Kalib

I would suggest treating it as a new tank and cycle for around 1month before introducing any fish. Thats what i did when i setup my 4x2x2 using liverocks from my old tank.

Chances are, you will not experienced an ammonia spike but IMO, its better to play safe by placing a piece of market prawn into the tank and see if it sets of a cycle.

I think i get what you mean but there is still a likelihood water can find its way out from another opening if you just silicone 1 side from the outside. Water can seep out from the inside and flow along the siliconed edge and leak outside.

If you want to maximize your chances of success, I would suggest siliconing all 4 sides(or at least 3 sides as you have equipment mounted on 1 of the sides and maybe troublesome to dismantle and silicone the edge) rather than just 1 side as it can be a hairline leak and very hard to determine accurately the source of the leakage. Applying silicone from the outside is not going to be as effective as siliconing from the inside as the leakage is from inside the tank. Water may still find its way out from another hairline crack elsewhere.

You can either buy it from the LFS(Seachem Garlic Guard) or make your own by squashing some garlic and mixing the juice with tank water.

Yup, I run both lights simultaneously from around evening till midnight.

Your welcome. But this is a juvenile, the adult colours are dull compared to what you have now.

I'm using just 2x30W FL(Arcadia tubes) for my 4ft FOWLR setup. I just leave my lights on for 6.5hrs for the actinic and 5.5hrs for the white, I have 1 white tube and 1 actinic that simulates dusk and dawn. It comes on 30mins before the white tube comes on and goes off 30mins after the white tube goes off.

I think you would have to silicone the entire perimeter on top instead of just that one spot as you may not have covered the leak. I ever had a similar 2ft tank leak on me from the base, i added a layer of silicone around the entire perimeter of the base and it never leaked again.

I think its the Fire Damsel(Neoglyphidodon crossi). http://fins.actwin.com/species/index.php?t=9&i=509

Sharing some pics of my sump, running a Reef Octopus NW150(i think) skimmer. Overall view: Filter compartment:

I would advise against using artificial corals, you would need to clean them regularly otherwise they will end up being overgrown by nuisance algae.

There's no freshwater side in this forum as this is a saltwater aquaria forum. I'm not sure if anyone is able to help here as Yamato shrimps are freshwater shrimps, would be better to search for a freshwater aquaria forum instead.

I would advise against re-using the water as we don't know what's in the arowana water. It may contain substances that could cause problems to marine fish. You will still have to go through the cycling process all over again as saltwater aquarium is totally different from freshwater aquarium.

Nori is dried seaweed, can find at supermarket. Either the dried type for yong tau foo or sushi nori can be used. Just make sure there are no additives(like flavouring) added.

If evaporation is very little, you can wait till a little bit more water evaporates before topping up. The fishes hiding behind the skimmer may have nothing to do with water flow. They could be using the skimmer as a form of shelter, like how LR serves as a shelter for the fish. Are you using a hang-on filter? From the picture looks like your using one and it is unlikely that the flow from it will be too high for the fishes, you can leave it fully open to improve gaseous exchange. For now, there won't be problems for the hermit crab but it would eventually need a new shell, you can pickup shells from the beach if you can find any. Just make sure you clean them thouroughly, there's a spotlight outlet at plaza singapura.

You should mix the stresszyme with tapwater prior to adding into the tank to top-up the evaporated water otherwise you'll be wasting the chemical. Once you add the water into the tank, you would have to treat the entire volume of the tank for chlorine, rather than just the amount of water that your topping up. Firefish in general accept a wide variety of aquarium fare, including pellets, live foods and flakes. From the pictures you've posted, you don't seem to have a wavemaker/powerhead to circulate water in the tank. You should add one as it helps improve aeration and benefits the marine tank in general. The water movement may trigger the firefish to feed as well, assuming poor water quality isn't causing it to not eat. Firefish feed from the water column and like to chase bits of food being moved about by the wavemaker/powerhead. Your procedure for water change is fine but if your concerned that pouring direct from the pail is too fast, you can use a mug or small pail to scoop the seawater and pour it gently into the tank. By the way, you should lookout to add some empty shells into the tank for your hermit crab. It will eventually outgrow its current shell and need a new home. I heard you can get shells from Spotlight.

Do you use any anti-chloramine(make sure it can be used for marine setups) to treat tapwater prior to use? The chloramine in tapwater is toxic to the livestock in our aquariums. It would be good to check the salinity of the sewater and adjust accordingly if its too high/low. Tapwater(treated) can be added to dilute the water and make it less salty. ANN refers to ammonia, nitrite, nitrate cycle. Here are some easier fish you can try, offhand i can think of these few: - Cardinalfish - Firefish - Bicolor Dottyback(Caution: Can get aggressive) - Six-line wrasse(Caution: Can get aggressive) Another thing to take note is the choosing of fish. Some fish are in a bad shape(some arrive in a poor condition) at the LFS and at times, the entire batch is in poor shape and doomed to die. Its good to observe the general health of the fishes in the tank(and connected tanks) before you decide on the purchase. I usually spend some time observing the fish for any signs of ill health and make sure it is alert and aware of the surroundings. If a few individuals of a particular batch of fish of the same specie don't do well, it maybe a good move to avoid getting any fish of the same specie from that batch as sometimes when one fish don't do well, the rest generally follow and die.

Thanks for the compliments everyone, just doing my bit to help. For aerating the seawater part, from what i know, so long as your storing it you should keep it aerated. If you use an airpump, do cover the container properly as the bubbling will cause saltwater to splash out and result in salt crystals forming outside the container. The salt spray will damage nearby electrical/metallic items. The charcoal bag might be causing problems also, there is charcoal for freshwater and saltwater use. Do check that your using charcoal that can be used in saltwater systems.

Its unusual for prawns to be jumping like mad, it might be something in the room is spooking the prawns. Its possible you may not be acclimatizing the fish properly or there's a water quality problem. Its unusual to lose so many clowns as they do well in marine aquariums in general. Some of the species you bought are difficult to keep, better to attempt them only when you've understood their needs and able to provide for them: - Anthias, depending on which specie, can be very difficult to keep and die easily. They need many feedings a day to thrive. - Ah goh goh, if i'm not wrong is the clown sweetlips. These get very big and best kept in a 6ft tank or larger IMO. From what i've read, these fish fare very poorly as well. - Some gobies are sand sifters and don't eat typical aquarium food. They only consume the critters in the sandbed by scooping up mouthful of sand and filtering these critters out. These fish can starve over time in a 2ft tank, better kept in a much larger aquarium. This is definitely one of the causes of your problems. Adding 5 fishes to a 2ft tank is way too many fishes, I would recommend no more than 1-2fishes at a go. Between each addition, you should give a gap of 2-3weeks at least to give the bacteria time to multiply for them to handle the new bioload.Adding 5 fishes will definitely cause an ammonia and nitrite spike(very likely at levels sufficient to cause problems) as the bioload increase is too sudden and the bacteria cannot cope immediately. Adding only 1-2fishes at a go helps to minimize the impact of an increase in bioload. The journey is far, but its not worthwhile if your losing your fish. This wastes both your money and the lives of the fishes. In general, there is no need to test for ammonia/nitrite again after cycling unless you suspect there's a problem with the water quality and need to monitor it. You may want to consider buying your natural seawater from another LFS or make your own artificial seawater. Unless your doing too large a water change(more than 50%), its unusual to have fish dying during the water change. Do you keep the water aerated? From what i read, you need to keep natural seawater aerated. I can't really remember the reason at this moment, but it is something along the lines of keeping it from going stale. The red marks and webby thing sound very much like symptoms of finrot. This is likely to be caused by poor water quality, possibly ammonia/nitrite levels being too high. I experienced this when i first started and failed to cycle my tank properly prior to adding fish. Whitespots are caused by a parasite. It is relatively common in the marine aquarium and usually brought on by poor water quality or stress. Are you emptying the contents of the LFS bag into your display tank? The water from the LFS is likely to carry alot of disease and you should avoid adding any to the tank. Yes, you shoud acclimatize your livestock prior to introduction. This is likely to be another factor causing your fishes to die. The salinity and pH of your tank water is likely to be different from the LFS. The sudden increase in salinity and pH can cause the fish to be stressed and die or fall ill. This is how i acclimatize my livestock: 1. Without opening the bag, clean the bag with freshwater and then float it in the tank for 30mins. 2. Empty the contents of the bag in a seperate pail. I bought small pails for this purpose. 3. Fill a 1.5litre bottle with saltwater from my display tank. At the base of the bottle, i have opened a hole and attached a rubber airpump tube to it with a plastic valve at the end. 4. Using a plastic valve(don't use metal) attached to a 1.5litre bottle, i slowly drip saltwater from my display tank into the pail. The rate is around 2-3drops per second. If you don't have a valve, loosely tying a knot or two along the tube should serve the same purpose as having a valve to control the flowrate. 5. Drip and monitor the water level in the pail and how does the livestock do periodically, usually once every 30mins or an hour. 6. Once I have estimated the water level has almost doubled, I remove around 50% of the water in the acclimatization pail and continue the dripping process. 7. If you want to play safe or the livestock is sensitive to sudden water parameter changes(corals, invertebrates), repeat step 6. 8. Using a suitably large plastic mug, scoop some water from the display tank and net the livestock gently from the pail and place it in the mug. 9. Release the livestock into the display tank slowly(best to let it leave the mug on its own), some coaxing maybe needed. Dimming or keeping the aquarium lights off for that day will help in acclimatizing. Here's a picture of the bottle that i use: Apologies for the blur pic, but this is the valve that i attach to the end of the tube:

Nitrate and phosphates are not must have, but should be monitored. High nitrates is toxic to fish. I would like to ask a few questions to find out more, perhaps it can shed some light on the cause of death: - What fishes did you buy? Some species don't do well(some don't ship well) in the aquarium and die very easily. - How fast did you stock the aquarium? Although it has been cycled for a long time, stocking the aquarium too fast would cause ammonia and nitrite to spike. - Any possibility of water pollution? Example: From house-hold cleaning agents(maybe in spray form), pesticides(spray/fumigation), hand creams. - How did the fish die? Any signs of disease, spots, swelling, reddish markings etc. Do a search in the bargain corner, the prices are stated when the prism is sold 2nd hand. Its much cheaper than buying brand new. Usually, natural seawater is alright for water change. It should not have caused the deaths unless the seawater itself has been polluted or carry some disease.

Yup, i've been toying with the idea of getting a second wavemaker to improve water flow. I would think about and see where I can place it.

Just two days ago, the actinic bulb spoilt. So, decided to spend some cash and replaced both FL tubes with arcadia FL. Well worth it IMO, very bright.

Soon... Didn't want to waste the tube that came with the set.

Sharing some FTS.. When both lights are on. Under Actinics..