reefer_cosmo

Caught those Pek Tor using line and hooks. I actually started the hobby of fishing first, and once I got hooked onto that hobby, and starts to get fascinated by the marine fishes ... that's when I decided to keep a reef tank. Initially, I experimented with a FOWLR for a while in a fresh-water converted tank, then I proceeded to purchase a proper marine tank setup and started reefing. Long story short, not enough money to sustain the reefing hobby to the kind of standard that I wanted it to be, so might as well go back to FOWLR to save the $$$.

??? ... if you catch reef fishes and away on a boat or something, just use battery operated air-pumps ... carry enough batteries to last the duration back. Meanwhile, change fresh seawater 2 times a day (to get rid of ammonia). Kinda straight forward enough. If it is for air-shipment of fishes, just Oxygen pumped into plastic bags ... that's how wholesaler ships their fishes to you, those that you buy at LFS.

Dunno why bill so high ... maybe some components / equipment not energy efficient. I found out that by turning off my MH light and chiller, electricity consumption drops dramatically. No choice, with such high electrcity bills, I have decided to downgrade from a reef tank to a FOWLR. You know how it is in this hobby, initially came in big, with huge beautiful dream ... setting up a reef tank, have clams, MH/Chiller to support them, later go SPS etc. etc. But the reality really stinks when you realize the running costs associated with such a setup. Beauty comes at a cost. I guess the old chinese saying is true: Paste cash onto the wall, and the wall will look beautiful too. HA HA HA. Below, before and after pictures. Before: Reef tank (small one), and now, a FOWLR with 15 fishes and 1 crab. Predatory theme. Mostly wild caught from Bedok jetty, heh heh.

Yeah guys, I agreed that magnetic ballast very high energy load. I thought the Watts consume is just the 150W rating, apparantly not. Also, the Resun CL280 kick in and out very often, that also increases the electrical consumption (especially during the kicking in part). The Resun chiller cheap cheap, just S$300 (if I remembered correctly) but just running it for a few months, the electricity bill far exceeds the cost of the chiller! Penny wise, pound foolish ... ha ha ha. My PUB bill increased from $200 (was around $160 to $200) prior to starting my marine tank, to a peak of $450 ... which I could not take it anymore, and just switches off the darn Chiller and MH light. Converted the reef tank to FOWLR in an instant! ha ha ha Hope that next month's bill can drop below $300 mark.

Hi Boon & Wil, Thanks for your inputs. Indeed, it was the chiller & MH. By monitoring the electricity bill, I finally had a heart attack (almost fainted) when my PUB bill peaked at $450 !!! for last month. I immediately went out to the marine tank, disconnect the chiller and MH light. Then this month's bill dropped to $305 Can die like that man ... electricity bill for chiller & MH light already costs more than those 2 equipment in just few months' time.

Sorry about your misery ... but I dunno to cry for you or laugh with you! Yeah, always buy new stuff in this hobby. The condition of equipment detoriates really fast under saltwater condition (and also the encrusting algae issue that you facing now). If buying old stuff, then have to be mentally prepared for some cleaning up or equipment malfunction shortly. Sometimes not seller's fault also, becoz they selling "as-is" condition.

Wow, u work in the same industry as I do huh? Sounds like a power plant / industrial water treatment system. Usually, deaerator need a operating pressure of 5 bar to work. How are you going to implement that kind of pressure on a smaller scale home system at an affordable cost?

not micro algae ... not cheato that is commonly used by the bros here, just your run of the mill wild green ribbon seaweed collected from the sea (beach). i already introduced a small qty into the display area, so we will know few weeks later how's the outcome. based on the internet reading that i gathered, green ribbon does have a slight chance of going asexual. but it also has the advantage of vegetation growth, and sexual reproduction (read: grows like a weed!!) i am somewhat unconventional when it comes to setting up of my marine tank.

vodka is for drinking, and azno3 can get expensive after a while. i am starting an experiment in growing seaweed in the display area in a bid to reduce no3, logically sound?

how about just putting some seaweed (green ribbon) to grow in the main display tank? i am trying that now, anyone tried before? how well does it work in reducing no3 ?

This is from someone who has just gone full fledge into a "proper" marine tank (for just a few months), the previous 2 years I was experimenting with a Fresh Water tank converted to Salt Water: Killed many fishes, mostly self-caught from Bedok Jetty ... thus, financial impact was minimal in the past. Now, by doing things the "proper" way ... i.e. buying proper marine tank and equipment, rowaphos for phosphate control, high quality activated carbon, AZ-NO3 for NO3 export, Aquapharm Part A & B, Trace-Elements, Fish/Coral food, Water Filteration unit, Quality Salt Mix etc. etc. The number 1 problem I see is the financial impact of this hobby. If you really want to do it well, there's no avoiding the costs involved in buying the essential quality equipment and supplements. Which can be a problematic issue when you are married and have family expenses to take care of: When push comes to shove, which will you prioritize? Sadly, some people I talked to when I was at some LFS shopping ... their hobby have caused the breakdown of their marriage, and they are fully aware of that fact, but it still happened. This, I will rate as the #1 danger/mistake of this hobby. When you are so addicted to it, and so deeply invovled in wanting to build the best reef tank, other aspects of your life just collaspes around this hobby. The person involved loses perspective on what is important. Heck, even the value of money is distorted: Rowaphos 500g S$70, that's 2 cans of high quality powered milk for a new born baby. A high quality skimmer S$500, that's many food court meals ... and if you don't eat fancy stuff, almost 1 month of food bill for 1 family. Like all luxury items, only the extremely rich can afford to spend without thinking or blinking of their eyes. I would classify this hobby as a rich man's hobby (a luxury item). Much like driving of a car in Singapore. If one's financial means is only marginal, and got into this hobby without 1st realising its full financial impact, it's just one deep black hole. Rich guy don't care, but if you are a normal wage earner, it can be a source of great concern/problem somewhere down the road.

Use a fan to keep temp down, top-up water often. Need to check your NO3 level often, as small water volume accumulates faster. Meaning that you will need to do frequent water changes. Less livestock in a small 12L tank, your bio filteration might not be able to sustain high bio load. Unless you take extra effort to redesign the flow of your water circulation system to force them through large column of bio-balls, coral chips or other bact growth media.

More sotong adventure: Pic #1: Sotong kena threaten by big fish, sotong shoots tons of black ink. Pic #2: Lots of black ink stuck on corals surrounding sotong. Pic #3: Skimmer hard at work, skims out Sotong's black ink from the water. (excellent, really loved the performance of this skimmer ... considering that it is only air driven!)

More pictures: #1: Group photo, very rare ... finally everyone come out for a group photo session. #2: Close-up of Grouper Fish. #3: Snow Flake Eel ... shy guy, only poke out a bit of his head to KayPoh on others' business. Anyone knows which LFS selling small sharks? I believe some sharks are not on CITIES list right? I saw one medium sized one at a Pasir Ris LFS, but that shark got one eye missing ... also too big to fit into my Nano tank. That will be a 1st in Singapore, keeping a shark in a Nano tank. Ha ha ha.

Just for you: Pic #1: Sotong with half-eaten prawn Pic #2: Sotong at Rest I didn't know that there are many predatory tank lovers out here in Singapore. It's really a USA kind of thing (they even have a whole section talking about predatory tank/fishes at Reef Central).

I believe you have already read about the basic ANN cycle, since you have come such a long way, and have a tank with some fishes already. Whatever goes in (things that you feed), and wastes that fish produces, will end up being converted to NO3 (Nitrate) ... and it stays there in your water system, and keeps accumulating unless you do something about it. When I was less experienced, I kept on wondering why the fishes that we keep in our improvised salt-water tank cannot live beyond 1 month ... becoz I never change water mah, and NO3 levels was way too high! ha ha ha. Back then lagi funny, bought skimmer, then skimmer not working (matched the wrong flowrate of pump to skimmer) ... then still sit around and wonder why fishes die, got skimmer what (but no skimmate ever produced!) So, it's really a journey ... learn through experiences and mistakes made. But this forum got lots of helpful old hands who are willing to share their experiences ... just need to ask. Ok, sorry ... off topic again, starting to sound like an old man ... My point is that at this stage, since you are considering only FOWLR, then you have less parameters to worry about. The most important thing to note is your NO3, don't let it accumulate to too high a level (this will wipe out your whole tank). If during your regular testing of the water parameters, and there is a spike in Ammonia reading ... check where this source of ammonia is coming from, usually a dead fish decomposing in your tank (trapped between LR) ... if there are no obvious source that the Ammonia can come from, then it is either overfeeding or your Bio filteration is not established yet. So, go easy on feeding and do not add anymore new fishes.

Go to the LCK Farm Mart, there is a marine shop, and the uncle has one running in one of their coral holding tank. It seems to work fine when I saw it, and I was completely puzzled ... why? Becoz I bought this model before, and it does not produce any skimmate! ha ha ha ... The darn thing is still somewhere in my storeroom. The observation is that the uncle is using a powerhead with a very very high flow rate.

I read you feed $1 nemo to your tigerfish (or is it lionfish, ha ha ha, me got all mixed up too!) Can consider live prawns that people sell at fishing ponds. $4 for 100 grams

Pictures: #1: Live Prawns "fall-in" for dinner (to be eaten by the big fishes, and Sotong) #2: Sotong eating a live prawn, now prawn dead of course. #3: Grouper just finished eating a prawn, Prawn's feeler (antenna) still poking out of the Grouper's mouth!

Yeap bro, already did my research ... read on Reef Central (the USA site), and saw the pictures of how another reefer fit a Tunze DOC 9002 into the JBJ HQI 28g. Basically have to remove the filter media basket in the middle (the place where the overflow flows out into), then slot the DOC 9002 skimmer right in there, perfect fit. Only thing that does not fit is the skimmer collection cup, round shape ... so have to disconnect the hood (cover, with lights) from the hinge, making the hood protude .75 inches from the front and not having perfect salt-water splashing seal. Which is one of the reason why I did not go for the DOC 9002 skimmer, since I am slowly changing my tank from a coral tank into a FOWLR (predatory), and I have a couple of HUGE fishes inside (1/3 width of the tank) ... and when they splashes the saltwater, man .... everything gets wet. Got Grouper (yes yes yes, Grouper fish), 2 wild caught big fishes, Snow Flake eel, Squid (Sotong!) ... they feed on live prawn (those use for fishing), and those prawns splashes too, when cornered. VERY high Bio Load for a small tank, but the way I structured the design of the Bio filteration system, managed to keep everything alive and happy. Water parameters rather good too.

Yeap, like I said ... it all adds up. Bigger the tank, more expensive the equipments needed and also the variable costs involved for upkeep (i.e. Calcium, Mag, Sel, Carbonate, Coral food dosing ... activated carbon, phosphate remover etc., then comes the electricity bill) Not easy to maintain a Marine tank on the cheap, and still produce excellent results (i.e. Corals reproducing, instead of just keeping them alive for display only). Just your complete range of test kits for all parameters needed to keep excellent water quality: S$200 A bottle of Rowaphos 500ml (to remove phosphate): S$70 The above items are just some quick example of the kind of "Variable costs" on an on-going basis you need to take into account of. There are 2 ways to go about it, since changing of saltwater can be troublesome and expensive too (i.e. 4kg Tropic Marine salt-mix, around $30, able to make 120L ... appox 30 gallons) ... for your kind of tank, just 2 small partial water change, you will use up the whole pack. Then, if you want to do it "correctly", you will need RO/DI unit to filter your tap water, which will set you back another $300+ to $400 ... the filter media canister needs to be changed too, more on-going costs involved. But, if you buy pre-packed Natural Sea Water from the fish farms, you got a heck of a logistical problem. Try carrying 20 to 60 kg of salt water up and down from the farm, into your car, then up to your apartment ... then change it ... whaoooo, once and you will give up, not to mention doing it twice a month! So, sorry .. sidetracked a bit there ... the 1st way to maintain good water parameters is to do consistent partial new water changes. Costs and effort as document above. The 2nd way is to buy a VERY good skimmer, and then buy AZ-NO3 to dose. (btw, Weipro not considered as a good skimmer) Both ways the long term costs will work out to be the same, more or less ... the only difference is your physically effort needed. For regular water change, more effort required ... the good skimmer and AZ-NO3 route, less effort required. I went with the 2nd way, becoz my tank much smaller (100L). For a large tank like yours, with a sump ... can consider Deep Sand Bed (DSB). But this will take a while to mature, meanwhile you still need to use 1st or 2nd way to export NO3 until your DSB with the anaerobic bacteria have established themselves. I started a thread that survey other bros' experiences in their electricity bill consumption, you can read it to get a guide ... becoz I am experiencing very high electricity bill for a very small tank, with very low wattage equipment. So, need to be mentally prepared for the costs to add up.

Sorry, just went to visit your blog and saw the pictures of your setup. huge tank, i must say. your 9w UV is not enough for tank of this size. in addition, i think your in and out flow to your UV placed in such a way that limits maximum water circulation (thus contact and ich killing capability). for UV, ich will be killed during the free swimming stage ... so it is normal to see your fish do "glancing" (rubbing against rocks, sand) motions for a few days, then the ich drops off, crawls around like a small bug ... lots of them, makes your skin itch just looking at them. after that, they cocoon up, then burst ... become many small free swimming guys in the water ... that's when UV will kill them. but you only got 6 to 12 hours window of opportunity, so make sure your tank's volume of water are all passed through your UV device. plus, if you use too large a pump, too fast a flow through the UV device, the effectiveness will be reduced tremendously (esp with a small 9w unit, very short). so if you have large tank, large pumps, high flow rate, you will need a very long UV device (and higher wattage, of course). it all adds up, marine tank very expensive to upkeep ... esp for a large tank. how much u paying for electricity? got a chiller?

Install UV, it helps to control ich ... works wonders. Had 2 major outbreaks, then fed-up .... go buy UV and after installing, no more ich outbreaks.

Yeap, I was choosing between RSM and this JBJ HQI. The following are my analysis: Both almost same amount of water volume, maybe RSM slightly larger. RSM comes with PL lighting only, and if want to upgrade to MH, very difficult to modify. Plus, the MH supplied with JBJ HQI would have added at least $200 more to the RSM based price tag, if I were to upgrade the RSM from PL to MH (not forgetting cooling fans for the MH, which is already built in and supplied with JBJ). As witness from my other thread, I initially wanted to keep clam ... got 3 of them, and PL just would not cut it. JBJ HQI got extra things that RSM do not have: Blue night lights (built-in), Pulsating Wave maker controller to enable the 2 ACCELA pumps to alternate between each other to create wave effects (no need to add additional wave maker in display area) But RSM have a better powerhead driven skimmer, as compared to JBJ's air driven. Initially wanted to swop out the air driven skimmer to a Tunze DOC 9002 nano, but as I used the stock skimmer, found the performance to be excellent ... so dropped the idea of buying the Tunze skimmer. So there u have it, if you look at it carefully, still quite value for money, when compared to RSM. Just that the JBJ HQI base price do not come with cabinet stand. Got to pay $100 extra for that. RSM comes with the cabinet stand. Also, RSM have the advantage of easier to connect chiller (in/out pipe already provided) ... but I managed to solve this problem after some experimenting ... my experiences which I shared with other bros in another thread on how to connect a chiller to a JBJ HQI (I thought it was HQ1 when I just bought it, ha ha, then later as I read more ... I realized that Americans use the generic term HQI to refer to MH light equipment).

wow, bro, you damn power ahhh, keep all these expensive LS without chiller ah? not scare they die, then hard earned money down the drain leh.