hongqixian

Sand sifting stars practically sterilize the bed. They eat lots of things. You could try a Black sand sifting cucumber. (The brightly coloured cucumbers can release toxins.) If you see clumps of sand break them up.

It is a turkey baster and used to add sauce on turkeys, just a sort of syringe/pipette like thing. Live rock, can you even get the polyps to fully open in the first place? Try the bottle thing but without a tube. Push in mysis through the top by hand. You should keep the coral in the open. It can get used to light (but cannot make food with algae). This makes for easier feeding.

Achilles, is the pump easily taken out from the rocks? It might fail or something and then the rocks would have to be moved to take it out, you might want to take that into consideration. P.S sorry to hear about the coral deaths, but that story sounds strangely familiar. I heard a man chatting to the boss/worker at Superstar aquarium downtown east and he was talking about a friend who had corals die when tank temp. rose due to chiller...(I didn't hear the rest too clearly)

I can't find it in S'pore but i know it is definitely live phytoplankton. I believe the Reefworld algae you use is spirulina.

Achilles, they are just hung on the 2ft inside. BB, how long is the larger sanders? I might get one for my 2ft reef but the tiny one maybe for the mandarin tank. I don't want it to take out too much stuff and baby pods from there.

Derf, about your algae probs, if it is cyano like Achilles said and is red in colour and can be pulled off in sheets, then you can try Chemi-clean(same manufacturer as Chemipure) Chemiclean is sold at about $25 (I think) at Sealife. Comes in a tiny bottle and you only use a little, maybe can get some from a friend or something. Note, chemi-clean is only effective for red slime algae(actually cyanobacteria). Phang, I use it for very long while because I have a fairly severe hair algae outbreak in my 2ft tank. The use of phosguard has helped some. But the hair algae has not been as rampant since a week ago since I started using some SeaChem denitrate. My eheim liberty filters(150gph and 200gph) cannot accomodate the denitrate inside due to lack of space so I just hang it in a breeding-cage net(without the cage) in the tank. Anyway, the optimum amt of water flowing through should be 50gph only as specified on the label, so I guess it is better hanging the denitrate. The netting is a bit unsightly though..... Bawater, you are right abt the presence of nitrate and no ammonia/nitrite, but I think that the nitrates must be made to stay under control still. Ach, the bioballs themselves don't cause the nitrates. The bioballs have a lot of tiny gaps for bacteria to colonize. These easily trap detritus over time and the detritus accumulates and slowly rots in there...thus the nitrates. Bawater's method of washing the bio media in old, dirt free tank water helps to keep the bioballs clean, but it might be preferable to just let most of the bacteria colonize the rock and forget about filter media totally.... One more tip for those who want mangroves, a tip would be to get pods like bawater did and not young plantlets as these are less easy to acclimate to the tank water. Some mangroves collected from less saline areas can even 'dry up' in full strength saltwater if not acclimated. A way to acclimate these would be to grow them in a bucket of saltwater that is at the salinity they were in. Then, the water slowly evaporates overtime and the saltwater becomes more saline. The mangrove can be transplanted to the sump or wherever it will be put when the bucket of saltwater rises to the salinity of the tank over a few weeks or less. Also, some mangroves esp young seedlings literally burn up under too strong lighting like halides.

Clothes peg has a bit of metal.. might be disastrous is you forget to take out the peg. Just stuff some of the nori at the bottom of a rock lah.

Why not get a heavy piece of coral rock and use it as an 'algae-weight' ?

Don't get irritated about the nudibranch. They are notoriously hard to identify and differentiate. I thought the lettuce nudi is from Caribbean? Anyway, a good ophistobranch site would be www.seaslugforum.net but beware, it is very hard to find the exact slug you want. This FAQ site for hitchhikers is also pretty good: http://reefs.org/hhfaq/

Thanks for your replies! I want one that is strong and quick-curing. Any suggestions?

The saber-toothed blenny?(Sounds like some prehistoric creature) Those have mouths below their heads like sharks. There's also a pacific ocean species of fish(scientific name starts with P.) that impersonates the neon goby from the Caribbean.

I want to expoxy 3 suitably live rocks together so as to make them into a solid structure for a 2ft tank. The live rock will be epoxied on as small an area as possible so as not to kill off too much stuff. Can anyone recommend a good brand of aquarium safe expoxy and what are the directions for use?

Yikes! Really that bad? Unofficial credit services are not trustworthy...

It should be okay if you use bulbs of exactly the same wattage. Not more or less, otherwise the bulb and the ballast (the funny metal box thing inside the hood) might be incompatible.

You're welcome. Their tanks are nice, but their corals mostly look a little brownish.

OK thanks

I thought the tiny Sanders one was the $40?

I think that is the black and white pearls thing right? Just change once in a while. I bought a little bottle of both the Matrix Carbon and PhosGuard for my 2ft tank.

Okay, thanks. I think I should be able to find it.

This one has a very comprehensive review on many camera: www.steves-digicams.com

How to get to Sim Lim? I haven't gone there before, got not much time to. Anywhere I can get detailed instructions for the wiring and all for DC? Can I get a plug and play one? I'm not good at electrical stuff. Does DC use a ballast?

I think DSBs might be just as or even more dangerous than plenums. Sometimes the sand on the top surface with crust if it is not totally stirred regularly by animals and the sand below will become completely anaerobic. Then if it is cracked or disturbed, the toxic substances trapped inside will be released. The old school, new school thing is probably just the current fad...

Oh, NEVER drop the additive precipitate directly on any corals!

I think those amounts are too little to do very much harm whereas the salt contains quite a lot of buffer. Just my thoughts.

Bluebeard, is the $40 one good? What brand is the $79 one? Also can fit 2ft?