Underwater

it's ok for the pellets to sink to the bottom cos you dun want to have them floating and got washed down into your sump tank at the bottom. Fishes will eat even if the pellets landed on the bottom. Strong water return flow is good for the tank, dun tune to the minimum. As for your calcium testkit, you dun really need it if you are not keeping LPS or SPS.

For me, i tied a small portion on a small rock with rubber band.

PM you liao.

If it doesn't eat pellets or flakes, l would suggest you sell or give it away to someone with a larger tank that can support this fellow. If not, you'll see him getting skiny each day till it........

Hi Wei Hao If the prawns are adversely affected when you change water, then it got to do with the water you change. l know shrimps are very sensitive to sudden huge SG and temp change. Did you check the SG of your tank when you change water? (Hope you are not adding seawater to your tank to top up evaporated water cos SG will rise). If you are using the seawater right away after buying from LFS, there is no need to aerate it. You definitely need to acclimatise your newly bought fish, cos the sudden shock in two different water parameters will stress up the fish, leading to easy attacks by parasites and diseases. l would recommend that, if possible, try to buy fishes that are hardy types, already quarantined in the LFS and eating pellets, if you have no time to quarantine at home. l presumed you have already cycled your tank i.e. ANN cycle, which is the fundamental of marine tank setup. Bro Kalib had shared lots of good advices. You could pick up from there. Cheers...

Ya, i cannot resist also and got one too...and a french...burnt pocket. SL also got medium-large yellow belly regal angels.

Wow, this is nice!!!

Get some algae cleaning crew to help too...

Sound advice from bro kalib. Just to add that phosp. remover is not a must. Just that nuisance algae will grow more. Nitrate cannot be too high. Ammonia and nitrite are toxic to fishes and shd be zero. Water parameters are one of the most critical factors. But some fishes died not because of water, it is the fish itself. Some are poorly shipped and handled by the LFS, some highly caught using too much cyniade which ruined internal organs, some species just dun do well in home tanks like cleaner wrasse, some harassed buy existing tank fishes, etc etc. Check your water parameters first, if ok, when you buy fishes, go for the hardy ones and asked the LFS to feed pellets to see if the fishes eat before you buy.

i think those hang on prizm skimmer may be a little too small to support yr tank, you may want to check on that. as for the temp, you can even try 27'C or 28'C. but dun quite understand why do you need to off the pump when the food sank to the bottom of yr tank? Yrs an overflow with sump tank right? Anyway, damsels are greedy fishes and they will eat those that dropped to the bottom. (Hope you are not using damsels to test yr tank water condition though..., it shld be A,N,N test kits) cheers

for me, i just transfer them into my sump tank to help eat algae on the LR, detrius, uneaten food...etc, all still there after so many months...

Distilled water are different from mineral water. Buy those that are Distilled Water for top up. For your tank size, snails would be ideal. But NOT algae blenny cos your tank will not have sufficient algae to last him. Even for medium tanks, they could starve and die once there's no more algae, unless it feeds on pellet food.

Thanks for the pic. It helps us to share some of our views/experience. If your temp is 29 or below, i think you dun need a fan cos yr tank is small. And if you still want to have corals, go for easier ones like soft corals. The fan will cause rapid evaporation of yr tank water and causes the salinity to rise. Btw, you have chosen a sea fan which is difficult to keep for your tank. Add more LR as a bro here has suggested, it helps in water purficiation and for good bacteria growth. Auto top up is an equipment that automatically draws water from another source (or tank) and pump into your main tank when the water drops below a certain level. If the evaporation is not too much and since you do not have an overflow system, a top up may not be needed. From yr tank size and existing nos of fishes (5?), i would say yr bioload is already on the high side. Dun add anymore fishes. If you want, add a snail and/or hermit crab to help in algae control. The fishes are hardy, except the cleaner wrasse which will not survive long in yr tank. In fact, this fish does not survive long in captivity (home tank) except for a few reefers, and shd be left in the ocean. i think reading more from the 'Nano Reef' thread would help you alot. Cheers...

IMO, i think no need to set until that low. Your chiller will kick in very frequent and when electricity bills kept rising, think you may want to consider higher range of 26 to 28 (not sure about SPS as i have not kept before).

Hi To be honest, a small tank like yours would be difficult for new reefers (though not impossible) to keep marine fishes cos parameters can swing and change fairly quickly...your bioload has to be kept very minimum. Since you have already started out, they are many successful nano tanks under "Nano Reef" thread which l think you should take some time to go through. 1 ft tank set up (talk about prizm skimmer i think) http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=70185 (nano tank setup) http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?showforum=69 Cheers

lMO, l have tried many reef safe medication and none has impressed me. No need to waste money on expensive reef safe medication...many are not as what they claimed. For reef tank, best to improve water quality, reduce stress of the fish, feed garlic soaked food, UV (optional), read more in this section of how other reefers deal with ich, and let the fish build up its own immunity. The other more effective way would be copper treatment or hyposalinity with the sick fish housed in a separate hospital tank, while improving the water quality in the main tank.

There is T95 at the end part of Seletar West Farmway 1 which is not listed there. Can add on to the list too. You travel into this road and go all the way to the end and you'll see a hand written signboard stating "Marine Fish" on your left. Old uncle sells nice and afforable corals and fishes...many purple coraline coated liverocks too.

One of the sea stars (red) may not be reefsafe, also noticed by a bro DCH. You may want to take note.

Buying live fishes for your frog fish/ lionfish can also be expensive since you are looking at cutting down cost, not to mention the cruelty of feeding them alive to the predators.

Your solar wrasse confirmed hide in one of your LR and not in the sand. It will sure come out in a day or two, but will hide very long if there are other resident wrasses that kept harassing/chasing it.

i think one good way is to ask the farm/LFS that sell those healthy AT in their tanks. They must have a method of keeping them in their tanks for sales in ich-free and pellet eating conditions. Maybe they UV the entire tank water, or keep the AT in very low salinity, or add copper....l'm guessing...

Too rash already la bro....liverock is very porous, use a screwdriver or any small metal rod and you will be able to dig out that fellow out by opening up it's hidding place. You put LR in boiling water and is gone. Sorry to hear abt the loss of yr pistol.

Just don't buy and add anymore fishes now, the new ones will sure get it and spread ich parasites more, and deteriorate the water if they die. If you do buy fishes at later stage when things stablises, NEVER overload yr tank with fishes, and NEVER buy non-quarantine fishes at the farm or shop, and then dump them straight into your main tank (worse if together with the big water). If you do, you will see the same ich problem returning to haunt you and yr fishes. Read more on fish quarantine and acclimatisation will help you a long way. Cheers.

U sure UV supposed to turn on for 4-5 hrs per day? And it causes skin cancer in fish? It may not be able to reduce much free swimming parasites in that few hours...thought supposed to be 24 hrs for the initial period where tank is badly infested?

Not sure if l'm off topic. Just a suggestion. Tankset may not always have to be newly custom made. Why not save money and headache by exploring buying from fellow reefers who are selling due to upgrade or decomm? Some may fit in your tank requirement and deco. It is so much cheaper and conditions for these tanksets are sometimes above average to tip top.