Tank Journal Archive

[Lesley]

Well it's week 8
Gha finally vanishing off sand bed leaving a brown mat with I will work on removing soon
Rocks are much less green , only a few bits left the tangs have demolished most
Gyres don't look like hairy monsters anymore phew !
All stock still safe & doing great but missing corals a lot
Test results all good
Although alk / cal both a little low it's very encouraging it's looking balanced at least
Added 8 teeny weeny clowns hoping to have 2 clutches but so far it appears they are all sticking together
Loving the new skimmer been amazing since day one

Overall I can't complain about too much
Thank god for the auto water change
And auto lights
Both been a life saver to sat the least

View attachment 56802

 

[slin1977]

Great update..I love those clowns :D

What's your secret for nitrate and phosphate control?

Are you planning to seed the tank with coralline algae - couple of things to weigh up if you do.

Are you going full blown SPS with all those lights above the tank?
Here is how my stocking list would go for this tank if it happened to be in my living room:p I did not do a fish list.

I would order 15 boxes assorted SPS,
4 boxes Goni
4 boxes Torch
4 boxes Hammers
4 boxes Zoas
3 boxes acans
1 box scolly
1 box acro al clams
1 box recordia
100 peppermint shrimp
20 cleaner shrimp
And anything else I might have left out. :rofl

 

[Sam Parker]

You paying for that order Nils??? :p

Tanks looking awesome Lesley, must get over to see it soon

 

[Lesley]

Great update..I love those clowns :D

What's your secret for nitrate and phosphate control?

Are you planning to seed the tank with coralline algae - couple of things to weigh up if you do.

Are you going full blown SPS with all those lights above the tank?
Here is how my stocking list would go for this tank if it happened to be in my living room:p I did not do a fish list.

I would order 15 boxes assorted SPS,
4 boxes Goni
4 boxes Torch
4 boxes Hammers
4 boxes Zoas
3 boxes acans
1 box scolly
1 box acro al clams
1 box recordia
100 peppermint shrimp
20 cleaner shrimp
And anything else I might have left out. :rofl

Hahaha
That's quit a list
Our plans are for a mixed reef , very similar to our last one
I love sps but also love the flow and movement Lps adds to the overall picture
Cuc will be light again , although we moved on the trigger to be able to add some. I ran very minimal in old tank hope to do the same with this one

Phos control - well think I own shares in rowas phos ( or wish I did )
Nitrates - I've always run Seachem Matrix stones
I've added 5kg to the sump
I don't know how or why they dropped from 20 to 0 but I believe matrix
I've never had an issue with them all 3 tanks we have owned
Fish wise we are just about at stop point with the addition Today of an orange shoulder & powder brown
Also added some nice plating Coraline today too

 

[slin1977]

oh that plating coralline is to die for!!!!

 

[Andrew B]

So happy to hear that it has all cleared off! that plating coraline is sprectaular!

 

[RobbieMVFC]

Looks great Les, I can't wait to see it with corals added.
What happen to your old corals? and what new skimmer??. I must of missed that post.
That plating coraline , I found some in my tank the other day, Looks good however the location of mine in an area that you cannot see with hovering over the top with a porthole ;(

 

[Jacques Pels]

HI Lesley,
Great to read up on your progress.
I have stayed out of it lately, as all i would end up 'reporting' is the pleasures of construction, which is not what this site is all about.
We hit several walls, delays and issues.. suffice it to say not a lot of fun, but i think we are over the worst of it.
Now comes crunch time on details.
Many months of talk, theories and suggestions, but now I need to execute.
As of last week we finally have the roof on, no ceiling yet.
Therefore, the builder is asking the final details on what this magic "Hood Lifter" is all about.
I have discussed this with my guy, but end up having more questions thrown at me, than answered. So, rather than trying to re-invent the wheel, may I ask for your experiences with the hood raising mechanism you used, with the Actuator.
I wrote to the Canadians, and got a prompt reply, steering me towards what they suggested for you.
Are you happy with the system ?
What issues, if any, have you had ?
Would you be able to refer me to the guys who did the actual installation for you, so my guys can talk to them directly, and get answers to questions like :-
- what is the Max rated lifting capacity (Kg) of the Actuator you have.
- Is it 12 Volt or 24 Volt ?
- did you install gas cylinders as a fail-safe to prevent a potential dropping of the hood from the open position, while bent over the tank ?
-what pulley system did they use and how was it anchored in the ceiling ?

Would you know what the actual weight of your hood is, since I have assumed, to be safe, a total weight of 250Kg for mine. It will be 550mm high with the tank width of 1100mm and 3000mm long .
The travel, height I want it to rise, is approx. 600mm to allow easy access for cleaning and maintenance, like you.

Sorry to bug you with these questions, as I am sure you are happy they are behind you.

Appreciate whatever advise or referals you are able to give, so i can instruct the builders, and get this set up, before the ceiling is installed next week.

Thanks
Jac

​

 

[Ben Daley]

Great! Pleased to see the algae backing off :)
If that a cucumber on the glass (top left corner of the 1st pic)?
Out of interest, do you run anything else (like GFO) on your R.O unit?

I think a sea fan or two would look awesome in your tank - you certainly have the room.

 

[Lesley]

Looks great Les, I can't wait to see it with corals added.
What happen to your old corals? and what new skimmer??. I must of missed that post.
That plating coraline , I found some in my tank the other day, Looks good however the location of mine in an area that you cannot see with hovering over the top with a porthole ;(

We only managed to save 9 corals & 3 Clams
When the tank burst we had 6 mins to Decide to save corals or Fish
We decided fish mattered most
And the corals we did try to save unfortunately 90% didn't make it

We hope that Coraline takes off nicely we had it in the broken tank and loved it
Thanks

 

[Lesley]

Great! Pleased to see the algae backing off :)
If that a cucumber on the glass (top left corner of the 1st pic)?
Out of interest, do you run anything else (like GFO) on your R.O unit?

I think a sea fan or two would look awesome in your tank - you certainly have the room.

Yes it's a cucumber
We had a friend babysit him
While all the stock was in the ibc. Because we had no sand bed
He's been back home now for a few weeks
I am running
Rowa phos & carbon reactors from
The sump
Chose the Deltec sc3070
Very happy
Thank you

 

[macca_75]

View attachment 56828
Yes it's a cucumber
We had a friend babysit him
While all the stock was in the ibc. Because we had no sand bed
He's been back home now for a few weeks
I am running
Rowa phos & carbon reactors from
The sump
Chose the Deltec sc3070
Very happy
Thank you

Those reactors look tiny - the scale of this tank throws everything out. Glad to hear it's coming together finally.

 

[Lesley]

Those reactors look tiny - the scale of this tank throws everything out. Glad to hear it's coming together finally.

Reactors are 50cm tall
They are huge lol