alanyeo

Hey guys, just a cautionary note. If you use wood to build the casing, do consider the heat generated by ballast and lamp. You may endup with a warped surface or burnt interior, possibly catches fire if ballast is mounted directly on wood. Just my 1c.

kind of agree it's a disease. I have 2 Rusty Angels and they never bother to go near the jewel. My angels alway stay clear of the swinging tentacles.

Seamonkee is right. The later one is best avoided. All wrasses belong to the parrot fish family. Midget-size ones are generally safe and they don't outgrow. The one in pic can grow up to length of a foot. You may want to know that a shoal of 100+ parrot fishes can wipe out half football field size coral patch in an hr. The fishes gnaw at the corals for calciums.

did you get a chance to cut his/her amblilical cords? congrats anyway. Suppose it is Banggai Cardinal, black n silvery color? This type of cardinal are live-bearers like guppies. Most likely already pregnant during collection and you are one lucky chap to bring her home. Isolate babies using small cage so that they don't go into overflow, chopped into pieces by propellers or eaten by larger fishes.

What AT says is: wash with old seawater, not from tap. wash with just seawater, not bleech. Its a tough job washing sand. Best to use external canister with lots of cotton wool to trap dirt, requires constant stirring up so dirt can be sucked off.

Careful, read the news to find out if lately got pollutions by ships - oil/chemical spills, red-tides, etc.

For those who already has a chiller running, to a certain extend it is already providing groundings. The coil (titanium or copper) itself is welded to the compressor which then grounds to our electrical wall-socket. Assuming your chiller is of standard make and conforms to electrical safety. Check that you have an earth wire and using a 3-pin plug. If you are using a properly earth-wired chiller and still experiencing shocks, then the situation is serious enough for you to act immediately: REMOVE THE FAULTY GADGET! DON'T MESS WITH ELECTRICITY.

how much sand are you talking about pal? Go fish farm and ask for a unwanted foam box (elongated best). Place sand with old aquarium water and run a PH. NO2/3 may rise but who cares. Maintain this way can last a week or 2 without alerting anyone who may call the police becos of a fouling smell.

Pistol or snappy shrimps, whatever they are...nasty, and if got female in there worst....breed fast. Can be found between rocks and sand, even Pasir Ris beach. To get rid of it - After lights off, securely tie a slice of prawn in a fishnet and wait. It will attempt to grab it from net. You got to work fast! Happy Shrimping!

Cleaner wrasse...you mean those with blue n black stripes all length? This one doesn't go underneath sand! Hide between crevices maybe. It is a lively fish and swims most of the time. Most probably dead by now, sad to mention that.

Yo bro, you lucky guy. Piece of advise, do it early before your gf change her mind since nemo craze is almost over. Me not bidding for project here, but to share how I did it. You should start looking for a carpenter or sturdy cabinet first, then tailor your tank. Most ppl started the other way round. Or sometime they buy tank n cabinet together from same LFS. Honest, whoever sells tank cannot give you a good sturdy cabinet or vice-versa. I am into Indonesian teak furniture and chanced upon Mirage Teak at Demsey rd. They're having 55% sale til Jan. Bought a 25 X 50 inches cab for $800, good buy. Then I went on to ask a glass merchant to build the tank. 25 X 50 X 27H using 15mm glass...paid $1.6k. That's also good buy.

Used the very 1st Aquamedic model some years back, tall rectangle box. In all denitrator, most difficult part is controlling the driprate. Theory and mechanics-wise all work the same.

Perhaps I word it wrongly and you misunderstood my intent. Somehow we need to start somewhere, or rather start introducing LS. So the best approach is to put a fish or two in there to see if it works. Not recommending everyone to do this unless you are almost sure your tank is over with cycling. Yes testkits are still best bet!

Interesting to know many postings recommend using pieces of dead prawns or fish to speed up cycling. In the past I like this method but not lately. We all know that dead animal fouls up the system quicker and sometime can go out of control. Imagine leaving a dying anemone there for a week. IMO using small fishes or animals seem more like a natural approach, so called 'let nature takes its course'. They produce shit, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate.... I don't recommend buying expensive fishes. Go for cheap damsels or clowns, snails, hermit crabs, etc. Eg. for a 3ft tank, 3-5 damsels is good enough. A month ago I started my #7 tank (I think it's #7 over 17+ yrs) and I got a few clowns to do the job. Put them in after a week after introducing LR and they survived. Nevertheless, don't omit testkits!

Your post quite contradictory pal. You said it is small, camera cannot capture. Then you said they are about 1cm long. If 1cm digicam can snap la. If 1mm then likely to be micro-organism. Anyway they should be harmless, could be beneficial baterias too. Usually congregate around sandbed, bioballs, or unclean glass surface.