View Full Version : My Juwel 450 Project - A New Reef Begins
Hi guys & gals , now that I have the tank I thought id start a thread for the project ;) I will also try and post some prices and sources of items as I get them in case anyone is interested in using similar bits & bobs :thumbsup:
I will post pics where possible :) but please bear with me as I'm new to the forum .
Ok , lets recap here ...... :eek:
I got myself a Juwel 450 off ebay for £400 . It was in great condition :) came with the cabinet in beech just as i wanted , the original lights , internal juwel filter and heater . :applause: The internal filter and lights will all be sold on ebay as I have plans .....
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/IMG_0001.jpg
I removed the original internal Juwel filter . It now looks even bigger and gives me a nice side pane to look through upon entering the room :thumbsup:
It was easier than I thought removing the Siliconed on Juwel filter , put a cloth on the base of tank under the filter in case it dropped .... which i didnt thank god , but best to be safe than sorry . Then i used a really flexible thin serated kitchen knife bout 4" long which I used to cut through the silicone holding the filter to the tank , 8 blobs ... then finished off the remaining silicone with a new sharp Stanley knife blade ... i know it was sharp cos my finger was still bleeding after 10 mins of accidentally touching the edge ...:annoyed:
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/IMG_0002.jpg
So I spent the rest of the afternoon tidying up the tank ( Remember it was second hand ) , cleaning it up at first to get rid of the little bits of grime , filled it with 10 gallons of tap water siphoned off the gunk leaving no water , then repeated , finally I used a clean sponge to sponge out the remaining water in the tank ..... hardly any remaining ... ;)
Then after a quick trip to B & Q , I installed the electrical sockets in the cabinet , first a nice little surge protected strip of 4 sockets ( B&Q , Approx £7 ) in the right cabinet . This will power the external Eheim 2028 filter , the UV unit ( Eventually ) , and the Eheim 1262 and the 300w Heater .
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/IMG_0004.jpg
Now for the left cabinet , I installed an 8 way surge protected outlet ( B&Q , Approx £17 ) . And also a nifty 2 channel electronic plug in timer they had ( B&Q , Approx £14 ) :worship: . The timer is a chunky little beast and takes up two sockets but I get a 2 channel timer so its no loss . You can program each channel for on and off times independantly .... ace ! Perfect for my lighting plan :whistling:
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/IMG_0003.jpg
A closer look at the timer :whistling:
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/timer close.jpg
I have won an ebay auction for an Eheim 2028 ( Ebay , £62.50 delivered ) , and then 2x SEIO 820 circulation pumps ( Ebay , approx £30 each delivered ) . Once they arrive I will dry install into tank to get some idea of the layout .
Catch u later :wave:
tank looks really clean and new for a second hand one, good find!!
whats plans for skimming and lighting?
tank looks really clean and new for a second hand one, good find!!
whats plans for skimming and lighting?
It was so clean it was unbelieveable , just like new , and the best bit was it was only 18 miles away AND when i told him i was going to struggle getting it home safely the guy delivered it at no extra cost in his truck ..... what a nice guy ...... apparantly its only 10 months old so I got a bargain there .
As for equipment
Skimmer - Ill be using a Deltec MCE 600 , I've been looking on ebay and theres always a healthy stock coming on there , they normally seem to complete for £100 so its half shop/internet price i suppose .
Lighting -Still up for debate , i was initially going to use 2 x Arcadia I bars with T5's keeping the whole hood closed .... in fact I might still do that , BUT , I was showing the Mrs some Halides on Saturday and despite me thinking she would freak out cos of the ceiling chains etc she didnt so I might do either 3 x 150w , or 2 x 250w Halides instead not really sure !
Quick update , I have just won an auction for a slightly used Eheim 1262 ( Ebay , £60 delivered ) :) . I will use this externally in a closed loop ( :thanks: to Dave P for that idea ) to create flow BEHIND the rockwork through some form of rigid pipework .
So now I have all my equipment on the way for my flow .
2x SEIO 820 (3200 l/h) = 6400 l/h
1x Eheim 2028 ( 1000 l/h ) = 1000 l/h
1x Eheim 1262 (3500 l/h ) = 3500l/h
So far this gives me 10900 litres per hour ( I'm sure it will work out less due to pipework , inefficient pumping , head loss , etc ) . As the tank holds 450 litres ( plus a bit of loss as yet unknown for dispersion from rockwork etc ) this gives me a maximum turnover of 24 times the tank volume per hour .... :w00t:
Im going to stick at this combination for now until i actually get around to sticking life into it and then just see how it goes , i have left provision for adding another SEIO into the mix ;)
This is looking really good!
Gets me all excited to want to build a tank again :)
Great fun!
Just a precautionary, but if you go for halidies chech for the light spillage into the room as it looks like a living area :)
Shouldn't be to bad but may glare te tv etc :)
Psycho_Eddie
23-04-07, 18:39
As far as lighting goes, to keep tank looking minimal dual t5 units underhood would look great but also be enough for softies upto 3/4 depth of tank.
Or you can go halides but more expensive and expensive to run period. Whats your budjet may i ask roughly?. What sort of stock you plan to keep, large fish only system with some real brutes?, or friendly reef?
Im going for a Friendly mixed fish/invert .
Cos of the depth Im leaning towards halides ... The cost of using say 2 x Arcadia T5 IBar's + then fitting suitable tubes on it to replace the original Juwel lights would almost be the same as a new halide ..... I think the halide works out at £25 dearer .
I can get a Halide unit with 3x150w 10k Halides + 4 x 28w T5 Actinic ( see ebay item 330110053370 ) , the seller is very local to me within about 10 miles so i can just go and collect and scope it out before i pay , he is even willing to deliver free . He has offered me these unit at £285 for cash outside of ebay ... it seems like a bargain to me . He even says the price might come down this week as he is negotiating for a larger discount with his supplier .... im aiming for £250 - £260 if he says yes ill proably just get that :thumbsup:
Keep a kitchen roll handy - that laminate floor wont like a flood :eek:
Keep a kitchen roll handy - that laminate floor wont like a flood :eek:
Dont let the missus see that :annoyed:
Just ordered a load of pipework/fittings from Coral Culture :worship: , this will connect to the Eheim 1262 in a closed loop . One intake in the main tank will feed the Eheim down in the cabinet and then water will be pumped back up to the main tank and back out at various places ( Behind rockwork mainly ) via 6 outlets ( providing my cunning plan works ) failing that just as many as i can get to work when it all arrives and i dry fit it all ;)
I had nothing to do tonight with the tank , so hopefully the 2x SEIO's will turn up tomorrow and the Eheim 2028 External with any luck .....
Still hunting around ebay for Halides and a Deltec MCE 600 .... but if anyone else has anything that would fit my Juwel please feel free to contact me :whistling:
Hi
Have you got yourself an RO unit yet?
As you seem near to getting it wet. :)
Hi
Have you got yourself an RO unit yet?
As you seem near to getting it wet. :)
Not yet , will probably order one at the weekend . Ive looked on the RO Man website , think a 50 gall unit will do me , do i really need one with the dioniser pod ????
It's not absolutely necessary, but is generally recomended.
RO units are only 92-98% efficient dependent on temperature, pressure and your local water composition. The problem is you just don't know what it hasn't taken out.
The DI units can polish off the water bringing it down to 0 TDS.
I would also add a TDS meter to your shopping list as this will be your indicator as to when to change the media/membrane and detect any problems.
Dave
Here's some bedtime reading on RO/DI units.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/rhf/index.php
Dave
I would also add a TDS meter to your shopping list as this will be your indicator as to when to change the media/membrane and detect any problems.
Dave
Yeah I was thinking of adding an inline TDS to measure the BEFORE and AFTER state of the water , good call :thanks:
One big question for me is , is it possible to use the R/o unit close to the tank as and when i need it without permanantly cutting into a mains water pipe ? Id like to use some kind of hoselock fitting and run a hosepipe close to the tank if possible then get a long waste pipe and just run it outside for when i need it ( Specially for the initial fill ) :eek:
Then i can not only store the unit away when not in use but also potentially use it at a friends house as well ;)
Where you break into the mains, is a tap. So you can turn it off and disconnect the tube easily.
There really isn't a need for a hosepipe and the problems connecting it. Just buy extra tubing for feed and waste and you can do what you are saying. RO Man or Coralculture sell it.
Dave
I can get a Halide unit with 3x150w 10k Halides + 4 x 28w T5 Actinic ( see ebay item 330110053370 ) , the seller is very local to me within about 10 miles so i can just go and collect and scope it out before i pay , he is even willing to deliver free . He has offered me these unit at £285 for cash outside of ebay ... it seems like a bargain to me . He even says the price might come down this week as he is negotiating for a larger discount with his supplier .... im aiming for £250 - £260 if he says yes ill proably just get that :thumbsup:
Am interested to know what comes of this as a lot of people give mixed reports on some of the cheaper halides on ebay, but I think this is a different company than most of the bad reviews I have read. Also if he's not far from you he's not far from me :D so if I can go and see them and know where the guy is if there is a problem I would feel better about buying one as lack of communication when there was a problem seemed to crop up a lot with the other trader on ebay.
Also if he's not far from you he's not far from me :D so if I can go and see them and know where the guy is if there is a problem I would feel better about buying one as lack of communication when there was a problem seemed to crop up a lot with the other trader on ebay.
Well like i said if i can get him down a touch on price im up for getting one :whistling:
The guy seemed genuine enough , he said he's only just started getting these units in so for me its great as he is in Todmorden and seemed very helpful . He even gave me his telephone number , and when i said could i see it running first and he said yes . I don't see how there could be a problem unless something happened in the future and he just up and disappeared BUT that could happen with anything you buy :rolleyes:
PS So Chris where you from , we might be able to club up and order 2 units and get a little more knocked off .....;)
Think you may find these lights a bit of a false economy, if they are the chinese ones like on fleabay then a lot of people reported they come with crap bulbs (very yellow) so changing those is gonna cost you over 100 quid before you even start.
Theres also been a lot of reports of burn't wiring and blown ballasts on similar units, but its up to you if you want to take a chance with them.
OK Latest update , ive been seeking out a Deltec MCE 600 Skimmer for about a week or so and now thanks to a local member on here (steven02620) I now have one .
I picked it up tonight , must say its in great condition ( cost me £80 ) only thing is its missing a deflector plate ... any ideas where I can get one and how much is it likely to cost ?
Dry fitted it to the back of the Juwel and it seems fine ... it reaches a fair way ino the tank as the Juwel tanks dont have brace bars around the outside rim so do you normally cut the inlet and outlet pipes to get them nearer the back wall , or should you leave them as they are ? If i cut them then end up selling it on can you rebuy the inlet and outlet pipes seperately ?
PS No other equipment or items arrived today so its ben quiet .... next on list RO unit , Lighting , and Salt
Junior hacksaw is now on standby .... Yes folks the Pipework arrived this morning from Coral Culture .. looks like im sniffing solvent weld tonight ;)
I will post pics tonight of the Deltec skimmer dry fitted to tank and the pipework , ill try and post a pic of my sketch for the pipework layout prior to installing .
Postie has also tried to deliver something apparantly which i will collect tonight .... oh the excitement , what could it be
Think you may find these lights a bit of a false economy, if they are the chinese ones like on fleabay then a lot of people reported they come with crap bulbs (very yellow) so changing those is gonna cost you over 100 quid before you even start.
Theres also been a lot of reports of burn't wiring and blown ballasts on similar units, but its up to you if you want to take a chance with them.
Yes these are my other concerns, I just wanted to know if these were any good. From what I can gather it's a bit hit and miss some run no problem, some have no end of problems. You may be able to ask if you can buy without the bulbs and source them yourself to save money. Last thing you want is to buy cheap and have to buy twice. :whistling:
Dry fitted it to the back of the Juwel and it seems fine ... it reaches a fair way ino the tank as the Juwel tanks dont have brace bars around the outside rim so do you normally cut the inlet and outlet pipes to get them nearer the back wall , or should you leave them as they are ? If i cut them then end up selling it on can you rebuy the inlet and outlet pipes seperately ?
When I bought my MCE600 the pipes had been cut all the way down and it runs OK. The only thing I would say is that I think I may have more microbubble than I should have due to the return being fairly short. You can however adapt the return so that it flows straight into the tank using a bit of pipework. If you do a search on here you should find the link.
Yes these are my other concerns, I just wanted to know if these were any good. From what I can gather it's a bit hit and miss some run no problem, some have no end of problems. You may be able to ask if you can buy without the bulbs and source them yourself to save money. Last thing you want is to buy cheap and have to buy twice. :whistling:
I just rang him again , he says i can go and have a look first , they only do 150w 10k bulbs as standard and there isnt a 250w option .... but he says they take standard bulbs so you can stick arcadia ones in or similar . He says theyre made in Italy and have cooling fans inbuilt , he says their not the cheap and nasty ones on ebay from china without any cooling at all .
Mind u I have just been offered a twin 250w Aquamedic for £100 :whistling: ..... need to persuade the missus to let me suspend it from the ceiling ;)
I think a twin 250 on your tank would look good. :thumbsup:
Just gotta convince the missus then :D
Psycho_Eddie
25-04-07, 14:41
Heya, the second hand option for halides seems alot better to me. Better to get quality second hand unit like an arcadia 3 series halide then some mass produced chinese cheap/new halide unit. Just wondering but, can you get the arcadia L brackets ...? i got some for my halides as i didnt want to hang from celing see pic bellow:
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/DSC002.JPG
Good luck :)
I think a twin 250 on your tank would look good. :thumbsup:
Yeah me too , will need my shades in the living room :cool: Get me some Ambre Solaire on and ill be cooking :o
Just gotta convince the missus then :D
With the way thats going currently it could take a while , i'm at the stage of trying to negotiate up from having 3 candles floating round the tank .... ;)
No , on a serious point shes happy about halides which is a big improvement since last week ;) BUT she has kind of put her put down about me having brackets on the wall or drilling into ceiling which rules out a lot of my options for looking 2nd hand ( ie no suspended units ) .... i can see her point ....kind of ..... but just need to get her round to my way of thinking :rolleyes:
Heya, the second hand option for halides seems alot better to me. Better to get quality second hand unit like an arcadia 3 series halide then some mass produced chinese cheap/new halide unit. Just wondering but, can you get the arcadia L brackets ...? i got some for my halides as i didnt want to hang from celing see pic bellow:
Good luck :)
I'm Not sure she would be keen on them
Have a look, as I am, in to the newish Arcadia Series 4 halide unit that has a stand bracket to sit the lights on. One of our lighting sponsors will have them in a few weeks time.
Have a look, as I am, in to the newish Arcadia Series 4 halide unit that has a stand bracket to sit the lights on. One of our lighting sponsors will have them in a few weeks time.
Ive shown the missus the T5 and Cheaper Halide lights on stands over tanks ( Luminaires ) and shes likes em .....:eek:
Not sure if my budget can stretch to new Series 4 Arcadias though :(
Yesterday 2 items arrived , pipework from Coral Culture and 1 of the SEIO 820 pumps . The SEIO does make a hum but does shift a LOT of water , quite impressed for the money this is a great pump . Need to get rid of that hum though . Hopefully some more bits and bobs will turn up today !
I put together the pipework last night but as I had no Eheim pump to test it with it was ultimately a bit of a letdown . Ill post a pic later but essentially the pipework comes over the top of tank in the middle and splits down via T and along the back of the tank coming out in 5 places near the rear tank wall so it will be hidden by the rockwork and will provide movement behind there ..... i stuck a hose pipe on the pipework and it seemed to work ok but it will be hopefully be better with some pressure and the Eheim 1262 I think .
The water feeds out to the eheim via a strainer , again over the top and down . There is a ball valve on each pipe just before it hits the Eheim so i can disconnect and maintain the pump . I solvent welded most of the joints but left a couple "Loose" just in case , i left extra on the return and feed pipes until the Eheim arrives so i can trim them then .
After an hour I filled the tank with 15 - 20 gallons of tap water to just let the pipes soak ..... i wanted to make sure there was no residue in them that would come out later , so I let them soak last night and they will stay there for at least the rest of the day .... ill drain the tank later tonight or tomorrow and get rid of any little bitties . Ill mop up anything left so i have a clean tank again .
This morning I bit the bullet and ordered an RO Unit from RO Man this morning .... 50 Gall per day , 4 stage unit with DI Pod and an in out TDS meter ... Also ordered some extra long tubing so I can run the feed straight to the tank ( RO Man , Total cost £108 , delivered ) . Also ordered a 25kg Bucket of Aqua Medic reef salt ( Ebay , £47 delivered ) .
Hopefully it will all turn up next week and i can fill the tank and actually get it all turning over .
Internet packed up last night .... damn u Virgin Media so I couldnt post any pics or stuff last night , hence my quick post this morning from work . I will update this thread with pics tonight .
2nd SEIO 820 turned up yesterday , still no Eheim 1262 .... grrrrrr I really need that to turn up soon so I can crack on .... anyway whacked the 820 in at the other end and found out that it was just as noisy as the other one :mad:
After a quick inspection of the impellor and found the ceramic shaft was broken :mad: :mad: :mad: so I ordered up a new one and ill contact the original supplier and get them to send me a replacement so I have a spare .
The first SEIO has quietened slightly but still makes a noise that the missus doesnt approve of :(
I also completely filled the tank with tap water so i could see the movement provided by the 2 SEIO's , then I filled the Deltec skimmer and cracked that up too . Excellent good flow and worked a treat , little noisy but it doesnt seem to have the dampening kit .... where do I get one of these ?
The missus came over for a quick look once t was all running and after a few seconds I could catch the start of a smile ............:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: , I may have started to win the battle :cool:
Im off at the weekend to look at a local shop that has a shop soiled Aquamedic twin 250w Halide for a bargain price .... and also to pickup a spare part ( Degassing plate for the Deltec skimmer ) I ordered from them .
Hopefully postie will bring more stuff today .... that Eheim 1262 Im waiting for would be nice :)
The 820's do tend to "chatter" when new, usually quitens down in a couple of weeks.
The 820's do tend to "chatter" when new, usually quitens down in a couple of weeks.
I dont mind it , im married im used to switching off the hearing :D
I dont mind it , im married im used to switching off the hearing :D
lol....laugh now, you wont be laughing when your not gettiing any because the tank noise has driven her nuts ;)
I dont mind it , im married im used to switching off the hearing :D
lol:roflmao:
then I filled the Deltec skimmer and cracked that up too . Excellent good flow and worked a treat , little noisy but it doesnt seem to have the dampening kit .... where do I get one of these ?
You can email Stuart Bertram @ D&D solutions (the UK importers of Deltec stuff) he will send you one FOC :)
Cheers Chris , i will send him an email later on .....PS I'm checking out those Halides ( Todmorden ones ) this weekend . Ill keep you posted .
PS The Aquamedic salt turned up today only 1 day after buying it on ebay , after almost giving myself a hernia moving the bucket I can safely say it's heavy !
Pics as promised ;)
This is the Deltec MCE 600 I got from a member on here
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/deltec 600 on top.jpg
This is the intake of the closed loop that will be driven by the Eheim 1262 , the whole loop is 20mm pipe from Coral Culture . I left the Intake close to the top to act as a kind of surface skimmer , only time will tell if this makes any difference than having the intake further down .
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Intake Loop.jpg
This is a view of the right hand side of the return of the closed loop ( notice the SEIO at the top right of the tank )
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/loop right.jpg
And the left hand side of the tank , again another SEIO
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/loop left.jpg
And from the side
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/loop side.jpg
More pics to follow !
Here is the big 25kg bucket of Aquamedic Reef Salt , this was a bargain £47 delivered ) , should make up 750 litres , so ill have 300 litres worth left .... at 10% per month , that should see me right for the next 6 months .
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Big Salty Bucket.jpg
I took a trip to B & Q tonight , I wanted the SEIO pumps to be plugged into the same strip so I needed to wire up an extension for one of them . At the electrical section I ended up buying enough stuff for 2 extensions .
Then I spotted their coloured plugs ( They do RED , GREEN , PURPLE , as well as the obvious white and black ) and I thought this would be great for having rough idea of what colour plug was for what device .... so I got purple ones for the SEIO's , 2 extension points and some .75mm 6a 3 core . Once home I wired up a long extension for the left hand SEIO and a smaller one for the right using the coloured plugs .
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Purple Plug.jpg
I reckon this will be a great for a few months time when I have a load of devices in that I cant remember , i will probably label each plug too just for the sake of being ultra professional :whistling:
Hopefully the RO unit might turn up tomorrow and the Eheim 1262 , Im still awaiting the Eheim 2028 which wil be my carbon /filter floss and phosphate removing media container as well .
If the Eheim 1262 turns up I can test out the closed loop while its still full of tap water ;) ..... then once it works ( or fails :whistling: ) I can drain it and start to ill it with RO water , salt it up and away we go :dance:
I'm scoping out a new shop tomorrow in Heywood , he has some good stuff apparantly ... he might even have some coral sand for the base of the tank :rolleyes: .... and who knows what other delight are in store for my bank balance :(
Looking good so far :thumbsup:
You need to test your closed loop, IMO you might need to play a bit, as you might find that most of the water comes out of the end outlets. You can adjust this by putting reducers of varying sizes to create a bit of back pressure so the water comes out of the other outlets.
This is what I am talking about.
http://www.coralculture.co.uk/shop/index.php?cPath=157_161
Dave
agrree with the above - that loop will need a lot of fiddling with to get it even.
blow air into the intake and see where the bubbles end up going!
Im waiting for the Eheim 1262 so I can do a proper pressured up test the "Stick a hosepipe down and switch on and see what happens " seemed to go well enough though ;)
PS Just got back from a trip out , came back with a 2nd hand 4ft Aquamedic twin 150w Halide , £100 :thumbsup: ( PS Theres one more unit left if anyone local is interested i can give you his number ) .
Even the missus is happy :eek: , shes wants it hung on brackets from the wall , the halide unit centered in the tank comes out 13" from the wall so i need 2x 13" brackets , i also need something for the bracket end of the cable to hold the wires up , it looks like it was on a ceiling kit but only the halide part and the metal wires are there theres no stoppers at the other end .... any ideas of where to get these bits from ?
Update : I've ordered a set of Arcadia Halide Brackets and a Arcadia suspension kit . Also ordered a refractometer and a Digital PH Meter . All sourced from Ebay .
Hopefully the Eheim 1262 will turn up today , its annoying me now that I cant test out this closed loop properly :mad:
edit : The Eheim 1262 is here - praise the lord ...lol
OK now I have the Eheim 1262 I tested the closed loop ( It works :thumbsup: ) , I was pretty lucky it didnt need any adjustment the flow from the middle 3 are ever so slighly more powerful than the two ends ... perfik !
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Closed Loop Eheim Pumping.jpg
I also put some suckers on the pipes to keep the pipes off the bottom and away from the side of the tank to minimise vibrations ... it worked !
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Pipework Off Bottom Side.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Top Halide On.jpg
Theres plenty of movement at the top , thanks to the SEIOS , there will be even more once the Eheim 2028 and the Deltec 600 are running ....;)
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Movement At top.jpg
I put the Halide on some 4x2 pieces off the top of the tank , 3 per side raising the halide 6" off the top of the tank and probably in total 9" off the water level ...... its nice and bright :cool:
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/fULL ON aLMOST READY.jpg
And another
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Full on woody.jpg
The wood will make it easier to hang the halides hopefully ...... ill drain the tank when that happens ready for the RO Water fill ( Remember just testing it all with tap water at moment as no RO unit yet )
More updates tomorrow if some stuff turns up , waiting for RO unit and the Eheim 2028 .
RO Unit turned up today while I was on lunch ( Thanks RO Man :applause: ) , opened the box and then quickly shut it ... far too complicated . I will try and install it tonight ..... hopefully I can start the tank draining and then fill up the tank with RO water once installed .
RO Unit turned up today while I was on lunch ( Thanks RO Man :applause: ) , opened the box and then quickly shut it ... far too complicated . I will try and install it tonight ..... hopefully I can start the tank draining and then fill up the tank with RO water once installed .
It's easy don't worry :laugh: just follow the instructions!
Dave
RO Unit now installed , pretty straightforward really ;)
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/RO Unit under sinky.jpg
Its a bit hair rasing cutting into the water pipe with the feed clamp but the instructions are spot on . :thumbsup:
That was all installed about 1 and a half hours ago its been runnong RO now for that time and im gona leave it running for another hour and a bit which will give me the 5 gallon recommended runoff .
I cant fill the tank yet though as i need to install the halide brackets and hang the halide so i want to get the dirty work out the way first and not have a tank to lean over while doing it ( That would be asking for trouble :whistling: )
Question , am i ok just shutting off the water feed tap to the RO unit ( ie the metal tap at the pipe ) and then reopening it up when i need the water again ... is this safe ? Also TDS meter shows 37 going in , and 0 out ... is 37 normal ?
37 in??
lol
mine is 246 and i've seen people in here with over 400
You are very lucky :laugh: :thumbsup:
As for the RO unit...screwing the metal tap in and out a lot will eventually cause the hole to widen and leak.
Buy yourself an inline tap to go on the inlet tubing and just turn that on or off to use..leaving the main metal tap always on
37 in??
lol
mine is 246 and i've seen people in here with over 400
You are very lucky :laugh: :thumbsup:
As for the RO unit...screwing the metal tap in and out a lot will eventually cause the hole to widen and leak.
Buy yourself an inline tap to go on the inlet tubing and just turn that on or off to use..leaving the main metal tap always on
Cheers Ive ordered a seperate tap , for now ive shut off the RO using the screw in tap thing as seen as I must of run 5 gallons out of it , its been on for 4 hours :D
Eheim 2028 turned up last night , as it was 2nd hand it needed a good clean :annoyed: . Also turned up missing hose clamp :mad: so ill have to order one of them as a spare ( At least Eheim are easy to find spares for ) . It only came with about 2x 1 metre lenths of pipe ( Not enough :mad: ) . It was still a good deal at £50 + postage but it makes me mad having to fork out for stuff that the seller should have mentioned was missing .
Also the suspension kit for the halides turned up but as yet no brackets so until i get the brackets everything is on standby :(
Oh well , hopefully stuff will turn up today
Psycho_Eddie
03-05-07, 09:15
Hey the media kit alone will cost u £20/30, i seen some new with media kit etc for £110 ish on ebay.
To be fair it did come with media , but i wont be using it ( the 2028 is gonna be used as a media container for carbon , phosphate remover , filter wool ) .
So i might whack the Eheim media on ebay as it is stupidly expensive in a shop ... i could sell it for like 1/2 normal rate and get some money back to pay for the new pipework I need . I'll have a think this weekend .
PS Ordered some Aragonite sand from coral culture yesterday , just 1x 30lb bag for now so im going to put that in once the tank is ready and see how it looks as i only really want a thin layer no more than 1/4" to 1/2"
Coral culture stuff arrived today :applause: next day delivery with these guys as advertised second time in a row . So now I have a 30lb bag of sugar sand , and i also ordered a couple straight connectors so i could adjust the intake of the closed loop ( It was a tad high so was sucking in air from the surface every so often making a whooshy sound in the pump and then blowing air out the pipes :eek: ) . Ill just lower the intake by a 1/2 a cm or so and that should fix it .... ;)
Also found out i was ever so slightly ripped off on ebay :mad: , the 2028 that turned up is infact a 2026 :annoyed: ... still ok for the job but obviously i wasnt bidding on a 2026 so i have asked the seller for a partial refund specially as it was also missing the hose clamp which will cost me a couple of quid . If i get £10 back for the disagreement ill be happy , otherwise we will just let paypal sort out the mess .
Now just sat waiting for the Halide brackets cant proceed until i get these
Halide brackets turned up Saturday so off to B & Q ( Again :whistling: ) I found some heavy duty fixings they had there , so after a bit of drilling they are now installed and they look pretty good now .
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/hALIDES nOW hUNG.jpg
I also installed the Eheim canister , I put the intake right in the rear middle of the tank near to the closed loop using a spray bay with extra drilled holes as the intake to give me something to pull debris from behind the rockwork . The outlet is just through the standard spray bar at the top rear of the tank .
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/2026 iNTAKE.jpg
Then after a final bit of tweaking to make sure I could access everything I ran off an hours worth of RO water as waste then started filling the tank . First RO water went in around 1pm yesterday ( Saturday ) .... so far ( now at 10.45 Sunday I have 5"-6" of water ) . I put in 5kg of Salt . I reckon it will take around 15kg of salt for the full tank .
First bit of RO going in !
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/RO First Going In.jpg
At this rate the tank should be full sometime tomorrow ( Monday ) :rolleyes:
Hi Daz
Its coming on nicely my wifes seen this thread and gone mad:eek:
Keep up the good work cant wait to see the results.
Shane (old owner of the tank:( )
keep the pics coming
Looking very nice, i'd be keeping my ear to the ground for some cheap live rock the sooner you can get it in the tank, once it's almost full the better to help cycle the tank.
If you have to by the rock from your LFS it will cost you big bucks!!
Andrew
Looking good so far and obviously well planned.
Keep the updates coming :)
Jay
Hi Daz
Its coming on nicely my wifes seen this thread and gone mad:eek:
Keep up the good work cant wait to see the results.
Shane (old owner of the tank:( )
keep the pics coming
Hi Shaney ..... your welcome to come round in a few weeks/months and see her anytime u like . :)
Cheers cant wait your doing a grand job. keep it up:applause:
There is now 10kg of Salt in the tank . The Aquamedic isnt the best disolver in the world .... and it certainly takes a while to get this baby full of RO water .... my 50 gall on per day unit is doing around 30 galls a day i reckon . Here is a pic taken at 6pm .
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Half Full side 6pm.jpg
Then some at 8pm ... about 1.25cm in terms of the tanks height difference .
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/half Full 8pm.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Half Full 2nd 8pm.jpg
I reckon at this rate we are looking at around midnight tomorrow night for a full fill :thumbsup:. I've been offered 40kg of live rock for £200 :dance: thing is need to collect tomorrow or pass on it , so it looks like it could be a close shave :(
I would snap up the rock, don't forget the rock will displace a load of water so you won't need the tank full of water!!
Yeah , but I really want it full i'll just siphon off any excess , that way i can figure out how much is displaced ;)
Water is up to temp now , 75degrees . And Id say we are 3/4 full now at around midday Monday .
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Three quarters ull 12oclock.jpg
The aquamedic salt is definatley a very slow disolver , its still ever so slightly hazy , but the eheim is half full of filter floss so that will help pull out the bits and bobs .
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/12oclock 3 quarters full first.jpg
I reckon by around 8pm tonight it should be fully full . Meanwhile I should be setting off around 4pm to pick up the live rock . I cant pass up the offer and if I did i'd just kick myself :annoyed: . £200 for 40kg is almost half shop price ... and it will get me off to a great start .
Set off to pickup the live rock around 4 o'clock . Tank was at this stage when I left , I turned off the RO feed as I had no idea how long it would take me and I darent leave it running with no supervision :whistling:
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/80 percent full ready for rock.jpg
3 and a half hours of a round trip later and this is what I ended up with , 40kg approx of live rock for £200 .
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/2 boxes ready.jpg
Yep 2 boxes , nice !
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/First rock look.jpg
The rock had a fair bit of hair algae but nice Mr Toothbrush took care of the vast majority of it :applause:
The rockwork held a few surprises , firstly two of these babies ( Turbo snail ???? :confused: ID Please )
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Hitchhiker Snail.jpg
And a lovely clump of Xenia .... I just hope it survives the maturing process .
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Zenia Hitcher.jpg
And after all the rockwork was scrubbed and placed in this is how it looks ...
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/jUST ROCKED OUT.jpg
Im still around at least 20kg+ short , maybe closer to 40kg if im being honest . I will top off the water tomorrow and then report on some initial test results :)
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Full rock view.jpg
Oh well , now the hard part , testing the water until I can see some maturing happen .
nice rock and nice setup, you got a bargain there.
(Im still around at least 20kg+ short , maybe closer to 40kg if im being honest . I will top off the water tomorrow and then report on some initial test results :) )
I thought your tank is looking very nice as is, i would'nt go putting too much rock in. I've got too much rock and no matter how i arrange it, it never seems that open a structure and i can't get away from that wall of rock look! :annoyed:
OK the tank is now full , Deltec skimmer is working and active . I've added some Aragamax sand around the rockwork ... I havent put the full amount of sand in yet though . Also initial test results are in .
Temp 75 degrees , Salinity 1.025
( All the following using API Master kits , I'll move onto Salifert once these kits are used up )
Ammonia - 0 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 0 ppm
Phosphate - 0 ppm
PH - 7.8 ( API Liquid ) , I will confirm this later with a digital meter
KH - 8 degrees dKH , 144 ppm KH
Calcium - 340 mg/l
I'll post an updated pic later on tonight :D . PS The Xenia is pulsing away happliy so things are looking good :thumbsup:
Heres the pic of the tank now all full up and with some sand added .
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Full shot with sand.jpg
You can see the final positions of the return spray bar for the eheim and the closed loop intake .
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Final Spray and pipe positions.jpg
I'm still waiting for the diffuser plate to come in at a local shop , so until it arrives I used the threads of here to find the Deltec outlet mod ( pushfit pipe from B & Q ;) )
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Deltec mod pic.jpg
Im chuffed at the moment , Ive seen one of the Turbo snails today and the Xenia is obviously pretty happy too :thumbsup:
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Xenia pulsing.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Pulsing away happily.jpg
Ill check the readings again tomorrow see if anythings changed :)
There was no change on the readings , tested just Ammonia , Nitrite , and Nitrate - all reading 0ppm . Looks like the live rock held so much bacteria is might not need cycling :)
Lets hope it stays that way :thumbsup:
PS Good news is now I've had a good inspection the live rock contained a piece containing around 6 or 7 Mushrooms - also doing well !
Water testing ok again today , still 0ppm for Ammonia , Nitrite , and Nitrate :applause:
OK yesterday was make or break time , with the water testing out still perfect on all counts and the missus getting itchy :rolleyes: I decided to add an inhabitant .
A six line Wrasse ( Pyjama wrasse )
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Six Line Wrasse Added.jpg
I also added 4 clean up hermits , 3 red legged hermits , and 1 Tricolour hermit .
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Mushroom colony found.jpg
Here is a pic of the Mushroom colony that came with the living rock the other day , theres around 8 mushrooms on it in total .
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Xenia well happy.jpg
The xenia is well happy as well its been pulsing away ever since it was added , when I added it I made sure it was under the brace bar of th Juwel as I was worried over the lack of light and as it was a hitchhiker I wanted to trial it .... so I'm quite surprised its obviously getting enough light as it's obviosuly happy .
Today I tested the water out with a full set of tests .
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - 0ppm
Phosphate - 0ppm
PH -7.8 ( Result using both liquid test and digital meter )
Salinity - 1.025
KH - 8
Calcium - 360 mg/lppm
I've been topping up all week using RO that Ive been storing in clean washed out old pop bottles . The tank is using a 2 litre bottle of RO every day :eek: just to keep on top of the evaporation .
I took a trip to a shop in manchester ( Oasis Aquatics ) this morning just to have a look what is knocking around , and I got some various Macro Algae's ... £5 for a nice bunch of about 5 or 6 species . I got 2 tiny stems of Plorifera ... and
Cheato
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Chaeto added little clump.jpg
Racemosa
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Bubblyalgae.jpg
Mexicana
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Mexicana algae macro.jpg
And two more species that I'm not sure of ... a red one
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Red macro algae.jpg
and a green one
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Unknown macro algae.jpg
If anyone could identify them that would be great :thumbsup:
The tank looks great now with some life and also a little colour variations with the algae's .
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Lefty Shot.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Centery shot.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Righty Shot.jpg
And a final shot for now ( MY FAVOURITE :thumbsup: )
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Macro shot of tank with caulerpa.jpg
I also added 4 more hermits ( All tricolour ) to give the clean up crew a boost so theres 8 hermits in there now .
You want to be a bit carefull which algae you add to the main tank as once they take hold they will spread through your tank like wild fire and you'll be hard pushed to get it out !
withoutabix2002
12-05-07, 21:48
and id also watch out for that sixline you just may regret adding it first once they settle they can be right little buggers espesh to any new fish your thinking of adding believe me ive had one and they aint nice when they turn!!!
neil
Tested water again today , still chuffed everything seems to be going well :worship:
Salinity - 1.025 , PH - 7.8
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - 0ppm
Phosphate - 0ppm
The wrasse is eating well he's currently on twice a day , about 1/4 of a cube of frozen per meal . He has a nice fat belly so he must be happy ;) He's quite a character , wherever I look in the tank he comes out and shows off .... :thumbsup:
I went out today and on the travels took quite a liking to a couple of tank bred Perculas :rolleyes: ..... so I decided to take them off the shopkeepers hands as everything seems to be going sweet :o . I also added a Cleaner Shrimp and a Long Spined Black urchin for some extra clean up duties .
I've decided I'm going to leave it at that now till June . I'll post some pics of the Perculas and Urchin etc when I get the camera out next .
I was tired last night so I failed to test the water in the tank :annoyed: I will test it tonight and see if anything has happened .
The clowns , wrasse and other livestock are fine , all eating well . It's hard to feed 3 fish though .... 1/2 block of frozen twice a day seems about right .
I noticed that the small amount of hair algae that was introduced with the mature live rock is starting to get thicker . I think I will add in some Mexican Turbos ( say 6 or so ) at the weekend , I might put some Rowaphos in the canister too even though the Nitrates and Phosphates were testing out at 0ppm .
Also noticed the possible start of Cyanobacteria or Diatoms , there was a small patch on the sand at the left of the tank and also a small patch on the rear of the tank on the grey closed loop pipework . Oh well , looks like it's going to be fun for the next few weeks/months .
Edit : Spotted a guy selling turbos on Ebay , 20 snails for £10 delivered .... kerching , just saved me a trip out this weekend !
Got home last night , straight away tested the tank
PH 7.8 ,Salinity - 1.025
Ammonia - 0ppm ,
Nitrite - 0ppm ,
Nitrate - 0ppm ,
Phosphate - 0ppm
Noticed that the cleaner shrimp had molted , he's still a bit shy yet but he's coming out a bit more now . The perculas are feeding well , and the Pyjama wrasse is a star , even the urchin seems happy :applause: .
Also decided to clean the glass / get rid of the Cyano or whatever it is . I stirred up the sand and used floss to clean the tank sides and back . Then after it had all polished up I cleaned out the floss in the canister filter , which was full of bits and bobs
I threw away the water in the canister and a touch more which ended up being around a gallon , so its had it's first mini water change :thumbsup:
What did you end up putting in each of the chamber / tray thingys in the canister filter?
Theres two trays , one is currently empty but which will eventually hold Carbon or Rowaphos or something like that .... basically chemical media . The other chamber holds the original Eheim sponge which im just using as a coarse filter , the rest is packed with filter mat . I will be washing these every week so they dont go biological .
OK the 20 snails I ordered the other day turned up today , via royal mail , in perfect health :applause: .... always amazes me how this livestock survives what it goes through sometimes . Acclimatised them in the tank and then let them loose ... so theres 22 snails in there now I probably need 50 in total but ill wait till I get some more live rock before I increase numbers .
I also ordered 20 Blue legged hermits yesterday which should arrive tomorrow again from an ebay seller as I had some dosh in my paypal account and it was easier than taking a special trip out .
The plan is for the snails and hermits to attack the little bits of hair algae and do a general tidy up on the live rock :thumbsup:
Tank is still losing 2 litres everyday just in evaporation , its a good job I made a stack full of RO water up to last me the week .
Skint now till at least next month :(
The 20 Dwarf Blue legged Hermits arrived today just before lunch :thumbsup:
Well I say 20 , only 19 made it one tiny little guy didn't :( . I acclimatised the little guys in the tank over lunch and let them loose , they're tiny compared to the red legged and tricolours in there already so hopefully they can do a good job on the bits of hair algae over the next week or so . The snails I put in yesterday are all over the place :eek:
Caulerpa is also healthy and growing , the Racemosa's put on about 3-4" in a week with loads of new side shoots and grapes growing . The mexicana is doing ok too with plenty of new shoots .
There is one more kind of caulerpa in there very similar to mexicana with much brader thicker leaves and that is doing well also but I dont know what that is . The red caulerpa i'm not so sure about yet... it hasnt done much :( It's still red and alive but i dont know what this needs for growth ??? Anyone ???? :confused:
I'm going to do a full test tonight again see what happening in there .
I'm also considering an auto top up for the next few months , as 2 litres of RO every day isnt that much of a pain at the moment but it would be better long term if it was automated and I used a 25 litre container that would last me a week then .
Looking good :thumbsup:
I would keep that caulerpa in check, if you don't, once it it starts growing it will get everywhere and become a pia. The one that looks like a feather is very evasive. I did the same as you with macro algae in a previous tank ;)
Dave
Cheers Dave , im skint now so thats me till payday
Dont worry , 2 tangs will eventually be going in .... bye bye caulerpa ! :laugh:
Another day another water test :rolleyes: Here are the results from the Blackburn jury ( Couldnt resist after Eurovision :eek: )
Ammonia -0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - 0ppm
Phosphate - 0ppm
PH - 7.8 ,
Salinity - 1.025
Still looking good , despite the Diatoms/Cyano/brown algae on the sand and rear wall . I just stir up the sand every day up and the exernal filter picks up the bits pretty quickly ... I'll clean the front glass and the filter out again tomorrow . I might even siphon some of the stuff out tomorrow actually , and do a 5-10 gallon water change :ponder:
The hair algae's still there , the snails I put in the other day are active enough but all thy seem to do it climb up the glass and chill out at the water surface :mad: .... Good job the crabs are active :thumbsup: , I dont know what those blue legged ones are eating but they are eating all day long so something will end up being gone soon :cool:
I put another cleaner shrimp in so that makes 2 now , also stuck in some cheap yellow Polyp's which were at the same LFS . £16 for a really nice sized piece so I couldnt turn it down .
Yeah , yeah , I know I said I was skint but this is a reef tank :whistling:
Topped up the live rock today so now Im done . Got 45kg off a guy who was selling up , swapped for my Juwel lights and a bit of cash , but I have approx 15-20kg left over ( PM me , or view my for sale ad in livestock if urs interested ) as I only needed 25kg really .
Ill post a pic later ...;)
LukusMaximus
20-05-07, 21:35
Tank is coming along nicely. Havent Read all 9 pages lol, but i like the layout of your rocks. You got a sump on your tank?
I like the Juwel tank too..... think its the curved shape it has :laugh:
No sump , I used to have a sump on my old tank thing is you get lots of condensation problems and salt creep in the cabinet . Nasty , im happy with my current setup it looks neat and the readings are spot on .... :thumbsup:
All it needs is a UV steriliser adding later , and maybe a suplimental T5 or twin T5 actinic .... and thats probably me done for equipment :dance:
OK folks , it's piccy update time ,
This is my favourite Caulerpa , but I don't know what species it is ( any ideas ?? )
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Growing caulerpa well.jpg
This caulerpa is definately growing the most , the grape stuff and mexicana is also doing well and producing runners and growth . The red algae i'm not sure about it's jus the same as when I added it :(
As for new introductions , well these are the yellow polyps I got at the weekend
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/NEW Yellow polyp.jpg
Here's one of the cleaner shrimps , the other one was being miserable :p
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Shrimp number 1.jpg
Oh , yeah after I put in the live rock yesterday I found some hitchhiker's ....I would like an ID on what these are , are they leather corals ???
Freebie Number 1
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Freebie 1.jpg
Freebie Number 2
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Frebie 2.jpg
BIG Freebie Number 3
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Unknown coral.jpg
After I put the rock in yesterday I had a slight rearrange , this is what I ended up with
Full on shot !
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/full full shot with full rock.jpg
Left close up !
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Lefty shot of full tank.jpg
Centre close up ! Check out the show off cheeky clowns :applause:
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Centre shot with clowns.jpg
Right close up !
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/right tank shot now full.jpg
I had a clear out on ebay last week of a couple of non fishy related items , so with the money that came in yesterday I bought a cheap starter unit and reflector of ebay today to go with a 48" Actinic , I thought about T5's long and hard but for me I dont think I need them ( Not yet anyways :rolleyes: ) . The T8 actinic will just help provide a dawn , dusk setting and help with viewing the fish/invers a little later in the evening when the halides go off as at the moment its a very abrupt change in lighting . Besides I have a spare plug socket on that twin timer that needs a plug :D
I though I woul post a pic of what could soon be the bane of my life ( I've read the other posts so I know what I could be up against ) , I'd like an opinion of what it is , Cyano/Diatoms/Brown Algae .... HELP ! You can also see some of the snails I got off the ebay seller last week . These are stupid if they fall over they just sit there and make no effort to right themselves up ... doh ! Every day I have to right up 3-4 snails ... it's not funny !
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Briwn muck 1.jpg
and
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/Brown muck 2.jpg
So , after all this I'd like an ID on the caulerpa , the freebie corals that came with the live rock , and the nuisance algae or whatever ... is anyone could do that it would be great !!!
Also any other comments would be great !! :thumbsup:
Thanks to the ID thead I now have discovered that BIG Freebie is a Lobo , and the other little freebies are leathers :thumbsup: . The chances are the brown goo are Diatoms .
I decided to get tough with them tonight , I cleaned the glass , back front and sides , let the dust settle for 30 mins . Then afterwards I siphoned off the diatoms in the substrate . I took about 10 gallons out and replaced with made up saltwater . I decided to also do a full run of tests .
Ammonia - 0 , Nitrite - 0 , Nitrate - ( all ppm )
Phosphate - 0ppm , Salinity - 1.025 , PH - 7.8
All seems well , I hope the diatom bloom doesnt last long . Hopefully it will burn itself out soon :)
Im considering either a UV or use of Ozone . Any thoughts ???? :confused:
Also not sure if I like my rockwork , any comments ?
Psycho_Eddie
23-05-07, 09:43
Comming along nicely there, looks like a green jungle :laugh: .. diamatoms can cause a serious headache for some. When you syphon out existing crap, you have to topup tank with fresh salted stuff. Which is often full of silicates etc, this can feed diamotoms giving a diamatom boom. But you have to syphon out crap otherwise will get out of controll.
What big fishies are you thinking of?
What brand of test kits are you using?
What big fishies are you thinking of?
I don't want large fish , not to begin with anyways . Probably at some point i'll introduce a Yellow tang and again at some point a Regal Tank ( hence the wanting to get the Caulerpa going first ) and thats me done for big fish . Once I did the rockworm I realised I hadn't any large caves ... there are hidden caves round the middle of the tank but they arnt large ... I might rearrange it at some point :confused:
My stocking plan is at the moment ( these are definate fish ) : 1x Flame Angel , 1x Yellow Tang , 1x Regal Tang , 1x Algae Blenny , 1x Goby ( Dunno which one yet ) .
Then there are fish on my potential list : Shoal of say 6 Chromis ( Not sure as they are the Neon tetras of the marine reef tank world but they do look nice ) , 1 Flame Hawk ( Safe with shrimps ??? ) , 1x Juwel Wrasse , Either 1x Lemonpeel OR 1x Eibli Angel .
It's just a case of looking round though and seeing what I fancy , any suggestions ?
What brand of test kits are you using?
API at the moment , I just wanted to use them while i'm starting cos im testing every day ( or every 2 ) and so at the rate im going through them they wont last long and theyr'e cheaper in this respect than Salifert , etc .
Once my tank has stabalised and I get down to testing twice or once a week I'll move onto Salifert and then go for the more precise readings .
I'm definately considering using a Salifert Phosphate test kit though from next month ( after payday , cos i'm just skint now ) just to see how close to 0 ppm the API test kit is reading . The API scale goes 0 , then next one is 0.25 ... its definately 0 though on that API kit .
My main concern is the Ph , my tank is 7.8 , my dkh is 7-8 . I live in a softwater area and once the RO has taken its toll and the salt mix has been added it needs hardening up .
Whats the best way to slowly raise the dkh and ultimately PH . Same goes for calcium as my Calcium is 360mg/l . What are the best additives or ways to raise these . I have no sump so a calcium reactor is out .
I wouldn't trust the API's.
If you are getting a new PO4 kit get the D&D/Merck not salifert.
Coral Culture sells them mail order or any decent LFS.
Mike hudson
23-05-07, 10:22
Your 'xenia' is actually clavulaira. ;-)
mike
I wouldn't trust the API's.
If you are getting a new PO4 kit get the D&D/Merck not salifert.
Coral Culture sells them mail order or any decent LFS.
Don't have much choice at moment , like I say when payday eventually turns up I'll invest in a better PO4 kit , until then its API .
Your 'xenia' is actually clavulaira. ;-)
mike
Cheers Mike , noted for future reference . Had a look on google and your right :thumbsup:
Light Unit turned up today , plugged in 48" actinic ... tried it , nice it worked !
Now just waiting for the reflector as don't want living room looking like a massage parlour :whistling: . I will have to extend one set of cables for the end cap cables for the light unit , easy 10 min job .
Tonight I'll extend em , and dry fit the unit in place and see how it looks . Just going to have the actinic on the brace bars at the front maybe just hold it off the brace bars with a light clip or i'll cobble something up .
I spent a little money this weekend :whistling:
On Saturday I bought a Royal Gramma , and also 2 starfish ( 1 Blue , 1 Brittle , £10 each ) , I also picked up a Medusa coral frag ( £5 ). Yesterday I bought a leather coral which had 4 heads ( Absolute bargain at £29.50 ) .
I bought a 2nd hand Vecton 25w unit today off a guy on here ( Cheers MickyW ;) for £35) , I just installed on the return pipework after the Eheim 2026 . I'm planning on putting 2 or 3 tangs in there eventually and I just don't want to ake the risk of infection .
Diatom growth seems like it's slowed right down , its still there but not coming on anywhere near as fast on the glass or substrate ... I reckon 1 more week of cleaning it / siphoning it out will eradicate it .
I will post up some pics later
Your tanks looking great, im liking the bargain hunter mentality:applause:
Oh yeh, what sand are you using is it aragite fine sand? is that particle size any good or too small?
Also more photo's please, I wanna see the royal gramma:laugh:
Also more photo's please, I wanna see the royal gramma:laugh:
Ill try and post pics later on
Did a water test 1 hour ago .
Ammonia , Nitrite , Nitrate all 0ppm ,
Phosphate - 0ppm , PH 7.8 ,
Calclum 340 mg/l , Dkh 5 :eek:
I need to get the hardness up , Im gonna use a buffer ... any suggestions on a suitable DKH buffer :confused:
Cheap DKH buffer sodium bicabarbonate ( sodium htdrogen carbonate LR )from www.labpakchemicals.co.uk (http://www.labpakchemicals.co.uk) 3KG for £8.25 also check the coralculture site as Nick stocks some labpak stuff now!
I've been taking a look around the Chemical section here , I think I've realised I need the 3 part solution so :thanks: for all the posters on there .
Looks like I need :
Magnesium Test Kit + Magnesium Sulphate Mix - For the Magnesium levels to maintain the other 2 problems
Sodium Bicarbonate - For the DkH
Calcium hydroxide and/or Calcium Chloride - For the Calcium
So could I mix up these chemicals beforehand in smaller pop bottles with RO water to make a bottle of each fixing solution ? I could then use these mixes to and add to the RO top-up water and dose all 3 at the same time .
So my plan is to potentially drip feed these in using the top up water that im replacing every day ( 2-3 litres in evaporation ) .
Am I right ?:confused:
Edit : I've just ordered 500g of Sodium Carbonate ( Figured buying Sodium Bicarbonate and baking it for an hour to make the same thing was pointless , as it was exactly same price ) . Also 250g of Magnesium Sulphate , 250g of Calcium Hydroxide and 250g of Calcium Chloride . And a magnesium test kit . I figure once this turns up I'll try and get my Mag/DKH/PH/Calcium levels right over the following week . Hope the corals approve of my dedication to being skint ....lol
2 Test kits turned up on Friday , a Salifert Phosphate and Magnesium Kit .
Tested both and the Magnesium was 1200 , Phosphate was <0.03ppm so the API kit was pretty accurate .
On Saturday I went round a couple of local shops , not really knowing what I was after but picked up 3x Zoo colony's which were dirt cheap , one was £5 , the other two £8 each . Then also bought some Xenia which was £16 I think , hopefully this will spread around eventually with the clove Polyp's I already have .
Yesterday morning cleaned out the filters did a small partial water change and then later on went out , spotted a Red Spot Flymo Blenny which I loved so he's now home , and also a diddy Regal Tang so I took him too :thumbsup:
what sand are you using is it aragite fine sand? is that particle size any good or too small?
Its great , nice and bright but it does blow about a bit with the current . :annoyed:
Yesterday I decided to do a full range of tests ,
PH - 7.8
DKH - 5
Magnesium - 900
Calcium - 340
Ammonia - 0ppm , Nitrite 0ppm , Nitrate 0ppm
Phosphate < 0.015 ( Slightest hint of blue using the Salifert double the reagents and water test )
So basically the magnesium and DKH are dropping , Calcium is staying the same ish , and the PH is borderline . Happy about the phosphate being low as possible , thats a good sign from my point of view :dance:
The chemicals I need havent arrived yet , so I can't start a course of action to fix the problems until they turn up :mad:
The Diatoms are still there , nowhere near as bad now though , it takes 3-4 days to get an initial light covering on the sand in patches . All i do is stir it up every day and the power filter sucks it in . The back of the tank gets a little covering again in patches but that takes days to build up a small amount so it's hopefully on it's way out .
All I do is just clean the floss every week which seems to take out the cleaned particles , I'm sure the skimmer takes out a fair share as well , it normally skims heavily shortly after I stir up the sand and clean the glass .
Fish are nice and healthy , inverts doing well so at the moment nothing else to report . Once the uploader is fixed I'll post some pics up .
Update : On Saturday I added a Heraldi dwarf angel , also a sandsifting star to keep the bottom churned up . Both settled in straight away and are doing well
GOOD NEWS : Diatoms have stopped coming on the sand now , only place they remian is in patches on tanks rear wall .
BAD NEWS : It was a bad day yesterday , we went out for most of the day left the fishes at 10am no lights were on at this point and just threw in a small block of frozen brine . Came back about 7pm quick look in the tank and everything looked fine , both new additions were happy and then noticed one of the clowns near the surface . Closer inspection spotted he had Marine Velvet :mad: he had it bad as well .... poo ! So after the initial panic I DIY'd a little hospital tank to float inside the main tank out of a clear plastic tub that I drilled loads of holes in . Put the clown in there but he was in a really bad way , the velvet was over half of one side and the breathing was rapid . 60 mins later he was dead :eek:
All the other fish seem fine but i am going to just have to watch them , there is a UV on full time so hopefully it will prevent it spreading ... failing that what is the best reef safe Velvet cure these days ??????
I ordered up two new 14k Halide bulbs today :thumbsup: , the 2nd hand halide unit I have been using is great but I have no idea how old the bulbs are ... for all I know they could be way off spectrum .
Sorry to hear about the clown fish, good thread so far - good to follow detailed tank builds. Did you restructure the rockwork in the end?
With regards to your closed loop, did you get the pipework from B&Q or from a board sponsor; also what did you use to "glue" the pipework together.
Sorry to hear about the clown fish.
Yeah , its a black spot on the whole build so far for me , but I think she kept picking a fight with the new regal tang and got sliced up and just stressed itself to the point where the velvet got a hold . The other fish seem ok for the moment but I've got my beady eye on them for the rest of the week .
good thread so far - good to follow detailed tank builds. Did you restructure the rockwork in the end?.
Thanks im trying to keep it helpful and to act as a diary for me as well for the future so im glad its proving a good read . And no I just left the rock as it was .... it's growing on me now , and the lack of caves doesnt bother me or the fish . They are always darting in and out of all the nooks and crannies , there just isnt a large cave - it's no big loss im not puting large fish in it ;)
With regards to your closed loop, did you get the pipework from B&Q or from a board sponsor; also what did you use to "glue" the pipework together.
I got the pipework from Coral Culture , I also used their small tin of solvent weld ( which is surprisingly large :confused: ) . Its good stuff the pipe and the glue are relatively cheap compared to b&q and I can recommend them , ive used them twice now your order just turns up next day via courier . The marlow or white pipe at b&q i wouldnt trust fully submerged for years . Also make sure you put a ball valve ( the right way round ;) ) on the feed and return for the pump for servicing it like i did .....otherwise its leak city !!!! .
If i did it again from scratch though id probably use a 2nd Eheim 1262 and split the pipework so i'd have feeds to the two pumps and and then two return lots of piework behind the rock and below it too .... as it stands my closed loop works great , behind the rockworm is pretty clean and if u copied it it would serve u well .
Off to the drawing board for a coral culture shopping list then. Currently I am toying between two closed loops or one split via a T piece at the back of the tank - reason being that I intent to have two rock islands at either end with open space between and don't really want a pipe going all the way along the back unmasked.
The coralculture website is blocked at work (thanks Toyota!) so I will ask you if the loop intake pipe (the one at the top of your tank) is also from there.
if the loop intake pipe (the one at the top of your tank) is also from there.
Yes it is !!!
Also I would suggest to save costs you could run one single feed to the pump , then on the return feed say behind or just above the the tank split it using a t piece and send two returns . One each behind the two rockwork islands as you describe , but youd have to use 2 taps on each t-piece end to adjust the flow to each rockwork island return feed though .
Depends what else you have going on behind or above your tank as to how you do it . Planning is the key to make sure you can get to it all to maintain it , and test it all with fresh tap water first to make sure it doesnt spring a leak or cause u problems before you waste time on RO water and money on salt !
More pics please :applause:
its coming on very nicely well done:thumbsup:
Shane
More pics please :applause:
its coming on very nicely well done:thumbsup:
Shane
Thanks Shaney , much appreciated :) . I have pics ready to go up , but the uploader isnt working , i might try photbucket at the weekend if its still broken .
You can come over and have a look if u like ...... being part ex owner so to speak ...... so I wont charge u admission :laugh: . I'll PM u my moby number , just give me a call if your in the area , welcome anytime as appreciated you giving me a lift home with the tank .
U wont be happy though I stratched the glass :(
New Halide bulbs turned up yesterday , so fitted them last night . The Oceanlight had the original Aquamedic bulbs in it :eek: good job I changed them .
Also spotted my first Aiptasia :annoyed: , so I'm deciding how to eradicate this little sucker . I dont want to use Joe's juice unless I have to as I hate unsing non natural methods . I'd really prefer natural methods so I might try a peppermint shrimp .
All the other fishes seem ok after last weekends loss of the 1 clownfish , I might try and get another one on Sunday if everything is still hunky dorey .
If you can pull the rock out of the tank, a nice soldering iron into the middle of it should do the trick (at least it did to the one I found on the rock I aquired 2 days ago!
Also spotted my first Aiptasia :annoyed: , so I'm deciding how to eradicate this little sucker . I dont want to use Joe's juice unless I have to as I hate unsing non natural methods . I'd really prefer natural methods so I might try a peppermint shrimp .
.
Having had an outbreak of Aiptasia in my last reef I was amazed to see how quickly a Copperband got rid of them when added to my system.
I don't know enough about your set up to recommend one but I would certainly consider it before they reach epidemic proportions.
I got some bits and pieces from CC this morning and have built one closed loop system (only one pump here atm) however I am noticing that the pipes vibrate against the glass and it's starting to wind me up a little - I see you have some nifty rubber feet / ziptie combo like "thingys" on your pipes - what are they and where they from?
I was thinking of a natural destroyer for these , but wanted to avoid a copperband is possible .
I am still unsure what inverts i'd like in yet so want to keep my options as open as possible .
But :thanks: for the input .
tegrey2007
17-06-07, 10:33
them snails you have are from the sea over here i bought some last year they all died fairly quick in my tank, at the time people where having the same problem and there's all died and there was a thread on here about them snails and the seller.
OK , BIG update .
First off on friday night I was watching the tank , was about 6.30pm . All fishes were fine , went off had something to eat cameback say 30 mins later and noticed the 1x remaining clownfish was acting just weird but no signs of disease , I am starting to worry at this point as the lights start to go off around 8pm but I left him alone . Looked back 15 mins later and he was on the sand on his side breathing heavily again no obvious disease signs , lights start to go off and he's still there . I decided to take a chance and just leave the little feller alone . Went to bed , woke up day after .... clowny had disappeared , I'm not happy at this point , in 1 week both clowns have died :annoyed:
Did a full test , temp , salinty , ammonia , nitrite , nitrate , phos , Ph everythings fine no diffeent to past readings :confused: . Obviously somethings not right but it's not the water conditions ..... corals and inverts/shrimps are fine :confused: .
At this point I started looking everywhere in the tank first off to find the clown and for any other obvious signs . I noticed that the water flow was seriously missing in a couple of areas , first off the surface movement in about a 1ft square patch was awful , it's always been like that but could that be it ( low oxygen ???? ) , also the rocks at the side were acting as a detritus trap the flow was bringing everything onto them which I hadnt noticed before and it was just settling out around two large rocks .... there wasnt much else but it was the only thing I could think of .
After a few long deliberations about what to do I decided to make a VERY BIG decision , I would strip down the reef rockwork , siphon off any detritus at the same time and then put the rockwork back in making the structure more "open" , also giving me chance to design in some caves which I didn't have before and then sort out the flow . I rang one of my usual shops and he helped me out with 6 poly boxes for the rocks and fish , at the same time I was chatting to him about flow and decided to look round his 2nd hand stash and got hold of a couple of SEIO 620's which were great value at £24 for the pair .
Got home and the nasty stuff stated I 1/2 flooded two boxes , in one box went the corals and starfish and crabs . In the other box went the fish , urchin , and the shrimps and a few more crabs and snails and , also added two small pieces of live rock and all the caulerpa for cover . All the remaining rockwork was spread around the poly boxes and was overflowing out of most of em but to be fair they saved the floor from a soak .
So now the tank was free of livestock and rock I then got a fine mesh net and netted out all the nettable floaty material in the tank ( ie caulerpa leaves , etc )
It took a while for the resulting mess to settle out but the external filter pulled in a fair chunk . the reaming mess was easily siphoned off with the sand . I'd say 1 and 1/2 hours later I had a clean start again and i could just about see to the back of the tank to start the rockwork building . I deicded to have one of my original SEIO 820's pointing up and frontwards in the middle at the area of low flow which I had before , then the other 820 at the bottom left corner of the tank pointing all the way to the right of the tank . The 620 I put at the top corners aiming toward the centre/front of the tank . The SEIO 620's were PANTS :mad: , rang up the feller and asked him if I could swap them for the 2nd hand SEIO 1100's he had , so 30 mins later and £10 worse off I came back with 2 more powerful pumps . Checked on the fish and corals in the poly boxes , they were happy but obviously needed to go back in the tank asap !
I rebuilt the rockwork in about 45 mins I am much happier with the lyout as now I have caves and the structure is much more open with large gaps and behind the rockwork is much more free to allow water to circulate . I readded the caulerpa and the corals then slowly reintroduced the fish crabs , snails , starfish , urchin, and shrimps . Then I switched off the lights and left em alone as I think they'd been through enough .
Checked on the tank yesterday , it's much better the higher flow means nothing stays still the whole water surface is moving now and the tang loves it , the dwarf angel and other fish/inverts were fine .
So now i'm using SEIO 1100 2x @4300 lph , SEIO 820 2x @3200 lph ,Eheim 1262 1x @3400 lph . Theres also the MCE 600 skimmer whose pump moves which I didnt count in . Thats at least 18,400 litres per hour . So I worked out my new flow was somehere round 40x per hour + , so i've pretty much doubled my original flow rate .
Drastic action but I didn't want to lose anything else , now im much happier , and the fish and corals seem happier :dance: . Lets see how this goes now :thumbsup:
Last night I made a start on fixing the Magnesium , PH , DKH , and Calcium levels . The tank had lost about 4 litres water due to the extra surface movement I added a few days ago . Tested the main things I wanted to fix -
Calcium was 360ppm , Mag 1000 , DKH 6 , PH 7.8
I added some ( id say 5-6 teaspoons ) Magnesium Sulphate to 1 and 1/2 litres of my top up ro water , gave it a good shake and then poured it all into a jug and used some airline to drip this into the tank over an hour .
Hour and a half later I mixed up some Sodium Carbonate ( 3-4 teaspoons ) into about 1 litre RO water and again emptied into a jug and dripped into tank again .
Shortly after this had gone I mixed up some Calcium Chloride and once the solution was clear again emptied into the jug and dripped that in .
I will retest tomorrow and see what impact that lot had :D
My aim is by the weekend to fix the magnesium at 1350 as my first course of action , as well i will slowly try and get the calcium up to around 400-450 , and if I can get the DKH beyond 10 then hopefully the Ph should rise as well .
Last 3 days have now been spent trying to fix magnesium and the PH/DKH .
The magnesium consists of topping up 2 litres with RO water with around 5-6 teaspoons magnesium sulphate in it , this is dripped into tank from a pop bottle over the course of 30-60mins . Normally I do that at midday .
Then in the evening I start on the PH/DKH , using a further 2 litres of RO with 3-4 teaspoons of Sodium Carbonate added . This again is dripped slowly into the tank .
After 3 days of this I reckon i got the Ph to 8.0-8.1 from its initial 7.8 , I havent tested the DKH as yet or the magnesium as they were very low to begin with and I dont think this will have gone up very much but I plan on doing a full test tonight .
Where did you get those rubber sucker things for your pipe-work from, my pipes are vibrating on the glass every now and then and its really getting on my t*ts!
Thanks in advance
Just went to a local LFS and they sold some Algarde clips i think they were 2 for £1.50 or something . They are adjustable like zip ties with a sucker on em . I think they are designed for heaters but they do the trick on my pipework perfectly .
I bought 2 Tomato clowns this weekend , £11 each . Basically there were a direct replacement for the perculas .
The Zoo's have started spreading as well , excellent :thumbsup:
Ok as seen as the uploader is back working again I thought i'd share some photos .... ok first these at the ones taken before the upheavel / redesign of the rockwork
This was the 4 headed leather I got , as it was before the redesign , the Xenia , and the little treee coral frag
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/4 head leather.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/Star Polyp Xenia.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/Little Medusa.jpg
The Heraldi angel , and royal gramma , tiny regal tang , and red spot algae blenny ( My fish shots are awful )
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/heraldi fast.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/Royal Gramma fast.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/Tiny Regal Tang.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/Red Spot Flymo.jpg
This was how I installed the UV , whih means the cables are getting a tad cluttered
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/UV Installd Nice.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/Starting to get messy.jpg
And this was how I installed the actinic , basically it just rests on the brace bars using ome light clips
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/Actinic T8 in place.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/T8 side shot.jpg
So around 2-3 weeks ago i all looked like this ( remeber all this is before the redesign of the rockwork )
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/Little Medusa.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/Right Side zoos not full.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/Right side zoos full on.jpg
Ok , great .... now lets see what it looks like now :thumbsup:
Oh wait a sec , I forgot I installed a cheap chinese surface skimmer ( £7 DELIVERED OFF EBAY :p ) .Which does a great job of helping keep the surface clear .
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/SURFACE Skimmer.jpg
Ok so basically the redesign was to allow more nooks/crannies/caves and better water flow around the rockwork , and also provide better staguing for the corals later on . So now the tank looks like this
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/Up to date left.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/Up to date middle.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/Up to date right.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/Up to date overview.jpg
I think the improvement is better , I'm certainly happier and the flow thanks to the redesign and extra 2 x SEIO 1100's is much better .
The corals seem happier , check out some of them now ... the same 4 headed leather - big difference , much better polyp extension
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/4 hd leather now.jpg
I'm sure this stuff is spreading/getting bigger
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/Clavularia.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/Ickle leather.jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/Nice few corals together.jpg
Well thats it for the picture show for tonight . As always any comments / thoughts would be most welcome .
I tested the water last night ,
PH 8.0 , Salinity 35ppt
Ammonia - 0ppm , Nitrite - 0ppm , Nitrate - 5ppm ( Eek , creeping up )
Phosphate - <0.03ppm , Magnesium - 1300 , Calcium - 360
I'm seriously considering installing a HOB fuge , I've seen a new cleartides model for £90 ish on ebay so im sure that means someone has a 2nd hand one for £40-£50 somewhere :whistling: which means i will have to wait as im skint and id rather have 2nd hand .
I figure could use the eheim to provide the flow to the fuge and then just let gravity enter it back in the tank , small fuge lite and whack some miracle mud/caulerpa/live rock rubble in it .... excellent . This will be a project for xmas hols I think .
Looking good mate, are you planning to build the rock up at the back in time to try and hide some of the gubbins ?
:thanks: for the comments
I'm planning on doing a little more rock in the middle , then adding some plating corals eventually up high which will hopefully cover the equipment up . Im leaving the sides though sloping towards the tank ends . Pity I cant hide those SEIO's in the corners .... Might try sticking some caulerpa on em in the future .
On Sunday I took a trip up to Fishmans Frags to see Chris ( Thanks for the frags/critters chris ;) ) . Afterwards I dropped in to another member on here Madsi to pickup his 2nd hand Tunze Osmolator ( £50 ) , and then on the way back saw a nice Medusa coral for £25 so i bought that , i managed to split it into 2 , one small frag and the parent colony .
Anyway I installed the Tunze top up on Sunday and it's great .
Your tank is looking really nice, can i ask how do you find the MC600 deltec pump and what do you think of the chance that it would overflow out of the collection cup. I was gonna get the MC500 but am now tempted to just get the MC600.
P.s my tank setup will be very similar to yours, I have the jewel vision 260.
Also where did you get the seo pumps from?
Your tank is looking really nice, can i ask how do you find the MC600 deltec pump and what do you think of the chance that it would overflow out of the collection cup. I was gonna get the MC500 but am now tempted to just get the MC600.
P.s my tank setup will be very similar to yours, I have the jewel vision 260.
Also where did you get the seo pumps from?
Thanks , the MCE 600 is a decent skimmer and does pull a lot of gunk out but it is noisy even with the dampening kit. It's by far the noisiest thing on my tank so I dont know maybe I'm just unlucky and have a noisy one or they are all like that . I'd see one running first and then make ur own mind up , but skimmers in general are noisy so im sure it wont be any noiser than the other one . The collection cup has a drain on it so if it overflowed it would just re-enter the skimmer . The only way it would flood is if the outlet of the skimmer became blocked ( Highly unlikely its 40mm pipe ) .
SEIO pumps , the 2x820's came from Ebay .... the 2x1100's were 2nd hand off a local shop .
Thanks, MC600 it is then, I should have know your seos were second hand, lol :laugh:
I like my 2nd hand stuff :rolleyes:
I splashed out on saturday , I bought a lovely little cherub angel ( Centropyge argi ) , I was expecting trouble between it and the established Heraldi and the Heraldi didnt disappoint . After I introduced the newcomer the Herald saw it from 4ft away swan right over and chased it under a rock crevice , fortunately the Argi was snug in there and the Heraldi couldnt get to it ..... this went on for the rest of the day the Argi got more adventurous swimming out for a bit until the Heraldi saw it and chased it back into it's crevice , this went on for hours all afternoon and the evening but I just left em to it .
Woke up day after , expecting to see the Argi under the rock again ... but no it was out in plain sight and everything was sweet . Now the Argi has settled in and there are no more battles , phew !!!!
My final task is to get a flame angel in there ..... :eek:
Due to serious personal circumstances beyond my control this whole setup is now potentially for sale :( , if a reasonable offer comes in I will sell .
I have listed this in the Equipment section on the for sale section , I may review this decision and I could change my mind cos right now I'm gutted but as it stands i'm open to offers , £1500 .
Manxy_Reefer
10-07-07, 17:21
jesus this is a surprise.. just read your post from the start then hit this on the last page.. gutted for you fella!
hi mate
sorry to have read about some unfortunate personal events you have encountered most recently i was just gonna give you a pm regarding some goodies i had fragged for you for this weekend was a bit of a shock you are selling up
hope everything turns out ok best regards
jon
As it stands Johnny im gutted and 50/50 on what to do . I dont want to go into details but due to a recent accident my wife and I have had to take on 2 children that didn't live with us before but now have to . We already have 3 kids in the house as it stands so that makes 5 :eek: , and hence all their welfare comes before an expensive aquarium . Sadly if this wasn't the case I wouldnt have a problem , but it has and solutions need to be found quickly .
My reason for sale is nothing other than I dont see how the money is going to work :( , i feel guilty spending £20 on a coral here , or £30 on a fish there when theyre gonna need things . As it stood I had enough to cope , but this could stretch me so I dont want to take the risk .
I slightly panicked at first , but im hoping I can at least keep the tank and some of the equipment and use it as freshwater maybe . So I think if i can sell the livestock and the live rock and skimmer and maybe swap the halide for a hanging T5 pendant I could just run it as freshwater ( Bang some oscars in , lol ) until the time comes and keep the running costs lower until the amount of money I have improves .
Like i said right now it's 50/50 but im open to offers on the livestock first or just simply the whole lot and I will take it from there .
Sorry to hear this mate, having had to dismantle a six foot reef that I'd nurtured for a good few years I know how you feel :(
The only advice I can offer is don't make any snap decisions (which I'm sure you won't) but I thought long and hard when I decided to sell mine and when I eventually did it it was for all the right reasons and although I was sad to see it go I knew it was the right thing to do.
Now twelve months on I'm planning for another reef, nowhere near as big, but another one nonetheless so I agree with you that the best thing to do would be to keep as much of the equipment as you can as you'll be back again in the not too distant future :thumbsup:
Good luck.
Right now it's painful . I would love to go smaller but as i said i need to re-evaluate my life costs first to see whats left every month , then take it from there .
How about just stick with what you have at the moment, youve got all the equipment and some fish so why not just freeze fish and coral expenditure.
That means running costs are just salt and test kits, and you can still watch the aquarium mature, sounds like a comprimise to me :thumbsup:
I hope you can figure a way to keep the tank in your life even if it means oscars!
Also respect is due as it is obvious you have the most sincere intentions.
Take care mate
fireproofcujo
12-07-07, 23:36
Totally gutted for you daz hope you can keep your tank some how if i win the lottery i will pay for your leccy for a year :(
I hope you can figure a way to keep the tank in your life even if it means oscars! Also respect is due as it is obvious you have the most sincere intentions. Take care mate
Thanks , it's a seriously bad situation all round that is only just now starting to get sorted . I can't afford to be irresponsible as the whole family is making sacrifices right now , I guess mine is my marine setup which as I say is gutting for me personally but their priorities come first and I'm leaving the door open as much as possible to resetting up in the future by keeping the tank and some of the other equipment , which was one of the biggest initial outlays originally . I could of downsized and lost even more money but there is a point where its just easier to convert it to freshwater for a while and run it like that until suitable funds build up again . To run it as freshwater compared to marine is obviously cheaper in running costs , no salt , less equipment , less electric , cheaper stock .
It's just a shame as the whole thing was starting to come together nicely , algae blooms had come and gone , corals were looking great , etc . The stock I had was getting on brilliantly . Real shame !
As i said i will miss this forum , but hopefully I will be back in the not too distant future . Thanks guys for all the kind words !
All livestock , liverock , SEIO pumps , and the lighting unit have now been reserved in one go with a deposit left . I'm happy as they're going to one home and I got what I wanted for it all price wise . Collection will be the 18/19th july so after this I won't have a marine tank anymore for a while :(
Thinking about what to put in it at moment , probably end up Oscars or something big and cheap and easy till I can re-evaluate my living costs . It's been fun guys and hope to see you on here again in the not too distant future .
Take care :wave:
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