Tank Journal Archive

[ToxicMel]

Starting from the ground up, I used a mixture of new black substrate, and also thoroughly washed the old caribsea hawaiin black substrate and used it as well. I personally like the black, however will still need a couple more bags to finish it off in the future. I will use the tahition moon for the addition, as it is a darker black.

I also reused the live rock from the 4 foot tank, and also had another 4 foot tank running for many weeks with a mixture of base rock and more live rock from a friends shut down. I added some clean up crew immediately, and did a few weeks of a kinda cycle, as i never had an ammonia spike, and didn't have a great test kit for the nitrate and nitrites, and when they did arrive, both read zero, so everything was moved over pretty fast.

I had planned on making all the aquascape with PVC pipe, and zip tying and gluing the live rock to this. However, i wanted a low scape, with minimal rock, and the first attempt, quite honestly just looked ugly. But, my son had fun wearing snorkel and goggles

and placing it in the correct spot!

I have to say, this was definately the most fun we have had in ages! Imagine snorkelling in your own living room!

 

[ToxicMel]

There is still a lot of work to be done with the scape, but unfortunately time hasnt been on our side, so i will update once more of a permanent arrangement is in place.

 

[Rob]

Will have to live out my big tank dreams through your thread haha ... looks like you have a great spot to display it. How big is that tank in size and liters ?

Making an arch with the PVC is a great idea. Have not seen too many black substrate tanks definatly following along. With the black and contrast of the rock formations you are constructing it may look good without alot of corals.

It's good that its wet now, thats a huge milestone and great memory for the kids snorkeling in dads tank :)

 

[MagicJ]

great memory for the kids snorkeling in dads tank :)

Or Mum's ;)

I have seen similar structures made before, but only with dry base rock out of the tank. I would imagine it would be almost impossible to do it in a filled tank.

Looking forward to the finished result.

 

[ToxicMel]

Yep, definately a "mum" :) The tank itself is 2400l x 820w x 750h. The area the tank is in is in between the living area/main lounge, and my office/lounge room. Although now with my nice, ugly, old leather sofa in here, the kids hang out more in front of the tank now than the TV!

Im nearly at the stage now where i think I have enough LPS in there (already) and once the dosing is fully up and running will slowly look at keeping SPS.

We currently do a 200Ltr water change every weekend, which surprisingly isnt much, but my son does it in a couple of moments, as we keep 3 IBCs in the carport which isnt far away, and I havent had any issues at all with using NSW. So far all parameters have stayed in check, but on the lower end of the scale, so I aim to increase them slowly and get the hang of the tank with the dosing before delving into the harder stuff! (Oh, plus I need to finally sort out the light situation!)

Thanks for the lovely comments. I will try to post some pics of the livestock this week if I can get some nice pictures :)

 

[Rob]

You dont need SPS to make that tank WOW. Growing out LPS and the natural sway for softies has got to be the go for these larger tanks unless of course your a gazzilionaire :)

 

[ToxicMel]

Lol, definately not a gazzilionaire, but its just one of those challenges i think you gotta have a shot at? I would never turn it into a SPS dominated tank, as i agree that the soft corals swaying is definately more mesmerizing, than seeing an acro extend its polyps! But I have always loved seeing millipora, and the colours available in it, plus a nice scrolling monti would be lovely additions.

I'm already addicted to hammers, so there will always be "hammer hill", plus I like my fish to have room to swim, and not be cramped up. So currently there is still nothing above the halfway mark in the tank for this reason (except my elegance is kinda reaching that mark!)

Although perhaps... I can get my monti fix with some chalice? I got my first three pieces only a week ago, and looking forward to that avenue of adventure as well!

And maybe gorgonians in several colours will fulfill my need for acro. I guess it is all a matter of weighing up whether I want to be able to keep my fish fat and constantly fed, (hi, my name is Mel, and i overfeed my fish), keeping a huge CUC in place, strict dosing, or having more time to kick back, relax, and just enjoy this beautiful tank!

Only time will tell I guess!

 

[ezza]

I hope your son was allowed to pee in the tank to help it cycle!

 

[ToxicMel]

Oh jeez, he was required to shower thoroughly prior to entering the tank! And i think he knew better than to pee? For some reason though, I cant get him to go back in now the Tangs are settled? lol

 

[mickvick]

that's awesome! I would love to get in my but hey I wont fit, I do have a Chihuahua who I think would look great dog paddling
around it. :)

 

[ezza]

that's awesome! I would love to get in my but hey I wont fit, I do have a Chihuahua who I think would look great dog paddling
around it. :)

I have a chihuahua too! Maybe I should throw him in my tank :p

 

[ToxicMel]

I can see a new yearly event of chihuahua paddle races? hee hee

 

[ToxicMel]

I'm terrible at posting new entries. I did have a goal to post pics of inhabitants so far (that arent of the human variety) but am failing miserably at getting some good photos. On a brighter note though... My son is happy as Larry over us picking up a 4 x 2 x 1 tank for him today, so he can start experimenting with fragging!

We have also rearranged the plumbing for the sump to make it easier to change out the filter sock. The DC pumps i ordered months ago never arrived so ended up picking up 2 cheap pumps and hopefully they will get us through for the time being.

I gotta say living 4.2kms from the edge of the world does make it hard to just "duck down to the LFS" to grab a new whatever, so trying hard to have redundancies where possible, but I can envision the boy helping himself to most of it now :/ I will see if I can entice him to make a TJ as well, and hopefully he will be a little bit better at photos than I am!