On hindsight-should have/ have not done this when starting tank

[freezze]

MH should be metal halide.
Very common in reef tank but gives out alot of heat..

And also consume more energy when operating.

[mUAr_cHEe]

5. For larger tanks, if on budget, cheap industrial MH is a brute force method that gives good results at <$100 a fixture

Cheaper to install. More expensive in the long run.
Metal Halides are like the Vampires/leeches of Lamps. Singapore Power might send you a Gold Membership Card soon if you are using Metal Lalides.
They also bring up the enviroment temperature alot. Literally House-warming lights.
They do produce very good results as their light spectrum is very similar to the Sun's.
Another pro that I can think of is that when you use Metal Halides, all other lights in that room is redundant. The light from the Metal Halide alone is more than enough to light up your tank and the whole flipping room.

I ran 2 X 250W on my Marine SPS tank before. I know.

[Phillipians]

I dont think that the current high powered LEDs will lose out to the MH lights in terms of performance actually. But MH light have a very good history so some people still prefer them. It is good to use MH if you have a chiller though. Without, you are going to spend more money cooling the tank down.

By the way one more thing on hindsight.
Spend more time doing up the hoses of the filter properly or regret later as it will be very difficult to do maintenance.
I am going to have to suffer that later in nov when i have some time as my hoses are all over and it really is unsightly. Check out Urban Aquarias cabinet. Superbly done.
And to make sure you do your hoses properly: buy plenty of double taps. I trust eheim ones the best. This allows ease of detachment for each part of your filter, co2 reactor and stuff. That saves A LOT of trouble later on.

[Xiaozhuang]

Yeah, high powered LEDs is a replacement for MH, but in the earlier days there wasn't that much choice. Also its a low starting cost. It allowed me to grow out this 3ft tank with a $90 MH fixture, alot of bang for the buck:



Yeah, the downsides of heat, electricity consumption etc are all there. No need for chiller though, most plants grow fine up to 29/30 degrees. Cooler temps are good, but not not essential for many plants; probably can't do moss well in warm water, but even HC can grow well up to 29 degrees as long as the other parameters are done well. The tank above flux between 28-30.

Dry ferts wise ; they can be bought from hydroponics shops or LFS here then mixed using this calculator : http://calc.petalphile.com/en/
The only fert that I can't find (in the quality I want) in SG is Fe/Trace element mix. So I bought CSM + B from US sites; even after shipping its cheaper than using liquid ferts here in the long run.

[Phillipians]

I think ecocity has fe fert in dry form

[kurty]

Wow.. is that your tank??

Really envy you guys.. can any kind soul pick me as a student?

Really wanna know how to do this hobby Well.
Located at punggol mrt

[Phillipians]

I believe none of us here has ever gone to a 'master' haha and the best master I think, is Youtube.

Why dont you spend time looking at some of the aquascaping videos. Those will inspire you to create some similar scapes before you move on to do more original ones.

[kurty]

I believe none of us here has ever gone to a 'master' haha and the best master I think, is Youtube.

Why dont you spend time looking at some of the aquascaping videos. Those will inspire you to create some similar scapes before you move on to do more original ones.

Yeah, I basically view YouTube for info such as tying moss etc. Lately is the iwagumi layout..

Design wise,can learn but the challenge is still with the upkeeping of the plants..

[kermit13sg]

time to build one more...

[Phillipians]

I like james findleys The Green Machine videos. You can tube that. He has got this red stone nanoscape. I thought it was an interesting type of iwagumi. I am gonna create one this nov to try