peaceNchaos Posted January 10, 2013 Report Share Posted January 10, 2013 Allrighty! FIRST EVER MARINE TANK! :happy1: MISSION STATEMENT: 100 Gal / 400l Low Tech Low Stock Soft Coral Reef Ill be doing ALOT of the construction myself to minimise the setup costs. Ive researched enough to know that this will likely take me the better part of this year with the curing of the rock, tank cycling, algal and diatom blooms, plus the seeding of corraline and CUCritters (sigh) but screw it, **challenge accepted**. Im hoping to keep the setup (excluding livestock) under the $1000 mark this first year. Ill be looking at spending $50ish a fortnight to slowly get things together. Im only going to use corals that are happy under no more than 3wpg (roughly) using a combo of LEDs and T8 tubes (already own T8's so might as well). FILTRATION: Im not planning on having a sump, and thinking ill manage with - a LOT of suspended live rock - HOB with carbon only - frequent W/C and - a 2nd hand HOB skimmer when I can find one. Im hoping ill get away with this with only minor adjustment problems with a very low stocking level. By building my rockwork into twisting arching bridges, Im aiming for mega efficient waterflow, lowered detritus accumulation and easier 'floor' cleaning (as well as awesome viewing depth if I sit the lighting/shadows right). Would like a DSB in the tank itself but the cost of aragonite sand might prevent this. Custom building a suspended HOB algae trap into the hood is also a consideration. STOCKING: Corals (soft/low light only): - mushrooms - varied polyps - zoanthids - candy cane - frogspawn - some sponges Fish: - A pair of clownfish - 1 or 2 blennies - damselfish down the tracks maybe? Is this under halfstocked for a 100gal? :dunno: Happy halfstocked is my aim. Inverts: - At least one shrimp Read heaps about snails and crabs but still havent worked out what combo will work for a tank this size out of species available commonly here in NZ. Ideas/suggestions here? :dunno: Also depends how much algae the tank produces as well I guess? Would prefer to attempt a healthy balance between algae growth/eaters before going chemical on it. - MicroFauna? In the display tank? :dunno: DIY + COST SAVING: Ill build: Stand and hood - (3x6 timbers + paint free under my house, plywood $20) Rockwork - (cement, oyster shell, aragonite sand - $30ish - and months of curing) Lighting System - (DIY LED plus brackets to hold T8 lights in hood) NSW Collection - live within 20mins of both the Muriwai coastline and the Kaipara Harbour. Figure it should be easy enough to take a tinny out to the ramp, run a k or so offshore with the high tide and fill 8 or 10 50l plastic drums (enough for a 10% weekly water change for 2 months), run home fill a couple 200l barrels and repeat on the same day, so should only have to make the trip 3/4 times a year (bout the same number of times we go out fishing). Should save myself bout $1000 I figure over the year doing it this way. NO EXPENSE SPARED: - refractometer - test kits - heating - powerheads/current (aim 15x turnover) - Seeding materials (want pink, green and purple corraline in abundance and a buttload of mini critters living in the rockwork) - Food (frozen home prepared veg/meat balls of some sort plus storebought something, figure that out later lol) HARDSCAPE: Im going for a 100 gallon start size to make keeping control of the parameters easier. Tanks almost a cube - 90x80x60cm - havent decided to set it up mid wall or in a corner yet (experience anyone, whats best for viewing? :dunno: ). Wanna create a bunch of arches and bridges throughout the tank - less a pile of rocks on the ground and more a 3 deep layer of different shaped arcs, twists etc through the air - ? PVC piping. drilled holes and cable ties aplenty should pull off what I have in mind. Also plan to create fake high light corals ie thick branchy formations and fans with different textures from DIY rock mixture and attempt to multicolour them with corraline algaes. Figure its a long term solution to the mega upgrade to MH/full LED (plus power bills) required to actually grow these corals. Bummer bout no anenomes tho So! :yaw1: For now, im collecting the tank and starting my DIY rock next week. Feeling much better bout it all seeing it written up properly! If theres anything painfully obvious about this whole setup that ive missed out, please let me know so I can factor it in before I get too far into this! Tho itl be a long slow process. Sweet. Done. Peace. :bounce: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted January 10, 2013 Report Share Posted January 10, 2013 :spop: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peaceNchaos Posted January 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2013 Decided to go with an overhead refugium containing a RDSB, a sponge/featherduster chamber and extra live rock chamber since Ive got an odd shaped tank spare (18cm wide and 40 tall) - ill run this tank with one small light fixture on an opposite schedule to the main tank. Havent got the dimensions sorted yet but heres my concept drawings of how the stand will work - gonna have a builder mate look it over before the build. http://s1356.beta.photobucket.com/user/ ... sort=3&o=2 http://s1356.beta.photobucket.com/user/ ... sort=3&o=3 http://s1356.beta.photobucket.com/user/ ... sort=3&o=0 Sweet. Peace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peaceNchaos Posted January 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2013 None of thats to scale btw lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted January 13, 2013 Report Share Posted January 13, 2013 I might have missed it but I can find no mention of a heater nor chiller. The heater is not a major extra cost on your list but a chiller will be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peaceNchaos Posted January 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2013 Cheers, Ill be adding a couple small heaters. Just gotta figure out (im sure researching more will find the answer) wether its safe to keep both heaters in the sump (which ill be adding to my system now, bought a different tank which isnt tempered so I can drill overflows) or wether one in the sump and one in the DT is preferable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted January 15, 2013 Report Share Posted January 15, 2013 both in the sump should be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted January 15, 2013 Report Share Posted January 15, 2013 you can 1 in each that way if pump stops for any reason tank still has heat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peaceNchaos Posted January 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2013 Yea that sounds safer to me, and still adds up to one less power cord in the DT so im happy with that. Now Ive been offered glass enough for free to make myself a 160Lx70Wx40H Display tank, this is just under the 6 foot mark mentioned everywhere as the minimum length tank in which to keep Tangs - does the extra width of the tank mean that the half foot or so im missing of tank would be less important? Or is the whole 6 feet minimum TRULY the absolute minimum? Right now, If I build this tank myself, then by adding a 230l sump (picked up $50, was gonna be my display tank till now) and an above tank refugium of bout 100l, id have a 200gal/800l system, does this affect my ability to keep a tang despite the display tanks size? I know theyre quite difficult to keep, and would leave it as one of my last additions - just wanna know now if I should plan around one or not. Im guessing not, but keen to try, long as im not imposing a death sentence on the poor fish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disgustipated Posted January 16, 2013 Report Share Posted January 16, 2013 there are no rules, just guidelines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peaceNchaos Posted January 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2013 Certainly sounds like my kinda philosophy! Im just gonna binge search the words 'tang tank size' and see Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peaceNchaos Posted January 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2013 Dont worry - dont wanna get one and have it disease my other fish coz its stressed. no Tang (sigh) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marinefish4life Posted January 16, 2013 Report Share Posted January 16, 2013 i have 3 tangs in a 4 foot, scopas,blue and kole. only the blue got ich on introductio. we just rode it out and he eventually came fine :dnc1: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marinefish4life Posted January 16, 2013 Report Share Posted January 16, 2013 since your tank is wide, you may be able to have a zebrasoma (yellow tang etc) or bristletooth tang (kole tang etc) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoon Posted January 16, 2013 Report Share Posted January 16, 2013 should probably ditch the carbon and use GFO or /and purigen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peaceNchaos Posted January 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2013 since your tank is wide, you may be able to have a zebrasoma (yellow tang) Best news ive had today! Assumed they were the same size as the 'dori' tangs, but 8" is sweet! should probably ditch the carbon and use GFO or /and purigen Shot, ill look into it LEGENDS! :bounce: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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