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Rod130
17-01-07, 20:56
Hi,

Here's my first attempt at a marine tank. Not much at the moment just LR and clowns but it's a start.

This should be the full tank shot:

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Marine2 031b.JPG

Hope that worked, next a close up of LR:

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Marine2 033b.JPG

and the two clowns:

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Marine2 017b.JPG

That's about the best of what I've taken so far never been good with cameras.

The tank is 30" x 12" x 15" took about 75L of water to fill.
T5 lighting 1 white 1 blue
Seio M620 p/head
Ex. filter with Rowaphos and polyfilter - about 400 LPH I think
Seaclone 100 skimmer
100w heater
10 kg LR

Temp: 25-26.5 C
pH: 8.00 - 8.10
S.G.: 1.023
NH4 nil (well <0.25)
NO2 nil
NO3 0-5 ppm
PO4, Ca and Mg ?

Along with the clowns i've added 2 red legged hermits, 1 zebra hermit, 3 turbo snails and a peppermint shrimp. The live rock seams to have a lot of life in it, but i obviously don't have anything to compare it to, so far i've spotted at least 2 small unidentified crabs, a bristle worm and 1 other unidentified worm. I've decided to leave them all in and deal with them at a later date if them seam to be pests. There's also a dozen or so mini feather dusters, a tiny brittle star or two, a couple of copepods and a nice little red christmas tree worm. Anyway thats enough of that.

Over the next 5-6 months I will be adding mostly soft corals and maybe some LPS. I would like to add one more fish, ideally a bi-colour blenny but i fear this may grow too big, any advice/suggestions for last fish?

I'm just about happy with the aquascaping - don't think i can do any better with just 4 rocks. I think I may have to boost the lighting though and maybe buy a better skimmer somewhere along the line. I also have to redo the background to get rid of some bubbles but happy with the colour. Any criticsm or advice gratefully received.

Cheers,
Rod.

jon h
17-01-07, 21:03
Nice little setup mate,it takes time and patience to build up something really special.
all the best Jon h

johnski
17-01-07, 22:27
very nice start, budgie seems to like it as well ;)

Rod130
11-02-07, 20:27
I have had to put a hood on the tank for the luminare to rest on as I broke one of the supports:mad: . I also added some moonlight LEDs set to come on for 2 hrs before the T5s come one and then come on for 2 hrs after lights out.

It's hard to take a photo of the tank under the moonlights but this is pretty much how it looks;
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Marine 035 (2).JPG

About three weeks ago the first soft coral went in - Green Star Polyp, and then last week some greenish zoo's;
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Marine 094 (2).JPG

A sexy shrimp also went in a week ago. I think they're great, I'll probably add another this week;
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Marine 075 (2).jpg

I have also made a HOB refugium (about 20L) for some cheato and to hide the heater. It's fed by the ex. filter and drains through 22m pipes. The Seaclone skimmer doesn't seam to pull much out at the moment so I may do away with it if the refugium works out. Here's how the tank looks at the moment;
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Marine 052 (2).JPG


Rod.

JASONC1
12-02-07, 00:29
looking good mate and take your time

MrFish
12-02-07, 00:42
IMHO (it may be a deceptive photo) I would look at changing the substrate for a finer aragonite sand, longer term the course gravel can cause problems and it would easiest to do it now while the tank is young.

Some people run successful tanks with the course gravel but most don't use it as it traps detritus, and useful critters will not bury into it, and can not turn it over as its too heavy for them.

I've been there with the course stuff and the finer aragonite is so much nicer and holds much more life.

:)

kjh
12-02-07, 01:33
sweet

Rod130
25-06-07, 19:25
Thanks for the comments guys, the gravel isn't all that course really it's TMC's fine gravel. I think the photo is a bit deceptive, gotta bear in mind the sexy shrimp is no bigger than a 5p.

About six months in now, here are some updated pics, though I've had to try using photobucket to post them as I can't seam to get the uploader to work - does it work okay with Vista? Probably me not using it right.

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb318/Rod130/marine1.jpg

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb318/Rod130/marine2.jpg

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb318/Rod130/marine3.jpg

I've re-aquascaped, not sure if I prefer it this way or not, hopefully it'll look better with a few more corals. Think I should have used smaller pieces of LR but I don't want to break them up now because I expect i'll upgrade to a bigger tank in a year or so.
I've added a red starfish and a torch coral. They both went in about 3 weeks ago with no problems as yet. The only problem I've really had so far is with the zoo's. There is probably half as many polyps as there was, I think I went too long without changing the Rowaphos. I think the colony is starting to recover now, tho that could be wishful thinking. Time will tell.

Things still to add; Maybe a new skimmer - the Seaclone still pulls very little out but nitrates remain very low. Still want to add another fish probably a bi-colour blenny or red-spotted algea blenny, other than that it's a case of saving up for corals, some red/orange mushrooms next i think.

Rod.

Rod130
15-10-07, 20:05
9 months in, time for an update.

Start off with the bad news, sadly my torch coral has perished - I wasn't checking calcium levels, shame on me. Also my starfish got eaten :( i think it was by the owner of this:

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/update7.jpg

Think I'll have to catch him soon, caught a glimpse of him a few days ago and his arms are now about little finger length!

Other than that I'm pleased with how things have gone. Green star polyps are growing like weeds and added some mushrooms and my lovely tailspot blenny;

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/update4.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/blenny.jpg

They all went in back in july and doing fine, got little mushrooms popping up all over the place at the moment:)

Most importantly got rid of the seaclone skimmer and replaced it with a deltec MCE300. Also put in a bit more LR and some green marbled mushrooms all of which came from EOG Reef :thanks: fast becoming my new LFS :laugh:

And I decided to try a Suncoral a couple of weeks ago, was a pain feeding each polyp with tweezers, but after about 3 nights the tentacles were long enough to catch food for themselves now feeding is a breeze and every night it looks a little better,

Here is a FTS to finish including the very rare 2 headed clown fish:

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/update2.jpg

Cheers, Rod.

ChrisBFish
15-10-07, 21:01
Looks good. Love the clown(s) in the last shot! :)

peachys
15-10-07, 21:13
looking really good mate :D