bawater

moving out of product reviews.

moving out of product reviews.

Taken from a Randy Holmes article linked below "This precipitation may be especially likely where calcium and high pH additives (like limewater) enter the tank water. The locally high pH converts much of the HPO4-- to PO4---. Combined with the locally high calcium, the locally high PO4--- may push the supersaturation of Ca3(PO4)2 to unstable levels, causing precipitation." This is true to (saturated) kalk top off water with a high pH- so you will be adding or topping up with water void of PO4. So you stop one source of adding PO4. You may still need a method to reduce the PO4 levels already in your tank and in the food you add everyday. That leaves you with an algae scrubber or chemical media choice or both. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/sept2002/chem.htm http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/chem.htm

You can't get contrphos anymore, it has been replaced by Biophos II in PR.(which is also a Fe based media). The absorbtion rate seems to be higher & faster in biophos II.While it still cost the same as the previous product. Biophos II states absorbtion rate at 60g PO4 per 1ltr of media http://www.korallenriff.de/phosphatabsorber.html biophos II

$1k allowance? little? if i could get that as allowance i wouldn't work my butt off...better to study for the rest of my life. wat happened to $100 a month? Not even National Service pays that much.

Smorgasboard -A balanced diet of yeast, essential growth factors, aminos, lipids, coenzymes,vitamins and corallite builders. In short, its yeast & vitamins. comparable to you eating white bread the rest of your life for every meal.(not pandan/raisin/choc...just a plain $1 loaf- no butter,no kaya,no nutella) On every food bottle they will list the ingredients, before you buy just do a little reading on the www with regards to the contents. skip the marketing notes like This liquid food contains essential growth factors for the proper development and metabolism of hard and soft corals, fine filter feeders and live rock. This formulation dissolves easily and is absorbed by invertebrates without causing an increase in phosphates or nitrates in the aquarium. (every bottle says that!) Go straight for the contents. rgds

change from frozen brine to frozen Mysis or rotate between the 2. Use the 1 cap of DT, mix with 1 cup tank water & add the pinch of GP into it. Stir and feed. For the other foods bbs -ok copepods-ok Smorgasbord? by coralife? don't have to use it since you already cover in the other foods. + you don't know what's in it. zooplex & cyclopeeze is the same, but you get more amount in frozen cyclopeeze and its cheaper. So you don't have to keep using the zooplex.

Rav i really hope u can be sure that is a rare color morph of goniopora sp, because that price for a bleached coral is way out of line. http://www.marinebiology.org/coralbleaching.htm Look for the pic halfway down the page. you just need to be very sure that is Rare....or bleached. Quoting a LFS doesn't prove anything.They could just be trying to get rid of it before it dies. This can be a mistake, i'm just trying to stop it being repeated or carried on to the 3rd party. i'll be very happy if u prove me wrong.

Mr Ugly is actually the elite of the scorpionfish family Goose Rhinopias Scorpionfish is also known as Eschmeyer's Scorpionfish or Goose Scorpionfish http://www.liveaquaria.com http://www.coralrealm.com http://www.advancedaquarist.com

yes i have used it but it was the sole substrate .(in your case its mixed). i used it for a seahorse tank so it wasn't for a DSB or anything- just looks. It ran for 2yrs. The bad thing is that the grain is sharp, if you have sand sifting fishes then it may damaged their mouths. For reef usage i have only used riversand(quartz sand), beach sand(silicate) and the normal coral sand grade 0 & 1. i have to state that there is a cheap version of it which is a mix of other materials...that one i never tried. Dun like the look of the yellow glass and some greyish grains in it.

Why not? you can use pink,red,white,marbles,river gravel...as long as it's inert and for aquarium use. Although i would stay away from the pink & red gravel as it seems to be coated. If you want black- get the better grade that comes in 6kg & 10kg bags(black lava gravel),planted LFS should have them- not those cheap $2-$3 bags that have colored glass mixed in. Using it solely just for the look of it is fine. But if you want to layer it on top of a current mature sand bed......its going to get mixed up in time then you'll end up with white and what looks like black bits of left over road tar but if you don't mind that fusion look. There's no harm. Black also absorbs light & you will find the tank looks(to the human eye) a little dimmer.

i'm Looking for a culture of T.Isocrysis willing to offer $15 for 1ltr or $20 for 1.5ltr bottle. any maturity of 10millions cells per ml and above will do. 'LIVE' only. thks PM me if you have one to let go. cheers

I started using it in dec 03....and still using it ,although i never followed the dosing regime- just dosed as and when i remembered like once a month i get coralline growing in rosets and plating form and all sorts of weird algae growth but could be due to Kalk dosing and the flow of a stream. i've seen the same growth amounts in system that don't use it , but with ample or elevated calcium levels and flowrates.This would be the key i don't use any additives apart from this (on occasions)and salifert amino acids(once weekly). i do order from Florida Farms on a regular basis,& sometimes i try out other items just out of curiosity...and this was one of them. Coralline Stimulator™ is a complete, soluble, stable source of supplemental trace metals and essential vitamins. Principally formulated for enhancing growth and all colors of corals and other invertebrates. Stimulates zooxanthellae growth (microalgae) found in invertebrate tissues such as corals, anemones and clams. Use in conjunction with reef formers solutions of calcium hydroxide. This exact formula has been used by researchers at Florida Aqua Farms Inc. for over 20 years. Primary nutrients, nitrate and phosphate, are eliminated in Coralline Stimulator since it is intended for use in aquaria that have established populations of fish and/or invertebrates that are routinely fed. Coralline Stimulator is enriched with chelated iron, iodide, strontium chloride and other essential trace metals and vitamins including B12, biotin, thiamin and others. Use 1 drop/gallon 1 or 2 times a week.

The pasar malam serves as a platform for hobbyist to trade or to sell off unwanted items- as such the deals or agreements are made between individual parties be it privately by PM or in the open forum. SRC cannot bear the responsibility of every single sale posted by members. We do remove commercial post ASAP. i'm sure there are others waiting in line to get the item if you repost that the item is still available. It is unfair to ban or warn him due to a private deal gone wrong between 2 members. It is the responsibility of the buyer and seller to complete the transaction .

sorry but i didn't look up your tank history before this, you just started up the 3ft in Feb i understand. http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?...topic=11990&hl= http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=13130 That puts you right in the middle or end of a NO2 peak if you refer to the nitrogen cycle chart. You didn't let this drop naturally before you added new fishes. When you add in a number of fishes in one go there is a surge in waste produced. It will take the bacteria a little while to adjust to the new increase in food source to them. Fishes dying also added to these amounts. A DSB will take time to mature. Whether or not you want to ration on feeding- i leave it up to you. (i never compromise on feeding) Yes you may(if you want) use another bag of ceramic rings (it will take 14days or so for bacteria to colonize). You can if you want remove it at a later time too. i think your system just needs some time to stabilize,that's all. Just stop adding fish till you test zero NO2. rgds

1)What medium do you use now in filtration? 2)Do you have a problem with Ammonia,Nitrite now?at what levels? 3)What livestocks you have in how big a tank? 4)Do you run a skimmer? which one?

i left out the 2 groups of bacteria which convert ammonia to nitrite then to nitrate . You should not have ammonia or nitrite in established tanks. You should read zero in home test kits. If you constantly test for ammonia & nitrite then 1) you have an immature filtration system 2) you way way too may fishes or feed too much 3) either lower your bioload or use a wet dry/trickle/fluidised bed filter because you seriously need to re-evaluate your current filtration or stocking levels. Otherwise you are just waiting for something bad to happen. If you have balanced livestock and ample LR there will be enough surface area for the nitrification bacteria. So as in ArcaneHacker's question, ppl will find that coral chips are not needed once the system gets established. If you want to continue using it - its perfectly fine as long as you understand that you may get a constant amount of NO3 coming from it if not kept squeaky clean. In a Berlin System, your main filtration comes from LR and as barracuda pointed out- you need huge amounts, and you need to keep bioload low. With clean bottoms(glass only) yes you will need to siphon and maintain a clean environment. In a DSB - the micro life within the bed are the workforce that will turn the bed over slowly and also help to process the detrius/particulate. When you feed phytoplankton- you are in fact also feeding the micro-organisms who live in the sand. They do what earthworms do on land. Nitrification will happen on the surface area of the sand (so why coral chips in the sump?). It will not only be limited to sand - bacteria will be on any surface in the water.

With sponge or filter wool you will catch the majority of the big pieces. There will be some that get thru. Even trapped within the wool its going to start to decompose. I don't know what is the pore size for wool but its not going to stop anything below 100microns.(it may not even stop anything below 500microns) Phytoplankton range from 2 microns onwards , if you feed live- some will die and settle. If you feed dead material - its going to settle. Dead stuff decay. It won't happen in a day or maybe even a week- but over time in months there will be a build up.

yes Eric, but its not patent. its called a micron filter. These filters were the in thing a few yrs ago - the good ones were able to filter down to 1 micron. But after a while research was done on the actual foods that corals consume and particulate matter is an item on the menu for the majority of them - thus crystal clear water was actually starving them of nutrition. Feeding & nutrition is a relatively new subject. Now you can hardly find micron filters. What you propose also seems to show that you intend on a high fish/bioload load system and which you will encounter high NO3 for the first 3/4 of the initial year.The DSB once matured will process a certain amount of NO3- but with High NO3, you may not get Zero readings. Liverock is also considered bio-filtration and with a lighter fish load and NNR methods a Reef tank can run at Zero levels.

If you have enough area for the bacteria to colonize like rock. Yes nearly the same...just that if water is not prefiltered for a wet dry- detrius and particulate will be trapped in there and start to build up and breakdown producing even more NO3 as a final result.

If you bubbled your sand and kept it moving then it will work just like ceramic rings,bio-balls,coral chips. This is called a fluidised bed filter - on the concept that fine sand grains have a bigger surface area for bacteria. What you mixed up is that coral chips,bio-balls run in a filter which allows oxygen thru and a perfect place for bio-media to grow the nitrobacteria to break down toxins. This is called nitrification and is an aerobic process(using oxygen). This is used for fish only systems or when you have a constant high amounts of ammonia being produced. However - you will be constantly producing NO3 as the end result of all the bacteria's hard work.In reef systems we strive to get low NO3. You need another kind of bacteria to carry on from here and the bacteria that process nitrate live in anaerobic conditions(oxygen void) and that is in the bottom of a DSB or plenum So lets take your A sample, if a certain amount of A is put in everyday (and also produced by the livestock) . This A will be used by 2 different types of bacteria that live on the tank glass,liverock and on any surface covered by your tank water - to produce NO2 and then to NO3. If this A is a daily input, bacteria will establish a population to process this amount so you won't see spikes ,unless you get a dead fish or intro 5 new fishes or you pee into the tank increasing this A by quadruple or ten times..in which case there is not enough bacteria to handle this and you see a spike. So lets say this A turns into 10ppm NO3 everyday. *The process of taking nitrate and turning it into nitrogen and nitrous oxide gas, is denitrification* and you do not employ it. NO3 has nowhere to go....so what happens if you keep pouring 10ml of water into a glass everyday? it accumilates. And there you have your 100ppm NO3. You have the theory of a Sand FILTER and Sand BED mixed up.

that's correct. but in the home, some of these corals also get used to day feeding- e.g the sun coral which after a while will extend into feeding mode once you feed the fishes. If you watch the blue planet series they also stated that there is no other animal that dedicated so much surface area for food capture. Although photosynthetic , some feed in the day and some at night so feeding both would be optimal. This ultimately depends on the type of foods you feed - the actual food you feed. If you want to follow natural feedings - Drip feed phytoplankton during daylight hours(or 3-4hours before lights out). I say drip feed is because this will give you the best of the food- drips will prolong the time that phyto stays in the water even with all the pumps and filters on. Coral are used to feeding for periods(and some 24hrs)- If you dump everything in,They don't understand that they have to eat in the 30mins that you switch off the pumps. Unless you somehow managed to send them a memo to say that they only have 30mins to eat or starve the rest of the day. Zooplankton range of foods would be better off fed 1hr-30mins before lights off (or just after lights off), this will follow natural feeding times when zoo rise to the surface during the night to feed on phytoplankton. There is no way you can emulate the amount of food in the water as compared to the wild (if you watch night shots of wild reefs or night dives). Just do the best your filtration can handle. As i mentioned, it does depend on the corals you keep and the actual specific foods you feed . (there are many bottled foods which just don't have enough nutrition in them). Plankton is a generic term that can cover a few thousand species. rgds

its too generic of a question. *Depends on what you keep in the tank. *Depends on what foods you have to feed.

You have coral chips in your tank - you will need to remove the current substrate, replace it with as fine as u can get - if beach sand is the only thing then beach sand it can be. When u wash the sand in a pail - wrap a magnet in a plastic bag and hold it in one hand while u rinse thru. It should pick up metal. Go for as deep as u can visually afford - an average 4inch(6 if your tank deep enough). Do not use anything bigger than grade #1 sand. A DSB should be made up of a mixture of 0.1mm to 1mm grain sizes. As you have LR - it will seed the sand, it takes time and a DSB matures somewhere ard 7-12mths. When the caulerpa melts, it shouldn't upset the tank much - the cloudy water is just 'sperm & eggs' from the algae. It settles clear within an hour or two. What it does is release back all the nutrients it took up.This usually happens at sunrise. If you chk daily- tell tale signs is that the caulerpa will start to yellow (while the internal contents turns to liquid) You have somewhere from 12-24hrs before it "melts". Before you spend more money on your tank, you should look into the RO - since you can use it for drinking too.

yes, it will grow and thin out. But it will grow & grow. i did a search a long time ago and even got it confirmed a by a few ppl on RC. Its caulerpa sp. (i think the exact species start with a M.)