View Full Version : New Tank; Aqua Medic Percula 120
After taking her that must be obyed to the Maldives three years on the trot and getting her to snorkel we[U] finally agreed to get a Reef Tank.
Previously about ten years ago i kept a fish only marine tank for about a year, but work and time constraints ment I had to give it up.
So this is our first attempt at "reefing".
After visiting lots of shops, reading PFK and Marine World and spending hours reading hundreds of superb threads on here we opted for the Aqua medic Percula 120 in silver, it goes well with the TV/speakers etc.
First picture shows the "agreed site" for the new tank.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/site%20prior%202.jpg
The tank now fully assembled.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Tank%20built.jpg
It was very dusty, so a good clean out was required.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Good%20clean%20out.jpg
Two surge protected extension leads fitted inside the cupboard.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Electrics.jpg
To test for any leaks, check the pumps out and ensure no more crud was still in I filled the tank via the garden hose.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Test%20Fill.jpg
Plumbed in my R/O man 100 gallon a day unit in the garage. Well that's a lie I got a tap connector from him so know real plumbing in. All my waste water goes in to a water butt for use on the garden as we have a water metre.
Filled the tank with R/O water, mixed in the salt and added the sand next day when water was up to temp. Ran an external for 12 hours full of floss to clear the water.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/water%20and%20sand%202.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Water%20and%20sand%203.jpg
Wanted to add two Tunze streams but because of the tank design and the rear cover plate I had to cut the glass!
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/CUT.jpg
Then I put a bit of grey insulating tape over the cut (to stop any wires jagging) and thus I could then feed through my stream cables and still have the rear cover fitting flush.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Stream%20cables.jpg
The ceilings in the house are not great so both my halides and the home made actinic sit on the top of the tank. The actinic is a T5 tube with a reflector mounted in a piece of standard Marley guttering.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Lightlight.jpg
I purchased a two quid shelf in Ikea and screwed this to the back of the cabinet so as the ballast for the light would have somewhere to sit. I just got a tin of silver spray paint to get a close match to the cabinet colour.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Rear%20Shelf.jpg
To tidy the back of the tank up, I got a 10p off cut of MDF from the local DIY shed, cut it to shape round the skirting board and again sprayed it.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Fill%20in%20panel.jpg
Got a piece of acrylic and cut a small piece to fit above the front weir, I thought that would stop any livestock from getting in to the back filter areas.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Acrylic%20Guard.jpg
I then left the tank up and running for a week before adding in 40kg of Live Rock.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Live%20Rock%201.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Live%20Rock%202.jpg
With the rock I got a free scooter blenny who appeared out of no where. He must have been hiding in the rock, so I now add two capfulls of live phyto a day to hopefully kick start the rock and give him some food.
Rock has now been in five days and the scooter is doing ok.
Water tests today show no trace of ammonia or nitrite and a reading of 10 nitrate.
Temp is between 77 and 78, I have a clip on fan controlled by a habistat keeping this very stable at present.
SG is 1.024 only concern is PH at 8, even though I use TMC Pro Reef, this is read by a pinpoint metre although I did double check with a salifert kit.
At present I run the actinics for 5 hours a day, this will increase by half an hour a week up to 10 hours, the Halides are on for one hour and this will increase by an hour a week up until 8 hours. I am hoping this will help in not getting a huge algae break out.
So, so far so good. Quite happy with my first stab at aquascapping, I hope everyday my scooter is ok and at present he is swimming around, lying on rocks and pecking away at the rock quite happily.
Clean up crew all being well water wise will start to be added in a couple of weeks.
Any comments good or bad are welcomed.
Cheers
Jobr
Apologies, obviously did something wrong with the pictures.
Could a mod tell me how to delete the whole post?
Hi you need to upload them using the uploader at the top of the page.
Else email to me @ craig@craiggoffin.com and I'll sort it out for u
Looks good, but would it not have been better to cut/modify the cover, rather than the glass tank?
Chris.
Originally posted by Yakdriver@Aug 7 2005, 16:36
Looks good, but would it not have been better to cut/modify the cover, rather than the glass tank?
Chris.
The cover has a piece of glass on it too, so no way would I have managed that.
The small piece that I cut out is at the back of the tank on the side of the chamber where the two supplied movement pumps are housed, so quite safe.
Hi
Tank looks great so far,love the rockwork
But i think the light is way to close to the waters surface and with it just balancing on the edges like that it could fall in the tank! could you not hang it on brackets?
HTH
Elliott
looking good, but be carefull with the tunze streams, they are good but they will blow the crap out of any corals youre going to put in there...
Originally posted by yellowtang89@Aug 7 2005, 17:01
Hi
Tank looks great so far,love the rockwork
But i think the light is way to close to the waters surface and with it just balancing on the edges like that it could fall in the tank! could you not hang it on brackets?
HTH
Elliott
Hi Elliot
In an ideal world I would suspend the halide.
It fits ok, I don't think it would fall in.
The ceilings in our house are very thin and we may move house at some point at which time I would then suspend the unit.
Originally posted by abyss@Aug 7 2005, 17:07
looking good, but be carefull with the tunze streams, they are good but they will blow the crap out of any corals youre going to put in there...
Hi mate
Not happy with the placing of the streams yet.
Could only get one magnet the other is on the supplied bracket. The one on the magnet is on the right and gives good movement accross the rock. The other is on the left pointing towards the front glass and causing the sand below to be moved, I am trying to get another magnet for this one to give more flexability on placement.
Originally posted by Gubs@Aug 7 2005, 18:50
Looks good!
Cheers, quite happy with my first stab so far, but a long way to go yet.
Originally posted by jobr@Aug 7 2005, 17:47
But i think the light is way to close to the waters surface and with it just balancing on the edges like that it could fall in the tank! could you not hang it on brackets?
HTH
Elliott
Hi Elliot
In an ideal world I would suspend the halide.
It fits ok, I don't think it would fall in.
The ceilings in our house are very thin and we may move house at some point at which time I would then suspend the unit. [/quote]
I still think you should susspend them !!!!! or brackets!!!!! Not just the fact they may fall in. They are too close to the water as well :rolleyes:
Nice tank by the way :D :D
Originally posted by fire999@Aug 7 2005, 19:06
But i think the light is way to close to the waters surface and with it just balancing on the edges like that it could fall in the tank! could you not hang it on brackets?
HTH
Elliott
Hi Elliot
In an ideal world I would suspend the halide.
It fits ok, I don't think it would fall in.
The ceilings in our house are very thin and we may move house at some point at which time I would then suspend the unit.
I still think you should susspend them !!!!! or brackets!!!!! Not just the fact they may fall in. They are too close to the water as well :rolleyes:
Nice tank by the way :D :D [/quote]
Cheers, well I told my LFS what I wanted to do before I made the purchase and he thought as long as I had a fan or two it would be no problem.
So far it works ok without any issues, its easy to move should I want to do any maintenance and heat (not on for long at present) is not an issue.
It looks great but I have to say im also a bit worried abotu the light, its a safety hazard where it is as when the glass gets red hot any splashes of water will could cause it to shatter
looking good but also agree on lifting up the light for a number of resons but looks a nice set up with the aquascaping
an idea for the stream you have with the magnet is place one half of the magnet in the return pump chamber and other half other side (obviously) then you can angle it to middle of front pane of glass,its in a nice position at the mo but just an option for you
Mark
Originally posted by mark-c-@Aug 7 2005, 20:31
looking good but also agree on lifting up the light for a number of resons but looks a nice set up with the aquascaping
an idea for the stream you have with the magnet is place one half of the magnet in the return pump chamber and other half other side (obviously) then you can angle it to middle of front pane of glass,its in a nice position at the mo but just an option for you
Mark
Thanks Mark, I need a second magnet but no one seems to have them at present. I had thought about trying to do that and have the second one (currently the left handside one) pointing along the back of the rock structure.
Originally posted by maestro@Aug 7 2005, 20:30
It looks great but I have to say im also a bit worried abotu the light, its a safety hazard where it is as when the glass gets red hot any splashes of water will could cause it to shatter
maestro, I hadn't thought of that :( , but hopefully it will be ok.
The streams although powerful don't seem to be causing any splashing at present.
I did double check with Aqua Medic and whilst they didn't recommend it they also didn't see it as a major problem.
jon, get youreself one of those gadgets that find the joists in your cieling, and get them suspended, over 25cm from water,,,,,,youve got the cables..get em up there, while theres no real livestock in the tank............................ :blink:
Originally posted by jobr+Aug 7 2005, 20:40--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (jobr @ Aug 7 2005, 20:40)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-maestro@Aug 7 2005, 20:30
It looks great but I have to say im also a bit worried abotu the light, its a safety hazard where it is as when the glass gets red hot any splashes of water will could cause it to shatter
maestro, I hadn't thought of that :( , but hopefully it will be ok.
The streams although powerful don't seem to be causing any splashing at present.
I did double check with Aqua Medic and whilst they didn't recommend it they also didn't see it as a major problem. [/b][/quote]
It probably wont happen but I thought it was worth mentioning.
Giesemann do real nice wall brackets to hang your light from, they are silver, quite small and have a designer look, I have a set myself.
http://www.coralculture.co.uk/shop/product...products_id=600 (http://www.coralculture.co.uk/shop/product_info.php?cPath=66_148&products_id=600)
Originally posted by maestro+Aug 7 2005, 23:57--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (maestro @ Aug 7 2005, 23:57)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Originally posted by jobr@Aug 7 2005, 20:40
<!--QuoteBegin-maestro@Aug 7 2005, 20:30
It looks great but I have to say im also a bit worried abotu the light, its a safety hazard where it is as when the glass gets red hot any splashes of water will could cause it to shatter
maestro, I hadn't thought of that :( , but hopefully it will be ok.
The streams although powerful don't seem to be causing any splashing at present.
I did double check with Aqua Medic and whilst they didn't recommend it they also didn't see it as a major problem.
It probably wont happen but I thought it was worth mentioning.
Giesemann do real nice wall brackets to hang your light from, they are silver, quite small and have a designer look, I have a set myself.
http://www.coralculture.co.uk/shop/product...products_id=600 (http://www.coralculture.co.uk/shop/product_info.php?cPath=66_148&products_id=600) [/b][/quote]
Thanks for the link Maestro.
Forgot to include the picture of the auto top up.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Top%20Up.jpg
Added another 10kgs of Live Rock today and jigged the aquascapping around slightly.
Found a hermit crab so now have both a scooter blenny and hermit free of charge having both hitched a ride.
Still haven't had any sort of cycle, Ammonia, Nitrite showing zero, Nitrate 10ppm, temp is 77 and Sg1.024. PH was only 8 so I got some buffer yesterday and this has gone up to 8.1 this morning, will add some more tomorrow.
Adding two capfuls of live Phyto each morning to help the live rock develop.
Still no cycle to talk about so I assuming that it isn't going to happen.
Off to get the clean up crew tomorrow, sent about 12 emails around asking for prices and got a cracking deal from someone (not board sponsor) who does mail order but is letting me select and pick up in person. Price is 50% less than some LFS.
Lucky the scooter is still doing well (see earlier in the thread) but I still can't get him to eat, although he does still peck at the rock.
picture of "lucky"
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Lucky%202.jpg
All looking well well done like your aquascaping as for your scooter blenny I think its not a scooter blenny looks more like a algae blenny to me but I could be wrong they camouflage so well against rock work scooters have more of a pointed nose so to speak check these links may help you ID or someone help may help out :P
Algae Blenny (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=94)
Scooter Blenny (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=96)
Keep up the good work
HTH
Baden :thumbsup:
Thats an Algae Blenny you have there not a scooter ;)
HTH
Elliott
baden187 beat me to it :D
Beat you to it Elliott...lol :D :thumbsup:
Baden :cheers:
Just to help with the feeding because its a new set up and not much in the way of algae try feeding some seaweed or nori
HTH
Baden :thumbsup:
Cheers chaps.
When I described him to the LFS over the phone he straight away said Scooter.
Stupidly I never even thought to check this in any book as he was so sure.
Obviously my descriptin wasn't very good and it will teach me not to double check like I normally do. :blush:
Everything seems to be comming on ok.
Clean up crew are keeping the tank nice and clean.
"Lucky" still doesn't take any food, also tried some seaweed with no luck. he swims about and seems healthy enough so must be getting enough from the rock.
Water tests this morning were as follows;
Temp 77
PH 8.15 Both taken using pinpoint monitors.
Phosphate 0-03
Amonia Below 0.25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 2
All above using Salifert kits.
Only concern is the bit of nitrate as i only feed a small amount every so often i thought this would be 0, but the test kits are hard to really determine. The bonus I suppose is all livestock looks to be doing well.
Think its about time to start adding a few more fish soon :dance: :dance: :dance:
Will try and take a couple of pictures later to show the progress.
The Escaped Ape
26-08-05, 09:47
Originally posted by abyss@Aug 7 2005, 16:07
looking good, but be carefull with the tunze streams, they are good but they will blow the crap out of any corals youre going to put in there...
Just to point out that the streams are actually the pretty much the best powerheads you could have purchased for some corals. The more delicate LPS, maybe not (bubble coral etc), but SPS (acros, montis etc) will love 'em (once the tank is more established). ;)
BTW, I don't care what type of blenny it is. Getting a fish as a hitchhiker is pretty jammy!
Everything's looking pretty good so far. Keep up the good work!
Originally posted by burntom+Aug 26 2005, 09:47--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (burntom @ Aug 26 2005, 09:47)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-abyss@Aug 7 2005, 16:07
looking good, but be carefull with the tunze streams, they are good but they will blow the crap out of any corals youre going to put in there...
Just to point out that the streams are actually the pretty much the best powerheads you could have purchased for some corals. The more delicate LPS, maybe not (bubble coral etc), but SPS (acros, montis etc) will love 'em (once the tank is more established). ;)
BTW, I don't care what type of blenny it is. Getting a fish as a hitchhiker is pretty jammy!
Everything's looking pretty good so far. Keep up the good work! [/b][/quote]
Cheers :cheers:
Tank has now been set up and running exactly four weeks.
All appears well, so time to start thinking about some livestock :dance: .
Clean up crew have done a great job. I had a small patch of brown algae on one rock that was soon gone, the Tunze streams look new again and the back glass is now gleaming.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/4%20weeks%20left.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/4%20weeks%20right.jpg
Wow,Crystal clear :)
looking nice Job.Nice bike enall;)
Quick update, will try and get a couple of pictures on tomorrow.
Purchased 5 Green Chromis this afternoon and a nice leather coral.
was pleasantly suprised that after about an hour the polyps are starting to extend on the leather :thumbsup: .
looking good so far mate,keep us posted on your progress
cheers,
Kris
Any pic updates then Jon?
Phil
Took a couple of quick pictures tonight, quality is poor - sorry.
The leather I just got
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/JB%20leather.jpg
A very active scavenger
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/crab%203.jpg
Some of the Chromis, they normally stick together.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Chromis.jpg
Right hand side of the tank, moved one of the streams today and a couple of pieces of rock.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Rightside%203905.jpg
So far so good, although I did catch sight of one of my cleaner shrimps finishing off one of my red legs
:(
Added a few bits and pieces over the last few weeks.
Got a Peacock Wrasse a few weeks ago
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Peacock%20Wrasse.jpg
Picked up a jawfish and a flame angel from Jevs (andy) yesterday. Not great pictures - apologies. Flame isn't out much, tends to be in and out of the rock.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Jawfish%202.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Flame%201.jpg
Also got this Cornet Euph today from a local LFS
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Cornet%20euph.jpg
Last week got some frags off Simon.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Euph%20Frag.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Xenia%20frag.jpghttp://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Frag%202.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Metalic%20green.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Z%201.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Z%202.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Z%203.jpg
The Escaped Ape
20-09-05, 08:11
Looking good. :thumbsup:
Don't worry about the Flame. It'll spend more time in the open water when it's a bit more used to the tank (and you!). Or at least, mine did...
Cheers M8
In the last few days he has started "to be out and about" a bit more.
Jawfish is doing well, he has taken up residence in a front corner, not under some sandy rock like i thought he would. Anyway yesterday i put a couple of small pieces of prawn under the two starfish, they obviously were not hungry as they moved away the jawfish had both pieces.
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