My 1st humble piece of the ocean

[jackywongto]

I finally spotted the blue velvet damsel... Let's just say that your future fish purchases have a 90% chance of being killed by it.

They actually looks very nice when they are juvenile and tiny. Love the electric blue lines.

One of my favourite fish when I just started out this hobby.

Unfortunately it will morph to plain black when it grows to adult.

[jxlex]

Nice 1... So much live stock wun overstocked???

Thanks. Not sure bro... all actually quite small pieces just that i closed up alot of them... the biggest piece in there is my elegance...

[jxlex]

I finally spotted the blue velvet damsel... Let's just say that your future fish purchases have a 90% chance of being killed by it.

sigh......

[jxlex]

They actually looks very nice when they are juvenile and tiny. Love the electric blue lines.

One of my favourite fish when I just started out this hobby.

Unfortunately it will morph to plain black when it grows to adult.

I better tell my CO that see whether i can get it out of my tank... otherwise into refugium... sigh...

[comycus]

From my limited experience, the fishes that COs usually belong to 3 categories.

1) Fishes that are too aggressive to be kept

2) Fishes that will grow too big to be kept.

3) Fishes that are not reef safe.

lol good luck bro! U have a great looking tank, dun fret!

[jxlex]

From my limited experience, the fishes that COs usually belong to 3 categories.

1) Fishes that are too aggressive to be kept

2) Fishes that will grow too big to be kept.

3) Fishes that are not reef safe.

lol good luck bro! U have a great looking tank, dun fret!

Hahaha... BINGO!!! she keeps asking for more n more clowns and/or angels...... sianz....

Just added some new stock today.... hopefully not stocking up too much.... lets see if they can settle down b4 i upload sm more pics

[peacemaker]

Very nice photos!

[lead28]

bro, very nice photography.. well done.

Glad to see my zoa in your tank too.

[jxlex]

Very nice photos!

Thanks bro... photographer lousy... thankfully got good lens...

[jxlex]

bro, very nice photography.. well done.

Glad to see my zoa in your tank too.

Thank you for your lovely zoas, small buggers are starting to appear around...

[jxlex]

Added another 4 ati tubes today.

Current lighting = 4 x ATI Aqua Blue Special, 2 x ATI BluePlus & 2 x ATI True Actinic. Thinking of adding 2 x 250 MH, will overkill?

Started volka dosing at 0.46ml today and will do so for first 3 days before doubling it up. Was reading around about volka and VSV dosing but decided to stay with volka due to available stock... any bros got any experience with it?

Since yesterday started 1 ml/day iodine dosing. Based on instructions it almost 8ml per week so instead of dosing weekly, i decided to dose daily instead.

On alternate days 250ml of Iwarna's top up since day 1. Anyone has any feedback on it? So far my corals and coraline seems to be doing ok. Can see coraline forming around various spots... Iwarna suggested i get a dosing system but i considering cos the 3 jerry cans like quite unsighly leh... hmm...

[desideria]

Very nice photos there Jlyex... yes please get rid of that damsel... at least do not throw it away but perhaps put it in your sump or refugum. I was also an ignoramus when I first got into this hobby 2.5 years ago and I ended up humanely putting down my damsel with a bag of ice water. It terrorised all the small fishes i put into my little 2 feet tank and killed some. I got so fed up. So ... please remove it.

good luck and charm us with more photos.

[comycus]

bro overkill la. your corals might even bleach. If you want the MH just keep 2tubes or 4tubes of blue lights to supplement will do. Actually 8 tubes of T5 is also overkill to me if you're not keeping SPS dominated tank. normal soft and LPS corals prob only need between 4-6 tubes on average.

If you have the budget, dosing system is of course better coz it's automated. Otherwise, just adding yourself daily is good enough.

[jxlex]

Very nice photos there Jlyex... yes please get rid of that damsel... at least do not throw it away but perhaps put it in your sump or refugum. I was also an ignoramus when I first got into this hobby 2.5 years ago and I ended up humanely putting down my damsel with a bag of ice water. It terrorised all the small fishes i put into my little 2 feet tank and killed some. I got so fed up. So ... please remove it.

good luck and charm us with more photos.

Thanks bro for your kind comments.

So far i have no intentions of adding fishes yet. so i think will just leave it alone first la... i am monitoring it very closely and will act once i see trouble fro this guy...

[jxlex]

bro overkill la. your corals might even bleach. If you want the MH just keep 2tubes or 4tubes of blue lights to supplement will do. Actually 8 tubes of T5 is also overkill to me if you're not keeping SPS dominated tank. normal soft and LPS corals prob only need between 4-6 tubes on average.

If you have the budget, dosing system is of course better coz it's automated. Otherwise, just adding yourself daily is good enough.

Okok... cos i went down to a LFS that day and aunty gave me 3frags of SPS to test test (poisoning me) thats why i decided to up to 8 tubes and start volka and iodine dosing....

I still considering on the MH cos i scared overkill also.... too much of good stuff also becomes bad....

The dosing system is quite reasonably priced but the space and aesthetics... sigh... still considering...

[comycus]

Aesthetics can always be made nicer with enough $ and effort.

Actually wanted to ask you have you tested your iodine and nitrate levels in your tank? Vodka dosing requires you to monitor your nitrate levels so you can adjust the amount needed. Iodine is a v. sensitive element to dose. I prefer to just replenish them with regular water changes. You don't want to overdose as it will get toxic. Besides it's not a crucial element to add into your tank at least for now.

I would recommend you to monitor your CA, MG and KH levels instead and dose them accordingly. They are more crucial to maintaining your spses.

[jxlex]

Aesthetics can always be made nicer with enough $ and effort.

Actually wanted to ask you have you tested your iodine and nitrate levels in your tank? Vodka dosing requires you to monitor your nitrate levels so you can adjust the amount needed. Iodine is a v. sensitive element to dose. I prefer to just replenish them with regular water changes. You don't want to overdose as it will get toxic. Besides it's not a crucial element to add into your tank at least for now.

I would recommend you to monitor your CA, MG and KH levels instead and dose them accordingly. They are more crucial to maintaining your spses.

Unfortunately $$$ is something that is never enuf... i am constantly debating and considering between starving myself of booze or upgrading my tank and equip... though the former sounds feasible, i just cannot commit to it so i guess the upgrading has to be done in stages.... ahahahahaa

Tested my nitrate and phosphate levels with salifert before i started the dosing... intent to test it on a daily basis to ensure everything stays in tab... Will probably be starting my iodine and KH testing these few days

Currently testing weekly PH, NH, NO2, NO3, CA, MG, Salnity...

quite sloppy la... slowly slowly shaping up...

i dun think will wack on sps as yet la... they happened to be free frags thats why i have them inside, else, will still stick to my LPS and softies for the time being until i am certain regime and parameters are stable before wacking anything else...

[cedricang]

Hi Bro Jxlex, welcome to the reefing hobby

You have a nice reef scape, impressive for a starter.

Enjoy the journey of reefing and making lots of nice friends here !

[comycus]

lol tt dillema of yours seems to be what I'm facing all the time too! Sometimes dieting is like killing 2 birds with a stone. Lose my tummy so I can drink more and buy more LS!

Slow and easy does it Looking forward to more pics! and do join us for our photography workshop. I'm sure we can trade tips

[jxlex]

Hi Bro Jxlex, welcome to the reefing hobby

You have a nice reef scape, impressive for a starter.

Enjoy the journey of reefing and making lots of nice friends here !

Thanks bro... enjoying it up till now the folks here are wonderful!!!

[jxlex]

lol tt dillema of yours seems to be what I'm facing all the time too! Sometimes dieting is like killing 2 birds with a stone. Lose my tummy so I can drink more and buy more LS!

Slow and easy does it Looking forward to more pics! and do join us for our photography workshop. I'm sure we can trade tips

sure thing bro.... just trying out and enjoying it... hoping to build smthg decent outta my reef

[jxlex]

Some new additions to my tank 2 days back...

Was told this is anemone coral

Some red stuff (whats the name btw)

Orange Yuma (have green lips leh but dunno why photo come out cannot see)

Some plate with orange lips n green tentacles

This is a sun right? (got 2 frags... about thumb size)

One of the sps frag given to me to "try out"

The other 2 frags given (the one at bottom left was told is some Rhotahids or smthg, given by a nice bro here)

More later la...

[jackywongto]

wow. .. still dunno how you manage to take such clear and crisp pics.....

[jxlex]

wow. .. still dunno how you manage to take such clear and crisp pics.....

Thanks bro.

I using a DSLR with Prime Macro Lens... depending on lighting conditions ISO100 and my f-stop ranges between f2.8 - f9. Use a tripod & window up to prevent unnecessary shaking la... cos fully manual ctrl so easier to achieve sharper photo la...

[jackywongto]

Thanks bro.

I using a DSLR with Prime Macro Lens... depending on lighting conditions ISO100 and my f-stop ranges between f2.8 - f9. Use a tripod & window up to prevent unnecessary shaking la... cos fully manual ctrl so easier to achieve sharper photo la...

i tried and did that.... but failed... haha......

which lens are you using?