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moron_clown

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Posts posted by moron_clown

  1. Bro..have a similar one in my tank...Anyway...if all of us are willing to pay that kind of price...I'm sure lfs will have no qualms bring them in....

    Rgds.

    I think most of us will have no problems paying that kind of price, i remember some years ago the least expensive sps costs $80, and very rare pieces costs $400 and up. back then was a much greater choice of colours and species. unlike now, we see the same species over and over again. prob all from the same mariculture indon farm. What happened to multicolour stags, rich purple Loripes and pschedelic coloured birdnests?

  2. wow bro! you actually got to see the tank in person! (were you helping out with the scaping? the SRC mafia? :heh: ) any more pics to show? Totally wacked project that I follow daily in RC. Those rocks look awesome!

    hi, i di'nt take too many pics coz i brought a simple point and shoot there. haha, did'nt wanna spoil the pictures with my lousy camera. I did not help with the scaping, i was in Bangkok for work on 10-13th September, so i dropped him a PM in RC. he was accomodating enough to show me the LFSes around the area. Great guy and very very humble despite his accomplishments in the hobby.The recently aquired blue Millie looks even nicer in person than his pic posted in RC.

    this is a pic of his current tank. stocked to the brim with many rare fish and Sps. There was even one pink Millie that tabled outwards onto the front panel and encrusted itself there. simply breathtaking.

    post-2346-1252940644_thumb.jpg

  3. Last. I was drooling when i was looking at all these pics and i'm sure SPS lover now mux be v envious of Thai reefers. For info, those largest pieces, like the big pink birdnest piece, cost US$150 each in Thailand, so we can do the conversion.. S$220.. Not bad.

    Honestly, Singapore pales in comparison when it comes to quality sps. I was there over the weekends, most of the huge colonies were sold. left with smaller colonies like what we see here in singapore, but with much vivid colour and variation. Many many rare species too. Ching told me the LFS owner went to Indonesia and hand-picked the sps. What a sight, simply amazing.

  4. I was over at his place on Saturday. Its amazing to see the tank in person despite having seen many pictures of it. Just takes your breath away. Its an inspiration to all me, makes me wanna work 20times as hard to afford such a tank. Thank you Ching!

    post-2346-1252853364_thumb.jpg

    The man and his tank

    post-2346-1252853403_thumb.jpg

    His Current tank, the tank is just superb! top notch husbandry skills.

    post-2346-1252853536_thumb.jpg

  5. Bro,

    how about throwing in a school of anthias or cardinals for the increase nutrient part? this will definitely increase the feeding?

    Seriously, I adore your tank greatly! :D

    Happy Reefing,

    Marc J.

    So hope

    hello, yah i wanted to keep a couple of anthias to make the tank more lively, but the barletts were all so out last nite when i went to iwarna...i've been increasing my feeding for a couple of days already, some of the fishes look like they are about to explode! haha..but still no change in sps colouration..

  6. Bro, some people wanted the pastel colour you having but cannot get due to the high nutrient in their tank. Just like me.. Mine are mainly DARK coloured! :(

    I totally agreed with Fuel that this is due to very low nutrient in your tank.

    i'm taking a shortcut with carbon dosing, so not really fair play.. hey your tank looks great btw and i yearn the dark blue and purple or my previous "higher" nutrient tank...

  7. Hi fellow reefers, I've been using the VSV method since i started my tank. Recently, i noticed that my sps colours are getting very pastel, especially my Bali Tri-Colour. It turned from a dark purple to almost light blue. My reversed Sunset and Sunset montipora are also affected. I've been dosing Amino and oyster eggs+phyto but the colours does'nt improve. anyone here on VSV have the same problems?

    Parameters

    No3 - undetectable

    Po4 -undetectable

    kH -8

    Cal - 430

    Mag- 1400

    look at the Tricolour Frag

    before

    post-2346-1251996174_thumb.jpg

    Now

    post-2346-1251996296_thumb.jpg

    Thanks

  8. Wow all are nice but how come the blue millie no polyp extend?? Or iszzit like tht one?? :eyebrow:

    haha,thanks for your very kind works. i shifted the corals nearer to the glass panel to take a better macro, they retracted their polyps when i did that. but i also realise that my blue mille does'nt have as much polyp extension as my "hairy" pink mille....needs to be fed more often i guess..

  9. Hi i've used Balling Light Method for a couple of months now.

    I've decided to use the balling light method intead of the full balling because I could not find the Tropic Marine NaCi free salt required for full balling, as well as the difficulty in measuring and accurately dosing all the other minor trace elements e.g Iron,Strontium,Molybdenum, Iodine ect. I currently replendish those by using a quality salt mix for my weekly water change.

    Parameters

    kH -8dkH

    Calcium - 450ppm

    Mag -1400mg

    Formula is a modified Randy's 2 part. Because of the difficulty in obtaining pure calcium and magnesium chloride, I've chosen to use commercially available substitudes. The following describes the formula.

    Calcium - 800grams of Grotech Instant Calcium mixed with 4.8 Litres of RO water

    kH - 800grams of Baked (150Degrees Celcius for 2 hours) Arm and Hammer Brand Baking Powder with 4.8 litres of RO water

    Magnesium - 400grams of Seachem Magnesium Advantage (Mixture of Magnesium Chloride and Sulphate) with 2 litres of RO water.

    Dosing is via Aquatronica Dosing Pump

    Total consumption - I have 20 colonies of SPS and 15 pcs of LPS, total consumption is 55ml kH,55ml Calcium, 35ml Magnesium.

    Estimated Running Costs - Cal($20),kH($9),Mag($15) + 12L RO water and Negligible electricity for Dosing Pump. TOTAL = $44 per 90days, $14 Per Month.

    Everything takes about 3-4Hours to prepare(inclusive of 2hours of Baking).

    Pros and Cons(compared to using a calcium reactor)

    Pros

    - pH stays higher

    My tank resides in a bedroom which is air conditioned most of the time. This leads to a build up of carbon dioxide which lowers pH. my previous Calcium Reactors lowers pH by quite a bit.Balling eliminates this problem.

    - Lower startup costs

    $200 of balling ingredients can last for more than 2 years. If a dosing pump is out of your budget, you can just get a measuring cylinder and manually pour the solutions in every night.I'm just lazy.

    -Magnesium

    I've had trouble in the past with magnesium when i was using a reactor. My magnesium could'nt raise above 1200mg no matter how much media i added into the reactor.Maybe its just me, but the problems solved with balling.

    - Cheaper running costs

    There is no extra maxijet or aquabee or eheim pump to run.This means lower running costs,eletricity and maintenance.

    - Profile and Footprint

    The whole setup takes up a 23X25cm footprint, there's no Co2 Bott,reactor,solenoid,regulator,pump ect to take up space. this footprint can be totally eliminated if you dose manually. Helps alot when you have a cabinet that is as small as mine.

    -Noise and Heat

    No extra Pumps= Lower Noise, Lower Heat.

    -Limitless

    A calcium reactor is limited by the amount of media that can be housed in the reactor. Balling is limitless.

    CONS

    -Preparing solutions

    Pain in the butt to prepare the solutions. Took me around 3 Hours. The Grotech Instant Calcium will be heated up to boilling point when mixed with water,please use a glass or metal container for mixing and always wear safety goggles, masks and gloves.

    -Health considerations

    The ingredients are very harmful when inhaled. Always wear masks when preparing them. Some calcium crystals can lacerate your lung when inhaled. They can also cause skin irritations.

    -Troublesome

    Applies to users not using a doing pump. Can be troublesome at times for e.g, when you are overseas and need someone to dose for you. Must be dosed manually everyday.

    -Water Change

    Applies to Balling light users. A weekly 10% water change is recommended to remove Sodium Chloride and excess impurities. Salinity will also gradually increase due to the input of NaCi, this can be corrected with a weekly water change.

    Conclusion

    Having used both Balling and Reactors, I feel that Balling's pros outweighs it's cons. Since i already carry out a weekly water change, the biggest hassle of the balling method is no longer a hinder. A calcium reactor still provides ultimate convenience if you have the luxury of space and the budget for a reactor. Boths are just methods to achieve the same results.

    Pictures

    Sump with dosing pump and solutions

    post-2346-1251913640_thumb.jpg

    Closer up

    post-2346-1251913702_thumb.jpg

    Hope this helps.

  10. You should switch off yr system while feeding.

    Just dun on off on off frequently...otherwise yr pump will spoil easily.

    u can either do that or just soak the food in a little of your tank's water, once they soak up the water, they'll not float anymore so less chance of them being sucked into the overflow.

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