illumnae

How would you rate this against an AI Hydra 26 or an Ecotech Radion XR15w Pro? I assume you got the Nanobox Duo, which should be comparable with those 2 lights. The Nanobox Duo with shipping would be US$500 or so, which is slightly more expensive than the AI and Ecotech options which come with local warranty. What would you say is the benefit of this light over the other 2?

You arrange la bro, I follow your lead

Mai tu liao bro, let's go

Maybe that's why the new FM Zeolight system doesn't include bacteria

I've done some reading up, and I think some of what I previously posted is not entirely correct. From my understanding, cyanobacteria is an opportunistic photosynthetic bacteria that is able to strike due to its ability to create food for itself via photosynthesis. Being opportunistic, I believe that cyanobacteria only competes well in environments that are bad for other strains of bacteria. Once conditions are good for other bacteria to thrive, cyanobacteria will start to die off. The strength of cyanobacteria is that it is able to obtain required nitrates and carbon by directly fixing nitrogen and carbon dioxide. This means that even in the absence of nitrates and carbon (2 of the 3 essential items needed for bacteria), they can create their own nitrates and carbon from the dissolved gasses in the water. This gives them a huge benefit over other bacteria, that will cease to reproduce once nitrates and carbon become limiting in the water. They are able to create food using phosphate alone together with dissolved nitrogen and carbon dioxide casses. This may explain why dosing additional carbon without adding extra bacteria works for you - your limiting nutrient may be carbon, and without adding extra bacteria to compete with existing bacteria for the added food, your existing bacteria is multiplying and thriving and thus outcompeting the cyanobacteria in your tank.

I don't think cyano is caused by excessive dead bacteria. From what I know, cyano is actually caused by excess phosphates coupled with low nitrates which allows cyano (which is a photosynthetic bacteria that doesn't necessarily need the redfield ratio of nutrients to survive - because it can supplement with photosynthesis) to flourish. I think using rowa and water change to reduce phosphates as well as adding more flow (cyano does not like high flow conditions) is effective in countering cyano, as is introducing other strains of bacteria (that also may not rely on the redfield ratio) to ultimately outcompete the cyano for the excess phosphate. I think dosing nitrates will also help since it creates available nutrients for existing bb to outcompete the cyano as well, but I understand that there is extreme reluctance amongst reefers to introduce nitrates into reef systems (even though the ultimate result is still low nitrates with the added benefit of reducing phosphates as well). Dosing of nitrates works very well in freshwater systems to combat cyano.

I remember reading in Evolutionz's thread that he used Microbe-Lift Special Blend, and that seemed to help in getting rid of cyano too

What was wrong with the power adaptor? He included a 110V one?

I think GFO helps to remove aluminium

I suspect it's a different strain of bacteria used to break down solid waste in the tank. These are bacteria that help to break down solid waste quicker so the bb can process them. Using an example from another brand, microbe-lift has several different types of bacterial products. Of the products, night out 2 is the one containing the bb that breaks down ammonia to nitrite to nitrate. They have other products called therap and sludge remover that helps break down solid waste (but also contains small amounts of actual bb). Special blend is a more even mix of both types of bacteria. Basically it's a different kind of bacteria serving a different purpose. Used together with zeobac they support each other not replace each other. Interesting fact: in the past, this was the type of bacteria marketed as bottled bb by many brands. This is because this type of bacteria reproduces via spores, and the spores can be bottled long term without dying, unlike actual bb which reproduces only via splitting and is hard to bottle long term (before today's modern technology discovered how). These bacteria don't contribute to the actual nitrogen cycle but break down waste faster, creating more food for bb hopefully letting bb reproduce faster, but inevitably creating ammonia spikes that exacerbate new tank syndrome. This is why bottled bb had a bad reputation previously as being "snake oil" and unable to replace traditional cycling.

One reason to avoid of is salt creep appearing due to the splashing between trays and the outlet. Outlet should extend underwater, but I'm not sure how to minimize splash between trays

Green algae bloom on glass still hasn't gone away, hope it's just part of the cycling process. I've added a pair of helfrechi firefish and an onyx picasso percula - bought 2 from lck but one keeps attacking the other so I think I may have 2 females Feminus wrasse is slowly overcoming jet lag! Stayed up till 525pm today, from its initial 330pm bedtime. Here's an updated fts with some new colonies from AC:

Sand sifting stars are risky in a new tank - you may not have enough detritus and microorganisms in your sand to sustain them, and they may end up starving to death and fouling your water.

I'm looking for a small diamond watchman goby. Anyone seen one around?

There are still ways to obtain KNO3, just not in huge quantities like we used to be able to. Pat, we reefers usually use KCl because dosing nitrates runs counter to our reefing mindset of reducing nitrates Cl ions convert quickly into chlorine gas that dissapates from our system, leaving potassium ions behind, ideal for our use. In the case of nitrate dosing, we can take a leaf out of the book of our planted tank buddies and dose KNO3 if we need to dose nitrates in order to reduce phosphates. We can use Calcium Nitrate too, but be careful to reduce your calcium dosing accordingly or you may end up with too much calcium in your system.

Kz zeovit user 1. Mjck 2. Patricklhc 3. Copperband 4. Steeltoe 5.bombom 6. dale 7.Barncle 8.Subxero 9.kkk121 10.Rockyboy 11.saEight 12. Tofubox Fauna marine zeolith user 1. Illumnae 2. 3. 4. 5 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

I think it really depends on your nutrient input into the system. Denitrification bacteria uses carbon, nitrates and phosphates to reproduce in accordance with the Redfield ratio of Carbon 106: Nitrate 16: Phosphate 1, and this ratio is how the bacteria introduced by both systems (and other probiotic systems) uptake your nutrients. As you can see, carbon is the one that's taken up the most, and phosphate the least. The whole supporting theory behind probiotic systems is that all of our systems end up carbon limited. The bacteria in our systems use up all the carbon and are unable to process any more nitrates or phosphates, since with 0 carbon they cannot uptake any more nitrates or phosphates to reproduce. Add to that the fact that we constantly introduce nitrates and phosphate into our tanks via fish food or other additives, and we see a build up in these 2 compounds. Probiotic systems thus encourage the adding of carbon to start the bacteria uptake for reproduction again. With lots of carbon added, the bacteria can once again process all 3 compounds to reproduce. The reason we add bacteria on a regular basis is to speed up the process (more bacteria, more uptake quicker instead of having to wait for the bacteria to naturally reproduce). Once the increased population of bacteria quickly depletes nutrients down to limiting levels again (likely carbon limited again, since we rarely end up with exactly 0 nitrates or phosphates), "excess" bacteria dies off and is either skimmed away or used by our corals and other invertebrates as food. This process begins again the next time you dose your carbon source and additional bacteria (or in the case of "permanent" carbon sources like biopellets, it keeps on going). The above is my understanding of probiotic systems and how they work to maintain ULNS. In Zeovit and Ultralith systems, we have the additional use of zeolite stones to adsorb nutrients. This helps to control the rise of nutrients by adsorbing various compounds such as ammonia (I'm not sure what else zeolites can adsorb, but I know some zeolite stones adsorb ammonia), which would reduce eventual nitrate creation by your usual bacteria crew. This ideally reduces the amount of carbon and additional bacteria that need to be dosed. That zeolites are very porous is also a benefit as it creates more room for bacteria to colonise and take up nutrients. However, the use of zeolites in my opinion acts as a buffer against large increases in nutrient levels, and doesn't detract against the basic concept of probiotic systems as I outlined above. Now how does this all affect the use of PO4 removers? We need to remember that phosphate is the compound that is least taken up by bacteria. only 1 unit of phosphate is taken up per 16 units of nitrate and 106 units of carbon. Hence, the compound that would be the least likely to ever hit limiting levels would be phosphate. This is why most of us face problems with phosphate, but not nitrate. For some tanks, this is ok - they feed sparingly pellet food or self prepared seafood mixes that are low in phosphate. This low addition of phosphate plus water changes work well with probiotic systems to keep phosphate levels low enough to qualify for ULNS. However, some of us also are too busy to prepare foods, and some of our fishes only eat frozen. Some of us just throw entire cubes of frozen mysis into the tank. The water that such frozen mysis is frozen in is usually quite dirty and very high in phosphate. Maybe some of us feed pellets that are high in phosphate too, or use tap water to do our salt mixes. All these introduce phosphate at a higher rate than is being taken away, and we may end up in situations where carbon or nitrate (unlikely) reach limiting levels, and thus there is no further phosphate uptake by bacteria. Even if we keep dosing more and more carbon, it's useless once nitrates run out. In the second situation, we end up with a situation that most of us are familiar with - rising phosphate levels. It's not the fault of any of the probiotic systems. They are doing their job. But they are limited by the Redfield ratio and how the bacteria uptakes nutrients. In situations like this, I think that the use of po4 removal media is necessary. Your tank system is at an inbalance where the introduction of phosphate is at a rate not consistent with nature (i.e. the Redfield ratio), which is why you are suffering from rising phosphate levels. Use of po4 removal media is simply to rebalance your tank back to natural levels and does not "compete" with bacteria in any way. An alternative to this that I have seen some reefers use is to actually dose nitrate back into their system while increasing carbon dosage. Theory is the same - to achieve back nutrient balance in your tank. If Phosphate balance is out of whack, you either reduce phosphate to achieve balance, or increase carbon and nitrate accordingly to achieve balance. Both achieve the same result. In fact, dosing nitrates back may have some added benefit as nitrate is usually dosed back using Potassium Nitrate (KNO3), a common fertilizer chemical used in planted tanks. Most FM and Zeovit users test for and dose Potassium to achieve better coral colouration. Hence, dosing nitrate to reduce phosphate also has the added benefit of dosing Potassium. Hence, in my view, neither Zeovit nor FM is wrong. Zeovit envisions an ideal situation where your tank is in balance and thus discourages the use of po4 removal media - because in a balanced tank, removal of PO4 makes PO4 limited and inhibits the removal of nitrate and makes carbon dosing excessive and unnecessary. In this case, yes, removing po4 would compete with your bacteria. FM on the other hand envisions a more practical/realistic scenario where our tanks are not balanced and thus it is inevitable that you have to remove PO4 from your system since it will never be in balance. This is also why FM doesn't encourage the use of PO4 reactors constantly, but the use of UltraPhos *when needed*. UltraPhos is to be used until PO4 levels drop to desired levels, then removed and not used again until they rise again. Based on the above, my opinion is that use of PO4 removal media should be determined by the user themselves on a "as needed" basis. There's no right or wrong answer, just what is right for your tank in your current situation based on how balanced the nutrients introduced into your tank are. My $0.02, happy to be corrected if I am wrong

The wrasse is doing very well! Still jetlagged from its trip from Australia I think, it wakes up early before sunrise and goes to sleep at about 3+pm. Hoping that it will adjust to tank light timing soon! Diatoms have cleared and now I'm getting clear/green algae on the glass - I think that's a sign of Ultramin S overdose so I will need to cut back on dosing for that. I've started to add some corals and other invertebrates since Day 14 has passed and my parameters are ok (Nitrates 0.2, Phosphate 0.03, Calcium 380, kH 7, Magnesium 1380). Will be adding FM Balling salts via autodoser soon. Need to decide on which autodoser to use. Any recommendations for a reliable doser that won't malfunction and dump my liquids into my tank all at once? I've heard many horror stories about some brands! Here's the corals I've added so far - bought some frags from Fantasy Corals and got 2 lovely frags donated by a friend (you know who you are, thank you bro!): Metallic Digi Fiji Pink Birdsnest Sunset Millie Forest Fire Digi Strawberry Shortcake (testing water, hope I'm able to keep it alive!) Some other invertebrates: Blueberry Sea Fan (bought on a whim - so far it's doing ok, hope that I can keep this difficult gorgonian alive!) Teardrop Maxima with Tuxedo Urchin Hardworking Emerald Crab - I have 5 in the tank

Ah bac has feeding true percs as at last week

Many Midas blennies at SeaLife

Chloroquine phosphate works too and isn't as harsh on the fish as copper. UV will only work to control ich outbreak but won't cure ich, as not all the ich parasites will suspend in the water and go through the UV to be zapped

Will he provide appropriate power supply and plug?

25

$15

Ugly ugly diatom bloom reared it's ugly head need to add more cuc. Supposed to pay a visit to dr cedricang tomorrow for some starter frags leh... sigh..