Tank Journal Archive

[slin1977]

Time flys by these days...
Thought today I would kick back and relax with my aquarium.
There is so much to update so please bear with me today as some of the time will be spent on the forum and some with hands in the tank.

Where to begin?
Let's talk about " the rock structure"
It's out there I have to say!!!
Surreal and strange and yet still working a treat.
My wife wants live rock and that natural look.
At this point in the hobby I don't see myself trying to recreate a natural looking rock wall and waiting for it to grow in.
You could say this about the live rock structure too, but I am really enjoying watching the daily growth on these frags.
Since I've let the frags settle in and acclimatise to the tank...I can see today as one of rearranging frags around to suit better , for those that have encrusted the structure, I still have time to prize them off if required.

Any questions???
Your thoughts on the rock structure?
I'll head to the tank with this photo ... I think it's going just great- only a light dusting of film on the glass.

 

[NiCd]

Following this with interest Nils

 

[Wrangy]

Looks pretty sweet, it's going to be awesome once everything grows in though!

 

[Lesley]

Very interesting indeed ! Following !

 

[RobbieMVFC]

I must say that for this to work you will need a heap of live rock in the sump . Remembering that LR also acts a part of the bacteria filter containing an abundance of micro organisms.
P.S Happy wife happy life!
P.S.S it will look great though when the corals have grow out.

 

[slin1977]

Cheers for the replies so far I know that I have the full spectrum of subscribers on this forum.
Haven't done the full test of elements in the tank today but I can say that a day ago I tested calcium and magnesium and they match day one results .
Cal is 380 and mag is 1300 so pretty stoked with that finding.
My alk has stabilised at 7.7 so can't complain with that.
Boosted potassium from 200 to 380 so can rest assured now that all those background levels are sweet.

Need to test nitrate and phosphate as next task. Remember these were 0 for Phos and 0.02 for nitrate and I was complaining about it last time.
To fix the situation I backed off dosing the Zeo bac and Zeo start and upped the feeding as the corals were pale.
I have been putting in Zeo amino acid for extra boost and food. Been using Tropic Marin phyton and zooton powder for food and the very occasional frozen brine shrimp cube.

 

[slin1977]

A typical maintenance day for this tank takes one or two days depends if new water is on hand.
I like having evaporation top off in hand at about 30 liters on standby and 15 liters in the auto top off reservoir.
The tank clean starts with a wipe down of the glass with a new piece of filter wool for each panel to remove biofilm/ algea.
Filter floss is placed in the first chamber of the sump and all aragonite sand is shifted and sifted releasing organic material into the tank to be removed by filter floss.

 

[Azedenkae]

I like your scape. Seeing it in person, it has great potential. I understand wanting the 'natural' look, but then there is something about starting with an artificial look as well.

I want to do something similar, starting a tank with just artificial filter media (I think I told you about this actually).

 

[slin1977]

Now that the water has cleared up its time for water change. While the tank was being cleaned I started adding salt to the make up water.
A couple of salinity adjustments and it's ready.

Let's talk about the good the bad and the ugly.

Touch wood- haven't lost one but have gone close to doing so in the monti and zoa department .
Maybe I am not destined to grow monti but that does not concern me too much.
Monti meh but zoas always had a soft spot for.
For the zoos I wish I had the Blaze ...
LED grow zoas in all conditions . My zoas are struggling along without any progress. I'm convinced I would be putting heaps of growth on plugs and bare bottom tanks with zoas under LEDs.

Under T5....

The frags have grown at a noticeable rate. The tank looks fuller than day one. Which is a great relief.
Luckily for me I took day 1 photos and can compare growth.
All I can say is T 5 you are winning.

 

[ReeferRob]

You just pushed me over the edge to add some T5 to the cube.

 

[slin1977]

You just pushed me over the edge to add some T5 to the cube.

The photos don't do it justice, but I can say I like the look and colour combo over my tank.

 

[MTG]

zoos allways look amazing under LED !

im keen to start seeing what results i can get with this powermodule nils !

 

[holly]

Now that the water has cleared up its time for water change. While the tank was being cleaned I started adding salt to the make up water.
A couple of salinity adjustments and it's ready.

Let's talk about the good the bad and the ugly.

Touch wood- haven't lost one but have gone close to doing so in the monti and zoa department .
Maybe I am not destined to grow monti but that does not concern me too much.
Monti meh but zoas always had a soft spot for.
For the zoos I wish I had the Blaze ...
LED grow zoas in all conditions . My zoas are struggling along without any progress. I'm convinced I would be putting heaps of growth on plugs and bare bottom tanks with zoas under LEDs.

Under T5....

The frags have grown at a noticeable rate. The tank looks fuller than day one. Which is a great relief.
Luckily for me I took day 1 photos and can compare growth.
All I can say is T 5 you are winning.

I found my zoas didn't do much for a couple of months under t5 then took off. Monti as well. And my numbers are pretty inconsistent.

 

[chimaera]

Your thoughts on the rock structure?
.

Honestly, as with Oscar's breeze block experiment, I can't say that I am a fan. It's great that you are trying something different but definitely not for me.

Now if you can keep at it for 1 year+ and those frags completely take over and you have colonies sprouting all over the place, it could look amazing!

 

[MTG]

any updates on the t5s nils?

 

[slin1977]

Sorry for the late reply.
Pictures taken today.

 

[Wrangy]

They're looking amazing Nils :)

 

[leodb89]

Shouldve hung the scape from fishing wire from the roof and let it twist and turn like they to with those tree frag holders

 

[ReeferRob]

When it grows in it's gonna be EPIC!!!

 

[slin1977]

When it grows in it's gonna be EPIC!!!

Cheers!
Still not happy with it,
I know now for next time how to aquascape the sand pipes.
...still something has been playing on my mind for ages and I think I might just start my new aquascape project in a minute.