Fighting diatom

I didn't measure the nitrate level. However, when the light on, diatom will break out very fast. Had tried cleaning, water changes but still no use.

Getting a 2nd hand AM denitrator NR1000 from Geo-aquatic. Anyway, I believe the cause was insufficient amount of beneficial bacteria during the tank cycling period.

In addition, had ordered Caribsea live sand from Petmart. The live sand will help to replenish beneficial bacteria in the sand bed. By mixing it with existing aragonite sand, gradually making it 'live' as well. :)

My tank upgrading plan

Upgrading plan:

1. Aquamedic denitrator NR1000 with SP3000 dosing pump.
2. 1/3 hp chiller. (Haven't decide on its brand)
3. Lighting - 14k MH + 2x T5 (ATI aquablue special)
4. Hydro 2000 Protein Skimmer.
5. Additional Cabinet for FR, denitrator, etc.

My tank update

So far, all equipments had being installed and running. Damned! I accidentally broke one of my nanostream clamp. Have to wait till August then got spare part stocks.

Currently fighting with diatom, Ron advised me to do 10-20% water change. Will do it tonight,.. hehe.

Just talked to Phillip from Geo-Aquatic. Will get aquamedic denitrator NR1000, comes with SP3000 dosing pump.

Get ready for it!!

On 23th may'07. Nothing much to do and thought of going to get DI unit. Prior of getting live rocks, I give Coralfarm a call first, to check on the arrival of Fiji premium live rocks. Finally, it had arrived from United State. So I booked a cab all the way to LCK lane 6f. All live rocks were uncured. Full of nuisance algaes, sponges, etc.

My concept of live rock selection is to create landscape with several caves for fishes to hide when afraid, sleeping and resting areas. After some selection, I stacked those live rocks and measured them using measuring tape to ensure the draft landscape that I created is able to fit into my fish tank.

Also, it is fun to see those fishes swimming in and out of the live rock scaping.
And that the idea of keeping fish as a hobby to relax yourself after work.

I bought 20kg of live rocks. The curing process had really stunk the whole house with smell like dead corpse. Argh...

One particular live rock that I bought was so huge that I have to use laundry container for curing. It took me around 3 weeks of water changing, srubbing to remove nuisance algaes, clams, sponges and some worms to have 80-90% curing process completion. During this process, no crabs, mantis shrimps found in the live rocks.

All equipments are almost ready. Will get DI unit (Crystal Pro)on 7th June at Aquamarin, as well as 2 bags of nature ocean live sand
Lazy to wash ordinary sand.. haha.

Starting up a new tank

At last, after completing my part-time degree. I had decide to re-do my tank. I intended to do a FOWLR (Fish Only with Live Rocks) tank, as maintenance will be minimum. Below are some of the equipments that I had recently purchased.

1. Deltec Skimmer (AP600) - Parallel imported on 11/4/07
2. Pinpoint PH meter w probe (2nd hand)
3. Pinpoint ORP contoller w probe (brand new) from ebay.com/finsdepot

And there are some outstanding equipment(s) that I will be acquiring in the next couple of months.

4. Sander Ozonizer C100 (2nd hand) + Air pump - June
5. ATI T5 aquablue special tube(x3) + reflector(x3) - May/June
6. Crystal Pro 3-stages DI unit - May/June
7. Tunze nanostream 6045 (x2) - May/June


Last but not least, will be the live stocks acquisition. Haha..

A. Live sand (2 packets)
B. Fiji live rocks from Coral farm. Will be ordeering 25 -30kg.

Incoming tank arrival

This tank will be arriving on 23rd August 2006. Had do some minor amendment to the tank.

* Refurish internal sump
* Add flow valves to inlet and outlet pipe.

Meanwhile, will be keeping small tropical fishes. As the time is still not ripe to
invest on a marine tank yet..:)

Old pics of my refugium

Click here to view more about my refugium from the previous tank.

Aquarium plan

I planned this aquarium for a very long time. My part-time degree was half way through. Therefore, doing personal saving to re-live the days of setting up of my dream tank..