XPeriment 626

I think UV does work. Don't see how living organisms can tahan UV, unless you have incredible-hulk-parasite The issue really is, how powerful your UV is (wattage of light), the design (twister or straight flow-thru), the overall length (affected by the design) and flow rate of your pump. Ideally you want to expose the water to the UV as long as possible. This is achieved by a longer tube, a twister design, a slow flow rate, or all of the above. However, the slow flow rate will make it slower to cycle the whole tank water through the UV, which is also counter-productive. Ultimately UV works, but only if you get one which is sufficiently powerful and large for the tank it is trying to sterilize, and matched with a pump that generates an ideal flow rate. My impression of people who make comments like "UV sux" either never tried using one before, or did not apply it properly to their tanks. You should leave it on 24/7 for maximum effectiveness. It might kill plankton, but some reefers have expressed that their corals are fine, so I think it's not a problem.

You sure PUR II does that? It looks like it is just activated carbon. Don't think it absorbs ammonia and nitrates. I bought one too, not convinced.

The pretty ones are always the scary ones

I'm very satisfied with the 12x Corallife. Strongly recommend it if you can afford it. Side effect: fish-owner sleeps more soundly at night

You might want to try enforcing a blackout of your tank, reducing the lighting hours. Apparently the marine ich parasite is much more active in attacking fish when there is light. It is still around in the dark, but isn't so effective at finding a fish host, which gives the fish a breather for their immune systems to deal with the existing parasites on the body. IMHO garlic is not just preventive, it also strengthens the immune system of fishes and contains allicin which fights bacteria. However, if the infection is serious or the fish is already weakened, then garlic won't be able to reverse the disease and the fish may still die. You might also want to consider a good UV sterilizer, or if you are more garang, ozone. This will help kill the free-floating stages of the parasite, and other floating bacteria (both good and bad though, unfortunately).

Ok thanks... it doesn't say anything about starfish though...

Fuel, isn't what you're doing effectively buying a live rock and turning it into a dead rock? Why so extreme treatment? I've heard of ppl leave the rock out of water, in the sun for one week. Tends to wipe out anything. Can also cure that way, sure get a lump of dead rock one

Angels are definitely not easy to keep in a new tank as the ecosystem is barely growing, let alone thriving. Most likely your angels died of starvation as 25ppm nitrates won't really kill them.

I ws told that if you rearrange some of your rocks in the tank it helps, as the PT will not recognise its territory and will spend more time exploring the area and trying to choose a new piece of territory as opposed to chasing the BT around. In essence, the PT thinks it is in a new place and won't chase anybody "out of the house" until it establishes a new "house". Hopefully by then, the BT will settle in and find its own territory too. Not sure about the truth of this statement though, try it at your own risk

As in all good murder mysteries, THE HOUSEKEEPER DID IT!! No, sorry, kidding. Actually it's hard to figure out why your clownfish died. Any tell tale signs? Body scars? Mucus/velvet/spots? Any aggressive fish introduced recently? General water parameters?

Read somewhere that octopuses eat ANYTHING, including fish. Not really suitable for long term as an inhabitant in your tank, unless you only want to see octopus Plus they really solid at escaping from tanks (even those with covers) so think carefully before keeping one. I suggest just sell to sakae-sushi and get some profit

TLC indeed helps, but it seems if the PT is going to bully your BT, that is certainly not a stressfree environment. Carry on like this I think the BT will succumb to the crypt (or marine ich). Should try to catch and medicate i think. And yes, copper is probably the only thing that works, but will wipe out all your invertebrates if you add it to the main tank.

wahahaha! scary moderators here...

Actually mantis have both slicing type and smashing type. http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/msubpestm.../a/aa110498.htm

yeah, LR is damn expensive sia. Just one piece can cost as much as a flame angel!!

What do camel shrimps eat? Do they really attack starfish?

Don't think anybody actually puts mantis shrimps into their tanks. Wayyy too dangerous unless that is your prime exhibit and everything else is expendable. Mantis shrimps are merciless against fish and you won't be able to keep anything else in there for long. Most of the time mantis shrimps slip into tanks because they are hiding in live rocks. And people immediately try to remove the shrimps once discovered, else dead fish will start appearing. Not sure what good a mantis shrimp would be in a refugium, but I'd stay away from them if I were you. Apparently large sized specimens have been known to crack safety glass aquariums. http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/msubpestm.../a/aa110498.htm

Funny thing is, people dispute whether UV steriliser is effective against bacteria/parasites, but all seem to agree it will definitely kill algae spores in the water Of course if you are running a small setup, it might not be worth it to get a good UV, and a lousy one is a waste of money because it confirm useless against parasites. For me, my UV seems to not only deal with bacteria and parasites but i have less algae problems as well.

Jurong uses different water? Never heard of that. But not saying it's not true, I myself dunno. NEWATER IMHO does not come to us directly in taps (not yet anyway). It is used for industrial purposes (machine cooling, wafer fabrication etc) and is also introduced into our reservoirs to mix with rainwater before processing for domestic use. The Americans have been using this method for years and seems ok. Apparently raw RO water has zero minerals, which is actually less healthy to drink than the water we normally get.

Actually if your temperature at evening is 29.9 it is a good bet that your maximum in the midafternoon will cross 30 or even 31. Don't think an AC fan can bring it down that much (without major evaporation issues) so if you are going for corals think carefully about a chiller. Or you can be like me and have fish only at 30 degrees

I guess the cost difference would be negligible depending on what salt mix you buy. For me the question would be which takes more effort - to prepare the mix or transport the darn heavy jerry cans home after buying NSW (i have 5 foot tank). I decided to buy the NSW since I can get the car once a week to transport the water. Anyway quite convenient, BioOc**n not too far from my home.

Small tank means your regular water change can deal with the regular ammonia/nitrite buildup, but because of small water volume, a dead fish will cause a hell of an ammonia spike which could kill the rest of your fish. Since you already have a skimmer, consider just getting an additional pump and run the skimmer anyway. In the long run, the frustration of dead fish (plus cost) could outweigh the price of just a pump.

Yeah, current is everything. Brings oxygen and nutrients all over your tank, removes the waste matter/bad bacteria/parasites so they can be sucked out, filtered, zapped by UV or whatever. Basically, stagnant water = dead ecosystem.

This moron is so stupid he thinks it is an honour to be on crimewatch. HELLO??? CRIMEWATCH? as in, "hey, we need someone who looks like a rapist, are you interested in the part??" DUMB.

It's definitely the saltwater, I am thinking it could be just salt from the water that has evaporated off.