Really need sifu/experience ppl to help.
I am fresh water kaki also DIY electronic kaki,

now planning to try 40 gallon coral reef tank, researching on coral lighting especially in LED,
from googling and chuisui.com someone said you need 4..6...10Watt/gallon depends on coral type,

I was confused because LED is much more efficient then T5. which mean the 10 watt in T5 might produced by 3Watt led...

Is that true? or i should buy 40Watt LED for 40 gallon tank?

This post has been edited by willer: Dec 26 2012, 11:57 AM

wow, 2 years old thread, but might help other.
I got my first brown tangs and 3rd days white spot strike, first time hearing this white spot thingy for a newbie...

I was goggling for solutions and I had done fresh water dipping , 5 mins in saltwater, 5 mins in fresh water for 30 mins.
then I put it back to my main tank (stupid me). then 2nd days white spot came back and more fish getting Ich.

my second try is using a quarantine tank with hyposalinity (1.009g), and move all my fish from main tank to QT for 3 weeks.
main tank is full with pods because the big boss is in QT... ;-)

after that I move back my fishes to main tank and no sign of Ich. pods gone in 2 days.... after the boss back!
Now I maintaining the fishes health with reef safe "Marc Weiss Immuno Vital".

first thing i had learn, quarantine the fish before get into display tank.
and I personally will do hyposalinity/fresh water dipp for every new fish before steps into my tank.

unlucky my goby will swim up and fight pallets with clownfish.... it should eat algea, not fast food

hard a bit with 2k budget ... i was thinking 2k as well for reef and now spends 4-5k for 2ft.
a chiller will cost u rm 1000+, those vitamins and minerals...skimmers, pumps, sump, filtration stuff like phosphate nitrates reducer. ...and lot of tester....good lighting can be 1k - 3k.

i use my DIY 84watt ( royal blue + actinic led + heatsink + fan + 240watt power supply , from eBay ) also around rm 600 plus for two sets.

last time i use two big computers fans to pull down 2 celcius but 1 day vapors 4 liters of water end up getting a chiller (electric bill increase rm 20-30 hahaha) else you can't go travel for 3 days, auto water top up is useless because 2ft is too small to reserve 10 to 20 liters of water in cabinet, my aquarium located at living room.

to maintain ph, i had tested thing like ph plus, kalkwaser, but my lfs intro me a malaysia made kh buffer. that is the best Ph maintainer i ever use. rm 55 for 8 months, dose around weekly when ur dkh drop.

the coral i buy usually around rm70 to rm150 each,

my lfs of choice :
aquatics international subang - the biggest in region, lots of coral and fish and cheap with discount if you can sweet talk to that seller.
advanced reef at cheras nearby pgrm building - good quality overall, i am okey to pay more for quality, shop owner will teach u many thing in details, one of my fav lfs
oceanic puchong - alot of stuff not bad but a bit expensive.
gv puchong - nothing much to see
pets 88 pandan indah - not reef professional, their worker can't explain to you, but i love to buy those chemical stuff from them.
eastaqua - forget it, another $$$ shop.
reefaltech - moved from wangsa maju to damansara, very professional and explain everything to you, selling very fine quality live rock to me, they keep LR together with coral. and lots more premiums stuff.

hopefully my info will help...

planted you mean is fresh water tank, sure you need to cycle it

Fish not really care about the temp (IMHO)

lol, i had put in my first fish after 2 weeks the tank setup (with good quality live rock)...
the fish still survive today... it is belnny
but you can see the diatom, hair algae boom everywhere.

remember to quarantine your new fish in low salinity for few days, the most making me headache is marine white spot....

each time i hear the name "Tang" first thing pop out from my mind is marine whitespot...
the easiest fish to get marine ich.

do you guy know bumble bee goby?
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_di...+978&pcatid=978

It was sold as fresh water fish in jln. pasar for RM0.80, but actually it was a brackish water fish.

I just manage to convert it to saltwater in 3 days, slowly increasing the salinity.

here is the picture, living fine for weeks



This post has been edited by willer: Jul 9 2013, 06:29 PM

hahahaha, you got it! that is cleaner shrimp (boxing shrimp)

guys, did anyone use food grade Epsom salt from guradian/watson as reef tank magnesium supply.

I was shock when I found a pack of Epsom salt from guardian is just RM 5.7 (food grade pure magnesium sulfate)
while I have a small bottle of magnesium supply cost RM35. the magnesium crystal shape and chemical labeled on both box is identical...

I have my DIY LED for reef ... and my coral still kicking after 1 year.
the problem is getting the right wave length LED which is hard.

I having the same tester lol, I am guessing it is the 2nd one.... did u clean your test tube after test?