View Full Version : Marks Percula 120 Bow
Finally took the plunge and ordered a bow with the upgraded lighting to include 2x54w blue actinics through cheshire waterlife....the guy there Tristan (think his name was) was extremely helpful and was very patient answering all my newbie questions...only ordered it tuesday afternoon and it turned up this morning...
Just finished setting up the stand and suspending the lights (WHAT A NIGHTMARE )
Thankfully im an ikea veteran so the stand was easy but getting the lights to hang directly over where the tank will be was horrendous (ended up using laser spirit level) hopefully itll still be hanging in the morning as you will see from pics its only going to fall 1inch onto cushions ( i really have that much faith in my DIY skills)
hopefully have the tank insitu tomorrow and can then work out how to plumb my RO unit in....
Originally posted by Mark L@Aug 5 2005, 00:35
hopefully itll still be hanging in the morning as you will see from pics its only going to fall 1inch onto cushions ( i really have that much faith in my DIY skills)
:lol:
You certainly sound paranoid enough to be a reefer :D Keep the updates coming :thumbsup:
Keith
tanks in place...damn heavy bit of kit.....
Tank subjected to 1st biological load
:lol: :lol: :lol:
great picture
looking good so far,lovely tank the bow front
good luck with it all
:thumbsup:
Mark
chronic2005
06-08-05, 18:35
Overstocking abit mark :D
good luck :thumbsup:
need a filter change every couple of hours m8, :D :D :D :D
Good Luck with it Mark,
I'm sure you'll have hours of fun and frustration. :P
oh and with the tank !
Andy B.
hehe thanks all...
plumbed the RO unit in minor leak that some ptfe tape tomorow should sort but abit unsure if its working correctly its the aquamedic easyline 90 says if mains pressure is 3bar then should see about 3ltrs/hr of quality water and 14 ltrs of reject looking at the flows was expecting a dribble from the pure stream and a flow from the reject but the pure one is steady run ( not as much as the reject side though)dont want to take the next 5 days filling tank if somehow the water that doesnt make it through the membrane is passing into the pure side....as best as can tell the RO cartridge is center and the caps tight..
Any thoughts?
Leak cured and RO unit all set up....still getting far more from the outlet than the manual says (in verpoorly translated english) have ordered a TDS meter from RO-Man wish i had known about that site before bought the easy90 unit . ill postpone filling until i can test as verify its actually doing its job.
TDS Meter Turned up waters leaving RO at at 0ppm so filling commencing .......few days should be full. :D
Tanks filled and salted with Tropic Marine Pro Reef Salt 1.025 SG temps at 26 got too 29 yesterday so fitted clip fan from homebase on timer to switch off an hour after halides.
Added 50kg of Live rock quite a mix of indonesian and Fiji also about 15kg of it is only part cured so expecting some activity on skimmer.
Found 2 stow aways so far 1 tiny little crab and another Hermit crab with white striped legs think hes the guy making trails of sand around base of tank.
Time to get used to testing water and wait for cycle...will add substrate next week when anymore die off has happend and then look into clean up crew.
Tank was still a little cloudy when took picture if get a better shot ill post it.
instantsquid
17-08-05, 22:42
Looking good Mark - keep the pics coming!
Ian :thumbsup:
Starting to take shape Mark, coming on well.
You have pm about crew.
Maturing progressing steadily starting to go a bit green though...finding a few things starting to come out of the rock if anyone can ID be appreciated.
Hoping this isnt aiptasia
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/aiptasia01.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Left01.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/middle01.jpg
Some kind of Mushroom Coral?
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/mushroom01.jpg
Quite alot of these across alot of the rock including orange ones too.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Redgrowth2.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Redgrowth.jpg
thats definitely an aiptasia on the 'rock' in question---zap it asap.
one thing i would mention is that that rock looks like the skeleton of a deceased bubble coral (large bubble cant remember the latin)...
i had one a few years back and with limited experience i place it next to a torch coral....end result..dead bubble.
i left the skeleton in the back of the tank out of sight as i figured it would not halm anything.
one day whilst re-scaping my old tank i noticed bubbles coming from it again...low and behold 'baby' bubbles were cropping up all over it and a year later it had regenerated!!
:dance:
six months later...like a plank...i dropped a large piece of live rock on it and it died again...it's currently in my tank and i'm crossing my fingers!
:blink:
5061litres
22-08-05, 14:27
that is deffo aiptaisia.
sorry mate.
good lookin setup though.
tony.
aiptasia definately, get some tropic marin aptasia away, good kit and your bound to need it again, good to see another perc owner joined up :D :wave:
Marine Queen
22-08-05, 14:44
Looking great - I'm only a few stages ahead of you and so far everything is going well :dance:
Charlotte
Better to Zap them now before they go Global.... I guess this guys days are numbered to seems to be same as the little one but has a massive root going through the live rock at back...?
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/moreaiptasia.jpg
Got me some Joe's Juice gonna zap them today :evil:
hi Mark - I'd possibly think about adding some peppermints as part of your initial clean up crew once ammonia etc spikes have passed as well as using the joes juice. IME these chemicals often only cause the aip to retract - peppermints MAY help clear up any more or any that are out of sight. I think that skeleton may be a dead euphyllia.... I'd possibly bin the piece as its not really doing the same job as the other LR - also this will remove an aiptasia.
i think I'd have tried to upgrade the plug socket in the wall to a double before siting the tank...
Thanks for the advice clippo pepper mints are on my clean up crew list, the atapsias seriously imploded on contact with the joes juice and will be taking the dead coral piece out as suggested will be upgrading the single socket when i get chance which with a 7 month old baby into everything maybe a while :D
know the feeling - my little boy turned 1 recently.
Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate levels have all been 0 for past few days previous high Nitrate levels seem to have contributed to this bloom of algae
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/hermi.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/bloom.jpg
so netted out the debris on the base of tank and added the substrate.....talk about cloudy!!! ( washed each batch till water ran clear and still got this effect.)
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/socloudy.jpg
All has now settled and have introduced 5 blue knuckle hermits and 5 trochus snails plan to add another 5 red legs and 5-10 turbos after bank hols also added a bag of anti Phos just incase was encouraging the bloom after speaking with guys at Aqua world.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/sandbed.jpg
Real professional getting reflection in picture i know :blush:
Latest pictures.....few of clean up crew and my massive lawn of hair algae just goes to show what phosphate of 0.3ppm can do
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/calurpa.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/lawn.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/nightblue2.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/nightblue.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/redleg.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/turbo4.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/turbo5.jpg
Looks nice
To get rid of algae, turn the lights off for 2 weeks, know it's hard to do but it worked for us. It will not hurt the clean up crew.
PS got this advise from Andy C.
So far I have been very lucky with no algae bloom.
But I have slowly increased my lighting period each week.
Wk 1 Actinics on for 5 hours and Halides 1 hour.
wk 2 The same
wk 3 Act 6 Hal 2
wk 4 Act 7 Hal 4
Wk 5 Act 8 Hal 6
wk 6 Act 9 Hal 8
The clean up crew went when the halides went up to 4 hours.
Hi
Very diciplined(sp). I'd just like to add that i had a couple of aip and about a week after using Joe's Juice they are coming back.I read a previous post on this thread which said about the chemical reaction making them retract and not finish them off and i'm tending to agree.Gonna look out for another way.By the way.Is it ok to mention Aiptasia and kill in the same sentance?Dont want to offend anyone.
Cheers
Chris
One of the aips is slowly growing back will try the JJ again and get some shrimps in , i reduced the lighting to only 4 hours and the algae is rapidly clearing up the clean up crew was getting hold if it anyway but the reduction in light is working very well.
My next hurdle is getting a new heater wife rang me in work to say there was a very bad burning smell and that all the pumps had stopped. Got home to find very badly scorched extension and the heater cracked wide open there is some water on the cable so i think thats ran into the plug/extension shorted the heater and cracked it or some how its cracked and then thats shorted the circuit and scortched the extension...tanks been without power for 18 hours now thank god i dont have any stock yet
:blink:
Hope you get it sorted
Chris
the best way is to inject with kalk then immediately afetr with lemon juice...the sudden change in pH does the trick :lol:
Numerous theories as too why this happened but thought maybe useful to post the pics and highlight a few reasons why this may of happened.
Heater was slightly out of water causing a cold spot
Water ran back down outside of cable onto socket and blown it and then the heater
Condensation in Plug cabinet blowing socket and then heater
Heater cracked from vibration as in same chamber as circ pumps
cant say for certain which but does highlight need for :
A Decent RCD
Drip Loops on All cables
Heater placement well below surface allowing for evaporation and away from pumps
Update on the tank though
All Algae now totally cleared up on all sides and rock
Getting some brown/golden discoloration on the substrate now though and millions of tiny bubbles on the substrate which combined with the brown/gold look like tiny glass beads any ideas as to the cause?
ammonia 0.05 nitrite 0.5 and nitrate 0 phosphate is still 0.3ppm after a week with Antiphos in and RO/DI top ups with 0 phospate.
ph is 8.2 dKH 10 Calcium 360 temp 27oC
high phosphate result and slight nitrite reading found to be down to the test kits i was using.
AndyC at aqua-world board sponsor kindly tested it with a salifert kit and is 0.03ppm have also turned off the lights till the substrate clears up and then will reintroduce lighting on reduced timings more like timings abyss used on his tank.
Well substrates all clear lightings back on at 4 hours MH and 6 Actnics
Ordered a Stream as got a bit of a dead spot across middle of tank (would of ended up buying one sooner or later)
Also found a Hairy Crab roaming around well back legs are hairy quite sizable claws on it looks very dark in colour almost black will post a few pictures when hes in a photogenic mood.
Joes Juice still knocking the Aips back have ordered 5 true peppermints and a whole host of new crabs , snails etc.
On the look out for a couple of common clowns to add soon....
cant wait to see fish in there.
PYTHON2674
14-09-05, 08:07
Sorry to jump in like this,
aiptasia is this only brown in colour? I am in the process of cycling my tank too. I have just noticed at the back of a piece of live rock a white coloured very stringy looking thing..... have only seen about 3-4 little wavey things. I know no pix at moment just a stab in the dark to see if it could be this aiptasia.
Cheers guys,
Carl....
theyre also clear/white sometimes called a glass anemone
PYTHON2674
14-09-05, 11:12
Mark L,
Cheers mate, are they really that bad?
I think I will have to take a pic to truly identify the little bugger.
Thanks for your help,
Carl....
I have to say I think all this lights off, lights on is only going to prolong the problem of algae blooms. Just stick it out, as long as you're monitoring your nitrates/phosphate and have a method of exporting them you'll be fine!
Carl ....theyre just the weed of the marine world but with a nasty sting i dont have any corals in yet so cant really say what damage they do but they grow real fast and i had 2 to start with just killed 4 last night
hope the peppermints take a lieking to them else its just a case of routine dosing them with the latest idea on how to nuke them.
Nathan...yeah i endured the hair algae bloom but the diatoms the snails and crabs didnt touch them and the few fish i see listed are a bit fragile for a new tank...turned out the reduced flow over the substrate was part of the cause too.
The major thing im learning is there are numerous ways of achieving the same end results when it comes to this hobby.
Originally posted by Mark L@Sep 13 2005, 21:54
Well substrates all clear lightings back on at 4 hours MH and 6 Actnics
Ordered a Stream as got a bit of a dead spot across middle of tank (would of ended up buying one sooner or later)
Also found a Hairy Crab roaming around well back legs are hairy quite sizable claws on it looks very dark in colour almost black will post a few pictures when hes in a photogenic mood.
Joes Juice still knocking the Aips back have ordered 5 true peppermints and a whole host of new crabs , snails etc.
On the look out for a couple of common clowns to add soon....
cant wait to see fish in there.
where did you order your peppermints from Mark? Thanks
Finally got a few fish in all doing very well
2 Common Clowns have set up home on my magfloat in the abscence of an anemone
Royal Damsel fish quite timid when 1st went in but holding its own now
And finally a regal tang cant get him to pose for a photo though :D
Full tank Shot Rocks going a bit green suspect maybe feeding fish abit too much no effect on water params however
Added 1st few corals large mushroom leather, finger leather and a torch hammer coral all seem to be doing well just trying to get a decent picture of the finger leather.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/nightmushroom.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/night%20torch.jpg
Taken a few tips from the photo section
Latest additions to the tank, Bubble coral, Candy Cane Coral and Yellow Tang all thanks to Aqua World in Warrington for a great service.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/tangbubble.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Caulastrea12.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Bubble%20coral12.jpg
New Camera finally got a decent shot of Regal Tang
Close up of yellow tang:-
couple of close ups of corals....
really like how your tank has come along!
mushroom looks cool up real close! :P
iv got a juwel bow how much water does yours hold?
cheers sarah
the new pictures look great think i need a few tips from that section 2
;)
Thx for the comments
The tanks holds 120 gallon 478ltrs or there abouts.
Clippos article in marine world helped alot with the fish pictures.
Some Striped Mushrooms........
2 more pics the lobophyllia under actnics ..
and a full tank shot still plenty of room for alot more corals....
New inhabitants
Blue StarFish......
Some Tiny Ricordia Polyps
Finally got a half decent shot of Fox Face Rabbit Fish thats done a fine job controlling buble algae
And a Scooter Blennie/Dragonet
Very nice looking tank inonly a few months.......
Does your Scooter Blenny eat frozen food?
Thx
ps nice tank! ;)
Has so far only been interested in the pods in the sand and on the rock. I am considering ordering the culture from reefworks to breed them to add to tank if he doesnt take to frozen but atm theres plenty for him to go at as the rock at base in middle of tank is riddled with holes and after lights out its teaming with minute critters.
JasandJules
31-12-05, 10:46
Great looking tank, loved the way you have set it all out in pics as well as it progressed.
You also seem to know plenty which is excellent for a newcomer, and your tank will no doubt come on in leaps and bounds..
Well done !
Jas
Sean the Prawn
24-01-06, 23:09
Great tank Mark! :bow:
Some nice corals in there ;)
Really nice photography too.
Sean :thumbsup:
Some updates to the tank:
Another Sarcophyton sp.
Alot more polyps and lighter than the other one.
Been in a fair few weeks but only just got a half decent shot of it.
Euphyllia Glabrescens - Torch Coral
Sarcophyton elegans:
Slowly going from a mustard yellow to bright yellow.
And finally one of my 4 peppermints - Lysmata wurdemanni
So far doing a great job of aiptasia control originally put in about 5 months ago and barely able to see them as were about 1.5cm long they now compare well with my cleaner shrimp for size.
Sean the Prawn
01-02-06, 23:56
Very nice Mark ;)
Love the Sulphur Leather :thumbsup:
Sean :thumbsup:
Joshthenosh
02-02-06, 22:29
Originally posted by Sean the Prawn@Feb 1 2006, 23:56
Very nice Mark ;)
Love the Sulphur Leather :thumbsup:
Sean :thumbsup:
thats really cool, shows me ahow a reef comes together, just a quick question wwhat are the purpple spots i keep seeing in the background on your tank?
The Purple spots is calcerous algae same stuff thats covering the live rock, one of the higher forms of algae which prevents the growth of nuisance algae.
A much sort after condition which develops over time as the tank matures.
Mark.
Latest full tank shot....quite a few things added since last update,
New Favia , Green star polyps, some nice blue/orange zoo's
and a Flame angel all seem to be doing very well.
http://www.astb08.dsl.pipex.com/tank.jpg
http://www.astb08.dsl.pipex.com/Flameangel.jpg
http://www.astb08.dsl.pipex.com/1.jpg
http://www.astb08.dsl.pipex.com/2.jpg
http://www.astb08.dsl.pipex.com/3.jpg
http://www.astb08.dsl.pipex.com/4.jpg
Looking great Mark - a credit to your skills :)
Time for a few updates:-
Believe same sp as torch, frogspawn etc but with extremely small bubbles.
http://www.astb08.dsl.pipex.com/microbubble.jpg
A Goniopora bright purple polyps early morning while polyps are retracted partially then opens out like this as lights come on.
http://www.astb08.dsl.pipex.com/goniopora.jpg
And finally a side view showing alot of the stock in the tank.
http://www.astb08.dsl.pipex.com/sideview.jpg
JasandJules
05-04-06, 13:05
That looks superb.
Latest few shots can see recently fragged sarco thats already expanding again
http://www.astb08.dsl.pipex.com/040806.jpg
http://www.astb08.dsl.pipex.com/040806front.jpg
Lovely tank mate, you have some great taste in livestock there!
liquidlogic
09-09-06, 19:16
just read the whole lot.mate im setting my perc120 up in a week or so cant wait. ur tank is gourgious mate realy a credit to u. but im pretty sure regel tangs need at least 6-7 foot :/
Thanks for the comments , dont worry about the tangs not having enough room when the time comes its all the excuse i need for a bigger tank.
Goodluck with your perc.
liquidlogic
09-09-06, 23:48
good on ya mate :) and thanks :)
Thought id add a recent problem to the thread :
Micro bubbles in skimmer return
I have been running a perc 120 for the past 18 months with some success however have recently been struggling to prevent the bubbles produced by the skimmer from re entering the tank.
With barely enough air being drawn into the skimmer to pass up to the collection cup there is a steady stream of micro bubbles leaving skimmer outlet and back into the tank. I have cleaned the inlet pipe , venturi, the inlet outlet nozzles and stripped the pump impellor down.
my main concern is i cannot run the skimmer with enough air to skim without returning a blizzard of micro bubbles into the tank , when i do this my flourescent green caulastrea excretes slime from its mouth.
The height of the chambers/weirs and combs has been the same for well over 12 months have flooded the bios balls section as was main cause of the noise in the tank.
One thing i have found out is that if skimmers are underperforming and the amount of organic matter in the tank builds up then the skimmer produces even more micro bubbles than normal ( apparently the formation of the bubbles/with this matter is the basis for how a skimmer works)
The aquamedic instructions on their site mentions that skimmers added to an unskimmed system will return micro bubbles to the tank until the level of organic matter is skimmed out.
How does this effect me? and my tank thats had a skimmer running for 18 months with no change to stock, feeding regeme , losses etc????
Well im currently having an extension built to my house , and cannot get into the garage to make up salt mix,airate and heat and pump out the tank.
So the tank has not had its 10% bi weekly water change for over 2 months ( i have increased my sampling regeme with no increase in nitrate,nitrite etc or pH/kH) so beleived all was well with the system.
The catch 22 is you instinctly reduce the air to reduce the bubbles so you then underskim so produces more organic matter so produces more bubbles and the cycle would continue.
i have set the skimmer up and am living with the bubbles and preparing to do water changes this weekend..
As for an update after the blizzard of bubbles 48hours ago theres now a thick scum of skimmed sludge in the cup and really stiff bubbles up the neck of the cup. There are alot less bubbles returning into the tank will keep ontop of the skimmer until i can get the water change done tomorrow and then resume my usual regular water changes.
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