waterperson

So far sea hare seems alright. I might go with it if there are no more scary tank crash by them. A 3-footer tank is respectable size but still crashed by a boxfish death. Maybe a larger tank just delays or dilutes the poison but cannot prevent the crash. @RayL: u can consider just get one anemone? lol

wow anemone wars! I heard their chemicals affect the corals growth but never tank crash. That war must be epic! So the score is: sea hare 0 sea cucumber 0 anemone 1

Thinking of getting a sea hare and upon researching, turns out they can get pretty deadly when frightened or dead, crashing the tank. Want to hear some real life stories if any reefer's tank been crashed by sea hare, sea cucumbers or anemones when these creatures died. Or these scary stories about them on the net are just myths or rare occurrences.

My setup started with dead rocks. It took one month for full cycling. About 3mths before system really settles down for sps to grow. As for coralline algae, i only see specks after 3mths and more growing 4th mth onwards. It seems you do not want the coralline alage in your tank by not introducing even small live rocks to jump start. Coralline aglae will be introduced when you add snails or sps frags. So jump start or not, they will eventually be there. Fast or slow depends on your system conditions. 2 cents from a recent newbie.

One of the reasons for refugium is cultivation of copepods. The shrimp like creatures you see are the pods. Some will get pumped into the main tank from time to time as fish food, healthy snacks. Red plant not so sure without pic id. Most probably macroalgae.

Cannot see too clearly. Your A looks like green digi to me and B looks like bubble algae. lol

If use fake coral, you wont get the joy of witnessing your corals growing. Unless u want a fish only system but still want some 'presence' of corals, then fake ones are a solution lor

Thanks bro Bombom, already dose vinegar w kalk. Expecting to reach limit use of kalk soon, so preparing to increase evaporation to dose more. Saw a lot of fan brands just wondering which is good.

Good day fellow reefers. Any good recommendations for the above? I'm trying to increase tank evaporation so that i can dose more kalkwasser into my top off. I'm using ANS cooling fan 3000 at the moment, pretty good but a tad loud for over-night. So gathering fan reviews before buying one. Thx

That's the thing, valida and bonsai are so similar, i cant tell the difference. Learning coral names with their characteristics are so hard. sigh. Anyone found a simpler method to learn most sps names?

Thank you bro. I will google it for its care requirements. Any guess for the seconds?

Anyone? Thank you.

Pls help to id these two sps. Either the common name or scientific name is fine. New to marine and would like to learn more about sps.

oh yes, the expensive version like the carribean live sand do not have such problems. So depends on your budget. All sand becomes live after some time.

Fresh n Marine also have number #0 and #1 coral sand. 10kg per pack for $10. But you need to wash and preferably use magnets to remove some iron fillings left from grinding the sand.

hahaha true true. Wish all a Happy n Prosperous Chinese New Year. Not forgetting a thriving reef tank too. Cheers

wah sure mati. Looks like no choice has to move the sps. Hands getting wet tonite. Thx all for the advise.

The anemone grew too big and touching the sps when fully expanded. Should i move the sps or the anemone sting is over-rated? Any advice is appreciated.

Thank you all for the helpful comments. Think the potential benefits outweighs the risks. I will proceed with it, starting really slowly. Thx again for all the responses.

Thank you Xiggie for the clarification in details. You are right to say different tanks would have different results from kalk/vingear dosing. A positive side effect i am hoping to achieve with vinegar dosing is to use the bacteria as food for the sps. (at least that's what i read http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2011/3/aafeature)

Seems like the experience of vinegar dosing is quite balanced. Good mixed with the bad. The effects are also not consistently the same. Any other reefers would like to lend their weight to the issue?

Thx. Did the vinegar dosing also reduced the nitrate n phosphate levels in your tank?

Other than helping to dissolve the vinegar, did u observe any other changes to your reef tank? Thx

Any sps reefers out there got experience using kalkwasser with vinegar in their top off water. Any comments are appreciated, be it success or failure or any issues to look out for.

Try observing your tank inhabitants to deduce the nitrate level. If your sps is browning but the the soft corals are flourishing, maybe the nitrate level is around 5-20ppm. If even your fishes are not surviving, then its >80ppm. Also observe the algae, if its everywhere, maybe nitrate is high, ie >50ppm. Observation is not pinpoint accurate but it does give a clue and rough guide to your tank's health. ps: cannot fully trust the hobby-grade test kits. Best guide is still the reef tank health.