bawater

moved. You just need to do a search on dendronephthya and you will find out about the success rate of this coral. (success meaning the actual growth and reproduction as they are capable of producing buds almost monthly) All members of dendronephthya are difficult to keep long in captivity. The bright coloured ones are ahermatypic(meaning they lack zooxanthellae required for photosynthesis). Without the symbolic algae they require a continous wash of phytoplankton across their polyps in order to survive. You can put them in low light in the open or shaded/covered areas. Zooplankton is a supplement food item to their main diet of phytoplankton. Strong continuous and non-laminar current would be essential to their survival. (they do not seem feed in low current and starve) Your filtration should be designed to counter this heavy feeding load needed.

i make mine in a toyogo pail - then put everything in 1gal bottles(mango/apple/orange juice from cold storage) or 2 ltr bottles (NTUC). cap tight. open bottle and drip as needed. Made every 1-2wks.

cyclops is 800micron in size. too big for sps used in aquaculture for fish fry. but as an additional food item for your tank - sure why not. You can feed anything from 2 microns to 1000microns and it will benefit something along the food chain. Cutting down the types of zooplankton may have some side effects on the animals/corals but that is for you to monitor.

That's a bigger than big picture. its a prata. i removed it so u need to resize it to 640x480 and attach it again. i'm in the office and on a terminal so don't have the proper software to do it for u now. thanks

see if its still there tonite. if it is then take it out. If it still doesn't move then its dead. If what you hold is an empty shell then its molted. Molting process should only take max a few hours.

u got me wrong, i meant treat your current tank as a new setup- test the parameters and you will get a rough idea of where you are in the cycle or at least what kind of water quality you have now. once you have done the basic tests you will know if you are ready to add more live stock. terry answered your temp question. If fish only with live rocks- 28c to 30c is fine but remember that higher temps means less oxygen in the water so make sure there is ample surface agitation(good water movement).

Treat your tank as a brand new tank. DO the revelant tests first to find out where you are. 1)pH 2)Ammonia 3)Nitrite (NO2 4)Nitrate (NO3) There are articles pinned on the cycling stages- this would usually take abt 3-4wks. ONLY when you test zero for ammonia and Nitrite you are ready to stock. You should not do a water change during cycling as this will disrupt the cycle (which is why i mentioned to treat your tank as new), you should only do a minor change once the cycle is completed to dilute the nitrates. You already have the pH & ammonia test kits (but that's only half the basic kit). as for the Ammo Lock 2 and Hagen Cycle, honestly you do not need these at all. read up its all here : http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?showforum=6 rgds

hi yellowbelly, i think the posts went off topic. I would gladly recommend you to visit marine life@hong leong garden, the address is in the LFS stock section.http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=5162 As for the LFS you currently go to to buy all your stuff? it would be better to stay away for a while till you know what they trying to sell you. If an overhead filter is an overflow to them.. i guess everybody else in the world is wrong. There are various links all pinned for easy reading. Read them and you will understand more, post up any issues you don't understand. THERE ARE NO FISHES THAT ARE TEST KITS- as referred to in a post somewhere. and using an angel is an expensive way to find out. There are cheap test kits and there are expensive test kits.

1) 4ft is ok, the bigger the better. 2) If possible...and make it a effort to get a sump. save you a lot of headache in future 3) i think almost everybody uses a timer...or timers. As for the lights- IF You are not going to keep corals then any colour you like can go on the tank. BUT if you are intending to keep corals i suggest you read up much more on lighting requirements of the various coral species. 4) Do a little more reading on the subject before you start, the information and links you need is all pinned in this section. rgds and welcome to marine

its in the planning stage, but one thing at a time first. maybe after aquarama

soggy, the ceramic & coral chips you use are ok for fish only systems when NO3 is acceptable to a certain limit. in fact the ceramic work better than the CC as it provides a bigger surface area. function wise the same as bio-balls and tanzy has pointed out, these media are very efficient at nitrifying ammonia and nitrite and turning them into less toxic nitrate. when you deal with corals.....then you have to address the nitrate issue or you would be limited in the species you can keep. The main filtration usually comes from Liverock (and a DSB or other NNR methods if u use one)- which is why a little more rock does benefit the tank environment. They are not just there to stack things on. if you intend to remove your media, do it slowly (over some time) to allow the bacteria populations to adjust accordingly. with such a small compartment ,adding macro algae won't help much so don't expect miracles from it, but growing some there won't do any harm Or you can just use floss there and any chemical media that you may use in the future.

R the LCk ones really peppermints or camels/candy? ML ones are confirmed peppermints from florida,but tiny in size.

Yes danny, you may also want to search the net on the subject. culturing phytoplankton or just phytoplankton. brineshrimps are too big for some corals. and for all those who are asking me for cultures, since reborn has started selling the starter packs,fert and algae disks i don't think i need to release live cultures anymore. the prices are reasonable for the starter packs.

hi all i'm back roasted and peeling. hi habib, i am not high enough in the chemistry levels to do the calculations(i was just searching for a cheaper working alternative). i did do a wide search on the product though and did come across this issue on ReefCentral. here is the thread:highlight contraphos its a few months old and the absorbtion rates are on the last post of page 1 (right at the bottom). i'm not saying its better than rowa- as long as it works better and safer than aluminium based removers its good for me.(as i go through a big amount and the leeching has me worried) In my case, both products last abt the same time- 2 months for 500g of media and as every reef tank is different i guess everyone has a different timeline. I understand salifert has an iron based media too, and when that comes to town i would be sure to try it out. As for the brown muck, i see both products producing it. and since i used rowa first (and its instructions were in english)it said not to worry abt it...although i did the first time. Maybe a rinse or 2 won't be that bad an idea for contraphos(as PR recommends).

You can get all the phytoplankton supplies from http://www.florida-aqua-farms.com/ You can also get brine shrimp eggs from them. although i never tried the grade. (chk in their price list) -freight from florida to anywhere is expensive. Sometimes i order brineshrimp eggs grade A from http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com, you can get golden pearls,spirulina powder....brine shrimp nets all from them. the freight from them is cheaper- abt $US20 for a small package. Both of these companies have great customer service and to order send them an email with the items and mailing destination you want,and also a credit card no. Don't use the shopping cart as the conversion is different.

soz bigstarpoly, could you pls keep your pics below 640x480.(just resize them in any of the photo software available) a 1284x964 pic takes the longest time to load...and is just too big. i removed it and move the topic to the members tank specs, so just put up another smaller pic. cheers

Yes you can. But with all the warnings of the problems you will encounter later on- its not worth it. They will come. As a beginner- can you be sure that you will only keep 2 clowns in a 2ft with undergravel for as long as you use that filtration? if yes ..sure go ahead.They will live long if fed properly & water changes done. WHAT if..you see a purple firegoby, or a emperor angel or a beautiful tang or some blue damsels or green chromis or ......just a few more clowns. You buy them and this will overload your filtration capabilities starting a snowball effect of problems(& i'll leave out the details). High nutrients stressing fish...they get whitespots and die..not before infecting the other fishes who also get white spot and you buy replacements who also get whitspots on it goes. (oh, btw- i don't recommend a tang or big angel in a 2ft...just used them cause ppl do buy them). Let's not talk abt corals yet. Everybody started the hobby at sometime, they just trying to put forth the fascination it brings and how it keeps growing on you and the mistakes they made. Some LFS use undergravel(only a few do) and pack them full of fishes cause the fishes are with them usually not more than a week. And if you visit them first thing when they open the shop.....you can help them pick up the dead bodies. The better marine LFS understands abt stocking density and that's why they have their systems linked together to increase water volume.

put them in a container and store in the fridge. they can last 3 days. Some will die by the 3rd day but there will still be some live ones left. freeze them, that means they die? might as well buy the hikari cubes. You get more food for less price.

yes. 1mm would be the max size. The bigger the grain the deeper the bed would have to be. sand sifting fishes such as the blue cheek goby would not be advisable if you want a healthy DSB. these fishes will sift the sand looking for small living organisms to eat. In a few days they would have decimated your sand populations.i think serpent stars do the same. You want these tiny organisms such as worms to burrow into the sand and stir it a little(in the tiny way). Remember that the DSB will take nearly a year to mature.

If your referring to red slime remover. No, Only for cyanobacteria. Diatoms will go away on its own when the silicates in the water is all used up.(this only takes a few weeks). Snails feed like crazy on them. They are harmless.

First of all, calculate your volume. then get the litre and gallon measurement of it. REMEMBER it, later on you will be dosing additives/supplements based on your total volume. calculators Then buy the salt brand of your choice, behind the packet will be the mixing instructions. usually half a cup of salt makes 1 gallon of saltwater. Adjust the salinity to your preference by adding more salt or water.(to measure it you will need the hydrometer everyone mentioned) You can mix in the tank (if its new) or in a pail. if its your first time...i would strongly suggest getting a real marine saltmix, not those un-labelled packs of salt being sold in LH convert to marine death shops. rgds

Alvy has covered that point in another post. & bum just covered it again. Why would anyone buy something at (or relatively near)market price unless its brand new(i too won't be interested unless its near half price). And if its brand new....you don't just happen to keep 10 or 20 sets at home. AT does not base his decisions on a single pm. If he is unsure he will track it. Most of the time its pretty clear. This is an issue that happens on all the forums, not only SRC. If you have been on other forums with sponsors you will see the same actions being taken.(most of the time very harsh)making AT seem very polite. Commercial touters are not allowed free lunches on SRC(maybe somewhere else but not here). As cookiemonster has put it, this is a hobby site and we are not online 24hrs 365 a year to watch every topic- so if you see something fishy just drop a PM. (sure maybe the post is up for a few hours but hardy more than a day). Topics relating to LFS info has been discussed before.yes It benefits both parties,but mainly members are alerted to the new arrivals or for that something you've been looking for.(is this not helpful?) If you have bad things to say about a LFS, state your real name,contact number and details so that the LFS knows who to contact (AND NOT SRC). otherwise it will be edited or deleted. Otherwise use *** as you have seen. The industry as a whole is not a polite one so SRC would rather not have any issues with them. You may state good things about the LFS you are happy with- this will allow new hobbyist to visits shops where they are not lead astray.I think there are enough members to reply or second the vote if a bad LFS starts to praise itself. No LFS are sponsors. (sponsors have their own thread) . I shall repeat that just one more time. LFS are not sponsors. let's face it, they have no complaints taking your money! If you have Day's post in mind, he has withdrawn his commercial sale on Sgreefs and already apologised a long long time ago. It was more due to the govberment issues and livestock concerns that was brought up. its all there. The thread dragged on due to the cities statement.....that subject can go forever. If its to the bulk order mushroom thread- if the price is stated (since there's nothing to hide) you will then be able to base your assumption. i left a link but moved this to kopitiam.

I have managed to culture a batch of the new DT's(poly-culture)...only problem is that i do not have access to microscopes to check what the hell grew!. Its a light green ###### yellowish mix colour. i have abt 1 ltr of the stuff if anyone is willing to try to id it, Or maybe take some pictures. need some serious magnification as the cells size may be abt 8 microns. maybe a 1000x. You can keep the bottle, as i still have another culture of it. let me know & i'll pass you the bottle.

why were you dosing kalk in the first place? did you test for low calcium levels? From the pics, looks like regular water changes would be able to sustain levels since you didn't have much thirsty calcium suckers. You were adding kalk with the wrong method in the first place to let your tank pH reach 12. In such a small volume such as a 2ft, u need to drip...maybe 1 drop per 2-3sec(or even 1 drop per 5 sec,you will still push up pH by about 0.9) but never 5.0 If you meant the pH of the kalk water(the amount to be used) was pH 12 then yes it is correct , means its saturated. You used the correct vinegar but.................... You also used the wrong portions of vinegar to kalk mixture. roughly, 1 teaspoon of kalk mix to 15ml of vinegar- add 1 gal of freshwater... Never pour in directly to your tank as your volume is too small. Drip this mixture too. Start by mixing 1 teaspoon kalk to 5ml vinegar, then raise by 5ml till you reach 15ml over a few weeks. This will allow your tank to get used to the increase load. The maximum vinegar needed is 30ml to totally dissolve 1 teaspoon of kalk.(u will still get bits of undissolve solids,just throw away...do not reuse) You will also need to keep an eye on your DKH.

sounds like LFS advice. I would suggest reading a little more on what requirements are needed first before making that purchase. Clowns do not need anemones to survive and vice versa.They are not toys. Keeping Anemones by Rob Toonen Anemone links