ervine

the hifi's are just cheapo no brand ones that they try to trick you into thinking they cost a lot... and they always say it's FREE when actually it's not.. they ask for a few hundred dollars "coffee money" for them... here's how the ploy works: 1. They approach unsuspecting drivers in carparks, ask them if they are interested in Hi-Fi equipment and say it's free 2. After they lure you to their van, they will weave a story about how their warehouse screw up and gave them extra pieces of the super expensive european brand hi-fi... so being the nice honest people that they are, they want to let you have it for way below "market rates" 3. They continue to weave their story about how good the hi-fi is, and even prepare rather realistic looking brochures to coax you into thinking that parting with your hard earned $800 is worth it for a speaker/home entertainment unit/etc that's worth basically close to nothing.. 4. You stupidly agree to pay $###### and get conned... If you don't agree they will suddenly turn hostile and sometimes poke fun at you for not being able to afford it etc etc... It's happened to many bros in singapore and around the world, ALWAYS the same ploy, ALWAYS... My dad got conned into it, so now I have 2 big ###### speakers (thankfully working!) in my studio.. since no point throwing them away... My dad's lucky, there are some bros out there who went home to find inside their speaker is nothing but air... Take heed!! Back to the point.. agreed.. Cathay's parking is HORRIBLE...

to those who are driving there, beware of the white van running around trying to trick you into buying hi-fi/home theatre equipment... the were there running around when I went last week.

eh at least these girls/boys look pretty... there are some which are just super turn off kind... No offence hor...

hehe u go "backpacking" with the green backpack?

Yeah take photos and just relax... going over the Christmas to New Year holidays with a couple of close friends... I heard Laos is a great place to go, really laid back... but it's a little hard to get there, we're going to fly to Chiang Mai, then make our way across the Laos border, down the Mekong to the capital Vientianne, then back across the Thai border to Bangkok then back home...

SEA is safe lah bros... the chances of getting mugged at gun point is so much lower than some european countries. The only unsafe thing is perhaps some of the transportation methods, eating the wrong food (although I've eaten fried crickets off street vendors without issues). So far I've been to Cambodia, Vietnam, parts of Thailand, going to Laos end of the year etc... I hope to visit the whole of SEA over my lifetime... and in fact, I travel partly coz of work, coz I'm a photographer... so I go take photos of places I go to.. heck people send me to these places to take photos... Now's the best time to go really... budget airlines and the internet have opened these countries up a lot... Happy Travelling!

yeah I tried before also... it's quite tasty really... Tried scorpions, crickets, silk worms, and some other unidentified bug... but I think I'll call it quits when they ask me to eat a spider or a cockroach...

fantastic photos bro... Still haven't found time & money to go learn diving yet... sigh..

you will be better off just having plants if you ask me...

yah I'm fine with SOME algae... but not when it covers everything and my corals start to slowly die off...

Ah that's good to know... ok I'll try to see if I can find a TDS meter cheap..

sorry sorry my tank height is 2ft, not 1.5ft... and the MH is quite far away from the tank, like 1ft+ above the tank... OH!... it just struck me!! I used to use 20k bulbs but swapped over to 14k recently... could that be the problem??

Hi guys, My tank I think is now 4 or 5 years old, haven't had much problems till about a year ago when hair algae took over, started using DI water and hair algae went away but somehow my zoos and shrooms all melted away (other corals ok)... Strangely after the hair algae went away, cyno or diatoms came back with a vengence... I tested my water so far looks ok: kH - 10 pH - 8.4 No3 - 2.5mg/l PO4 - undetectable Ca - 390ppm 2.5ft x 1.5ft x 1.5ft 250W MH with 2ft athnic T5s Macro 25-something needlewheel skimmer 2ft sump with refugium thriving with cheato I'm at a lost as to what else to do... There's one more thing, I seem to be getting a lot of white chunky dust settling down in the crevices which stir up when I move the rocks or the wave makers kick in. Detrius? Currently thinking of getting a more powerful skimmer but I'm not sure if that's going to help... I've also heard older tanks which have used kalk for long have a problem with phosphates, I've been using kalk since day one until just last week when I took the kalk stirrer out of commission. So I was wondering if my tank is just getting old... and if so what can I do to breathe life into it again, hurts to see it slipping away like this.. Thanks! Ervine

Thanks bros.. I'll go hunt...

Hi guys, I was one of those who attended Simon's DIY 3stage DI water purifier. I can't seem to find the thread so I guess I'll just ask here. I remember he mentioned that one way to know if your DI resin has been exhausted is when it starts to segregate into two distinct layers. Is this true? I know the best way is to use a TDS meter but I don't have one. Thanks! Ervine

Sorry ah... any idea how big they get? Thanks!

Hi guys, Used to buy them from the shop at Serangoon North but seems like it's closed down. Anyone know where I can get them? Thanks! Ervine

My planted tank has a potting soil substrate layered with 1" of fine gravel... mymics what would happen in a real river I think... Been like this for many many years already, never once added fertilisers and still getting very good growth even without CO2 injection...

is it giving out A LOT of heat? and how do you know it's giving out heat if it's in the water?

loyalty doesn't exist anymore in the workplace, and no employer or employee should expect loyalty anymore because people come and go, jobs get created and get dumped everyday... So if the employer cannot guarantee employment for his workers, why should they do the same for him...

Okay thanks for the help bros, as suspected it was an overloading... Electrician ran some current clamping tests here and there, swapped out the breaker for a higher rated one and charged me $80... I think it's quite reasonable? Anyway thanks for the advice, hopefully won't trip anymore...

lovely photos bro... looks like fun!

I suspect it's a loading problem coz it seems to trip more often when all my aircons are turned on and my studio is running at full capacity.. Electrician will be coming in on Monday.. Shucks man, I hope he knows what he's doing...

sorry ah but what does dino look like? I suspect I might also have it, doesn't look like cyno to me...

It's the outgoing one (single stand alone breaker right?) not the ones in the ELCB box that's tripping.. I'm getting an electrician to come in next week... so most likely what will he change? Coz I don want to get chopped by the electrician... Thanks! Ervine