View Full Version : My First Reef Tank
Hi there,
Nothing actually in the tank yet, but i think it might be interesting to document what i do as i do it.
As you can see, its a between the rooms tank, in what used to be the old kitchen window, before the extension was put on the house. Luckily, the window is exactly 4 ft wide, which accommodates the 4x2x2 tank perfectly. The sump is a 30x18x12 which is divided up in the same way as Simon Garrats. Running a DeltecAPF600 and will be running 2xeheim 1060s as returns and 3x 1060s as a closed loop systems.
Of course, the cabinet is yet to be built, and it will have a hood system with suspended metal halides (hydroponics)
Regards
Mark
stan.the.man
11-08-04, 18:25
Looks like you've got it sorted, Mark. Keep us updated. I know I said I would, but things always seemed to get in the way.
Just need to sort you with a decent football team now.
Stan
Hi Mark. That looks like one good project you have there, getting the best of both sides of the tank. Keep posting the pics as you go along to keep us all up to date. Regards Eric.
Major Stare
15-08-04, 09:28
Looks good Mark and well thought out.
Just a word of caution.......make sure you dont spray any kitchen cleaners, disinfectant, air fresheners near the tank :wacko: :( :blink: :)
Thats gonna be sweet :)
GL m8
Thanks for all your comments. My next update will be in a couple of weeks, should have all the plumbing finished and possibly the MH lighting up.
Mark
Update.....
Lighting added - 2x250 watt 10000k MH and 2 Actinic Blues
Adding night light blue leds this week hopefully
Looking great! What are your plans for the cabinet?? Plaster to the ceiling or a wooden cabinet style?
Nick G
simon garratt
27-08-04, 23:14
Looking good there mark. Keep us posted.
when is the wet stuff going in?
Regards
Si. :)
Thats never your first reef surely lol :lol: , serious pat on the back if that is a first attempt!
Crackin set up and some A1 joinary too by the looks of things!
Nice one
Nick :thumbsup:
With regards to the cabinet, it will be a wooden affair. Probably beech faced mdf/ply to fit in with the decor in the rest of the room. Hopefully i will make it so that the whole of the cabinet can be easly removed, possibly putting the carcass on castors so that i can pull it away to reveal what is in the photos currently. I've heard that it can take a while to put a hood on, is that true Simon G?
My first wet test is happenning today, return pumps/pipework were plumbed in yesterday and leak tested but a full tank/sump will appear later. Just tap water though, getting my RO soon and waiting for my oystercrete to cure outside before i buy some live rock.
Blimey, and I thought I jumped in at the deepend with my first tank.
Respect due :bow:
Keep us updated. It will look even better when you've got those blue lights off ebay to finish it all off :P
Tim
Originally posted by mtrueman@Aug 21 2004, 16:22
Pic with lights off
The outer legs? What is there to stop them being kicked out/in? Or if someone was to fall against them.
Nothing but the double 3 inch screws into the legs from both top and bottom. If you can kick those legs out i would be amazed.
Once the outer casing is on as well there will be no problems with this (unlikely) event.
The unlike is what always happens when you say it never will sods law.
That looks great Mark, I really do admire people that build there own from scratch, and to that quality look, I do bit electrics and a bit plumbing but building work, were i stop......
Great job, i be watching this one too.... :thumbsup:
Mark..........
I learned a couple of things today.
1. 2 overflows of 28mm pipe is way to low when you are pumping back through 2x22mm from eheim 1060s. Nearly had an overflowing main tank!! Looks like im going to be using just the one pump for my sump flow and return.
2. Acrylic doesnt stick to silicone very well at all, in fact, worse than i thought. Once i started flowing water through my sump, the acrylic baffles got pushed out of place.
I'll be getting some glass cut next week and re-doing the sump!
You live and learn
Mark
A close up of the light fitting removed from the ballast (which is mounted under the cabinet). Requested by a member of the board so that they can see how to mount the light fittings away from the ballasts.
Cover glass rests on top of the reflectors of the actinic tubes. Looks precarious, but it is very safe, as reflectors are firmly attached to the hood section.
Thanks, see how you mean now. Is the bulb holder just screwed to the wood?
thanks again
ste :thumbsup:
yep, bulb holder just screwed in.
A couple of shots of the closed loop plumbing.
Got to add a couple more 45 degree bends to the closed loops on the sides to point the output upwards, but my local b+q is pretty rubbish when it comes to stocking the marley solvent weld fittings. I want quite a bit of upwards flow so that most fishy poo and other bits stay in suspension.
Im messing around a lot at the moment, trying to equalise the flow through all the outputs. I intend to solvent weld some extra bits of pipework inside the high flow outputs to increase the flow on other outputs. Ive got flow across the surface from my returns from the sump, a bit of downwards flow from a closed loop that runs around the surface and upwards/ sideways flow from the closed loops on the side of the tank that will be hidden in the rockwork. Hopefully this should be turbulent enough and quite random.
Plumbing has been "soak" tested so to speak and now i have emptied the tank. My RO- unit is plumbed in and waiting to go. Just waiting on my oystercrete live rock now, which should be a couple more weeks.
Will be thinking about the cabinet in the next few weeks as well, so i will add some pics of that being built as it happens.
For now, here is a pic of the finished plumbing, with the closed loops in place. Tank has been emptied of tap water, ready for ro.
Very nice plumbing :) Cant wait to see it finished. Man I cant wait to get my new tank now, got to wait till pay day, 13 days left :(
yeah, wait for payday for the tank, the next payday for the skimmer, the next for the live rock........ :o
Finally added live rock.... Need to add a little bit more at the top of the structures to hide the rest of the pipes, going to get some small pieces for that.
Finally there is some interesting stuff going on. Hopefully im making the cabinet later.
Regards
Mark
Can someone identify this stuff for me?
Hi
1st pic are newly forming polyps of some kind probably be brown or green in colour......2nd is a mushroom of some type, both need to grow and expand a wile to get full identification and colour about a month under good light and water flow you should see polyps open up and mushrooms colour.......
Not best quality but somethink like the pic below......
Mark
http://www.ultimatereef.net/photopost/data/500/1096polyps.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/photopost/data/500/1096mushroom.jpg
added sand and require another id on the other picture
Are they young aiptasia then? They are only a cm in size.
Anyone got any pics of a young aiptasia, as im worried that ive got some in the tank. Just killed 2 big ones off with vinegar
Ive also got a few of these, which look like they may be small aiptasia
Originally posted by mtrueman@Aug 21 2004, 16:21
Adding night light blue leds this week hopefully
have you got a link to these lights?
:rolleyes:
nice set up btw
:thumbsup:
Hi mtrueman.....
I know the last picture post you did are young aiptasia...as i have those...as for the one before that, i cannot help with those... i have know idea. They look like some kind of aiptasia, but naming it i don't know, never had any like that. You do get lots of intresting think growing on new rock, very intresting that part. Have you tried a web search... diffrent kinds? best bet i say....they got some nasty looking stinging spikes i must say.......
Mark
the lights i got from ebay, a seller called garlicbred31. Dont know if he is still selling them though.
Paul Burton
29-09-04, 12:52
1st pic looks like young anthelia, watch out this stuff spreads rapidly!
Paul
Paul Burton
29-09-04, 12:53
In the second pic, the small polyps in the backround can also quickly spread!
Paul
One of the first members of the tank. 2 Perc Clowns were added today. They seem really happy. Getting my clean up crew delivered on tuesday and hopefully getting some Peppermint shrimp on my travels tomorrow. They seem to be a bit hard to come by at the mo.
Hi ,, From adding sand to new tank and then adding fish ONLY 3 days, am i not getting this right? we are talking about the same tank arnt we?
If so how can you set up your first reef with what looks like a lot of expertise and then just chuck fish in without maturing the tank....
Hope i have missunderstood this thread. if so i am sorry , :bow: :bow: , if not you want to start reading some books mate :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
You have misunderstood. Apology accepted
I cant be arsed to re-write what has already been written
http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/index.p...=ST&f=3&t=28545 (http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=3&t=28545)
Basically, tank contains live rock taken from someone elses tank. Already cycled, and no measurable ammonia/nitrites or nitrates.
:dance: :dance:
Ok Sorry ,, But you have admitt if you read this thead ( first reef) and read on it does sound bizzare. :blink: :blink:
Thants why why i asked , just in case.. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: tank looks good.. can u post an upto date one ? :thumbsup:
Originally posted by fire999@Oct 1 2004, 20:28
Hi ,, From adding sand to new tank and then adding fish ONLY 3 days, am i not getting this right? we are talking about the same tank arnt we?
If so how can you set up your first reef with what looks like a lot of expertise and then just chuck fish in without maturing the tank....
Hope i have missunderstood this thread. if so i am sorry , :bow: :bow: , if not you want to start reading some books mate :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
Fire999....
You would be surprised....some harder fish Damsels for one, can cope with cured rock from the start... and as a result added early to help in the process...Now when Nemo the film was realest you had vast numbers of clowns and I’m not talking about the fish....bought and wrongly sold placed in tap water and no idea of salt water… I think they would have used table salt...now that is what I call ridiculous. I think more people are more aware now of the dangers and take time in the maturing process, hopefully understanding a bit about the hobby, and life we put into our tanks.
Mark
Mark tank looks great what have you used to prevent occupants being sucked into your closed loops?? Have you had any probs with excess heat from the 5 1060s?
Look forward to your reply
Daza :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
To prevent occupants getting sucked into the closed loop system, i have chopped the bottom off some heater guards and placed them over the intakes. They need no fastening, as the suction keeps them in place.
I had a Nemo incident though, found one of the clowns in the sump this morning!! Now i have a grille over the weir.
Mark any idea of the make/brand of the heater guard as i am considering a tank along your lines as i am dead impreesed with the plumbing etc. In my previous tanks i lost several fish over a weir.
Cheers mate
Daza :thumbsup:
I dont know of the brand of heater guard im afraid, just generic ones bought from the lfs.
You could also just drill some holes through the pipe inlet and thread cable ties through the holes, to make a kind of "spiders web" that would prevent any inhabitants getting sucked up.
And with regards to the heat from the 1060s, there isnt much, as they are not run submerged.
Did some work on the cabinet. Finished the hood first. Heres a quick shot. Looks a bit wonky in the photo for some reason. I think that i might have messed up this lens by dropping it the other day!!
Added some pulsing xenia....
Does anyone know if any of the south east LFS (Home Marine, STM, Japanese Koi etc) will take xenia frags for store credit and how much credit they give.
Looking to start using frags to help pay for other corals
Mark
Mark
If you are prepared to travel as far as Welwyn Garden City the "Aquatic Warehouse" are great people to do business with and will give you credit against reasonable size frags if they are on pieces of rock.
I am also in a similar situation looking for frags. Perhaps we could swap frags at some point in the future. I am located in Stevenage.
Just a thought, I do currently have one too many toadstools for my liking, if you have anything suitable to swap !!!
Regards
Wanda
Is that microwave waterproof :P :P
I saw you post this a few months back on reefs uk . was wondering what had happened :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
Probably not reefs uk, more likely to be tropicalfishcenter i think.
The microwave isnt waterproof, but the deep fat frier is!!
isnt it a bit cruel to have it in the eye line of the fish... suppose its one way to stop em dancing off down to the sump lol ;) looking good!
Great tank
M
Its like the hansel and gretel of the fish world.... "let me fatten you up my pretties".
I wonder which is the tastiest marine fish
Some more pics of the tank.
The pulse has grown immensely. Got 6 good sized frags that im trading in for credit at my lfs.
Also introduces some green star polyps, cabbage coral and a small finger leather.
Fish occupants are now the 2 clowns, a yellow tang and a kole tang. I also have a temporary resident in a Foxface, who is helping with the caulerpa clearing. They are all a bit camera shy unfortunately!!
One thing i have learned is that even though Phosphates test 0, it doesnt mean you dont have any, especially if you have a lot of greenery. They consume it before it enters the water column. Adding rowaphos has slowed the caulerpa growth down to such an extent that the fish now seem to be getting on top of it. Give it a few weeks and it should all be gone
I have put a blue background behind the tank for photo purposes in this next shot
And a nice shot of the green stars
the white mushrooms to me looks liek some sort of recordia
looks great as does the pulsing xenia and the polyps
4 months since it first got wet, its starting to come along.
Seem to have the caulerpa problem sorted, or at least under control. I do a monthly harvest still, but my tangs and foxface seem to keep it under control.
Also notice the new rocks (aquaristik.net), which i intend to be my sps centerpeice once i get my calcium up.
Tank's coming along nicely :wub: I especially like the new rock in the middle my LFS sells some that looks identical for £16.99Kg :o how many Kg have you got there?
Adam :thumbsup:
I think that is about 10 kilos, brought from aquaristik.net for a lot cheaper than the price your lfs charges!
nice setup! by the way, NUKE the aiptasia before it multiplies...a food of thought ^_^
Just an update after a small change of rock layout, addition of some sps and painted the back of the tank blue.
My tank is now a softie free zone. Its full(ish) of SPS frags from lenny and clayton, and a couple from CGA who took all the softies off my hands. Also got a couple of LPS in there.
Hopefully it wont be long before the frags start filling out into larger colonies. and colouring up.
Its just under 12 months since the wet stuff went in and i think its coming along quite nicely now.
chronic2005
17-08-05, 16:22
Great aquascapeing, and all your fish and corals look extremely healthy you should be proud :thumbsup:
Originally posted by chronic2005@Aug 17 2005, 15:22
Great aquascapeing, and all your fish and corals look extremely healthy you should be proud :thumbsup:
cheers,
the aquascaping has come a long way since my initial layout. Im currently quite happy with it, but im sure it will change again in the future (maybe in 2 years when i move up to a proposed 8x3x2 when we move house)
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