hydra

I bought a PB recently, and it develops bubble in one of the eye. Think it is some kind of pop-eye disease. Are there any effective treatment ? Thanks.

Seachem Purigen. Everyone who used it swears by it. http://www.seachem.com/en_products/product...16_purigen.html

Sinn, You can get your sump from this guy. Customed a 4ft sump for $120. A 2ft will cost much less. Also, check out those sump design in the last few threads, and customed one that suit you. Kwong Ling Framemaker 3 Kelantan Road Tel: 62940531

Hon, You should have package this recipe 8 yrs ago, call it something denitrator and made millions......

Read the last articles in this site : http://www.ifocas.fsworld.co.uk/MASWA/march.htm ---------------------------------------------- ONE LUMP OR TWO Just a spoonful of sugar helps the nitrates go down... Andy Whilst reading through my archive of information downloaded from the internet I came across a discussion on the use of sugar - yes the stuff you put on your Cornflakes - to aid the reduction of nitrates in the aquarium. Since I am still battling serious hair algae and had a nitrate reading that wouldn't go away I read the article with interest. This is a very controversial procedure and is surrounded by a great deal of speculation and a dash or two of scepticism. The basic idea is that adding sucrose to a system will supply fuel to denitrifying bacteria allowing for greater synthesis of nitrates by them with harmless gases as by-products. I am neither a chemist nor a biologist so I'm not going to expand on this except to say that not all contributors to the discussion agree that it can work. My 250 litre system had nitrates exceeding 5ppm for some weeks and whilst this may not be a problem in fish-only systems, I had a number of small polyped corals which had not been open for some time and had even begun to degenerate. Despite some reservations there appeared to be enough anecdotal evidence for me to give the sugar solution a try. Around midday I dissolved 1/2 teaspoon of sugar in 500ml of tap water (distilled/purified would be better) and set this slowly dripping into the tank at the main water return for maximum distribution through the system. This drip continued over about 2 hours. Around 10pm that same night I repeated this. The following day the water was extremely cloudy with visibility barely a couple of inches. By that evening the cloudiness had lessened considerably. This is caused by a bacterial bloom and was expected. I maximised surface agitation with powerheads to aid oxygenation of the water. Some inverts were closed up, particularly a small Sinularia soft coral. By day three the water had virtually cleared and a nitrate test returned a zero reading! The soft coral, some colonial anemones and the small hard corals remained closed. By day four the small polyped hard corals began to open for the first time in three weeks. The colonial anemones also returned to their normal state. The Sinularia was tightly shut but still seemed rigid enough to leave in place. After one week the Sinularia opened fully, nitrates were still zero and a small water change (about 15%) was performed. At this stage the hair algae is still a problem but it is hoped that this removal of nitrates and the reduction of phosphates through the use of limewater will contribute to its decline and eventual eradication. Please take note that all this is extremely experimental and as stated earlier is based largely on theory that seems to work in at least some cases. There have also been some negative reports on the use of sugar including the loss of some species of inverts, however whether these losses were directly a result of sugar additions or coincidence remains to be seen. The depletion of oxygen has also been noted and may have been a factor in some of these cases. It may be that correct dosage is still to be calculated though at this stage, approx. 1 teaspoon per 50USGal (190 litres) appears about right. Adding too much sugar may lead to problems. It might also be that some inverts have a serious reaction to sucrose and may perhaps respond better with other types of sugars; fructose and brewer's yeast have also been suggested as alternatives. Nitrates returned to my system after two and a half weeks. This time I added just half a teaspoon of dissolved sugar, there was no clouding and no noticeable reaction by any inverts. Two days later nitrates were back to zero. This seems to be an ongoing cycle in my tank and the presence of nitrates is usually indicated by the closing up of the small polyped hard corals. Adding a small amount of sugar sees these corals open again a day or so later. Meanwhile I'm trying to improve the tanks denitrifying capabilities by replacing the existing coarse shell grit base with a layer of fine coral sand. I will report any other observations in future articles. MASWA Home Page **** Comments to Andy

Hi Ryan, Try to bring up your ammonia level to make the spot green. Honestly, I did not use decomposed meat.....but I am not advocating other method, as SPCA or others will not be too happy. When ammonia is down, you should also see nitirite spike, continue to monitor till it is low. Your cycling should be over. Hope this help.

Ammonia level is low. In the first place, did you introduce any ammonia into your system ? You need to see the center spot changed from green to yellow, then you can be sure your ammonia bacteria is working...you can add some prawn meat to kick start.

The seachem probe is pretty reliable. Just that it doesn't give the ppm readings. Wait for the centre spot to be bright yellow, and u can be sure your ammonia is very low. Confirmed that myself with test-kit.

AT, do you think it will work ??

Hmm.. the box will be easy to make. But the propeller needs custom made.... or you have any idea ?

Hi Clowntrigger, my idea is to push the water from the left side of the tank, to the right where the overflow box is. So I have placed both return and PH at the left side, pointing towards the overflow box. It's quite tricky to find the stagnant zone in the tank. Why don't you try those splitter where you can re-direct some the of flow to the rear of your tank ? Are you getting reeftec ? I would like to get one too, but it's quite ex for just a few pieces of acrylic assembly.

Any idea what's the total litre/hour of water movement is needed for a 4X2X2 FT tank ? I have just installed a return pump (from the sump) 2200 L/hrs. Probably will be about 1200 L/hrs when it reaches the main tank. And I have also placed a powerhead in the main tank rated at 2200 L/hrs. Seems like there are too much turbulent...what is the recommendation ? Also which is the best direction for the powerheads ? Thanks.

Hi Nivlac. Can you share what species you have for the macroalgae ? And how often you need to trim them ?

It will takes quite a while, maybe a month. I used Nutrafin Cycle, and it takes like 1.5 weeks for reading to be near 0.

Is it a good idea to replace coral sand with glass beads ? Coral sands is calcareous, and provide pH buffers. Maybe, a mixture of both will be good. Glass beads for the deeper layers and coral sands on top.....