Our 12ft self contained reef

Please keep posting pictures, never in my wildest dreams will I have what you have, but can enjoy yours.
Shall do Chris, water change this weekend so I'll try & get some quarter decent LPS pics lol. Never say "never" mate, 6 years ago I said we would never have a marine tank! Look what happened! :confused:

Awesome. .thanks for sharing
Thanks Vic :)

Glad you think so mate lol :)

Beautiful love how clean the set up looks and the rock work looks great.
Thanks mate, I've told I may have a bit of OCD with the clean thing & everything being in its place lol. The rock is that Aquaroche brand, clicks together very easy. I did glue all the shelves in tho, didn't want to chance anything slipping out long term. :eek:

WOW!!!!! Alright, when can I come dive your reef? lol! It looks great! I wish I could afford/have space for a tank like this!
LOL, it's big but I don't think theres enough room left for a dive, a stroll along the front is possible tho :)
 
Yeah, right, coming from the person who upgraded from a 10-footer to a 12-footer...... ;)

Seriously, though, really nice work. I wish I had the space; I'd be right up there with you.
But that 2ft upgrade also added another 2000Ltr's to the system lol. Besides, If I told the much better half I was thinking ahead to the next upgrade, her reply would involve a chopping block, my appendage & a blunt knife! :eek:

I'm glad you like the tank mate, If we had the room a "fish room" would have been nice but just couldn't happen. Hence everything had to go inside the cabinet.

Amazing. Thanks for sharing from down under.
Thanks mate, there's still some nice corals down here that didn't get sent over to you guy's lol :)

I didn't get around to the water change today, (It was Saturday here) but I did finally get around to playing with the reactors.
Since we are keeping everything inside the cabinet, trying to find large reactors was a problem, so being a hands on kinda guy I decided I'd have a bash at building something to suit lol. A bit of tube, a hacksaw, hand held router & a measuring tape, what could go wrong? Was a bit harder then what I thought but getting there I hope. One point tho, we did get to keep the white & red colour scheme going lol. :)
Reactors will be Sulphur feeding into ARM (Calcium) feeding into Hydrocarbonate/Dolomite mix. The ARM will recirc back to Sulphur & start the process again.
Hopefully the Sulphur will reduce Nitrate's & also lower pH, low pH will feed into ARM & reduce the amount of CO2 needed to dissolve ARM, the the final Hydrocarbonate/Dolomite will help raise Alk, Mag & pH. That's the plan anyway, fingers crossed it works something like that lol.
I don't have the CO2 gear yet but want to get water flowing through the setup. Fitting the CO2 gear into the system won't be to hard & can be done at a later date.

Started with 21Kgs (46 pounds?) of Sulphur
IMAG0346.jpg


Then added another with 25Kg (55 pounds?) Caribsea ARM
IMAG0347.jpg


Throw a bit of pipe & fitting around to hook all of the holes up.
IMAG0349.jpg


Still have another to go but really should play in the tank tomorrow.
Did take a few pics last week, nothing flash but hey, someone might like them lol.

That big purple Monti way back on the first page found it's spot in the tank
IMAG0330.jpg


A lot of this needs to find a home. Lots of the Zoa's & morphs may not stay in the tank this time round round.
IMAG0322.jpg


Hobbits?
IMAG0323.jpg


I do like this rock tho, no idea what the SPS is but it seems quite happy sitting the bottom of the tank.
IMAG0325.jpg


I'm trying to get a good pic of this Chalice, The yellow is starting to get a hint of a red under glow if makes sense lol. :confused:
IMAG0328.jpg


Left end of the tank seems to have more corals at the moment.
IMAG0331.jpg


And that's about all I have to share today. It's 12:45 on the AM side of the dial so I'm off to find some caffeine & then think about bed.
Have a great weekend & we will enjoy our Sunday lol. :)
 
Wow... 55lbs of ARM!!! The pump on that reactor is what I practically run my whole system with.

Keep up the good work. Love following the progress of this build.
 
Wow... 55lbs of ARM!!! The pump on that reactor is what I practically run my whole system with.

Keep up the good work. Love following the progress of this build.
Thanks for that, I now have someone to blame mentioning the reactor recirc pump :)
Got a message from the local RE guy saying that is not the best place for a RD3 pump. Apparently they are not well suited to "suck" in the position I had it. So today I moved it down beside the reactors. I never allowed the extra plumbing to do this so once I moved the pump I ran out of pipe lol. Metric pipe is not the easiest to find here so I have had to order some more bits, hopefully it will be here before the weekend.

Pump moved & I added the last reactor so I could work out what extra plumbing i need. This one has 6Kg (13 pounds) of Dolomite on the bottom & 21Kg (46 pounds) of Hydrocarbonat.
IMAG0378.jpg


I did the water change on Sunday, 500Ltrs later:( Stuck a few more corals down but never really made a dent in the sump. I took a few pics but again nothing flash but hopefully you'll get the idea.

left side
IMAG0355.jpg


Middle
IMAG0354.jpg


Right side
IMAG0353.jpg


One of the frag sections in the sump. I really should clean it up huh. :rolleyes: Once it's nearly empty I'll give it a good clean.
IMAG0357.jpg


Same frag section from the other side lol
IMAG0358.jpg


This has become know as Jen's part of the tank, while standing in the kitchen, this is the view she has :D
Don't know what she is complaining about tho, she has a 4ft x 12ft tank!
IMAG0359.jpg


A couple of top down pics
IMAG0360.jpg


IMAG0362.jpg


IMAG0363.jpg


At least one pic came out half decent & yes I did break a bit off lol
IMAG0365.jpg


Really like the shape of this little piece & can't wait for it to grow up. Green with a purple growth lip.
IMAG0366.jpg


Rainbow Favia?? but doesn't show as well when I take a pic lol
IMAG0372.jpg


This piece browned right out during the tank transfer so happy to see it picking up again.
IMAG0373.jpg


The only clam in the tank so far. This was about an inch when we got it. Now it's about 4"
IMAG0375.jpg


I really do take bad photo's lol, if you get a chance, give us a yell & drop in for a coffee & check it out in person :rolleyes:
 
Amazing! :eek:
I just tore down my 7' tank and this build makes mine look like a freakin nano tank. lol

The coolest thing is the stand is so big, it's like having a fish room right under the tank! haha
 
Amazing! :eek:
I just tore down my 7' tank and this build makes mine look like a freakin nano tank. lol

The coolest thing is the stand is so big, it's like having a fish room right under the tank! haha
Thanks mate,
It's a big cabinet, but the bits that go in there are pretty big to, room still runs out for some pieces lol. :)

What lighting you have up on your tank haha
It's a DIY I built a few years back.
78 Cree XP-G Neutral White
78 Cree XP-G R5 Cool White
78 Cree XT-E Royal Blue
78 Cree XP-E Blue (B3 & B4 bin)
36 SemiLED UV (400-410)
18 Phillips Rebel Cyan

Original light over the old 10ft
IMAG2890.jpg


All I did was split the panels & add another down the center
IMAG2905.jpg


IMAG2906.jpg


Stripped off all the LEDS, cleaned it all up & added everything back
IMAG2981.jpg


First run back over the new tank
IMAG2993.jpg


One of these on each panel for now
IMAG3057.jpg


:)
 
Awesome setup. I love big tanks and really miss my 300g. Thanks for sharing with us.
 
That's exactly the same size of our 900 galllon in our coral farm!! Wow amazig tank!!
Thanks WWC, just wish I could make enough to cover the build from the tank lol. At least your tank is productive. :)

Awesome setup. I love big tanks and really miss my 300g. Thanks for sharing with us.
Sounds like you need another big tank Dave. Do it, go on, you know you want to. :)

I spent the other day cleaning out the sump. Really needed it & the worst of the algae is over, so thought I better pull my finger out. 9'x3' with a 1" razor blade, I really could have found something better to do lol, but it does look better. Still some algae on the frag racks but they are being replaced when I get around to making something up :rolleyes:

IMAG0416.jpg


IMAG0415.jpg


I keep saying I need to pull the last of the corals out of the sump & get them mounted in the DT, somehow this never seems to happen. So while I was playing around in the sump I pulled the bulk of them from the sump & dropped them in the DT on a few frag racks. At least this way they now have a shot at being mounted in the next WC lol. There are still a couple of bits in the sump but at least I pulled these out lol.

IMAG0398.jpg


IMAG0400.jpg


IMAG0402.jpg


IMAG0403.jpg


IMAG0399.jpg


This is how everything is sitting now
IMAG0407.jpg


I've found a bit to play with for a week or two. The top of the last 2' of the cabinet. This is going to be storage for test kits, fragging bits & anything else I can think of that I always seem to be looking for. Everything within reach at the tank & out of sight.

Starting off with this
IMAG0411.jpg


As far as I've got today lol. I'm lazy & Xbox is calling me! Besides, glue stuff has to have some drying time.
IMAG0414.jpg


That's about it for today :)
 
Got a bit more done today, finished lining the inside with acrylic & sealed all the joins up with white bathroom silicone. Should keep any mishaps contained. Need to get some more acrylic sheets to cover the lid & a few strips to seal up the edges. The lid will be cut so I need to grab some hinges also. Once the cabinet is clad, it will finish off the look. It's a lot cleaner at that end now that everything is hidden away.
IMAG0417.jpg


IMAG0418.jpg


IMAG0420.jpg


IMAG0421.jpg


IMAG0422.jpg


This bit was going to last a week or two, guess I'll find something else play with next week.
So ends another day lol
 

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

  • Yes!

    Votes: 32 45.7%
  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%
  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%
  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%

New Posts

Back
Top