Nickel

I am concern with the power loading of feeding off a normal 13-ampere PUB supply to support my 5ft marine tank. Appreciate anyone with the knwoledge and experience to advise if it is safe to do so. I am going to setup my tank with the followings : 3x250W MH 2x54W T5 1x 0.5 HP chiller (approx 500W ?? not bought yet, not sure, pls advise approx rating) 2x 1269 Ehiem PH (not sure power requirement, not bought yet) Couple of PH to support skimmer, and other accessories like tunze, fans.......etc. Question is : Can I load all the above on one standard 13-ampere power wall socket (believe it is in ring topology) ? If yes, what is the surplus capacity still available ? If not, what should I do ? Splitting to other 13-amp ring for load sharing is not possible. What other precautions do I need to take ? Doesn't want to setup the tank and burnt down the apartment. Cheers.

Hi, I am aware some bros are using their marine sump as their SH tank. I am just curious after reading about the disease potentially carried by SH. Any implications of the disease spreading via the return path into the main tank and infecting the main tank ? If yes, what is effective way to combat the disease ? Many thank for guidiance.

Hi, Jeffrey, I had tried PM, email you but no response. Keen on whole set. You have my contact in my PM, email to you.

Me too looking for 250W MH. Preferably those with stand to sit onto tank. Either 2 ft or 5ft with 2 or 3 sets of 250W, maybe coupled with actinic. May need DIYing, kindly advise lobangs. Thanks and cheers.

Hi, if you are looking for custom-cut plywood to your specific dimension, you can try Kelantan Lane. Right at the end of the lane from Jln Besar, where you first past a row of shops selling kitchen cooker/hood/taps...etc. you will see a shop with lots of plywood. They can cut to your requirement. Very reasonable prices too. Bought some there last month. PM me if you need the shop address. But have to wait till end of next week as I now away from Singapore.

tombang on this thread on lighting for clams, if wattage is one of the key considerations, does it make a difference between MH or T5 ? For example, for a 2.5ft height tank, we would need at least 250W of MH. If we use 3x80W T5 (asuming a 5ft length tank) we would have got 240W. Pls advise if the comparison is valid and able to support clams. Understood SPS will not do.

Back to planetq's original question : Is to use of a SCWD (acknowledge the salt spray, but if kept below SW surface should be okay ?) good enough as it is very much cheaper compared to a Tunze ? Of course the tradeoff is that the 2 streams are not of high flow as the tunze, but at least the flow can be alternated and is cheap compared SCWD to tunze. Any bros have good/bad experience with the SCWD to comment ?

Sorry, I mean 'withdraw' instead of 'redrawn'. All the best to the event.

Am looking for a SCWD. Pls let me know where can get or any bro/sis have one to let go. Pls provide specification (physical dimension, flow rate, outlets, age....etc).

AT, I probably will not meet your 3 criteria for trade days. Saturday/Sunday not possible for me too. So I will redraw then. No worries. Just trying to help out. Will drop by if at the event. Cheers.

Nick: Nickel Trade only: 30 October (Thursday) / 2.00pm-6.00pm 31 October (Friday) / 2.00pm-6.00pm mornings has meetings. can only take afternoon leave to come help.

Anthony, great minds think alike. On my drawing board now is a main tank with DSB. Will do a Plenum for the sump/refugium that is displayed and will house slow moving LS such as Seahorse (non sand-digging too ). Will be talking to tank makers this two week to put plans into reality. Any ideas or lobang for quality(+low cost) tank makers, pls PM me.

Bro, I was reading about Plenum last night. Let me know your email I sent the brief article to you. Got it from this forum but dun know which thread now. It said that for a Plenum to work properly, you need a lot of surface contact with the water at top of the Plenum. I realise this is contradict where LR is used a a filtration mechanism. Hence with sand surface covered by many LR will render Plenum less effective. Further, Plenum needs sand size about 1mm grain, which DSB works better with smaller grain sand (C0?). What Plenum is trying to creat is a differential vaccum within the sand layer whereby it is sandwiched between a layer almost oxygenless water underneath and the oxgenated normal tank SW above. Whereas DSB create a progreesively oxygenless layer the deeper you go into the sand bed for the 2 types of bacteria to occur. Believe it is still divided as to Plenum or DSB is better as both has pros and cons, but one needs to be careful to ensure the Plenum is well constructed, else if the support collapse or fresh Sw gets into the Plenum by way of sand-digging LS, it will clash. Not sure if it make sense to you. But above is from the article. I also thinking whether Plenum or DSB last night. May try out DSB in main tank, Plenum in sump/refugium. Otherwise going for both DSB. Less hassle.

Bro Flubberina13, think you missed out the 2 Trades days. I can do Trades days only. Maybe bring my family on Sunday afternoon to see why I am up every night checking the club website. Then henceforth no need to be toe toe mo mo (in mandarin means 'sneaky'). Suggest we need to call an event committee meeting after all names are in by Thursday/Friday ? Easier to co-ordinate and get to know the team members too.

I volunteer myself to take annual leave for booth duties on Trade days. Though must first highlight minimal experience in marine, but learnt a lot from the forum. So my little contribution to the club. Let me know how else I can help too.

Thanks Regal, Awsome, but beautiful. What tankmates can co-exist without being make a meal of ? Like fishes, corals, anemones, etc ? Definitely NOT Starfish

That is theory and text-book based. Practical still at zero base. Need lots of guidiance and advice from all of you experienced bro's/sis's. Certainly look forward to my upgraded new tank setup and lots of advise. Cheers.

Yes, 1.5ft is height as well as width. Same thing (I think) I am referring to such as those brand : Kalkwasser. Been reading all night on everything marine/reef/SH for past few weeks so the term sticks but forget the name until check again !! More hardworking then my kid taking PSLE this week!!

Thanks bros real and acedolphin, Since I am customising my sump for my new setup, to address the flow problem, I intend to divert upflow water (return path) into the sump. Hence can control the water flow. Maybe getting a 4x1.5 ft sump so 2ft can be for refugium wif SH inside. Believe a 2x1.5 space good enough ? The other 2 ft (maybe less) will be for overflow filtering chamber and return chamber. Skimmer will be in the return chamber after the filter chamber. BTW, will SH be affected by calcium hydroxide if this is added into the top-up system into the return chamber ? Sorry for the many questions, but since I am planing the new setup, need to make very sure it is done right first time. Cheers.

Just curious of this starfish-eating shrimp. Can any bro post a pic to see how it look like ? Is it dangerous and life-threatening to other happily swimming fishes/corals/anemone in the same tank ?

A query, since SH like slow moving water, no fast swimming idiots (as far as SH is concerned), good water conditions, minimum LR, some vegetation....etc, sound like the sump/refugium meets all this conditions. Question is, can the sump/refugium, assuming big enough, be used to house SH ? Since SH is slow eaters, any surplus food (plantkons ?) can be channelled to the main tank for the corals/fishes ? A truly eco-system Kindly comment on the pros and cons to the SH as well as the sump/refugium in relation to the main tank.

Appreciate views/comments and advise on the orientation of the lighting for marine tank. I am getting a 5(L)x2(W)x2.5(H) tank and thinking of mounting the lights in either of the 2 options below : Option 1. One 5ft lighting housing spanning the 5ft length of the tank (tube orientation along 5ft length); or, Option 2. multiple 2ft housings (2 or 3 sets ) spanning the 2 ft width of the tank (tube along the 2ft width orientation, as in HDB corridor lighting). From light spread, redundancy, cost perspective and viewing pleasure, can any bro/sis advise the pros and cons of the 2 approach ? Also, to be used as a reef tank (SPS/LPS, etc), what' is the optimum number of MH set and wattage required per set for the options. I am aware each MH lighting set covers a 2x2ft area at surface of water at certain height. Right ? Appreciate all views/comments.

Right at the end of Kelantan Lane (where all those shops sell kitchen ware/cooker, etc) is a shop that custom cut to the size you want. I forgot the name and address of shop. Must go before 4.30pm and they will cut for you.

1) Williammuk 2) DeepBlue / Wife 3) Ron 4) scooter blenny (will bring digi cam) 5) Nickel (woonming u hv my contact already) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10)

Thanks bro, Maybe my question not so clear. Let me try again. The tank is nett 600litres of water. I am likely going for at least 2 units of 4500l/hr PH from the sump. So question is for a skimmer to support 600litres of tank capacity, examples of skimmers will be the two I am aware of or any others that can suppot the 600litre capacity. Question then is : what capacity of pump do I need to get to support the skimmer in order to support the 600litres of tank capacity ? Many thanks for guidiance.