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10/10/14 – What I talk about when I talk about LFS FTS@10/10/14 4 months back to reefing after an absent of 7 years and during these four months I have been visiting quite a number of LFS, I guess it is time to pen down the experience and feedback I have with various LFS. As I am staying in northeast, most of the LFS that I visit regularly (> 1 visit per week) are those located at east/ central. Thus a word of caution, what coming up next are based on my personal experience and might not coincide with your view of a particular LFS (read: supporter of respective LFS please do not flame me loh). And of course, the list is bias lah. NG couples Have been buying thingy from them since they just started their business 8/ 9 years back. Items on their selves are very very reasonably priced. AC, GFO, salt, etc basically all my replenish-able items are from them (except those brands that they do not carry). LS wise (like ah beng), gems are hard to come by but the normal stable are priced very nicely. Both the boss and lady boss are chatty (not pushy) and are willing to share their business experience. A good place for newbies to know the hobby and not feel intimidated. I just hope that they have better white light in their tanks so that I can stop bringing my own torch when I go there. And yes, they need to have at least a NET machine loh. Ah beng Love Ah beng for the availability of the “normal” LS. It is in a way a nutc to me - you know the normal stuff that you want to buy will always be there. Price wise I believe they don’t practice two-tiers pricing i.e. chopper not in used and price is fair. Staff is almost always friendly and will answer my questions happily. As the LS turnover at ah beng is one of the highest (in my view, it is the highest) in the market, fishes available in the shop might not necessary be of the best condition so you will need to be prepared and willing to put in just that extra bit of attention and care when buying LS from them. Also, BYO torch for coral viewing. Iwarna Iwarna has the biggest selection of SPS/ LPS among the three. There are gem from time to time available here and visiting them is always a refreshing experience to see those gem. It is also the only LFS in paris ris fish farm selling reef nutrition and doctor g refrigerated liquid food. LS Price wise I would say normal item is market rate while gem is priced at… well, to each his own (pocket) I guess. Worker is friendly so is the lady boss too, opening hour is the earliest in all marine LFS, 7 am in the morning (just nice for me before going to my game). Aquamarin Love the two huge DT at their door steps. I always advice newbies who does not know which type of tank they wanna have to pay a visit to aquamarin. If the SPS tank Wow you more, then you are a SPS guy. On the other hand, if the LPS tank Wow you more, then that's for you. Availability of LS can be very limited at times as most SPS/ LPS are gone few days within a shipment and somehow the shipments are coming in lesser frequency nowadays. But hey, it is the only air con LFS that are selling both fish and coral so no complaint there. GO Visited them 4/ 5 times in the last two months, most of the trips were on day(s) after their shipment. Bought corals on most of the trips. They have a very good selection of corals (SPS/ LPS) for every shipment. Price wise I cannot confidently say that there is no two tiers pricing as the workers seems reluctant to quote price for individually coral but would prefer me to choose a few corals and quote me a bundle price. Also the price is not labelled anyway on the tank. Nice shop nice coral, will continue to buy from them but I guess it is not a place to form a long mutual relationship (at least not to me) TFC As TFC is just across the road from FNM mini shop, I normally visit them both at one go. TFC has a nice shallow display tank and an impressive FOWLF DT and the boss is also very friendly. From what I observed, they are selling more of fishes than coral. The fishes are nice and healthy but the frequent ah hoc closing of the shop really disturbed the chance of me visiting and buying LS from them. Sealife Sealife used to be a much bigger player with a lot more tanks at their old location, their current shop is just too small compare to the previous shop. Visited them quite a few time but stopped doing so after driving all the way there and ended up disappointed with the limited LS available there. For bros staying nearer to them, it might still worth visiting them, they are after all, an old established brand in marine scene. Jireh Business environment is difficult nowadays, especially so for LFS. So I guess if I have nothing good to say about a particular LFS, I better don’t say anything at all. I have nothing to say about Jireh. That all from my part, welcome to add in your experience with other LFS Lastly some new addition to the family: Mini Gonio Monti Haha, finding ways to take top view without reflection from the LED

Bro, ah beng seling LR at $7. Also, if you tank is delivery next tues, you wont need to have all LR ready by then cos the normal cycling will take 4-8 weeks to complete so you can still add LR during the period. LR forms the basic structure of how your tank looks so it is important to choose the shape carefully and to your liking lah [emoji41]

Bro, if possible avoid air stone protein skimmer... they are only better than not using one...

[emoji123] well said. But just to add on, protein skimmer does not remove NO3, they just physically remove organic waste from the water before they kanna denitrify to become NO3.

I mean dont put biohome, use the space for bio pellets...

Bro have you try bio-sphere or np bio pellet XL? I am also using 1.3kg of biohomme in my 2*1*1 tank. Somehow i find that inch to inch, biohomme is not that effective compare to the mentioned two...

Sure bro. You might also want to consider dosing bateria to speed thing up and to reduce NO3.

Purple queen is really nice in any tank loh. Hand itchy itchy ing~

Bad move to add in LS so soon ah. Once your coral starts to die off, your water parameters will swing more and you wont be able to tell what is the cause... plus very soon you will need to fight itch liao. Your LS is appearing fine (for now) only because your water is new, not because your bio filter is ready to handle them. Harsh word, but keeping new fish alive and healthy is not given, even to old bird loh.

Thanks a lot bro. Will go google its requirement.

Thanks bro, i am refering to this long horizontal orange strip fellow

Any bro can id the white angel with orange strip ?

Up for the small HOB

Day six since i got the lemonpeel... out of all food (four diff pellets and one flake, artic pod, pod max) i throw in... she decided to eat... doctor g anti parasites caviar... ok, better than only eating frozen mysis and brine shrimp

If it is hairy... 99% of the time it is a bad guy...

I got only three lyretail. Bro i suggest you slowly train them to eat pellets cos frozen food can really foul the water fast. I know it first hand [emoji23] From what i observed, the first feeding of the day has the highest chance of getting them to eat whatever you throw in so i normally throw in doctor g anti parasites caviar... which i think all my fishes was like *^/#@/&*(&...

It seems like your cycling process is not started yet. Try do some WC and test for water parameters again. Also, what brand of tester are you using?

Wah bro, how many anthais you have? I thot four feeding daily should be adequate liao.

Wah. That is a long list of fish at ah beng.

I also newbie... [emoji317]

Dragonnet might just hide under the rock when sees the giant hand [emoji317] then the rest of the fish very happy dont need to share food

For dragonnet? But i guess 99% of the henry reefgourmet will be eaten by the other fish, if at all (dragonnet is slow swimmer)...

start by doing water change on your DT...

I see but five anthias would require quite a sum of frequence feeding too.[emoji27]

Wah bro, that an impressive list. But why not some tangs?