jervismun

I chose to follow: "Reef Invertebrates, An Essential Guide to Selection, Care and Compatibility" by Anthony Calfo & Robert Fenner. I selected this book because it offers a very comprehensive readings on tank startup (30 pages) and there is a section very similar to my current situation... as I bought matured LR from fellow reefers. According to the authors, the ANN cycle may or may not be as obvious as we expect them to be... since I am introducing matured LR and transferred some elements from my old tank, the cycle may not be as structured as 123. I am relieved by the writings as previously, I tried too hard to hope for an Ammonia spike which may not even be necessary... to start with. So I've changed my strategy a bit. Right now, what I need to do is to target for optimum water level all the way. Starting with the right Sg, right pH, right KH. Have sufficient light for coralline to continue growing, but not too much till encourage algae growth. Skim skim skim... do not let things rot in my tank that can cause water to go haywire... any spikes can wipe out the already cultured bacterias in my LR. So maintain everything at optimum level and the biotope will be stabilized in 2 to 4 weeks. That's all for tonight... I will still work out what to do next as I am still not very happy with the sand bed... might add argonite or something to better buffer water conditions.

Bro Soon, while reading ur post... I expect u to mention scissors, cutter and chainsaw... lol. You are not enough, muahaha!!! Sorry a bit

Emm.... actually ur theory makes sense to me... the risk is low for a small tank... worst come to worst just take to the kitchen sink and pour away loh! For larger tank... total disaster that can costs thousands of dollars Ok I shall have my reservations when it comes to Anemone unless I think I am up to the challenge later

I can answer that.... sad sad story

Lol... just let me know when u guys planning to get it... I think I'm gonna have another round of shopping at RD... soon...

Your tank is so beautiful... I'm sure u can stay with it for another year or two... hehe. Wanna try UHU glue?

Decided not to collect the "out-of-water" (aka dead) rocks from the kind bro as it will only lengthen the process. I spent the whole day today reading... reading... and reading... I seriously think I am very confused for the past few days... about the ANN cycle... about the LR... about a lot of issues. One of the reasons is I am getting different directions from all the kind bros here... so when mix together... confusion loh! Even different sites or books got different methods... so what I've decided to do is to follow 1 author, 1 book. I will reveal my plan in just a little while... shower time

Personally, I think 10% once a week is better than 20% fortnightly. If buying salt water is too troublesome, use Salt Mix. In terms of brand... u gotto ask other bros as I am still trying to figure out the best salt to use. Second compartment can use for putting Biohomme (or similar product). Don't fill up all coz u still need to leave some room (on top of Biohomme) for your Active Carbon. I will not change all bioball at once as ur tank will loose a large amount of bacterias in one shot. Replace 1/3 every 3 days... that will do the trick. Yes, u can throw away the bioballs, lol. Active carbon is essential in any biotope. So remember to add a pack. Some go for cosstly products such as Chemipure and PUR-II. If you do not want to spend so much $$$, just get a large bottle of activated carbon, fill up a medium size stocking bag... throw into ur second compartment (on top of Biohomme). This will allow u to change it easily. If water flow is not strong in your tank... u may want to add another pump for improved circulation. A lot of time, a tank fails because of insufficient water flow. Do not let any part of the tank uncirculated as those are danger zones. You can add a very tiny Tunze pump ($20 only), very low power consumption and very low heat emission. You can hide it inside ur rock works.

IMO this is a good product. Comes in tablet form. Just throw in 1 tablet everytime u do water change. I use it for my Nano. Not costly, $8 to $10 a bottle. Bought from RB.

Yeah!!! Very familiar looking Blue Gorgonia... this sea fan has so much history to it... dunno where to start, lol. Ok bro, I will try to specialise in Florida... all kinds... then we can swap

The ever demanding Blue Gorgonia... in order to keep it happy, I must provide it strong current and target feeding 2 to 3 times a week using a mixture of DT's Phytoplankton, Cyclop-eeze, Marinium Zooplankton, Reef Roid Zooplankton and Aquaz Phytoplankton. Of all the food... I think my Blue Gorgonia loves Reef Roid Zooplankton the most as its polyps react to it very quickly

At first I was shocked!!! My Six Line Wrasse nipping on my Blue Sea Fan... after much observation... the Six Line is just curious...

Side by side... in harmony My Frogspawn and Branched Hammer

Frogspawn Coral is a very beautiful coral to keep... do not keep them too close to other corals as they STING! Compatible corals are Torches and Hammers as their stings will not affect each other.

Green Grape Caulerpa (macroalgae)... not for the faint-hearted

My ever-so-shy Sunburst Anthias Fathead Sunburst Anthias Orange Spotted Ricordea Yuma in the background

My 2 clams... Tridacna Crocea

Tank view of my 24g Nano Cube... notice the well-grown purple/pink coralline algae...

My Orange Sea Star gripping the rock so hard... it resembles the glove of a mountain climber Orange Sea Star

My Blue Tang showing a not-so-natural behaviour Blue Tang Toadstool Mushroom Leather Coral

Cleaner Shrimp acting naturally in my tank White-banded Cleaner Shrimp Green Chromis

Welcome to my Picture Gallery!!! Since my main tank thread is mainly discussions and Q&A, I've decided to start a thread mainly focusing on visual experience. I am still new in this hobby... but I really hope this thread can inspire fellow SRC members especially newbies. As this thread is based on the idea of VISUAL, therefore I will say less, show more. I will include links to the particular LS for those who wish to learn more about them... for visiting... and let the voyage begins...

Usually 1.022 to 1.023... sometimes can drop to 1.020 without any visible stress on the LS. Coz my old tank was a Nano cube, so fluctuates a lot!!!

Oh yeah ur wedding... so sad ... u know why? Later u get ur first child... then very predictable lah... in the Pasar Malam section... WTS: 3ft tankset due to family commitments...

Even the shells are too small for the hermit? I thought they will only kill for larger shells ... Nasty little hermit crab