What is your aquarium equipment? If that happened when you do Water Change, switch on you light, heat from light will faster the process.

i ask the pet shop the skimmer use to "break" unwanted protein in water

to alex or sifu2...my tank come with algae problem..limmted the light time..
reduce feeding..using seachem phosguard..
my light- 2x55w pll light(blu and white 10000k) and 2x20w fluorecent(blu n white 18000k)
my tank 30gallon..
what should i do???help!!!!
bored to clean the algae everyday...

I think u can try in putting some turbo snail. which consume algae very fast with no limit.
problem is i am afraid u do not have enough algae for them once u bought and they might commit suicide
haha

hahaha...i alredt have turbo snail in my tank..algae non stop growing..
green algae on my rock n glass...brown algae on my substrate..
very bored n give up to clean every day...
another advise??

what kind of water u used to topup or water change weekly?

ro water from bio green brand..

ohh then i tink it should be no problem le wor..
nitrate level got test anot @@
overfeeding or over amount of fishes wastage may cause algae too ler.
my nitrate level 20ppm last week. grew many yellowish algae and my turbo committed suicide earlier because lack of algae haha.

mybe ur right..ive got 7 fishes..5 turbo snail..3 hermit crab and 2 shrimp for my 30g tank...
and for a 2 years,since i start marine hobby, i didnt use any test kit..hahahaha..

Dang ~ Pro bro.
I rather to keep it like that, natural mah, top up add salt, feed.
Test kits may finish up in fast speed and damn costly T.T
i think should be your nitrate level ler.
Because last time i bought coral back from 1 LFS nearby area.
then i felt free and tested his water.
It was 120 ppm. still surviving. strange eh. ==
the strangest one is he said u have to keep testing ur water condition and make it the best.
But his water condition damn 'pro' ==
actually turbo snail keep 1 or 2 enough ler.
they will multiply one. and i dont like them very much.
i prefer starfish xD.
since u kept for 2 years i tink wont cause u serious problem ler.
Any coral?

Hello sifus,

wanna start a marine setup in my existing 100 gollon tank. been cycling water for 2 weeks now?
when shall i add live rock? is it better to add fresh live rock and cycle it together with the tank or to cycle the tank completely and then buy cycled live rock?

first time marine setup.

nop..no coral..just fowrl tank with some invertbrate n lot of coralline algea..
but,slitt have lot of green n brown algae..hahahha...
do i need to use nitrate removal??
damn so expensive..

for myself i didnt use any except other buffers lo.
nitrate can be avoid and reduce by weekly water change and adding in some algae that absorbs them.
everytime my nitrate lvl 20ppm == cant be reduced liao i tink lol.
but i tink hor if u buy the eheim substrate pro which provides shelther to beneficial bacteria may help u in the progress of decompose or breaking down waste materials lo.
i just ordered and waiting for the delivery.

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Added on July 31, 2010, 12:00 ammake sure your salinity is accurate lo.
and add in at least 3 inches of sand and take note that LR u bought from LFS cant be washed v tap water because chlorine may harm bacteria which staying around. =)
then buy bacteria liquid and let it cycle lo.
the best matured time or tank is the time u found pods around.
i got them around 3 weeks because keep on pouring in bacteria supplement lol ==

This post has been edited by menggin: Jul 31 2010, 12:00 AM

Okay. from research i found that specific gravity from 1.025 to 1.026 is acceptable. what u suggest? is that alright?
is 3 inch sand really necessary? i mean if it's just for aestatic reason, i was thinking 1.5 inch should be enough, shouldn't it? but pls do let me know if 3 inch has any advantage. i would really love to learn.
alright, i'll be getting the bacteria liquid today.
What are pods? sorry noob question.
3 weeks sounds reasonable.


On another note.
here's a situation. i have a planted aquarium running on two canister filters for a couple of months.
so when i start my new tank(planned for reef), i used one of the canister from the planted tank for the new tank hoping that this would expeditate the bacteria maturing process. but this was prior to adding salt. meaning, the canister was in a freswater aquarium for 3 months(matured). and then i moved it to a newly setup aquarium filled with filtered declorinated tap water. and then i added salt 2 days after. does this mean the bacteria will die because of the change in salinity? and my tank is back to new fresh tank which needs to be cycled again completely in this new salinity situation?
this is what the lfs guy told me.

pls put me out of my misery. i'll take a forumers word to a lfs guy any given time.

hmm saltinity from 1.021 - 1.025 should be ok.
yea sand will absorb the wastes of fish or fish pellets that hasnt been eaten and not filtered. and it is likely a home for pods and other beneficial bacteria.
Pods = a kind of inverts in ur water. very very small but u still can see it through ur naked eye.
Freshwater bacteria is totally different from saltwater. If you wana use the fresh water canister to ur marine tank. then wash it thoroughly and put in media which suitable for it. example bio ring. cycle it for few weeks to let the marine's bacteria grow in it.
hmm dont recommend u to take reef tank first because u still new and u have to gain more experience and knowledge in the hobby.
freshwater are easier but marine is damn hard and nice =D
and make sure live stock u put in not aggressive.
wow 2 canister huh
wat brand r u using? mind to share? haha
The most suitable time is the time u find PODS as i mentioned around in ur tank then u can put LS.

well, i'm using two eheim 2217 coupled with 9W UV filter. and i also have a RS95/UV and a boyu efu 35. all filters have jbl biomec.
ok. shall i just start with fowlr and as i go on, later in the future slowly upgrade to reef? well, that was the initial plan.

i was planning to get some sand(crushed coral 40 kg), few LR and a protien skimmer tomorrow. planning to cycle it for a month or so like u mentioned until i see PODS. u think that's ok? i'm using 2X 4 feet T5 bulbs. at 6700K totalling to 80W. thinking of adding a blue actinic later when the tank matures.

here's a pic of my newly setup:

Good, ur freshwater damn costly neh haha
ermm buy less crush coral or just use it as the 1st layer then cover v sands.
actually u can try on LED. its much more better than T5 and longer life span. only cant be changed so buang when rosak xD
yes. once u saw PODS around then can put live stock ady. try put some hardy fish and observe, dont buy lots back and put.
KH and PH has to be good as well as nitrate.
other than that for a FOT its ok ady.
Good luck in ur setup =)

Thanks meggin.

Any reason behind y buy less crushed coral and add more sand? Is shirui sand ok for marine tank? was thinkin of mixing crushed coral and shirui sand. read somewhere silica base sand is bad for marine. so, is shirui sand silica base? pls help!

And can you suggest some hardy fishes for me? wud like to keep reference on that for later on.
I was thinking of setting up a FOWLR. not FOT.

so, are pods those purplish stuff growing in the marine tank?

Nope. hmm sand.
go to LFS ask them for live sand for marine they will intro to u.
Branded sand = normal sand haha so dont need to buy the goodwill or quality of certain brand.
hmm damsels. any of the type.
if they survive then go for clown fish. the cheap one. percula clown will do.
if both type ok. and all elements in the water ok then can add expensive one.
eh bro, do u noe where can get cheap Substrate pro? Eheim?

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Added on August 2, 2010, 12:07 amaiya forgot u mentioned about PODS.
well if u see clearly its like a very small mantis prawn.
they have 2 tentacles and run damn fast on the sand or over LR.
they are a type of cleaning crew of marine.

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Added on August 2, 2010, 12:07 amaiya forgot u mentioned about PODS.
well if u see clearly its like a very small mantis prawn.
they have 2 tentacles and run damn fast on the sand or over LR.
they are a type of cleaning crew of marine.

This post has been edited by menggin: Aug 2 2010, 12:07 AM

hmm, i've read about live sand. Is it the type of sand similar to live rock where the sand is cured(cycled) and kept in water? this sand also helps in cycling the tank right? it sorta expedites the process.
well, i enquired in two big marine lfs that i know of(oceanic and east aqua), they both have crushed coral only. no other sand. it's a bummer.
You know of any lfs that carries live sand? or any other suitable sand? Please advice. i'll just cure it myself and bring it to live.
i'm not rushing it. so, i got all the time in the world. i'm gonna make sure everything is per planned before i move on to next step.

Noted. damsel and clown type!

hmm, i dun use eheim substrate. i only use JBL Micro Mec. got that in East aqua Ikano for 45 bucks a box. works for me. Eheim is over-rated, i think.
here's a pic:


Pods. got it. i'll try googling it to get a clearer picture.

Thanks meggin!