aer0 Posted April 13, 2013 Report Share Posted April 13, 2013 Posted the last one without knowing people couldn't reply... ooops Hey all I just got this tank as a kickoff to marine keeping while I do the build I spoke about in my other thread. So I managed to score this Fluval Edge tank including heater, lighting and stock HOB filter for sub $100 on trademe. Ive already purchased LED replacement bulbs to get rid of the current halogen's, the LED's are much much better! I still plan to put in a couple of LED strip lights, probably one deep blue and some extra white ones pointing further out to the edges to get more light out there. I collected some NSW and have also bought a bottle of Puredue RO water from countdown, I premixed this to achieve an SG of 1025 then added to the tank. At the moment im using the standard HOB filter with a bit of filter floss shoved in to get the "crud" out, ive also got a small bag of tuzine activated carbon in there. The heater is in and set at 25, not shown in the photo is the small powerhead im using for water-movement, its just a little one im on the look out for something bigger. I went to the LFS today and bought some live rock, thanks to Craig at the LFS for all the help and info I bought 2.3 kg so thats 10% of the tank size in LR but im going to go bag tomorrow and get another chunk as I think it looks a little bare in there. Looks like a large snail on one chunk of rock and a bunch of little ones (around 15) im not sure what else has hitched a ride, will give it some time and see what comes out! No sand yet, im waiting for the crud to settle so I can vacuum it up, im then going to buy some coral sand to lay a good base in the tank. I do have spare silica sand at home but advice from Craig is to not go for silica sand as that may encourage diatoms? Enough talking, photos time! Next steps are to let things settle in this week, get a bit more rock in there then next weekend ill take a water sample, make sure things are on track... If Im showing ammonia or nitrite ill leave it to settle, if im showing nothing ill introduce some ammonia to the tank to kick it off. once all levels settle down and im 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite with a little nitrate then it will be coral time.. or can i add a hardy soft coral while its cycling in? Cheers Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reptilez Posted April 13, 2013 Report Share Posted April 13, 2013 Wait until it has cycled before you put any coral in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aer0 Posted April 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2013 Understood, ill keep waiting till cycle looks good. Looks like the LR I picked up has a few small aptasia on it grrrr... so ill have to look into getting rid of that, i see some people use a chemical and inject it into the mouth, others suggest boiling RO water, others suggest either a copperband or peppermint shimp... not sure what way ill go. There were also some snails and a few tiny little invert looking things that skim around on the tank floor that hitched a ride, from what I understand they are all good though. The heat stayed nice and stable at 25 all weekend so im pretty happy with that but ill still be getting a backup heater just incase. Reading more regarding silica sand its really not a good idea so ill be getting some crushed croal sand this week to lay a nice base in the tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabid Posted April 15, 2013 Report Share Posted April 15, 2013 At this stage in your tanks life you can just blowtorch off the api with a warehouse pencil blowtorch. Mine hasnt returned in the 6 months since I did it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aer0 Posted April 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2013 Ahhh wise thinking dude! ive got a gas soldering iron with blowtorch attachment that would be spot on as i can contain the burn area nicely... thanks for the suggestion. Ive spotted 3 small ones so ill burn all the little suckers and hope they die off! Picking up another bit of LR on the way home tonight, ill try score a few extra snails or similar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aer0 Posted April 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2013 Alright so Ive just put the tank back together after taking out my LR to torch the Aiptasia! Ive re-arranged the rock now, what are your thoughts. I also noticed a few of the LED's have died already in my replacement bulbs, Ill email the company I bought them from, I hope this wont be an ongoing issue Rockscape From the top down Mr Turbo Snail This is my lighting issue.. you can see it best in the reflection of the LED's The left and the right, its missing about 6 LED's. 4 from the middle and 2 in the outer ring Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted April 15, 2013 Report Share Posted April 15, 2013 I also noticed a few of the LED's have died already in my replacement bulbs, Ill email the company I bought them from, I hope this wont be an ongoing issue Did you get them from the place I mentioned in my thread? Have you protected them from the water / water vapor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aer0 Posted April 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2013 Did you get them from the place I mentioned in my thread? Have you protected them from the water / water vapor? Double yes... Yeah i got the LED's from CM LED And yes I made a perspex lid for the tank opening that protected the globes from evap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aer0 Posted April 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2013 A couple of quick macro shots... My friend turbosnail... I actually discovered two of these not one like I thought... bonus! And some pretty rock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aer0 Posted April 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2013 Alright, tank has been running for 2 weeks now, I think im in the middle of a minicycle... ammonia is 0 but small trace of nitrite and nitrate. Im loosing a small amount of water to evap, around 100ml/week and my SG went up to about 1026 but adding RO water and its back to 1025. Apisasia seems to have come back so the LR will be coming back out this week for some more gas burner action. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aer0 Posted April 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2013 I have a waterflow question. Currently I have a small power head in the tank, its the pump end of a small filter and is rated at 200l/h this is just shy of 10x the tank volume every hour. from reading online we really want a minimum of 10x the tank volume per hour to better simulate the natural environment. Ive recently got my mitts on a sunsun waver 2000, this is "rated" at 2000l/h so that works out to exactly 83.3 times the tank volume every hour. Is this too much and going to cause unwanted damage to the coral and fish that will call my tank home? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reuben.a Posted April 22, 2013 Report Share Posted April 22, 2013 it will almost definitely be too much flow for the tank, its annoying trying to find wavemakers for small nanos, i need one aswel haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reuben.a Posted April 22, 2013 Report Share Posted April 22, 2013 the aquaone morays are pretty good for smaller tanks...there is a 600lph model which could work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aer0 Posted April 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2013 ok thanks dude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted April 22, 2013 Report Share Posted April 22, 2013 I have a waterflow question. Currently I have a small power head in the tank, its the pump end of a small filter and is rated at 200l/h this is just shy of 10x the tank volume every hour. from reading online we really want a minimum of 10x the tank volume per hour to better simulate the natural environment. Ive recently got my mitts on a sunsun waver 2000, this is "rated" at 2000l/h so that works out to exactly 83.3 times the tank volume every hour. Is this too much and going to cause unwanted damage to the coral and fish that will call my tank home? I don't think 83 times would be too much if you can distribute it well. The problem is that you probably can't, not easily anyway. You'll end up with a single strong jet where you want a lot of diffuse flow everywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aer0 Posted May 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2013 ok so Ive got a 600l/h in the mail on its way it should arrive tomorrow. I also added some livestock yesterday, my first Coral and fish. The Zoa is just small covering a bit of rock but ive placed it in there under good light The Clown is a Clarkii, around 3.5 cm long so still small Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reptilez Posted May 1, 2013 Report Share Posted May 1, 2013 You do realise Clarkii Clownfish can get over 12cm's ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aer0 Posted May 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2013 yup and by the time its grown a wee bit my 400l will be setup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reptilez Posted May 1, 2013 Report Share Posted May 1, 2013 yup and by the time its grown a wee bit my 400l will be setup Sounds like a great plan! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aer0 Posted May 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2013 even 400l might be a bit small for a fish of that size.... more ammo for me to go bigger when i show the wife that my fish are too big for my tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reptilez Posted May 2, 2013 Report Share Posted May 2, 2013 400l is a nice size :ton: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aer0 Posted May 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 28, 2013 So i know im pretty new to everything marine, I appear to be learning the hard way... it looks like my one and only startup coral is a bit sick looking.... this "was" a nicely coloured green zoa, can anyone suggest whats happening to it? have I got insufficient light or bad water? Im doing 20% water changes once a week due to only having stock filter running on this tank. am using NSW as you can see it has some weird white looking spots on each head... the heads all open each morning when the lights come on and close at night so all active just not looking well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wellydave Posted May 29, 2013 Report Share Posted May 29, 2013 those came from the pet center yeah? i have the same ones the greens and browns mine also have white in the middle but are more green but they change day to day ive noticed and they are quick growing and hardy as all hell i had them on one piece of rock for less than a week and they had already started spreading onto the rock being that i didnt want them there i pulled them off and moved the colony to the sand bed there was one left attached to the rock looked sick as and 2 weeks later is still going great guns haha opens right up and has a huge head on it good starter corals dont worry to much about the white in the center as i said mine have the same and are going mental Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aer0 Posted May 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2013 thanks Wellydave, yeah you are spot on.. i got them from petcentre in Lower Hutt Im glad its not just me or something im doing wrong then... I wonder if its going to get any better or any other Zoa's i put in will go the same way. here are a couple more photos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aer0 Posted May 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2013 Is there such a thing at too much light? At the moment im running the two MR11 LED array's during the day but they switch off at night. Ive just purchased three small LED arrays 2xblue and 1xwhite to add to the lighting and run some night lighting in the tank... Ive also bought 2 UV led's i was thinking of adding to make the coral "pop" if you know what i mean... is this a good or bad idea? what i was planning on is having the following running during the day 2x MR11 LED arrays's as displayed earlier in thread 2x blue LED strip lights 1x white LED strip light 2x UV single LED's for "pop" factor then between 9pm and 8am it would just be 1x blue LED strip lights 1x white LED strip light 2x UV single LED's for "pop" factor or should i have less at night, remove the UV's at night or all together? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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