bawater

Your tank is in its 2nd month, algae outbreak is also part and parcel of young tanks- during the 1st yr is when the tank adjusts to its environment and bioload. 95% of new tanks will get cyano/hair or some kind of algae within the first year. This is the period that you need to go slow. Nobody said it would be instant. You made something out of a empty glass box but you can help take off the load by employing a better skimmer- something that can skim twice your volume.(this would be because of feeding...that you have to do).You may also want to employ some chemical filters like polyfilter or a phosphate media constantly. Your DSB at 1/2" will not do anything so u can only count the 4"area-and it will take nearly a yr for it to actually mature. Although i don't know what is in the coralife target feed. No i don't think you are over feeding. No the moonlight will not increase algae growth. Budget: look into a better skimmer and a PO4 test kit. Excess budget: look into a hang on refugium which may help.

That's the whole reason for Sgreefs.And to push the hobby into the future by home propagation and breeding projects till one day there will be no need for wild collections . (with the amount of pollution now,worldwide bleaching...there will be no more reefs in 50yrs) where were you when nemo started, it caused more deaths than anything else in the hobby. LFS giving the wrong advise etc... and BTW, sentosa has already come under public scrutiny for it's dolphins being kept and forced to do tricks in captivity . And they don't do it for free as public information u know. To a point the statement is true for those who keep going the buy,die,buy,die way . a little more knowledge will stop that and that's the whole point. Answering an anger question with an anger answer makes no sense..and turns into flames. i don't think u guys need to get uptight abt these questions or comments...in the months or years to come in this hobby you will get this thrown to you many many times by ppl who don't understand Or know how many thousands you spent trying to provide the best for them or sleepless nights when something goes wrong. Don't let this get blown up into another bickering issue. rgds

*Reef buffer will raise the pH of your reef system to 8.3 without overshooting and is a blended product . It can also be used to raise alkalinity when pH is not a problem. Purple label. *Marine Buffer is mainly used for fish only tanks. Its an orange label. This product may raise pH to higher levels than 8.3 The difference is what ingredients they blend or use in the product-that's all.

i dunno abt calcium chloride prices- $10 kalk for 500g is available at many LFS at the moment but its just for a limited period . Reefez announcement Reefez is sold at bio-ocean and many other shops at this price for the month of NOV/DEC. The grade is pretty high .Apart from the GCE LAB grade calcium hydroxide(not sold in LFS) no other kalk makers are willing to give a high % rating on its ingredients. 90% and above is pretty pure and reefez states 96%(GCE is 97%). (the higher % means there is less of other things in it like heavy metals,other chemicals,dead bodies,old houses,etc) And there is no 100% pure calcium hydroxide sold to the hobby.

its a mini ecosystem and its alive. or should i say we try to make water in a glass box into a living community. there are many living things that you see and there are many more that you don't. The major filtration players are bacteria. Messing with the water parameters needs to be done gradually- a sharp increase in anything will stress the animals. which is the reason for dripping kalkwasser . It is a balanced solution which will maintain all 3 (pH,Alk and calc. if used correct*) . Saturated limewater will have a ph of 12 to 14 .this is why pouring in the mixture in large amounts will raise pH almost instantly. If something is out of line and needs to be individually raised e.g pH,alk,Calc.,magnesium then there are buffer products on the shelf that will do it which are reef safe. Most of us will need these sooner or later because some things are used up faster then others. Always have a test kit for something you want to add and follow the written instructions as it can be overdosed.

That means that you will be using calcium chloride as your main calcium supplement. 'YES' there will be problems in future. 'YES' it does have a side effect. (but its not heavy metals) Calcium alone is not enough, because the availability of carbonate mostly depends upon pH and alkalinity. Skeletal growth can still take place if alkalinity is high, and the calcium concentration is much lower than that of sea water. However, if both are low, these calcareous animals and plants do very poorly and little growth occurs. The bottom line is that calcium, carbonate, pH and alkalinity all relate to one another. To attain a thriving reef all of these elements apply, not just calcium by itself. Anhydrous calcium chloride can be used on occasion, to help boost Ca levels back up to the range you desire. Then the clear solution of calcium hydroxide(kalk) should be used to help maintain these levels. In most situations, the Ca levels will fall slowly over time and require another boost of the anhydrous calcium chloride to return to the range desired. Always use anhydrous calcium chloride with care and sparingly, overuse can be disastrous to your tank. The use of Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) is known to cause problems with alkalinity (provable by balancing the relevant chemical reactions occurring in the tank when CaCl2 is added). Still, CaCl2 is occasionally useful to repair serious low calcium levels. so in short- calcium chloride can be used as a booster(just to raise your levels to desired) with no major side effects but used constantly will leave you spending more time balancing your ALK(& when u mess with these 2 parameters you pH will also be affected)...it will be like playing with a yoyo or see-saw. i'm not saying you shouldn't use it, just know what it is and how to use it and you will not encounter problems. kalkwasser in depth

moving this from reviews so you get better answers.

That's a question,not a Review. moving....

moving out of reviews.....>

moved

Its a question, not a review. Moved

Not a review, moved

Not a review, moved.

moved it here

You will always here this: Always get a test kit to see if you really need to dose. You may not need it and in fact OVERDOSE. Because its so true...and its amazing how much ppl can add without testing how much to dose in the first place. with regards to the bottle you have, on the seachem site it states that "It has a pH of 8.2, is neither acidic nor caustic, and is based on a gluconate polymer demonstrated to be safe, effective, and avidly utilized by corals. It also contains a proportionate amount of gluconate strontium." or more precisely polygluconate The reason gluconate is used is that it keeps the calcium to solution to higher concentrations than possible without it. What happend to this gluconate when you add it to the reef system? Most likely it is just metabolised by processing organisms. Seachem states on their site that it is a carbon source, assisting in denitrification. Which would make sense, bacteria could use it as a carbon source and accelerate the rate of nutrient processing. Though it may not have that much of an effect compared to the other carbon sources that are present in a well feed aquarium and may actually be excess. Eric Borneman had some things to say about how gluconate will be utilised in the aquarium: Gluconate is the salt of gluconic acid, if I recall? Yes, we do have a glucose derivative. As far as reactions go, obviously sugars can be oxidized, reduced, cleaved, etc., although glucose is pretty stable. They are subject to enzyme attack, and with all the acids, bases and microbes in the tank, I would not want to venture a guess. I would imagine that, barring the many, bacteria would be the first to take up any sugar molecules. I would also imagine that the facultative aerobes and anaerobes would be the ones to benefit most. Bacteria phosphorylate sugars as they cross the cell membrane and can then use it in the respiration. Sugars are used by fermenters and in glycolysis. Animals, plants and bacteria can all utlize the sugar source. polygluconate is a derivative of glucose and would be rapidly used up by bacteria in the reef aquarium. And as whether to use in your aquarium, the performance is variable. There are some who insist it works wonders, and others who think that it causes algae blooms. It depends on individual systems. For a quick fix- should be fine but you should consider something more balanced for long term usage. Once you have your initial calcium or alk levels, you can then dose exact amounts to reach target levels - dosing details are always on the bottle. agak agak does not count. Here's a reef chemistry dosage calculator hope it helps

i though 1000 pixel pics were big...2052 pixels takes the cake you need to resize and repost thanks

yep, for sticking frags between rocks & still be able to move them later. plastic wall plugs,golf tees,rose holders like this: plastic reef plugs this is what it looks like with frags: frags on egg crate which is ok on little acros but for anything 1 inch thick- its a problem in balancing. e.g top heavy... for bigger maybe a small 13mm pvc pipe section would be better but uglier.

nope,bro i want to mould a dildo shape and stick an encrusting frag on it would be interesting. seriously, i'm just looking for a mounting alternative to agrocrete. Tanzy ,calcium oxide aka quicklime? hmmm...mixing your recipe gives me motar but it may still erode being submerged long term. i'll see if i can get hold of a small amount to try. cheers Lyz, i never mention bonding using plaster - more for making molds. AT did a review on wessbond ages ago and the most expensive i've seen it sold is $5. Aquapatch or u can use superglue for small cuttings which is only $2 ...but i always end up sticking my fingers together.

don't really like the rocks,hard to shape. most probably have to carry on using them. cheers

thanks ,that's what i needed. had a feeling it would crumble.

i already use the wessbond at $3.80 per roll. pretty ex$ to make plugs out of it (i can get 1 big plug or abt 3 small plugs out of it)to make Plugs abt the size of small coffee cup base. using it to stick frags already uses up a lot. my main concern is that if they degrade or crumble then plaster is of no use to mount anything. and on to the next alternative. i also used up all my available small pieces of dead rock and any coral skeletons(branching type) i could scrounge.

I am out of space on the LR, i have resorted to mounting them on egg crates and hanging them- but i only have space for abt 5 more of these eggcrate hangers. so looking into some plugs...only problem is the material used for them? not only to mount sps, but also sea whips and alveopora. Considering Plaster of Paris as the medium (since it is food safe and used in soyabean curd and other soya products).Its also common and easy to get. i found the composition of it- 1st question: is calcium sulfate/calcium sulfate dihydrate reef safe? Normal cement has too much heavy metals and other stuff in it for me to consider for long term usage. >I learned that Plaster of Paris is partially hydrated calcium sulfate, I found a link where an online enclyclopedia refers to Plaster of Paris as gypsum. Gypsum is the fully hydrated form of calcium sulfate, which has a chemical formula of Ca2SO4*2H2O. Plaster of Paris is partially hydrated calcium sulfate, with a chemical formula of Ca2SO4*1/2H2O. When water is added to calcium sulfate, the calcium sulfate reacts with it to form calcium sulfate dihydrate. The dihydrate molecule is larger and chemically more stable than the calcium hydrate without the water of hydration (*nH2o). Because it is more stable, it gives off heat (the reaction is exothermic). Larger crystals form which grow into each other. It is the interlocking of these crystals together which causes the slurry to harden into solid plaster. Manufacturers of Plaster of Paris use gypsum mined from the ground as a starting material, then heat it to drive off some of the hydrated water. The chemistry of gypsum is not that much different from the chemistry of cement. Gypsum is a sedimentary rock, which settled through the evaporation of sea water trapped in lagoons. According to the nature of its impurities, gypsum can show various colors, ranging from white to brown, yellow, gray and pink. assuming that it is safe (since its good enough for me to eat....should be safe enough for my tank) 2nd question: i think those FW weekend food blocks are made from plaster but they disintegrate ...so will my plugs degrade into powder within weeks?

Safely , anything for 4ft and above just give it a $1000 per foot price tag. This will include all the equipment,liverocks for start up.(maybe a little leftover for livestock too) This also means you do the setup yourself and get to choose good equipment while doing so. Going for certain second hand equipments e.g MH light sets,chillers and maybe a 2nd hand high end skimmer will save some costs and lower the overall budget.

sure ;)its the more expensive method, but you will wonder why u spend so much on food...and slowly start to leave item by item out after some months when it runs out(which is the time needed for your system to get used to the additional input and you get to see the benefits). You can get everything within the lavender/balestier area and armed with $100 (i didn't say it was cheap but it will last 2 or 3 mths) >a bottle of DT (OP) >frozen zooplankton (PR) >live rotifers (watercircle) or replace with golden pearls -rotifer size* Reborn: >golden pearls *rotifer size >MBF range of foods abt $5 each - mysis,brine shrimp,squid, prawn meat,mussel,fish eggs (comes in the mix packs). you are spoiled for choice in the range of MBF available, they also have 2 kinds of krill,silverfish,red/green frozen plankton and a few other kind- only as deep as your pockets can go. >brine shrimp eggs (hatch yourself)

maybe the LFS usually sells plastic corals. In the wild , corals feed everyday .but they also get a 100% water change abt every 2 mins. The problem is that you need to balance your filtration to your feeding, the more export you can do- the more input you can have. Another important element is the food chain- there is no way u can reproduce the range and variety of food sizes and nutrition in the home tank but You can use selective feeding and pick a range of foods within 2microns(0.02mm) to 1,000microns(1mm) and rotate the feeding. What u feed depends on what you keep. Anything uneaten will decay and lead to water problems. i feed: 1ltr of phytoplankton 5 days a week (2 days rest) currently 2 strains of micro algae- hopefully more in future. (2 microns & 6 microns) 10-20ml of frozen zooplankton a week. (mixture range 1-1000microns) 4ltr volume of live rotifers 3 times a week.(100-150microns) Fish food mixture that contains> mysis shrimp,brine shrimp,squid,prawn,mussels,lobster eggs,fish eggs,cyclops-eze,dried hawaiian spirulina powder(60 microns). baby brine shrimp once a month (400-600microns) Just started Seachem reef plus- amino acids and trace metal mixture. *The fish food is not blended- its frozen and grated or finely chopped. serves both fishes like anthias,clowns to tangs and meat eating corals like brains. You know how much nutrients the above products produce?-without proper export you will end up with a beautiful silky maroon cyano covered tank. i run a DSB, 2x skimmers, a 1x2ft refugium,500g of contraphos or rowaphos and 1 or 2 polyfilter pads constantly. No floss,no bio balls or anything else that can trap detrius. After 11mths(from Jan to Nov) of tweaking i have finally made the balance and read zero NO3 and zero PO4. It wasn't fun dealing with the toothing problems(trust me ! it comes one after another)- but great joy in feeding and watching damaged corals recover.