CodKing Posted July 13, 2011 Report Share Posted July 13, 2011 I've finally done it, well started it anyway. Water is in, live rock from spoon is in (thanks spoon!) even gave me a bit of red macro:) What's in there.... Fluval 150W, I plan to add another good quality heater as a backup when the sump is ready. Resun WM-015, big fat pump on the left. It's okay, arrived with a broken shaft :an!gry thanks to spoon again for spare parts! Blue Planet Tankmaid 700, great pump when you take of the filter parts. got it in the for cycle process. Two the misc filters, one 300l/hr with media, one 600 without just for more flow. 40mm bracing around the entire tank ensures superb water retention during earthquakes I can give the table a good ol' rock and lose bugger all. Plans: To have about half that rock setup to the left and a small chunk at the other end. It will be quite open and empty. Not sure on live stock yet but I would like some inverts. Crabs would be epic. Probably go for coral sand but I'd like something a bit bigger than 1 - 2mm so it might be a mix of that and a bit of DIY smashed up baserock. Got a canister filter which will house more liverock if I need it and chem absorbers. Will rig this up with circulation in mind. It holds almost 10L so this will help with stability and thinking a spraybar above the water line might help cooling in summer..? Sump is 50 something L, will house heater and some mechanical filtration, I want to keep the sump very simple and only add things as I need them. If anyone can see something I'm doing crazy wrong or crazy right, please let me know! Resun WM-015 Awful build quality on the LED array, yes that is a wooden top! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the-obstacle Posted July 13, 2011 Report Share Posted July 13, 2011 Looks great! What are the dimensions of the tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodKing Posted July 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2011 Thanks. Can't wait to aquascape it! Length: 1000mm Width: 300mm Depth: 28mm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#!CrunchBang Posted July 13, 2011 Report Share Posted July 13, 2011 Depth: 28mm thats a bit skinny :sml2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodKing Posted July 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2011 thats a bit skinny :sml2: :oops: 280mm, still pretty skinny Found a critter on the live rock, uploading picture... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodKing Posted July 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2011 Some kind of spag worm or something? It's probably about 5 or 6mm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos & Siran Posted July 13, 2011 Report Share Posted July 13, 2011 Looking good so far, could you give us an idea on how much this wee set up has cost you so far, for us marine virgins who might be interested on a small set up like yours some day in the future? Thanks dude. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodKing Posted July 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2011 Hmm good question Tank: $100 Heater: $40 WM-015: $30 LED array: $80 Salt: $40 Test kits: around $200 I'd say Refractometer: $40 Sump tank: $10 Canister: $50 + another $50 to recondition Base rock: $20 or 30 Everything I got on the cheap or second hand. The glass for the display tank was a good score, that price included the silicone. I think the most taxing thing of all has been time, but I've loved every min of it. Always reseaching, always got an eye on trademe for bargins Expenses I'm expecting include up to $500 odd for a skimmer if I need it, a few hundred on chems either adding or extracting, and a couple hundred or so on a return pump and plumbing for sump setup. Then.... live stock!! Who knows what that will freekin cost me!?! :bounce: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodKing Posted July 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2011 Some tests API Freshwater master kit, seems to give readable results. pH 8 - 8.1 Has dropped down from 8.2 over two weeks Ammonia 0ppm Nitrite 0ppm Nitrate <5ppm Extra API kits: Calcium 400ppm Started out at 320 and increased over two weeks, is this normal? Hardness 150 ppm KH/GH Salifert Phosphate <0.03ppm Salinity 1.025 Turns out that critter I took a photo of is solid Touched it and its stiff as a board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.PROPHECY Posted July 15, 2011 Report Share Posted July 15, 2011 did you make the led unit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzzy Posted July 16, 2011 Report Share Posted July 16, 2011 Nice work so far, i love shallow tanks. if it were me, i would keep the rock as one island to the left hand side like it is in this pic. gives it a minimal effect with good negitive space on the right once the sand is in,but you still have room for quite a few corals. like i said great start keep us updated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the-obstacle Posted July 16, 2011 Report Share Posted July 16, 2011 I have to agree with buzzy - I really like it the way it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodKing Posted July 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2011 LED unit is a chinese import. Should have made my own really. Thanks for the comments. You're right on the money buzzy, that's exactly what i'd like to do. I'll do some mock ups during the week and post some shots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzzy Posted July 17, 2011 Report Share Posted July 17, 2011 are you planning on keeping sort corals to start with? the great thing about having one island is you can get away with just having one light if you raise the light up a bit it should cover the whole tank but will be focused on the island :thup: i have my lighting setup this way(well sort of) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the-obstacle Posted July 17, 2011 Report Share Posted July 17, 2011 are you planning on keeping sort corals to stat with? the great thing about having one island is you can get away with just having one light if you raise the light up a bit it should cover the whole tank but will be focused on the island :thup: i have my lighting setup this way(well sort of) Ahh, I did wonder how you'd spread the light on yours. I notice the lamps are biased towards the island but overflow into the rest of the tank. I have a 70W halide sitting here that would be just the thing for a single island... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzzy Posted July 17, 2011 Report Share Posted July 17, 2011 Sorry to thread creep CodKing Ahh, I did wonder how you'd spread the light on yours. I notice the lamps are biased towards the island but overflow into the rest of the tank. I have a 70W halide sitting here that would be just the thing for a single island... I have the halide directly over the island but also have 4x 4' t5's to help cover the rest of the tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodKing Posted July 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2011 Go for gold mate :thup: we're all here to share! I was thinking about raising the light up only an inch or two and and attaching a spotlight of 5 or 6 LEDs, from there I can shine it towards the other end and power it from the main unit. Once I've got it all put together I will experiment a bit with the location. Also I thought if I end up going with sand the white might be enough to bounce a bit more light around. As I don't plan on any corals down the other end I might not need anything. Not 100% on what I want to keep in there, got a little frag from Organism today just to add a bit of life to the tank. I'll post a pic in a min, I don't know what it is or what it's called Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodKing Posted July 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2011 Here's the frag, looks like its got some tag alongs. What would be the best way to deal with them? Am I able to detach some polyps and reattach them on some clean rock? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoon Posted July 17, 2011 Report Share Posted July 17, 2011 thats green star poylp or gsp for short . its east to frag but will just grow down and move onto the rock underneath it anyway. you can just peel the purple mat off the rock and cut it with a sharp clean knife you wont need to cut too much off then use super glue gel and glue it to a another piece of rock. you can have the rock and coral out of the water for a couple of mins i normally dry it off with a paper towel glue leave it 30secs so its set enough to hold on and chuck it back in the tank. only think to be careful of is too glue it on the right way up. mite want to scrape that bubble algae off while your at it too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodKing Posted July 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2011 Cheers man. I don't want to go spreading junk on your LR so I'll give it a crack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodKing Posted July 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 Update and questions.... Diatom bloom is well underway Have cut up my GSP and seeded it it on another bit of base rock. At the same time I cut the heck out of the original rock to get the baddies off, seems to have worked so far... The GSP is doing very well, every day it seems to extend its tentacles a little bit more and the newly seeded spots now have tiny little tentacles, I guess this mean my light is working. :happy1: Water parameters: All the same except for Nitrate which is now 0 and pH which is 8.2 - 8.3. Changes made this week: I did a water change this week, really just to suck up the junk sitting on the bottom, about 8L. Questions: Why does the pH swing so much in salt water compared to fresh, will this stabilise and will this cause me issues when I start adding livestock? Also, my understanding of biology is that lifeforms need to consume 'stuff' to survive right? How then does live rock stay 'live' when I have nothing producing waste? Nitrates at 0, I know we aim for low numbers but can it be too low? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoon Posted July 22, 2011 Report Share Posted July 22, 2011 there will be some nutrients in the live rock for the bacteria to survive on also bacteria has a limited lifespan so its constantly dying and being consumed again as for N03 generally the lower the better for a reef tank as the corals will look their best this way . if you are worried about running out for cycling i wouldn't, the n03 is still being produced its just being converted as soon as its being produced which is the way its meant to be. in a freshwater tank we have a little bit of NO3 left as its not being broken down into N2 by anaerobic bacteria like it is in the marine tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodKing Posted July 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2011 Tank, post-substrate Just a rock I like GSP and frag rock to the right Little 'beach' area the wave maker creates Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodKing Posted July 23, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2011 there will be some nutrients in the live rock for the bacteria to survive on also bacteria has a limited lifespan so its constantly dying and being consumed again as for N03 generally the lower the better for a reef tank as the corals will look their best this way . if you are worried about running out for cycling i wouldn't, the n03 is still being produced its just being converted as soon as its being produced which is the way its meant to be. in a freshwater tank we have a little bit of NO3 left as its not being broken down into N2 by anaerobic bacteria like it is in the marine tank Shot dude :thup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoon Posted July 23, 2011 Report Share Posted July 23, 2011 i cant answer your one about ph except that it does swing i cant remember why Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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