View Full Version : Nano Reef, 3 Months On
3 months old now. Have added a 250w MH (instead of T5's, many many thanks to Iskeman aka Eric for his invaluable help putting the MH up, cheers mate :thumbsup: ) a Ca reactor, a small miracle mud refugium, have added a powerhead and spraybar behind rockwork and have also done a bit of work on the aquascaping.
Chris.
The end result, small but functional :)
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/tankcg1.jpg
(lights off)
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/tankcg01.jpg
best acro, seems to be getting bluer ever day :D
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/blueacrocg.jpg
another nice acro, sorry about piccie though
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/pinkacrocg.jpg
The happy couple (if you look very closely they are even posing in the bottom left of the main piccie at top!)
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/gobyandshrimp.jpg
Underneath the tank... no room for sump :D :D
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/undertankcg.jpg
Behnd the tank... best not to go there :unsure: :P
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/tankbackcg.jpg
hi chris that is one nice looking tank! :thumbsup: i wish mine looked as good as that when it was 3 months old!well done! imagine it in a few years time :bow: nick
Hi Chris. You mean to say that lights still hanging i thought it would have dropped down by now. :lol: Tanks looking good m8 nice piccys hows your little refugium doing does it need a dose of chaeto algae give me a call i think iv'e got a bit spare for you if you want some.[Sorry guys i dont have any more spare before you ask] Are you going to Essential on Saturday for there reopening give me a bell if you are and i'll pop some in a jar. Regards Eric.
Sorry, but this is too big to be a nano reef. You need to give half the corals to me, you might then just be able to qualify.... ;)
Looks really, really good. Its only when you look at the powerheads that you appreciate the real scale. Seems to be plenty of room for growth which tells you this is only going to improve with age. Nice one :thumbsup:
Keith
Hya Eric, thanks for the comments, yes the light is still hanging and I've even painted the batten you put up, progress or what. :lol:
Hadn't thought of going over to essential, but now you mention it I think I will :thumbsup: I've got to take child No2 out early on Sat afternoon, so I'd go over in the morning between 10 and 12 and have to be back at home for 1.00. Do you want a lift over and back? let me know.
The refugium is only set up a few days so time will tel although it should be good. have some algae for the moment but will need some if this lot crashes in future.
BTW Eric do you want a cleaner shrimp? mines going free, as I'm sick of mine eating snails and knicking food.
Keith, thanks for kind comments, yes it is hard to judge the size from a piccie but it's smaller than it looks. I hope it grows out and that when the 'coral wars' start it doesn't all start dting off (don't think it will).
Chris.
Chris can u give me some more info on ur calcium reactor setup.. cheers.. Nic
No probs Nic.
I use a Deltec PF509 filled with std fluidised Deltec media.
The water feed into the Ca reactor is from a feed taken from the skimmer output, via a deltec inline sediment filter and pumped into the reactor via a watson marlow peristaltic pump, fitted with marprene tubing, at a rate of approx 3ml/min (one drip of water every second or two). This setup gives a very constant flow rate. This flow is maintained 24/7.
CO2 wise I use a deltec CO2 set (uses a 600g disposable CO2 bottle, which you can buy for £9 from Halfords) which is set via a timer to come on for 2 and a half hours mid lighting-cycle every day. The gas flow rate is one bubble a second.
The output from the Ca reactor is taken through a 2 litre coke bottle, rigged as a secondary reactor chamber, half filled with reactor media (non fluidised type) in order to try and raise the PH of the effluenet as much as possible and get the highest dKH.
Bearing in mind my tank is only 90 litres (meaning it probably only has approx 75 litres of actual water) this setup seems to work fine. For the amount of SPS, snails, clam, shrimps, etc I have in the tank, in relation to the volume of water there is the tank could probably be viewed as heavily stocked with calcium depleting stock.
My readings as of 2 days ago were Ca 420, dKH 8.3, Mg 1290, PH 8.0 - 8.3.
I am also using a Ratz Kalk stirrer fed by a STM dosing pump. This doses approx 1.5 litres of Kalk between 9.30pm and 6.00am in 1 hours doses. As well as contributing to Ca and dKH it helps stop the PH dropping below 8.00 after lights out. In a small tank, esp if you are using a Ca reactor, PH swings are something to keep a close eye on.
I've just added a refugium lit 24/7 which should also help maintain thePH on a night.
Let me know if you want any other details.
thanks,
Chris.
Cheers Chris ... i've both a kalk stirrer and calicum reactor neither are switched on but as my demand goes up so too does the need to replace Ca etc.. I think i'll start with the kalk reactor and then see how it goes as u say ph swings can be a problem.. do u find u KH drops when u don't add co2 to the calcium reactor.. Regards.. N
Hi Chris. Thanks for offer of a lift but i am going to stay most of the afternoon m8. What kind of algae have you got as this chaeto i have does'nt crash it just grows and grows any way the offers there if you need some. Regards Eric. :thumbsup:
Eric - Go one then mate, you've twisetd my arm :lol:
No probs with lift, i thought you'd want to stay around for quite a time (wish I could). Hopefully will see you on sat at some point.
narthur, a ca reactor won't do anything without CO2 being fed into it. The internal PH inside the reactor needs to drop quite a bit before the reactor media will start to disolve and add Ca to your tank. The CO2 is only there to drop the PH and to disolve (slowly) the media.
To answer yr question, I've used the same settings, without adjustment as above for a while now and over the last 4 weeks my tank has risen from Ca 380, dKH 7 to Ca 420 and dKH 8.3 and that's with the Ca depleting livestock load increasing. I wouldn't want to take the reactor offline now.
Ph isn't a mega problem, you just need to keep an eye on it and take action if it drops.
Chris.
Reefer Madness
22-01-05, 18:51
Nice tank Chris, like the corals :thumbsup: good to speak to you at Essential,
Peter.
Likewise Peter, hope to see you again.
Chris.
Updated piccie 31st march 2005
SPS growth good.... macro algae growth bad :D
Sand dunes courtesy of Mr tiger the huuuugge pistol shrimp :P
New tank in planning, stock will be moved from this into new 6x2x2 in June
Chris.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/tankcgmar05.jpg
Ok guys time for an nano reef update.
my 20G nano reef is (hopefully) 4 - 5 weeks away from being broken down and the stock being moved to my new 6x2x2.
Unfortunatley the SPS in this tank have grown so much that I can't now get into the tank to clean it, without breaking corals... the end result being the front glass is covered in corraline algae.
I thought 'coral wars' would start as the SPS grew closer together, but it didn't and they've just grown near/around each other.
Not being able to tak a front view shot. Here's a top down shot anyway.
Chris.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/topshotcg1.jpg
vBulletin® v3.8.7, Copyright ©2000-2012, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.