The Scleractinia Shallows

Wrangy

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 28, 2013
Messages
2,277
Reaction score
7,487
Location
Humble.Fish
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Introduction:
Guess what guys and gals, it's here! After a few months of sorting out permissions and getting the tank ready, it's in and it's wet!!
I'm still amazed this didn't happen sooner, I came close a few times to going bigger but now that I'm finally out of home and was actually in need of moving the tank I guess there's no better time than the present! :) I'm really looking forward to what all the extra space is going to bring and the fish it opens up to me as there's a few I'll finally be able to cross off my list now!
System Objectives:What we all really want, a glorious tank thriving with life and of course amazing acro's!
System Type: SPS, SPS and a few more SPS!


Display System:
Strike up Date: Today :D 7/06/16
Display Tank: 1000x600x450mm or 40x24x18" for some of our metrically challenged friends across the big lake. 250L or 65g :)
Display Lighting: 2ft Hamilton Cebu Sun. 250w Radium + 4x24w T5's
Stand: 1000x600x100mm (40x24x40")
Hood: Hoodless, lights will be hung from the light hanging kit as I want ease of access and don't mind being able to see it all.
Sump: 1000x500x350mm; ATO, frag section and the rest! Final design yet to be revealed.
Refugium: No weeds here!


Support systems:
System Water: Blue bucket, don't mess with success!
Display Water circulation: A duo of RW-8's to start with and a 6025.
Return Pump: Waveline DC6000
Skimmer: RLSS R6-i
Evaporation Top Up: ATO, Kore 5th or Tunze. Not sure yet.


Chemical Support:
Good old tasty 3-part with some koral colour and maybe a little replenish.
Planned Water Chemistry:
Nitrates:
0-5ppm
Phosphates: 0-0.05ppm
Alkalinity: 7-7.5dKH
Calcium: 420ppm
Salinity / Specific Gravity: 35ppt
Magnesuim: 1200ppm
Potassium: 400ppm


Equipment Plan:
With a new tank comes a new excuse to buy more equipment ;)
The most immediate upgrade or purchase for the tank is the new sump that's currently in the design phase :) I have the dimensions for it 1000x500x350mm and the sections are going to include a frag section, an ato reservoir and then the usual's with the filter socks being before the return and not at the overflow input for ease of sump cleaning and no dead friends if they go over into the plumbing!

The next set of upgrades I'm making are to the return and the flow! I want to get myself a really solid and reliable DC return and so far the winner of that race is the M1 Vectra. The other water moving part I would like to add to the tank is a XF150 Gyre to get some nice broad flow going, combined with a couple of other powerheads on the back of the tank.

I want to do some pretty big overhauls on the lights but that's a while off! Get a 3ft Cebu Sun unit, add a 400w Radium to it and then get myself two of those really nice 3ft Reefbrite XHO blue strips to just finish everything off to perfection!


Scaled Friends:
Now this is where the real fun begins as I've leaped forth in tank size and it opens up a world of new possibilities for whom I will be able to keep! My current friends will be coming across:
- Female Bellus
- Kole tang
- Black ear wrasse
- Possum wrasse

But these guys are going to look vveerrryyy sparse in such a nice big new home for them :) They're not going to know what to do with themselves! This of course means they'll be getting some new buddies! I have a few thoughts on this but there's still a few gaps in the complete fill in:
- Half a dozen anthias or so, p. lori or p. flavoguttatus or even p. pulcherrimus. Something nice from Deer park either way!
- Another bellus would be really nice.
- I'd love a mystery wrasse but I don't think that will bode well with my black ear due to some vague similarities but we'll se.
- There is one fish that will definitely be happening and that will be the show piece of the tank! It will be in the form of one of two species of roap butterflies! That's one fish family that I've always wanted and the specific species are c. tinkeri or c. mitratus! These are a very long time want of mine and I will definitely be adding one of these gorgeous fish down the line, the polyps won't be happy but are they ever really happy on the reef? lol
- No other thoughts yet.

I suppose I better cut the rambling and start with some pictures ;)
I think the hardest part has been organising and moving all the crap I need lol it was a bootful and then all the other dozen trips of bits I'd forgotten lol


10L of matrix including! I cannot wait to get that rumbling!


I've done some playing with the scape and I'm starting to get an idea of what I'm after. The height is definitely right, it's not taller than 6" as I want to keep it low to allow for the fish to have plenty of open swimming space :)


From the doorway


Right side from above, the scape is a little unusual as I want to include lots of swim throughs that turn to caves once the acro's are in and growing.


And now we're getting salty! Still needs a little more water but that's coming in tomorrow :) Of course I'm running sumpless for a little while till I have a sump but that's no drama :)


One amazing aspect of the many about this build is the size of the cabinet... "there's so much space for activities"! The shelf will be holding my doser, dosing containers and of course the two 8 socket PDU units :D oh my oh my!


And finally, just the amazing view right from my desk :D
 
While it pained me to hack all the sps out of my current tank I know they're in the best hands possible! I'm looking forward to getting them back after their trip to the acro-day spa :)
 
Ammonia still 0ppm this morning after a few big pinches of food last night and one this morning :) Skimmer will be going online on Sunday morning and phos remover will be going in Monday/Tuesday too :)
 
I feed a huge amount of pellets earlier today and no reaction whatsoever and the skimmer is on the tank as well now too so that means one or two fish will be coming across tomorrow :) I'm currently feeding more than the fish get so I could bring them all across but it helps to play it safe lol
 
It's... ALIVE!!
3e96f2737b6f7489ec6fb787cfac8d88.jpg


Well moving on...

Last night brought on the very first additions to the tank and the fish I wanted to get in first and foremost :) It meant removing most the rock from the cade but it made it a whole lot easier and with my brothers help my Bellus angle and Kole tang were caught :)
Fast forward to this afternoon, they're both still very very shy but both out and swimming around and they've both had some food too which is amazing as I was expecting a few days of protest lol. All signs are healthy and good and so that means zoa's will be going in tomorrow or Friday and the other fish on Saturday and I'm not quite sure when I'll do the clams yet, maybe the little guy on Friday and my big maxima I have no idea yet lol.
Either way I am absolutely over the moon and so happy to have my babies back with me!!
 
I spent some time today doing some work on the stand and I think it's going to turn out just as I'd like :)
I've still got to mount the second PDU (power distribution unit) in line with the one that's there on the other side up the top. I'm going to screw the dose into the bottom of the shelf so the shelf is clean and free and the doser is mounted securely.
I also screwed in an Ikea led strip of lights which worked out really well and
lights up the stand perfectly :) Overall I'm really happy with how it's coming along and should look quite nice once I organise my cable management! :)
 
Well it's been 10 days since the initial addition of the Dr. Tim's bacteria and I can now safely say that I am very happy with this product and what it claims. As of yesterday all of my fish from my cube are now in the new tank, while it's only four fish it's still nice to know I was able to get them across safely and quickly! Everyone has settled in, swimming around and most importantly eating again :) No aggression aside from the odd little squabble of reminding who's who. The stock in the tank now sits at:
- Genicanthus bellus
- Ctenochaetus strigosus
- Halichoeres melasmapomus
- Wetmorella nigropinnata
- Lysmata amboinensis

Everybody is still a little shy in the morning but other than that it's like they've always been here :) Along with that all of my zoanthids are in the tank and settled, a few still to open due to the fairly hefty dipping they received before going in. I have a few other pieces of coral in that are opening and happy and one clam is across. Happier than I've seen it in a while too :) All that's left to come across now is my big t. maxima who is going to be quite a task to bring across! lol

All-in-all after having waited 8 months to have a tank with me again I am absolutely over the moon that I have everybody back home with me :) It's really a hobby that fills me with joy!
 
Tank is doing really well :) Still topping up manually even though the tunze is in the tank and I just need to put the pump in RO :p haha I haven't tested any levels but all the corals are open, growing and colouring up really well! The fish are happy and getting fat too, I'm feeding gouble what I was in the cube to get some better health and happiness from them and also in preparations of having more fish to feed in the tank lol


The new sump designed by the sump master is going to be a kicka*s piece of kit too!! This pic is from the back of the sump, left is overflow and skimmer section and to the right of that is return section and pre-return filter socks. Far right is the frag section which is about roughly a third of the sump!!


This is from the front of the sump. The funny looking L-shape section underneath is actual the top-off storage tank! Works out to be about 32L and means I don't have to waste space with a section for it :)


Top down gives you some ideas too, second chamber will be higher flow matrix and low flow super anaerobic matrix will live under the frag racks :)
 

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%
Back
Top