SubzeroLT

Ha. Thanks.

After a week+by the window, the rocks appear absolutely dry. Spent the weekend finishing up the plumbing & started on the controller. Went for a soft hose for the main drain pipe for easier sock change. Added supports for the pipe Mounted the Apex Neptune The Apex Energy Bar are mounted on some wooden boards. Very ugly, so I covered it up with foam core media. A splash guard is probably needed for the power plugs as a precaution.

Thanks for the write up on pest control & calcium reactor. Straight to the point & clear.

Will it help to run through the live rock with coral dip solutions such as CoralRX or Revive? Will simple traps like these work + place food inside?

I'm planning to use Alteco EpoPutty to stick my rocks together.

5L of the cement remover was $10.50 at a neighborhood hardware shop. For me, that was at Bukit Batok Street 23 industrial park area.

Agree with Sherman too that stronger LEDs are probably needed for reefing. Dales, nice DIY.

What's your filtration system like? I believe more regular water change & better filtration would help.

One reads a lot about muriatic acid for acid acid bath on the web But it seems this is harder to come by in Singapore for the general public. I read that floor cleaners that contractors used are acid based. Did some research - usually 9% hydrochloric acid. I emailed the company for an MSDS to enquire what's the active ingredient & whether there were any additives in it but no reply. So i decided to try a small experiment on a couple of rocks i know i won't be using. Added some of the floor cleaner to a small container & soaked some rocks. It really bubbled a lot (much more than with vinegar)! And brown crud appeared as well. Seems like it does a better job in cleaning the rock surface. In any case, I cleaned it & soaked it in RODI water for a couple of days. And put placed the rock in a small container with my freshwater shrimp & a baby guppy for a couple of days. They were happy & doing well. i suppose that the floor cleaner with stronger acid is safe to use.

I got a 2nd batch of rocks free rocks from a fellow reefer (Thanks!). They were great but had dried out by the time i got them. I'm pretty amazed what a 6hr chlorox soak does. No scrubbing involved! Now back to the 1st batch of rocks. Bought some vinegar from Seng Shiong. Only $3.50 per 5L bottle. Here are the rocks soaking in vinegar

If you are keen to DIY, it can be done quite cheaply. Cost will be dependent on features (eg ability to ramp up/down) & wattage. Just to share, I did this for my BOYU branded freshwater setup. Think it cost around $30 for the conversion. Found some extra space inside the hood. Added some strips of white LED & a separate blue LED Power supply ($10), connector ($2) Moonlight view Nowadays, LED mounted on solid aluminum strips are easily obtained on ebay. For branded ones, Ecooxtic is a possible option.

Impressive FTS. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks. Its part of the fun of a hobby - hands on & learning something new (at least for me).

Main tank is from Fishy Business. Their own 'house brand' in the 90p format/dimension. I'm quite happy with the workmanship from Atlantic Glass. The silicon work on the edges of the 5 main pieces of glass are nicely done. The silicon work of the intermediate panels of the sump were so-so but i'm not complaining.

The Thermal chiller mentioned uses a Peltier technology. The device may be 'cheaper' but its cooling efficiency is very poor. Much poorer than a traditional refrigeration unit. Hence a peltier thermal chiller will cost a lot more to run. As some folks mentioned here, the Hailea hs28a is a good choice.

Next task....rocks. I got some rocks from Irwarna & decided to take the safe route. Freshwater dip/scrub then chlorine soak for a couple of days. I'm glad to say that the rocks were quite clean. Saw about 2 copopods from the freshwater soak. No worms or other pests. Then rinsed off with tapwater, followed by a couple of rounds/days of soaking in anti-chlorine. Seachem prime is reputable but pretty expensive. I found this in C328. Quite cheap & supposedly good. Saw a post on Tofu's thread that he used a chlorine test kit. Got one at Green Chapter's new branch in Clementi 2 weeks back. They had a 20% 10th anniversary sale This will be useful in future for checking the state of the carbon filter in the RO/DI unit in future.

It was the 1st attempt at running the overflow, hence i filled up a small tub just to test if it works. I got the Skimz OM5000 overflow. It came with 2 durso drain pipes which was definitely an overkill for this tank size. Hence, I figured that I put a straight pipe on one of the drains, & used it as an 'emergency' drain in case the 1st siphon does not work. Did some tests to simulate a power failure & then power turning back on. With the return pump coming on, the overflow box re-started the siphon on its own I also checked if the sump would overflow if there was a power failure. I think it should be sufficient.

Borrowed a PVC pipe cutter. Realized that not all pipe cutters are made equal. A Stanley brand pipe cutter wasn't able to cut a 1" schedule 80 pipe properly - tended to crack. Another japanese branded one (SuperTool) did a better job. 1st attempt at gluing PVC pipes together. Then a quick test on the sump & overflow.

Very impressive photography. What's your camera/lens setup like?

Why were you unhappy with the old sump? Why the change?

Tofubox, for my understanding, why is the thorough drying critical? Is it related to drying it off to ensure that all the bleach/chlorine is gone?

Some say New Life Spectrum Thera A (contains garlic) It had amazing results on my freshwater fishes in terms of color enhancement. Not tried it on marine yet.

This link should help :

I read that Omaya will harden & peel over time if exposed to water, hence its best to be pasted outside the aquarium. My plan now is to put a black opaque acrylic sheet between the refugium & return section. A 2mm thick sheet of that panel size should be around $6 at Dama (Ubi)

Thanks for the suggestions 1) Return pump in middle - I read that flow in the refugium should be pretty slow. Hence the plan to divert some of the return pump flow to the refugium. I wasn't sure if the flow would be too great if it was in the middle. I just hope it wasn't a mistake / bad design. In any case, I thought of the contingency if that needed to be change (i.e. pump in the left compartment, refugium in the middle). The glass height partition needed to change. The glass can be easily removed by slicing the silicon & get it cut a few centimeter shorter. 2) The power strip was there previously from my freshwater setup. Its removed of course. 3) Oceanlife overflow. Seems like an interesting option. Not much reviews on it, hence I went for the less intrusive method of an overflow.