment. So now I'm still undecided. As for the coral bleaching part, if I install the light in just 2 clusters (2x10w), at least 8" radius away, will this solve the issues? Sorry I seem to be a problematic child.. Always so many questions!!

This is how the warm white (told me its 2700k) looks like for the UAS for my tank. Note the air stone and the mesh has not been installed in this photo yet. Just the light held by my hand against the tank glass.

This is a warm white, single 10W COB LED I customized for my up flow algae scrubber. Customization was done by the engineer at the shop. Chose a metal box to house the LED, though I know I expose the risk of rust over time. Wanted a smaller box so as not to compromise the nano-ness of a nano tank, but this is the only metal box they have. Fits in a palm though. Will post more on the UAS in another thread. The light looks dim in this photo, but u have to see it in relative to the normal atmosphere daylight which turned dark in this photo. It really is very bright.

Have been seeing alot of floodlights built with these COB LEDs. If it can light up a big outdoor area with a single piece, I'm thinking it should also be strong enough for a reef. So I'm sourcing for opinions from LED experts here before I commit. Thanks in advance. What's more, due to the thin footprint, I can even mount it on an unused light frame I have in my storeroom. Hey! This is the DIY part. Haha.