Jacobus' Glass Box

[jacobus]

thanks for the comment jerv .. am quite disturbed abt the great barrier reef thing as well ... wonder if i can ever bring my kids diving there before the bleaching gets too bad ...

just imagine .. look son .. look at that white thing ... it used to be a beautiful acropora ...

[jervismun]

thanks for the comment jerv .. am quite disturbed abt the great barrier reef thing as well ... wonder if i can ever bring my kids diving there before the bleaching gets too bad ...

just imagine .. look son .. look at that white thing ... it used to be a beautiful acropora ...

I recently heard from BBC scientists found that part of the damaged ozone layer (in arctic, I think) is recovering due to the reduction in CFC emission by earthlings... so the future may not be as bad as you think...

If it really happens... I think we need to worry more about our livelihood than some coral reefs... the problem will get much much closer at home. It will affect us all in our daily lives

[WaNeR]

I recently heard from BBC scientists found that part of the damaged ozone layer (in arctic, I think) is recovering due to the reduction in CFC emission by earthlings... so the future may not be as bad as you think...

If it really happens... I think we need to worry more about our livelihood than some coral reefs... the problem will get much much closer at home. It will affect us all in our daily lives

yeah , imagine those skin cancer, ppl dying due to high temp etc etc

of all the species on earth , we r the only 1 dat can kill the earth

[jacobus]

so true sis waner ... and the most crazy species as well ... well have strict laws on killing on person ... but then go on do design weapons that kill millions in one go... but then again .. im proud of certain people .. like gandhi, M.teresa etc etc ... not to mention comedians .... they bring a smile to everyone's face .. haha

[WaNeR]

wat happen 2 ur 5 footer?

such a pity dat its cancel

[jacobus]

i was impulsive la .. dint think to much abt it ... but one day i sat down and counted .. the financial burden will be hell ... and there wasnt much support... my mum wanted corals ... i tot that fowlr would be cheaper ... alot of dispute ...

[WaNeR]

... my mum wanted corals ...

ask ur mum to contribute the corals lah

[jacobus]

dint want to get a chiller mah ... corals would mean more cash spent ... and higher bills ..

[jervismun]

dint want to get a chiller mah ... corals would mean more cash spent ... and higher bills ..

Very true bro... that's why I am turning my house tank to FOWLR, or else the 2 reef tanks will suck me dry Already calculated, a FOWLR tank will require half the amount of equipments, half the amount of additives and ultimately half the amount of energy consumption

[jacobus]

think there is something wrong with my tank ... or either that my recent DIY projects have freaked out my fish ... found my TBT dead this morning .. super depressing ... is it true that TBTs have low stress tolerance ? coz recently i been switching the lights on and off alot to do testing of my moonlight ... also my light set ballast spoil ... 3 out of 4 tubes light up... 2 white 1 blue light up ... making my tank very yellowish .. so i switched the positions... to 2 blue 1 white ... maybe the BT got too stressed and died ? coz i notice everytime i lose a TBT is in a incident of change ... like a rescape, continous switching on of lights, etc....

haiz ... i have lost 5 TBTs so far.

i have decided to change my procedures of addition ...

drip to aclimatize

quarantine for 1 week in a betta box ( mine is actually a floating nursery so its quite huge) time would be dependant on kind of fish, condition and feeding behaviour ...

i know this should be the standard .. but i am an impatient person .. so i didnt follow ... so now i hope this would help me out ..

plus i will be more careful now in my upgrading ... taking care not to stress the fish ..

[WaNeR]

how long u been keeing dis tbt?

i know they get white spot easily especially tiny ones lagi worse

u would have a better chance if u get somthing bigger

like 1.5" onward, had two of mine for a few yrs

no problem wif them cep they grew so big had to give them away

[jervismun]

drip to aclimatize

quarantine for 1 week in a betta box ( mine is actually a floating nursery so its quite huge) time would be dependant on kind of fish, condition and feeding behaviour ...

i know this should be the standard .. but i am an impatient person .. so i didnt follow ... so now i hope this would help me out ..

plus i will be more careful now in my upgrading ... taking care not to stress the fish ..

I don't think the light is the culprit for your TBT's death...

Drip acclimatization is a must for most fishes, all inverts and most corals... I don't drip, I use a syringe to pump water into the small plastic container... at the same time creating some air bubbles.

IMO Quarantine inside a betta box is not the proper way of Quarantine (in fact it shouldn't be called that). Supposedly a Q tank is a separate tank that will run on separate system so that water does not mix with the main tank.

Now whether or not the betta box will help in this situation... IMO NOPE. It will only:

1) Add stress to your TBT... imagine trapped within a small plastic box within a glass tank!?! As BT usually doesn't have any eating/feeding problem and your tank doesn't have any aggressive fish... putting your TBT in a betta box will not bring any benefit at all!

2) Add stress to your othe fishes and corals as the betta box is something alien to them and it does affect the current flow within the tank (so it will affect corals).

In my opinion, you can take the following steps (applied only to your TBT):

1) Be extremely careful when choosing specimens... TBT are extremely hard to keep alive compared to larger specimens.

2) Off your main lights before introducing new specimens... remain off for the rest of the day.

3) Do proper acclimatization

4) Or simply go for SBT (Small Blue Tang)

All the best bro!

[jacobus]

hmm ... think i will go for SBT ... any sighted ?

so in that case right ... i should just forget abt the betta box thing ? acclimatise then just put in ?

[jacobus]

im curous abt epoxy ... one LFS claim epoxy is rubbish and it doesnt work .. but looking at my scape .. i feel i would need something to stick my corals with ... the other option is to rescape ... but i really like the current scaping... so how do i use epoxy ?

just wanna know how to use it before i run out to get one ...

also which is a better thing to do ? slowly add in LS first ? or slowly add in corals first? or it doesnt matter ?

im thinking of a mixed LPS tank with some zoos and yuma on the SB ..

[WaNeR]

epoxy does work, just need lots of time till harden, u hv to like hold them

in place for like 20mins

another way is to use super gel, faster..., thou i never try it yet.

[ReDDeviLs]

for rocks epoxy more safe.. superglue more for frags.

[jervismun]

I've tried Tunze Epoxy before and it is not bad actually. I think all brands are the same in the end. You just have to mix the 2 part well (like playing play-doh) and apply to your LR. You can press them for a while, after which it will hardens. I strongly recommend the use of some form of adhesive to hold your rocks together... especially if you know you will not change your scaping much for months to come

[jacobus]

how do i epoxy a frag to my scape ?

either this .. or i will rescape ...

jervis ! i need your advice on the proper way to scape ! any other bros input would be great too..

[jervismun]

how do i epoxy a frag to my scape ?

either this .. or i will rescape ...

jervis ! i need your advice on the proper way to scape ! any other bros input would be great too..

I can't really help much leh... every tank is different and you have a lot of small pieces which make the scaping much harder. For me, definitely use Epoxy to stick them together (not necessarily everywhere but at least those weak joining areas). Leave a lot of holes and caves for fishes and inverts to hide/sleep in. Mountain style is good so that you can have the corals staggering up without blocking each other from the lightsource.

Just remember to leave enough room for water circulation... even within the LR if possible. Dead zones are very very bad for the biotope... imagine dead fish trapped behind the LR with insufficient water movement... it can be the source of a disaster for your tank size.

If you are happy with your current scaping, then don't do anything radical. Just use some epoxy and stick those loose pieces together to avoid them falling down, injuring corals beneath. Pratas are very prone to falling objects from above

I don't epoxy my corals as it will limit the flexibility of the placement of the corals... you'll never know when you need to move things around

[colinsoon]

i would recommend using epoxy to stick those pieces of smaller LR together, and refrain from sticking corals to the LR. cos you will limit the amount of changes available to very small.

[jacobus]

hmmm ... den i dun think i will use epoxy ... will have to experiment on the placement then ... i dun have many small pieces leh ... all small ones in sump ..

[jacobus]

got another blue tang... 1.5 inch specimen ... pls pray for me !!! hope it does well ... also a red clown goby ...

[jervismun]

Bro I don't PRAY... but I can wish you all the best

[colinsoon]

after so long, i finally understood the concept of scaping. which is not to use too many smaller sized rocks. meaning 1-2kg types. for 3 footers. should be using more 4kg type rocks as they are much easier to scape, looks more natural and provides way more stable platform to put the corals on.

of course, its juz my lousy opinion. MLO. haha..

[jacobus]

i totally agree with u colin ... but now too late liao ... haha ... i will keep tt in mind next time i upgrade ... either when i set up a nano in uni or when i start up one after graduating ...

btw jervis ... i put my 2 fishies into a QT ! will leave them there until stable ... at least a week i guess ... its a small 1 footer tank ..