New Member - New Project

Learn to Live With It
Adam Blundell M.S.



"...As surprising as it may seem your tank will look ugly at first. This happens to all new marine aquariums as they cycle through their initial filtration phase. Your tank may go brown, and then green, and then red, and then just look junky. It happens. Consequently the one coral you really want to keep may not live. You may struggle to raise the prize fish you originally intended to acquire. It's okay; just learn to love whatever is working for you. Remember, not only is this a hobby, but we are keeping living ecosystems. Special efforts should be put forth to enjoy and appreciate what we are keeping, whatever it may be. It takes time and patience to turn a glass box full of rock into a beautiful, thriving reef tank..."

 

1, Using any type of "UV" steralizer bulbs/or in filtration devices are a bad idea, you plan on having a sand bed i would assume ( UV light will kill those neat little microscopic animals that have LOTS of beneficial uses in your live rock and actualy help feed those specialized fish.
2, i didint catch the total wattage in lights that you have ?
you'll find out most likely ' you'll be needing some metal's once you desire to keep some of the more demanding corals such as a blue maxima clam or
stony's. ie. staghorn/montapora plate , etc.
you'd be supprized at how much soft corals like and and will flurish with high intenity lighting.

2, For that size tank ( bow front ) i would place 1 sizible power head on each corner in the back wall ( Koralia makes a real good one say #'4s ? )
and maybe even a wave maker as well.

3, that closed filter system you have there , ive seen them never used them'
but heard good things , you may find that's all you need .

4, i didint hear mention of a skimmer' i suggest you look into it' , and no air pumps are needed as the skimmer will perform multible tasks such as removing , small particulars/waste and it does it by adding air to the water via a water pump combined with having some sort of air induction , which will provide pleanty of 02 for your tank.

5 i suggest no less than 3/4 inches of sand bed, (the deeper the better) you can use the regular bags provided at your local LFS, also don't use "crushed coral" it's a pain in the rear end , to many shell/coral fragments and such.

6, useing tap water is a BAD idea for any reef' , i would suggest a RO/DI
unit' there are many styles/manufactures to choose from... but the "membranes" in these units do the real work' so buy good ones.
a decent 3 or 4 stage can be purchased for around 150 to 200 clam shells.


7, Onto your wife' honeslty'.. she appears to be a real trooper and life to any party , but beware of "said" wifes there much like the MANTIS SHRIMP )
Beautiful , cunning , and dangerous to all inhabitents .
And besides once one of these "wifes" are aquired it's very hard to get rid of it, some have even been known to suck the life right out of the MALE aquariest,
So further more' I'll pass' but i do have a very attractive,cunning wife to say the least. ( slightly used by me, but she still purr's like a kitten )
Just think though ? if we got rid of those "wife" things think of how much more we could spend on our tanks ? ...LOL
I opt we/you keep our wifes though ' as i hear it's VERY detramental to a man's health.

 

1) My UV light plan is out the window !
2) I'm looking into Power heads now, 2 sounds like a good plan to me. It depends what i can get my hands on out here as everything has to be imported, some makes are not in the country.
3) I think the external filter should be fine, but i will be running two. I got one with the tank, which is crappy but i am sure i can get it to work well. You can see it on some of the pictures, it is blue. Any extra filtration can not be a bad thing in my books.
4) Skimmer is on order, it is a hook on type, slim and will fit nice behind the tank. i have a spare air hose incase it needs on ? once i know more about the skimmer i'll post a picture.
5) Noted - No crushed coral, i was going to use sand anyway.
6) I can get bottled spring water very cheap here, so might look into this, i am far away from adding water so once i am ready i'll post my options and let you all know.
7) WIFE 4 SALE !!! very expensive to run & maintain. Loves shopping and spending money !!! Moans and is always right !

I still have a way to go on the tank, i'm in no rush. I wan to do it once and get as few bugs as possible !!!

Thanks for the reply, make me smile !

 

Filter - SunSun

The filter i have is a SunSun UV filter, 35 watts, 1400 L/PH, UV Lamp 9 watts.
The tubes in the tank are also SunSun - which there are three of one small - 20 watt, one medium, one large. on the medium and large one i'll post the wattage later on as i'll need to take out the bulbs.
SunSun media as well ! as you can see from the pics.

Thats all I know !!!

 

My tank & Details

http://www.sunsun-china.com/english/ViewProduct.aspx?id=HRD-1200&kid=67&pid=58 - found my tank !
The search is over !!!

 

The wife is going shopping today , I don’t mind at all as she has my shopping list to get !! :
My skimmer box has arrived and while she is there I want her to pick up two power heads. ;D
What flow rate will be best suited ?
So all I am waiting for now is the hydro meter and a thermometer for the tank. :-/
Then I hope I can start this project off !!!
Just for those who think I am rushing into anything…. I still have a lot of work to do with the tank before adding ANY water.
1) The tank needs to be test filled and cleaned, it is really dirty ! :-/
2) Pipes and other equipment need to be test fitted, some minor adjustments need to be done to some of my equipment for it all to fit how I want it too.
One I have test fitted the equipment I will then post pictures so you can let me know if I have got anything wrong or just in the wrong place. Once all OK then I’ll secure them in place and tidy up leads and pipe work behind the tank.
But seeing that I have bugger all to do at work (can you tell :) apart from read 3reef forum’s ;D and leave for home early so I can tinker with the tank ;D, it should be ready to fill with water by Friday :-X all being well, then the waiting game till the filter has kicked in and started working.
When building Koi pond I used to get a pond start agent, add this to the pond to get the bacteria to grow more quickly within the filter systems.
When filling a salt water tank with water and adding the sand, do I then add live rock or just leave it running with the sand and water in ? Will this kick start the filter ?? If someone could give me a guide about what to add when, in what order – that would help me get my head around things.
One thing you should know is I am a planning engineer, at work I get my head around planning billion dollar construction jobs (in Dubai telling people where they have gone wrong and how to get it back on track). So I can never just stick with one thing, I’m always looking ahead to see if I have the right procurement time for an item, the right spec, installation times, etc. Everything in my life revolves around time !! Getting it right. So even though I am away from adding any water to my tank I am thinking ahead and looking to what I need to do once the time is right, i have even drawn up a plan to ensure i keep on track and dont forget to do anything !!! (How sad :-[) To ensure I have the right stuff when needed and not in the wrong order ! This helps my creat a picture in my mind on how it will phase out and how I will achive my end goal. Please don’t think I am going to rush this, I believe as with my Koi ponds time is the best thing for nature to do its work. Then you do yield the best results. But knowing the timing and steps to achieve your goal is also as important in starting up anything. God I am bored !!!

 

The wife has brought me a Jebo 180 skimmer with powerhead.
Has anyone got this protine skimmer ??? is it any good ??? How do i set it up as a hang one skimmer ??? anyone got any pics ??? I googled it and there were threads on this skimmer but no one has posted a picture of the set up ?

She did say that the shop has a limited amount of stock when it comes to this sort of thing !!! had to order another powerhead as they dont stock them.
The wife also brought me a temp gauge. One step forward another few back !!

I'll keep on pushing !!!

 

Final set up

Please find attached my final set up for the tank.
You can see the blue filter, which was the one supplied with the tank, this is a second filter which I will use.
Only thing now to add is the heater unit.

What do you think ?

 

IMO, those skimmers are a piece of chit, just like the Odyssea skimmers. Some ppl have made some mods to it and its working(so they say). I had the Odyssea PS160 and it didnt work for me. Good luck

 

Don't use a glass heater. Get a hard plastic unit. They take longer to heat, but you don't have to worry about it breaking and energizing your fish. :O)