Tank Journal Archive

[Priscacara]

Introduction:
G'day I'm Les and this is my first time for keeping marines but kept a lot of freshwater over the years. I hope to be able to set up a thriving community that will be healthy, good to look at and fun.
System Type: mixed reef with initial corals being zoanthids, soft corals, lps and some nice colorful fish for movement.

Display System: Aquareef 400L all in one

Strike up Date: 31 July 2012

Display Tank: 132cmL x 52cmD x 73/88cmH

Display Lighting: 4 x 54W t5

Stand: Black wood and plastic with black steel coated frame.

Hood: Hoodless but has covers over the top.

Sump: unsure but approximately 60L

Refugium Lighting: 3w white led clip on lamp.

System Water: NSW

Display Water circulation: 2 x Sicce Voyager 8 pumps with wavesurfer controller. Each pump does 12000 lph.

Return Pump: Aquareef kit pump, 3500 lph

Skimmer: Aquaone G220

Evaporation Top Up: manual

 

[Priscacara]

The tank was wet yesterday, no leaks so far so going to get 10kg of base rock tomorrow and 40kg of live on Saturday.

Overall I'm happy with the tank but a couple of things bug me a bit. The lights are awaiting replacement which is a major bummer but these things happen; the cord for the lights is ridiculously short..........didn't they think in the design phase that maybe we don't have floating power boards yet? Also in the design phase who had the bright idea to not have any backing at all to keep out a bit of the noise, its just an open space so apart from the noise the escaping light from the refugium lights up the whole room at night. There is a fair bit of noise from everything doing its job but its not over the top really just more than I had expected given there is none from any of my freshwater tanks unless I run an air pump.

Guessing I dont have the skimmer set up right as the cup floods if I adjust any of the controls on it, even just having the screw in the drain end makes it flood so its going into the sump instead of a bottle for now. Not a big problem as its just sand at the moment but going to have to find out what I'm not doing right before the weekend.

Cheers!

 

[chimaera]

Nice looking tank!

I see your 'furry-pain-in-the-arse' is as curious as mine.

 

[Buddy]

Off to a good start! I think the back could be open to let heat and moisture escape. If you wanted you could cover it up and stick a couple of pc fans and a couple of holes in the back for airflow. If you put up a pic of your skimmer and with the cabinet doors open we might be able to help.

 

[MagicJ]

Good to see that this is now wet - now the fun begins :)

With the back of the stand, you need to reach a balance between stopping all the sounds/light escaping from the sump area and allowing enough air movement to prevent condensation and the resultant mold.

If you are thinking about putting some sort of back on the stand, do it now - at this stage you can remove all the water so that the stand can be moved without any problems. Have the tank full of corals and fish and it all gets so much harder.

Once you are up an running you might think about doing a review of the Sicce Voyager 8 pumps and the wavesurfer controller - we don't hear too much about these pumps in Australia.

 

[Priscacara]

Tx for the input! I sometimes need a hit with a hammer to get the brain ticking, makes sense to have it open for the reasons that were mentioned.

I added 4 base rocks (about 10 kilos) today and the skimmer started to work a bit better, I think it might have been the water level as well. I vaguely seem to recall reading people had to raise them up sometimes (got that hammer handy still?).

Lol yep Smoochies just had to get a closer look, was worried he might jump onto the top and damage the lights when they are fitted but dont think he will bother it is too high and too much energy. Would be a laugh as the top is open at the moment :p

 

[Priscacara]

Ok time for my first update :D . I now have 40kg of coral sand as substrate, 10kg base rock and 40kg of live rock. Lighting is a quad compact I used to use on my planted discus tank, still waiting on the replacement t5 unit. I don't mind the scape except for that one flat piece I have side on on the right of the weir it just doesn't seem to fit anywhere properly. The Sicce pumps are up and running and stirring up all the junk pretty well, bit of fiddling to get it a bit better for flows over the next few days. I have them set up using the Wave Surfer for 30 seconds a side.

 

[Buddy]

Remember once you start covering those rocks in corals it will look a lot different so i wouldn't worry too much about if a rock looks out of place. Looks like you are off to a really good start :D

 

[chimaera]

Nice start! As buddy says, don't fret too much about the exact lines of the scape, just the overall shape and placement.

 

[Priscacara]

Tx guys! If I decide that 1 bit is bugging me enough I'll put it in the sump along with the 2 tiny crabs I put in there off the rocks :p

 

[Priscacara]

Found my first hitchhikers that I could id today, the fun's started :D . I have 3 hydroids on the glass (look cool), a handful of 1 to 2cm bristleworms and what looks to be a pest anemonia (not aiptasia). Don't worry ppls I won't keep daily updates going, just all new and exciting to me :p

anemone ? It moved overnight from side of the rock to near the top.

Hydroid

 

[firebird]

Love the hitchhkers= I don't mind if you keep posting them up:D

 

[Buddy]

Funny you posted that Hydroid, I noticed one for the first time in my tank today too :D

 

[chimaera]

That doesn't look much like an anemone to me ... more like an urchin or something?

 

[Priscacara]

The hydroids look cool just wish I had a macro for a better shot of the small stuff.

Could be something else chimaera, also got myself wondering if I imagined it moving the first night as its still in the exact spot as the pic.

I found a nudibrach this morning on the glass too, around 3cm , this is fun spotting new critters even if they are only temporary.

Tested the ammonia last night just to see if anything had started, the rock had only been in about 30 hours and the reading was off the scale! I'm in no rush for anything to happen, was just a comparison to my qt tank that was started last Tuesday, there is some there but not a lot as I started it with about 6 x 3mm pellets that are slowly rotting down.

 

[Priscacara]

Couple of new hikers, got myself some red cellophane today to put on my torch for some late night perving......I mean viewing.

A worm thats got a nice home made of sand, its on the front glass so not sure how long I'll let it stay there.

A nudibrach

 

[MichelleShocked]

The nudibranch is interesting - but be aware that they are a forum topic all on their own and if you are planning to keep it, make sure you ID it correctly as many nudi species eat corals, especially morphs and softies. Most people don't keep them because some species are also toxic and can poison the water when stressed or dying. It's not so much that they are ALL not reef safe or toxic, its that there's so many species and so many un-ID'd, its difficult to find out which are harmless and which are not, other than the hard way :(

 

[chimaera]

Good luck with an ID :p

 

[Salty]

Hey there, from what I can tell, what you call a nudi, I would call a sea cucumber/apple. Might help you narrow your search. :)

 

[Priscacara]

Tx for the comments! I was going to remove the nudi/cucumber but it got dislodged and lost when I was rearranging rocks (I have 12cm sand drifts so working on the pumps locations).

This mornings find was a 3mm anemone on the glass, wasn't taking the risk of it being a pest so it is removed. I also have a mantis or pistol shrimp living in the sump, been banging away happily for a couple of days on something in there.