Project New Reef by Achilles Tang

[pospeh]

Tanzy, you think Mrs. AT is counting?

[Tanzy]

pospeh,

Dangerous area, maybe she's silently counting.

AT,

Why don't you ask her!

[Achilles Tang]

No comments.

[souphamster]

so envy of your tank! how i wish i can have...

roughly how much u paid all together already?

[spade]

so envy of your tank! how i wish i can have...

roughly how much u paid all together already?

more than the diamond ring on his wife hand mua ha ha ha

[souphamster]

i dunno when i can earn as much as he is keeping on reef..

mi still in ns now.. so sad... nevermind, i will learn n gain more experience n then... later on in my life, upgrade to a bigger tank.. kekekeke

[PLataX]

Man....U certainly r gona have a kick-###### tank....mind if u tell us the total cost after u set everything up?.....btw will u be using a plenum? or everything also use....like plenum + overflow + sump tank + refugium + Exxtra high tower protein skimmers +etc....?I'm salivating all over my tank right NOW!....

[Achilles Tang]

I am totally confused over your post, Platax!

I have no idea who you talking to!

[eprouve]

Hey AT, are those Coco Worms you have on pg 13?? Where did you get them and how much? They are beauties!

[rachelgal]

hi, i just joined the forum and saw your link.. your tank is beautiful. a dream tank for many I think.

reminded me of the marine tank in The Unbeatables III if anyone saw the show.

I just started keeping marine fishes for the past one year and there are just too many things to keep track off and sometimes I feel like giving up due to fishes and corals dying and of course the cost of keeping the necessary things... is sky high...

been reading the posts here and though very cheem, it was good information.

thanks

[woonming]

my turn to say welcome *phew* finally

woonming

[Achilles Tang]

Hi rachelgal,

Welcome to SRC.

Thanks for the compliments on my tank... you must be referring to my old tank ... well... my new tank will take some time to mature.. and time to stock up and build up...I have nothing remarkable to show now...

Anyway, there are very beautiful tanks here in Singapore, take a look around....

Top of my mind... Morgan, Robe, Steno, TTboy, Spiff's are some good examples....

[rachelgal]

hi to all,

can't wait to see more pictures...

AT, you take good picture esp when in underwater... nice pictures you took in KK

hope to learn diving soon so I can see those beautiful marine life...

[Achilles Tang]

[Achilles Tang]

[Morgan]

AT

You are displaying the 2 new acquisitions.

The purple is a beauty.

Where did you get the large colony from?........bottom right.

Look like blue tips?

[Achilles Tang]

The pink pocci is Robe's... but he didn't want it when I properly IDed it... he only wanted pink acros... so it became mine... Ouch... $60 bucks more...

TTboy's and my acquisitions seem to be stressed from the shipping... the polyps are not opening up yet... and the pink pocci has one or two branches at the bottom that has RTNed. Actually, half the sps for sale had signs of RTN... some were half gone... heard that the shipping was delayed... that could have been the factor.

[Morgan]

I was told to wait for the next shipment as this lot was delayed and wasn't in tiptop condition.

Hope it recovers.

BTW you have not tell me where you got the other colony.

[Achilles Tang]

?? Same place lah!

The pink SPS was bought for Robe (remember I told you he msg me that night?).

Bug said we could buy two each only... the purple and the green-tipped is mine. I think he knows Robe well... so he allowed me to take one extra piece.

When I paid for it already... I then called Robe to say i got a pink one for him.... when I described it... when he heard it was a pocci... he didn't want it... so it became mine.

I blew my budget that day... sigh! Oh well...

[Achilles Tang]

Update:

New skimmer is hooked up to my tank/sump circuit and running for two days.

Going skimmerless for almost a month as an experiment shows poor results as I had to drastically reduce feeding to maintain water quality from deteriorating further and fueling further cyano and hair algae growth. I lost two fairy wrasses and one dispar anthia. However, my gorgonians and gonioporas appear to be doing well as probably they have more food to eat.

My cyano took two weeks to clear and at least half a tank's worth of water changes to reduce as much dissolved organics as possible. I scrapped out as much hair algae as I could with a toothbrush.

I finally killed the cyanobacteria with three days of blackout, followed by the water change. No casualties except for an acro colony which RTN.

Hair algae is now the only nuisance algae left. Hope to report total eradication in two weeks time.

I also stopped feeding live phyto and rotifers for a few weeks and I see an immediate deterioration in the growth of sponges and even coco worms (whose crowns appear smaller and less colourful).

Will resume production again soon once I see an improvement in water quality.

My refugium which was also overrun with hair algae growing on the macroalgae has been long disconnected with the main circulation circuit and allowed to crash. It is now home to dozens of baby harlequin shrimps. Hope to catch as much as I can to culture seperately.

I have ID the cause of the sudden drop in water quality/overgrowth of nuisance algae:

1. I should not have bought macroalgae with attached strands of hair algae, hoping it will die on its own. I should have removed by hand as much as possible.

2. I dosed iron supplements to boost the growth of macroalgae in the hope of them outcompeting hair algae. Unfortunately, the hair algae bloomed after the dosing.

3. Once I stopped dosing iron, some of the macros crashed. I made the mistake of not clearing the dying macros and that must have released a lot of toxins into the water as well as rotting mass. These happened within a few days.

4. The main tank showed signs of hair algae growth and I was too slow to disconnect the refugium from the main circulation circuit.

5. My skimmer which was functional and successfully sustaining my tank to that stage, was overwhelmed by the sudden influx of nutrients from the crashed macroalgae. Unable to cope quickly enough, cyano and hair algae exploded into my main tank.

Lessons learnt:

1. Upgrade to an adequate sized skimmer when you upgrade your tank. Doh! It's such an important safety net.

2. Crashing macros contribute significant bioload and should be removed immediately. It is not a source of fertilizer (DOH!).

AT

[metals99]

nice tank..

[hghflyer]

Love d way u set up your tank AT. BTW how is it now? Change of landscape? Hope this thread will continue. Learnt alot on how u set it up.

[Tanzy]

Continued here.

[Achilles Tang]

Hahaha! I found my old photo of my tank... I think it was taken last December.

[Dispar_Anthias]

Hahaha! I found my old photo of my tank... I think it was taken last December.

Wow so nice...............