yooyoo99

Wah setting up new tank liao.... Mine is also gravity fed, no problem with tuning the skimmer. Micro bubbles not a problem either. I am using deltec skimmer as well. Overflow pipe has a valve and a tee. 1 end of the tee goes to skimmer, the other goes to sump. Valve can adjust flow rate between the 2 outlets. There is another valve at the skimmer water inlet, for fine tuning of the water level. Only problem i have now is the return check valve (Y-valve) for the return pump. Off pump will cause choker to fall back and stop backflow, but when pump is turn on, the choker may or may not go back 100% to its parking position, resulting in lower flowrate. This sometimes cause my skimmer water level to be lower thus have dry skim effect. When choker goes back to original position, skimmer will work perfectly. My proposal is not to install those check valve, but do remember to drill holes at the outlet of your return to break the siphon when pump is off. FYI, no fish ever go suck into the pump, skimmer body not very dirty. I have no complains other than the choker problem which i will fix when free.....................................

Thanks for the info on this thread. If your unit is hooked up and working, pls update. I may want to do the same thing. Outside units are ex, $200 per controller....

Why not diy an algae scrubber yourself? Just need a light source, plastic tray, a small pump, and use a filter net for the algae to grow on. You can also concurrently run a FR containing np pellet (carbon source for bacteria). The above 2 should be more than sufficient to remove (or keep to minimum) your byproducts for the tank. After which, remove part by part of the bioballs from your sump. When i had my 3 ft tank, i also faced the same high NO3 problem. It was only after numerous water change every week, and removal of the bioball then i started to get low traces of NO3.

Does it come with the temp sensor probe?

I would go for the following: - return piping to have as little turns as possible to minimize head loss, the return pump should be on the left side of tank - go for ehiem for its reliability (tried OR, cannot last longer than a year) - return outlets to be positioned at the tank bottom for circulation (if you are going for no sand), reduce the hassle of cleaning pumps placed for bottom circulation. rest of circulation in tank can be made up using tunze or vortech - DO NOT use GF pipings, they tend to leak if not fasten properly, or if you tend to touch the valves now and then Well, this is what i would have do for my 6 footer if given a chance, again.....

I wonder what has volka dosing got to do with white spots on the AT????

Have you tried clearing the air tubing of dirt, especially at the intake? I have tried once and it helps with the bubbles density. Another way would be the foaming or water level may need adjustment. Or could it be that your dkh has drop?

I would recommend the good old ehiem brand for your return pump. Always good experience with them, but not with OR brand.

If you stay around woodlands, the natural cool outlet at old woodlands center near the hawker center sells a whole range of aircon related products for diy.

You can go iwarna and buy a used bottle, but fully topped up with CO2. I have 2 private bottles, and a 3rd one from iwarna. Lasted me on average 2 months per bottles, pretty consistent in the CO2 amount.

U can buy a small bottle, try and see the effects first. Good = continue, then consider reducing dosage in future. I am working to decrease the amt of dosage, see effect how Bad = stop loh

I frequent polypet at sunset way. Quite a few shops to compare for the cheapest price. Remember to ask what is discounted price first....

I personally went through rounds of nudi attack. Tried lugol solution dip, FW dip. They do kill the adult ones, can see them floating around. Maybe i did not dip with sufficient freq, they always come back every few months. The FW dip is pretty stressful to the zoas though. Now i give up, let them eat if they want. Stopped buying zoas. Somehow, i stopped seeing them around, and some of the zoas actually grow back. End conclusion = give up

Have always been using salifert for the past 5 years or so. Never fail me

I use a used filter net (cut to size) as the screen. My setup is horizontal flow, tilt slightly for better water flow. Am dosing volka and running the scrubber together. 1st few weeks only brown furry algae on screen. It is only this week, which is about close to 5-6th week, then i see green filament type algae growin on the screen. Anyway, volka did not resolve my dino overgrowth problem. Somehow after setting up the scrubber (with brown algae at that time), the dino suddenly have a massive died off within 2 weeks.

For zoas or sps?

Old coralife is good. The batches i have purchased 1yr back sucks, lots of residue and bad in parameters. Oceanic is good, no residue. D&D is good in parameters, but has residue. I will think Oceanic is the best, will return to that after finishing D&D. Mix reef - sps/lps/fishes

You may want to drop some rocks somewhere in the path of the coral and let it overun. Then you can sell the rocks to fellow reefers and earn some $$$. Did that once by throwing a rock in the middle of the GSP garden, it overan in no time. But i did not sell it. Gave all away during my tank migration. I find it difficult to stop the spread, using something to block the light reaching the GSP is 1 way, another way maybe is to separate the path by making space.

Buy from DFS need to show passport then cheaper? Is this true? Walk-in for locals also entitled to cheaper pricing? Never purchase from DFS before. Pls advise

Using SMiff or something like that, be careful of those new type with flavour....cheapest better right Those on the market seems to be 40% alcohol

Have been dosing volka for a few months liao, initial NO3 and PO4 close to zero, but still hit by dino problem. There is a well documented procedure on the dosing of volka on the reefcentral. I followed its dosing regime till about 8ml of volka for my 6 footer. Dosed the volka 1 shoot in the evening. Result - skimmer turns black and smelly - did not dose till i see reduction of NO3, as it was close to zero initially. max amt dosed was 10ml, but dropped to 8ml due to high cost of volka. - sps colored up after a few weeks, growth has been good compared to b4 dosing - lps not much difference, except that my hammer has been growing well (a bit of surprise as i did not monitor them for sometime) - did not managed to resolve the dino problem Went on to the scrubber method on volka dosing. Scrubber is on for close to 1 mth liao, no heavy growth of green algae though. Result - skimate continue to be black and smelly - dino recently starts to slow down its growth, seems to be dying out I suspect my dino problem is due to low ph (high dosing from Ca reactor), not so much on the nutrients level. The scrubber seems to be able to help maintain ph over the night (guessing). But still continue to dose volka, as it gives skimmer extra boast in removing nutrients.

Hmm, zeozym looks interesting. Effect can be seen roughly around after 2 weeks? Is it the same as that for carbon source dosing (volka)? Is the zeozym good for other algae problem like dino?

Mine is a single DI unit, H&S, purchased from sealife many years ago. It has DI resin and activated carbon in 1 cartridge. Thanks, i will check it out

Feedback I have problems with the tunze 6101 pumps. The transformer keep failing. Have replaced 2 within 1.5 years. Each is about $70+. Not sure on the vortex reliability though. How is the reliability with the new 6105?

Hi, Does anyone know of alternative source for purchase of DI resin, for own top up of the filter cartridge? Last time purchase from sealife, wondering if there is any cheaper source around.