solo

I feed mine with a mix of: - 1) Frozen Brine/Mysis shrimp mixed with garlic and vitamin 2) Life brine shrimp 3) Spirulina flake

Coral Beauty is a shy fish, but the challenge is to get it to eat. Hopefully the one you have was already feeding when you bought it. I had 7 up the lorry b4 I succeed in keep my current one. This 8th one has been with me for 3 years now. Good luck.

If the purity thing is a RO unit, then the PH of the output water is abt 7.2 or thereabout. If pure DI only, the output water PH is abt 8.3 (same as PUB water supply) PS: Because of the PH of the RO water I use it to extract the calcium from a pail of ARM. After 1 day, the PH will adjust itself to 8.2. I then use this water for top ups. This is just my own practice and not sure if it's proper, but so far (after 9 mths) I dont experience any adversed side effect.

Thanks a lot Henry.

Any one with the address n contact # of kwong lim?

Klim, If I'm not wrong you need to upgrade the ballast also (was told by the lfs). Maybe you should reverify.

I experienced that twice when HDB upgrade the entire block's electrical system. Power was off at 9am SHARP and only returned at 5pm. You can try to ask the contract to pull a temporary power line into your house. Just use it for your tank equipment only. Don't connect any other electrical equipment (tv, fridge, etc) to it as it may not have sufficient power. Only catch is that you must have somebody at home. Otherwise use a battery operated air pump to aerate you tank. The corals should still be ok for 1 day without water circulation or skimming. And no feeding until power resumes. Good luck.

Water will not turn cloudy. On the one occassion when I did not turn off my skimmer the skimate was blueish. Could have skimmed out the bacteria and wasted the tablet

There are 2 types. One for saltwater and the other for freshwater. Don't buy the wrong stuff.

Hi, I've reading up on alk, calcium, mag. requirements but find them rather confusing. Can't really picture clearly their inter-relationships. Is it possible at all to come up with some sort of visual chart that shows the inter-relationships at a glance? Gurus, your adv. is greatly appreciated. Cheers.

"Swing arm" type of hydrometers are rather incurrate. In my case I use a refractometer to ensure the SG of the saltwater mix is at the correct value & then check the same saltwater mix with my cheapo hydrometer & note the position of the arm for future use. Glad I did this as the position of the arm was way below the "normal" range markings on the hydrometer. I can now conveniently make saltwater mix with the correct SG with the cheapo hydrometer alone. Once in a blue moon I will reverify the position of the hydrometer against the refractometer as a precaution.

Hi, Any idea what's the normal life span of a cleaner shrimp? I have a pair in my tank for more than a year now. Lately I notice that they are not feeding so actively as before. Going to mati I think

Hi, The main problem with coral beauty is getting it to eat. I only managed to keep 1 alive & healthy after 8 attempts. Mine now eats anything I feed, including blood worm. When buying look for one that's already feeding.

Hi Gurus, I intend to install a 1/2HP chiller for my 6ft tank. Currently the price is easily well above $1K. If I were to install 2 x 1/4HP chiller (< $500 each) I will have a total of 1/8HP. With the volume of water constant, will the 2 x 1/4 be able to lower the temperature in a shorter time than a single 1/2HP unit? If so, the running cost should be lower with 2 x 1/4 units, right? Besides, I will have redunancy in case 1 unit is being serviced. Appreciate any comments, suggestions or opinions. Thanks very much.

Hi, I have a Kent Marine model. Not sure about the bacteria thing. Maybe true since the chlorine has been removed. Not a concern I guess as long as we're not drinking it. As for the fishes, don't know leh. I only run my RO when I need to make salt water or just keep some as fresh top up water. In between when I have no need for it I will just run it for a minute or 2 every alternate day to prevent the membrane from drying out. The thing with RO is that the purified water is only a small fraction compared to the "dirty" water (which I collect for other washings) it discharges. Take note of the following: - When operating the unit for the 1st time, remove the deionizer cartridge & store it in an air tight container to prevent the resin from drying out. Then run and discard the 1st 10 - 12 gallons of the product water. This is to flush the membrane of its protective fluid. Quite siong! You may need to run it continuously for abt 10 days before the membrane is completely hydrated, at which point, you will get the max. output of RO water. After that reinstall the deionizer cartridge and your unit is ready. Once hydrated, NEVER LET THE MEMBRANE DRY OUT. When it dries, it is no longer able to purify the water and would need to be replaced. You may keep it wet by running it for 1 to 2 minutes every alternate day or keep the output tubing above the membrane housing to prevent draining. If the unit is not used for more than a month, remove the membrane & store it in a plastic, air tight bag with 2 tablespoons of RO water and placed it in a refrigerator to prolong its life span. DO NOT let the membrane freeze though. Good luck

Hi, Forgot to add. Tape the connectors with teflon tape (white tape) before connecting. They tend to leak without the tape. It will take awhile the membrane to "season". Suggest you dont use the initial RO water for your tank. Use it for something else like washing the floor. It may contain undesirable stuff. Use the RO water only after the membrane is seasoned.

Hi, In general, the connection should follow the following sequence: - 1) water supply goes to the input of the sediment filter canister 2) output of sediment filter canister goes to carbon filter canister 3) output of carbon filter canister goes to membrane filter canister 4) output of membrane filter canister goes to deionizer canister 5) output of deionizer canister is your purified RO water. The membrane filter is very expensive and is easily damaged by chlorine in the tap water. You must therefore ensure that the water passes through the carbon before it reaches the membrane filter. Hope this help. Best of luck.

I've absolutely no luck with my 4 hector gobies. Doesn't seem to eat anything at all (be it brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, pellets, etc). All RIP! Any pointers on how to keep them alive and eating?

Thanks a lot guys for the adv.

It's not really heavy. In fact with the coral sand it's porous. Only worry that it breaks and crack the tank, then all hell break loose

Just wondering if any reefers managed to successfully make live rocks with cement and coral sand. I've tried a couple of pieces but the finished rock was rather fragile and breaks easily. Maybe the sand & cement mixture is not correct. Any tips on how to do it successfully? Can save a lot of money, is eco-friendly and don't have to worry about crabs, worms, etc. Only need to culture it with bacteria and coraline algea.

Even though the normal sg is 1.024 I've keeping mine at 1.020 for 4 months now. Reason I kept it at 1.020 is that when the water evaporates it will go up slightly (approx 1.021 - 1.022). My cleaner shrimps, bubble & hammer corals, feather worms (hard tube ones), sponges, mushromes are all healthy. My firefishes, yellow tang, scooter also in good shape.

You can get it at Petmart.

Thanks a lot guys for the adv. Dumped the freshwater dip idea totally now.

I did one for my yellow tang yesterday in the hope of helping it to get rid of white spot. The result was disastrous! This is what I did: - 1) Prepare a pail with 5litre of freshwater from my RO unit. 2) Adjusted the ph of the freshwater up to 8.3 (same as the main tank). 3) Added 1ml of methylene blue to the freshwater 4) Transfered tang to the pail 5) Observed tang behaviour for as long as it was in the pail. It did not show any stress so I left it in the pail for 15 minutes. 6) Transfered tang from freshwater pail to another pail with saltwater of the same ph of 8.3 7) Tang flipped and rest on its side immediately but after a while it upright itself and appears to be ok. 8) Transfer Tang back to main tank where it was also feeding greedily as per normal. 9) It RIPed this morning ! Where did I go wrong? Read in many articles that freshwater dip with methylene blue is very effective in getting rid of parasites. Help.