ervine

u mean there's ammonium nitrate in our tap water? btw, just managed to test for PO4, 0.1ppm...

yups.. i just did that... In any case, saw a DI unit at Petmart going for 85 bucks... maybe after I save up can get that.. In the meantime it's toothbrush versus algae scum..

Ok got it changed for a tropic marine one instead.. works perfectly now.. ups to the guys at bio-ocean for their help!

IT'S ALIVE!! ALIVE!! I was about to buy another power head to pump in more flow into some dead spots in my tank.. then I thought why not try to fix the damn thing then can save some money.. So I took it apart again, fiddled here and there and realised that somehow the ceramic shaft wasn't really placed properly or the part that needs to be screwed in was screwed in too tightly, resulting in a lot of friction thus the turbine won't flow... So fiddle here, fiddle there, re-aligned the shaft properly... then ok liao... Heng.. saved some money...

just wondering.. how much does it cost to learn diving? always wanted to learn but never seemed to find the time (and money)

aiyah bro.. i also wish I can have an RO/DI unit.. haha.. not cheap leh.. hm.. maybe will check out a DI unit first I've heard this don't use tap water thing qutie often.. how true is this?

right now HO T5s are so cheap it's not worth getting PLs anymore... one PL tube cost abt 20-25 bucks.. T5s are about the same if not less..

try liveaquara.com

Oooo... mine has been with me for many many years already.. good to have around to keep green spot algae in check and otherwise keep the tank clean.. (although mine seems to have taken a liking to meat!) And they don't grow to monstrous sizes too! Good price bro I got mine last time at like $40-60!!.. Upz for u bro!

Hmmm... so basically control feeding right? I wondering if there's some dead spot in my tank that has stored up years of deitrus and is now rotting away happily...

Oh yah i did notice something though... the same time that the algae started to bloom again, the macro algae in the refugium did the same...

u mean nitrates? or just overall bioload?

i read somewhere that petmart sells DI units? can anyone confirm this?

carbon is in, phosphate remover is in.. all set up in a cannister turned FR... BUT STILL THE ALGAE CAME BACK WITH A VENGENCE!! sigh....

tried it again to the letter.. same thing happens... sigh need to make a trip down to get it changed or what liao.. grumble

really really nice bro... must be even tougher to get the right equipment and specimens in penang than here right?

alamak why stop marine? haha... marine so much more fun leh... As for ur choices.. i would personally go for the discus tank... coz I don't like cichlid tanks.. (personal preference) but if u ask me I think both tanks might end up having abt the same amt of maintanence... coz in cichlid tanks you don't have plants to help u "clean" the water... But discus can be a little tricky to keep.. oh and for FW tanks u cannot have a sump leh... I mean can lah but that means all the dissolved CO2 from the fishes and plants will just go to waste... If u want can PM me to ask more specific stuff.. i try to answer u to my best knowledge... I forgot a lot of the stuff liao.. coz after I set it up right, then it's been like that for 6yrs liao...

well for planted tanks nitrate is not necessarily a bad thing.. coz all the plants need it to grow... and I not sure how much nitrates the soil... anyway I read abt this soil thing from an in-depth freshwater book... so far it's worked out well for many many years, i usually have problems with the plants growing too fast even... Only twice I had major problems with black brush algae... each time owing to neglect on my part (sometimes don see the tank for weeks)... As for the T5s if Dymax has 6500k then I suppose it should work just fine... do note that FW usually requires less light than SW tanks

Here's mine... 1m long.. running 4 x 36W PLs at 6500k.. no Co2.. soil substrate Been running for many many years liao... I think 7-8 years already...

hais... issit expired?

hm.. maybe it's time to invest in a toyogo tub liaos...

Hi guys, Finally bought a min-labor phosphate test kit, not the sensitive one... Problem is.. instead of a blue hue in the final test solution, I getting a yellowish percipitated solution... did I do something wrong? Or test kit got problem? It seems like all the test solutions are clear except bottle 2 which is milky... is this right? Thanks! Ervine

that's cheap!.. no budget airlines fly there yet?

nice tank! how deep is it btw? Looks like 3ft to me...

I actually use a soil substrate... i dumped a HUGE bag of potting soil then covered it with gravel sand... works miracles for the plants... never had to fertilise the tank..