bawater

1. Live rock and coral is NOT the same, correct? *VERY CORRECT- cycle your tank with live rock(LR) not corals. 2. Live rock does not need the actinic/florescent/50-50 lights that I keep hearing mentioned, correct? *No, but a FL light on won't do any harm,may even help other growth found on LR. 3. Is it possible to set up a bare minimum system on a shoestring budget and then slowly build it up? I'm thinking of setting up a DSB and some porous live rock. Coupled with a powerhead, would this be enough? I mean, will I need a sump and a skimmer? *Do it once, do it good. All depends on your budget, if u can afford it-don't stinge in the begining-go for a sump & drilled overflow. Otherwise if really tight then the above will do but u must watch your stocking levels very very closely. upgrading later on will be more expensive & the 'upgrading' never ends> hmmm want better skimmer,better lights,bigger tank,more fish,more dosing elements etc plus u going for a DSB(min) & your tank height only 1ft(12")- so u loose 3"-4" immediately to the sand & u won't fill to tank rim so another couple of inches lost. 4. When people say, for example, I'll need 1lb of live rock per 1gal of water, (and this I've read on a basic site, so I'd like confirmation), and since I have a 3ftx1ftx1ft glass tank, for subsequent flow rates using the powerhead, do I subtract away the volume of the live rock to get the volume of water that I have,then multiply that by 5 to get the appropriate flow rate? *very detailed, but also include the dsb as that displaces water as well & only multiply the water level only to get the total volume-not the whole tank. 5. I've also read that I'm supposed to use RO or DI water with the salt mix..is that what everyone here is doing? Or is normal tap water being used? *that's what a percentage is doing, the rest just use a declhorinator(recognised brand that also treats chloramine) added to Tap water & let it stand a few hours(i prefer overnight). Seachem prime is a good product to use.

put your spray bar below the surface but point it towards surface, this improves surface agitation. r u running a skimmer? pretty important since u cycling with live rock, there will be organic die off. oh ! & u should take the dead prawn out oredi-and anything else dead,u only needed it as a source of ammonia to start cycle.

if u peeked into my hall, the dog won't bark but maybe the hamster will. u wanna try it on with a Hamster? oh! you beast!

i've had this guy for over 3 yrs- i think coming 4yrs. stings everything around it & its abt 6"(15cm) when stretched out. Now i'm stuck with it & had to put it in a corner all by itself. Bubbles need supplemented feedings maybe once every week or fortnight, i tried feeding every 3 days: resulted in expelling excess zooxanthelia every 5days to a week. & it grew 3 mouths Here is one of it eating, that's a whole market prawn> this is a nite shot- note minimal bubbles- more tentacles>size comparison:that cleaner shrimp next to it is 1yr old & 5cm body length(2") here is a Top shot- u should be able to make out 3 distinct feeding areas> since Nov'02 i have lowered feeding to monthly, seems its going back to normal as bubble(for light collection) area increases.

souphamster- was this last night? or the weekend? i took the last 2 on sun afternoon.

Nope,the exact species i can't tell you but its part of the copepod population, there are thousands of variations between amphipods & copepods(shrimp like/bug like). Its also plays a role as part of your micro & macro fauna. Most probably came with a new piece of macro algae or LR. U may have a population explosion at first but this doesn't last as they are part of the food chain and as u go along u will see less & less of them. They feed on smaller micro-organisms. Parasites like fluke & ick u won't be able to see swimming around(in their free swimming stages) with the ###### eye-as they are just too small. Another thing to tell if its a parasite is that if u noticed any fishes or corals affected. If all is fine in the tank, then they not doing any harm. The one i circled looks like the one in your pic>

A rule of the thumb is that u can have anything bigger than its mouth. but that said, i keep a 4" antenna lion with a 1" clown & 2" yellow goby with no problems what so ever. i feed feeder shrimps & dried shrimps. Only thing is u have to watch where the fish is when u put your hand in the tank.

so rumour, have u done any research on sea lettuce? avail all around our beaches?- there are also some other kinds.Its green,its edible & its free-just wash them properly. The only thing i know so far is that tangs will eat them(& very fast).faster than i can say"STOP FISH, i want to use that as nutrient export" & its gone. Recycled to poo which the cleaner shrimp eats & recycles it somemore. So now i have to wait for my refugium!

Dodo, i haven't tried big al's(its a giant aquatic store), it has a site for US & canada(canada same rate as SG). search for Big AL But those that i have tried will even ship a US$2.99 item to me,as long as i pay freight which is something like US$24. i'm trying a new guy now(using paypal payment) so see if everything turns out fine. Still waiting for my SCWD Squid wave maker. boxfish- seen it around $26 & $27. so i guess its normal, hmm for that price in that tiny little bottle i'm going instead with an extra 30kg No.1 sand for a more permanent solution.

BB, your site with the list is down. It was covered in site feedback & suggestions: Here's the thread: LFS Locations

this might help on DIY Plans > OZ reef

i just had a cyano bloom lasting abt 1 mth-Gone after using seachem phosguard,approx 2 bottles of 150g,stopped dry foods & 2 water changes, Diatom blooms last half of that(this one is easy, just direct strong flow at it). Thanks AT, was wondering if u used back your old sand.

so i scrap the old. i mean i can kill it off.

had to dig up this thread cause i got a DSB question, i'm going to transfer everything,re-setup in a different location in a 4x2x2 & sump 3x1.5x1.5. Size will be slightly larger than now but i'm going for a DSB, so Firstly, i have 20kg of river sand(quartz) in my storeroom unused(its sugar fine size)- i intend to use this as the bottom layer abt 1"(i also have some silica beach sand which i will mix here) & covered with No.1(maybe another 3" or more) & maybe a sprinkle of bigger pieces on top. this will be in the main tank. My sump has a refugium area of 16"x18"x12"(water height). -Here's the question: should i use back my old substrate(should be abt 5yrs old)? it has accumulated a ton of crap & i have watched rocks cycled into sand. The bed is very alive & worm tunnels can be seen,not to mention my scooter blenny eats off this plate everyday. If i re-use it, should i wash it? its really damn dirty. If i don't & i save the fauna, i'm 100% sure a diatom & cyano bloom will come within 2 weeks(i think the dormant cells are all there)not to mention the detrius settling everywhere. Should i just go with new & sprinkle abt 3kg to jump start new substrate,or do i reuse everything raw. There are pros & cons, someone pls?

If its around medium size it won't. Its not very active either as long as u provide some cover for it to hide against. LR (which either come with the macro algae-or by itself). i also thinkin of it- so mine is now in a 2ft with some algae & rocks.Amphipod population still strong.

?oooooooh yeh....u need to test PH- its one of the major elements in SW,even for fish only. hmmm buffers,kH or PH?(same answer, u need to maintain healthy levels) the point of dosing is to maintain adequate levels. Over Dosing on some chemicals can kill. Do u also check salinity? & all the basic parameters? & i'm pretty sure u need to check calcium levels before dosing,at least know if u need to dose or not/or when- otherwise u r in the dark. This is natural seawater composition: seawater @3.5% salinity (AT u got any idea if u could post up this table somewhere for reference?) CKpeh- Don't get confused by the minor elements like platinum/Thallium etc...(this is just a detailed break down in raw seawater) Here's some reading below to do on parameters & additives> reefkeepers faq

i know that one, its those cotton tap bags right?' same material as coconut squeeze bags & as me and phang have already found out the hard way- they disintegrate over time in SW. i tried both(tap & coconut). For me it took abt 2-3wks before cotton breaks down (by bacteria i guess). have u thought of a spray bar made from same diameter PVC pipe? drill some 1cm holes to allow ample flow straight onto floss.

all depends on the mails i sent today to a few mail-order places. its 2lbs per item so freight will be a killer....& i think final price more or less the same as chanbi quoted.

yep, cheap cause item is ready to plug & play but this model can only take flowrates from 50gph to 1400gph. oops- forgot a point: The inlet(bottom) & outlet(the top 2) hole size is 3/4"

A relative newcomer in the wave making industry. just read a review on it, its so new not many ppl have tried it. It runs on your return line from sump(or a close circuit),alternating return flow between 2 outputs- duration depends on pump but is within seconds. Same price as the Reeftec, US$50. Here is a working model by lunchbucket@on his US webpage: SCWD in Motion Before i get flooded with pm's, i have not decided to get a reeftec or Squid yet. still thinkin hard.

Do u mean keeping adults alive or hatching then raising nauplii? For adults they can be kept alive in a container stored in the fridge. This will allow up to 3days, they start to die off by the 4th(without feeding). If u want to raise baby brine shrimp to the first week(i think instar II stage) u will need food. A round container with no dead spots & ample water volume to brine shrimp mass will be best. u can keep brine shrimp alive on baker's yeast(NTUC $1.50 for a box contains 5 packs). quarter teaspoon mix with tap water to feed abt 4ltr culture. i say keep alive cause yeast has no nutrition benefits- thus the brine shrimp will be empty when fed to fishes. i raise nauplii on phytoplankton & Spirulina Powder.

wat if the propeller of spades idea can be connected straight to a powerhead's shaft? would it work? wat i'm trying to get at is a sort of underwater overhead filter motor running sideways. using a liquid powerhead with a little longer shaft & small propeller. only how to keep shaft in position! i wonder. would one of those small PC fans(processor chip fan)conneted to a shaft do-or just the powerheads standard one? since stopping & starting like the reeftec will burn out motor- i guess running it 4-6hrs a day will be ok right? i got a powerhead that stops when it gets hot(abt 1-2hr), then starts again when it cools. kinda useless as a filter. rated 1200 l/hr, got it free.

something new everyday: Leonard Ho Zooxanthellae March 8, 1998 The topic tonight: zooxanthellae. I will attempt to be as in depth as possible in the alloted time. I found this topic very difficult to approach because of the varying degree of knowledge amongst hobbyist about zooxanthellae. Most everyone knows zooxanthellae are the associated algae found within corals. But more important then what they are is how and why they benefit their symbiotic hosts. Actually, the scientific understanding of zooxanthellae is still rather rudimentary. There are still many unanswered questions. Tonight, I'll present some of the presently known facts and leading theories regarding zooxanthellae. I shall begin with a few fundamental backround information. Zooxanthellae: term for any dinoflagellates which participate in symbiosis with coral, clams, or sponges. Dinoflagellates are unicellular organisms of the Kingdom Protista. There are numerous different species. Some obtain energy and carbon needs solely from ingestion of organic sources (animal like chemoheterotrophs) Other dinoflagellates obtain their sole energy requirements through photosythesis and carbon through CO2 (plant like photoautotrophs). Zooxanthellae are photoautotrophic dinoflagellates. Zooxanthellae are brownish gold in color (best color for photosynthetic spectral absorption). They are of genus Symbiodinium, and unknown number of species exists. Zooxanthellae are slightly modified dinoflagellates. They occur independently in open water where they solely exists without a host, carrying on photosynthesis and taking from the water whatever is required for life processes. Chemoreception seems to be one way of locating host corals. .Upon entering corals, they lose their motility by dropping their two flagella. Flagella are protein based projections attached to its cell wall which spins like a rotor to propel the dinoflagellates in open water. Zooxanthellae enter corals through ingestion by the coral's polyps. Once within, they are incorporated within the second tissue layer (the gastroderm) where they proceed with their photosynthesis. How they evade digestion by corals is uncertain. In coral species that produce planulae, the zooxanthellae are passed on by the parents to offsring. In layments terms, the baby coral was given zooxanthellae by its parents. In asexual reproduction (e.g. budding, binary fission, etc.) zooxanthellae are obviously present in offspring. In species that broadcast spawn, the planulae take zooxanthellae from the water during their meroplanktonic stage or usually shortly after settling. The reason why broadcast spawn do not carry zooxanthellae from their parents is the the offsprings travel great distances before settling. Broadcasting is used for species dispersal, and because the offspring is dispersed over varying locations, they ingest zooxanthellae that match the light conditions of any given location. Clams of the genus Tridacna also participate with zooxanthellae in symbiosis, but in a completely different manner then do corals. The digestive system of Tridacnas are highly modified/simplified in order to accommodate this symbiosis. Zooxanthellae are taken up by Tridacnas within the first 8 days following fertilization. The zooxanthellae enters via the gills, then travels through a unique symbiont channel system where they are then carried to tubules nodes in the mantle (Norton). There is a dissenting hypothesis that states the zooxanthellae reside in the clam's bloodlymph (Yonge). The orientation of Tridacna clams, as I'm sure you are aware of, is modified and very unique as well. This genus rotates its body 180 degree with respect to its shell, always exposing its zooxanthellae-rich mantle up towards the light. The exact benefits of zooxanthellae are not known, but here are the some of dominant, developed hypothesis: Zooxanthellae provide a possible nutrient source and subsequently facilitates the excretory processes of hermatypic corals. This is an example of mutualistic symbiosis (a symbiosis in which both parties benefit). Through permeases, the zooxanthellae can transport as much as 98% of it's photosynthetic byproducts through its plasma membrane to the coral. Permease are specific enzymes that permit certain compounds (e.g. sugars, amino acids) to travel in and out of cells. Generally, the cell itself regulates the importation and exportation of nutrient/waste by activating specific enzymes to allow intake/expulsion of certain compounds. Corals may facilitate zooxanthellae's transportation of photosynthetic byproducts by "donating" its own enyzmes to the zooxanthellae that make the zooxanthellae "leaky" (as described in TRA). In this manner, corals are able to obtain the necessary components for their sustenance and growth such as amino acids, fatty acids, and carbohydrates from the zooxanthellae. Likewise, zooxanthellae require certain components to carry on photosynthesis. Aside from protection from predation, the zooxanthellae's other main benefit is that it gathers necessary ingredients to carry on it's photosynthesis and growth. In doing so, it consequently assists coral excretory processes as well. CO2 would be the first ingredient that comes to mind. Zooxanthellae receive a constant supply of CO2 as a result of the coral's respiration, and in turn the coral receives O2 (for respiration) from the byproduct of photosynthesis performed by zooxanthellae. A second hypothesized benefit of CO2 removal by zooxanthellae is that chemical reactions are driven towards calcification in corals, thus improving coral skeletal growth. CO2 removal by zooxanthellae is hypothesized as the primary event responsible for increased growth in corals containing zooxanthellae (Goreau and Goreau). Zooxanthellae also removes phosphorous in form of phosphate from corals, benefiting both coral and zooxanthellae. There are several experiments done to indicate phosphate removal by zooxanthellae does occur. Test have shown that ahermatypic corals (those that do not contain zooxanthellae) excrete significantly more phosphate then do corals hermatypic corals. (Yonge and Nicholls) In a separate test, Tridacnas within a sealed container depleted all the phosphorous within the water, while Spondylus, a clam genus lacking zooxanthellae, did not. (Younge) Zooxanthellae need phosphate (like true plants) to grow and reproduce. Thus, it is self evident zooxanthellae benefit from the phosphate corals produce as waste products. Corals likewise benefit. CaCO3 precipitation can be shown to be inhibited by organic phosphate. In recent years phosphate has been shown to be a major inhibitor on the surface of crystals. Aragonite, the crystal form of CaCO3, is therefore inhibited by phosphate and deposition of calcium carbonate as the coral's skeletal matrix (in form of aragonite in corals) is greatly hindered. So, to summarize, because the zooxanthellae actively remove phosphate from within and surrounding the coral, calcification is enhanced, and corals, by theory and through observation, grow at increased rates. Another benefit of this remarkable symbiosis is that zooxanthellae aid lipgenesis (formation of lipids) in corals. 1/3 of the dry weight of corals and anemones is lipds, which indicatates that it is probably a primary energy source for corals. Corals have been demostrated to greatly elevate lip synthesis in presence of light. Zooxanthellae use acetate (oxidized fatty acids) to form lipids. The source of the acetate? The corals. Corals, by ingestion of food (e.g. microplankton), intake fatty acids which they oxidize in the process of digestion. This acetate then converted to a narrow spectrum of saturated fatty acids and exported to zooxanthellae as energy source for photosynthesis, who then convert the these fatty acids to lipds which are recycled to the coral as their energy source. whew So, to sum it all up in one sentence (albeit long sentence), within this symbiosis, there exists a beautiful, complex recycling of available nutrients between coral/clam and zooxanthellae in a nutrient-poor reef setting, ensuring the survival of both. This is about as tight as any relational interdependency between animals (i.e. corals) and plants (i.e. zooxanthellae). Remarkable, wouldn't you agree?

i can't be sure abt those bubbles, my guess and what i encountered(& could be wrong) is either the bubbles come from cyano algae forming on the LR & substrate or it could be nitrogen bubbles,made from bacteria in the substrate using up nitrates or organics & the gas as a by product builds up at the substrate surface. Either way- something to do with a increase in light. i've had them before- but no major disaster came from it. i just rake thru the sand to release, & i never figured out what was the gas in those bubbles cause it only lasted a week or 2. read below for zooxanthellae explanation:

AT- which video? i didn't see! since feeding phyto & rotifiers i have a bloom of sorts & discovered among other creepy crawlies some nudis-light brown/spiky eating algae on my front/side & back glass. The biggest only abt 4mm so i can't focus cam on it yet(mine's a mavica so i'm still in the stone age of digicam). i have a range of 2mm-4mm abt 4pcs so far. could be Berghia Verrucicornis but can't tell till they get bigger(the spike look the same but colour different), although seems no harm as they eat only algae for now. found some eggs laid in a crescent shape, could be from them or could be from some other weird snails i'm beginning to see. Have to be careful when cleaning glass nowadays.