Willie's setup

[wvanzyl]

Hi Guys

After several visits to the LFS to view the Boyu TL-550 which I was interested in I made a decision to rather try and find something second hand. After a couple of days searching I found and purchased the following:
Tank and Sump
Amazon 150 tank. 1500x800x500 (LxHxW)

Sump 1200x400x330 (LxHxW) in cabinet


As you can see from the above the cabinet needs replacement as it is swolen quite a bit from all the waterdamp

Light
Hopar 1.5m with 4 x 35W tubes, 3 of which is blue and 1 white.

The light needs a bit of TLC. I need the perspex cover that protects the tubes from waterdamp as well as the supports that will allow one to mount the light on the tank. Any idea where I will be able to source these "missing" parts?

Skimmer
Noname with an AquaH2O APH8000 180W Powerhead


UV Light
Atman UV36W with an AquaH2O ASP1000 12W Powerhead


Pumps
AquaH2O ASP1000 12W Powerhead
AquaH2O ASP3000 40W Powerhead

One of the fins on the impeller for the ASP3000 is broken therefore that needs replacement. Any idea where I can source that from?

Submersible equipment
Degentao S-M DGHL-1540-9W submersible lamp (what is the function of this lamp?)
AquaH2O AT380 300W Heater
AquaH2O 300W Heater


I also got the above with some test kits, loads of bio balls, some LR, crushed coral etc.

As you can see from the above I have my work cut out for me. Although I need to repair a couple of things I think I found what I was looking for at quite a reasonable price as well......

I will keep you all posted as to my progress.

WvZ

[Warr7207]

May need some work, but you have a good start there. Good luck

[sean_koekemoer]

Nice to see a fellow reefer starting up Willie. Good luck and keep us posted. I bet you cannot wait to assemble everything. You know that now is the time when you start lying to the betterhalf about prices of Corals and Fish....

[gaboon]

Good on you for going bigger! That skimmer looks like a weirpro. What you planning on keeping?

[Brucemg]

Some exciting times lying ahead, all the best and as they all say keep us posted especially with pics

[wvanzyl]

Thanks for the info on the skimmer gaboon. Ultimately I want to build a nice reef tank but I am planning on starting out with some soft corals first then I will build up from there. I am itching to get the tank sorted so that I can get started with the cycle.

[Mekaeel]

congrats on a new setup
ditch the UV,something thats not all that necessary

[jacquesb]

Hi Willie - AWESOME man - now this is actually a FAR better bet than the nano....

Yeah - needs some attention, but nothing a little bit of sweat cannot sort out :-)

The skimmer is definitely a WeiPro (SA-2013) skimmer.... Not too bad. You can safely keep some NICE soft-corals with only this skimmer.
Once you want to keep more fish, or more advanced corals, I would want to suggest that you upgrade the skimmer to perhaps as ReefTek TS2 or ReefOctopus skimmer....

This is perfect for a start.

Only one thing - the lighting - is perfect for a FISH ONLY system, but won't cut it for a soft-coral system. The reason I say that, is that you would need to "swop" the amount of white lights and blue lights...
So, then, either go for 2 whites and 2 blues (minimum) or even 3 whites and 1 blue...

I know that Aqua Concepts deal with Hopar lighting units, so, perhaps they can get you spares?

I am not sure if Liaquat (AQuality) deals with Hopar units - perhaps ask him as well (he is a sponsor here on MASA)....

[HenkHugo]

the owners of AquaH2o is fighting a battle to stay out of pollsmore at the moment... so they arent brining in any stock at the moment and theres not spare as such for these light units. its a throw away thing... it breaks, throw it away

[Mekaeel]

Originally Posted by HenkHugo

the owners of AquaH2o is fighting a battle to stay out of pollsmore at the moment... so they arent brining in any stock at the moment and theres not spare as such for these light units. its a throw away thing... it breaks, throw it away

highly doubt it will be that difficult to repair ourselves though.pretty sure all the components are straight forward?ie ballast,wiring,fuses holders etc...

[jacquesb]

Willie - a fellow reefer have converted the exact same lighting unit you have, to a unit that you can indeed use.

I believe that those globes are 34 watt's each. Which is a LITTLE bit on the low side for the tank you bought. Taking into account that the tank is VERY deep.... Usually, reefers with such deep tanks have a WHOLE bank of 54 watt T5's over the tank (at leat 8 or 12 even), or more likely to have 2 x metal halides over the tank.

Not that I am saying that should now go out and get this.

As I said before - the lighting unit should be more than OK - IF you want to start with a Fish Only tank (FOWLR).....

You can always convert the lighting unit, as a fellow reefer (Alfie) has done. Perhaps PM Alfie to get the details from him on how exactly he did it. I know that Alfie added "standard" 54 watt balasts to each unit (2 balasts per Hopar Unit), and am now using true 54 watt globes in the unit (4 x 54 watt is FAR better than 4 x 34 watt units).....

[jacquesb]

Also - you can always make the light unit "ceiling mounted" - hang them from the ceiling, instead of trying to have the unit stand on top of the tank....

[HenkHugo]

Originally Posted by Mekaeel

highly doubt it will be that difficult to repair ourselves though.pretty sure all the components are straight forward?ie ballast,wiring,fuses holders etc...

nope... its got these little green boards for balasts......

[wvanzyl]

Geez.....Thanks for all the info guys. It really is reassuring to know there are people out there willing to assist beginners like me.
Sounds like I will have to convert or upgrade the light unit but that is not my first priority, for now I want to source a new cabinet, if that fails I need to build a stand that will hold the +- 700kg. Then while I cycle the tank I can work on the lights and a nice looking cabinet.
Is the UV light overkill or does it do more harm than good?

[Warr7207]

Originally Posted by wvanzyl

Geez.....Thanks for all the info guys. It really is reassuring to know there are people out there willing to assist beginners like me.
Sounds like I will have to convert or upgrade the light unit but that is not my first priority, for now I want to source a new cabinet, if that fails I need to build a stand that will hold the +- 700kg. Then while I cycle the tank I can work on the lights and a nice looking cabinet.
Is the UV light overkill or does it do more harm than good?

Great idea, get the tank up and running and get the cycle sorted.

Keep in mind that a budget of at least R 2500.00 for some simple soft coral lighting (t5) when the time comes around.

[viper357]

Nice start Willie, with a bit of blood, sweat and tears you can make this a stunning system.

I agree with Jacques, if you are not going to upgrade the lighting anytime soon then rather try and change the tubes to 3 white and 1 blue, you will need to do this to keep the corals alive and happy.

Impellors are available for your pumps, I managed to get a spare one for mine, just ask one of your local fish shops if they can order one for you, I paid R75 for an impellor for my big pump, I think it was also a 3000 model.

UV - 50/50 on the use of UV, some guys use it some don't, I use one although I'm not sure if I need it, if you got it you might as well use it, perhaps put it on a timer so it runs on 8 hourly cycles, i.e. 8 hours on, 8 hours off.

That underwater light you have, I think it might be one of those they use mostly in freshwater systems where it adds colour to the tank (pimp my tank comes to mind ), we don't use them, I like the idea of a reef tank to be as natural as possible and to have some obscure pink or blue light glowing in the middle of the tank somewhere just won't look good in my opinion.

Otherwise, good luck with your new venture, keep us updated and ask any questions you may have.

[wvanzyl]

Thanks for your input Viper357. I found that underwater light in the sump. Reading through some of the other posts I noticed that some guys do have lights in their sumps.

[Mike]

Looks a good tank - 2nd hand too now, how about some better pics of the bike - just to keep us entertained until you sort the tank out.

[Ocean]

I would say to get the cycle started replace all the bioballs with crushed LR and get a deep sand bed with some sugar size sand grain(oolitic aragonite or Reggies playsand) then when your tank goes up you wont have to wait as long as your pod and bacteria will already have start.

So remove ALL bioballs/cement rings as they are nitrate factory and you will regret it later and put in some smashed up Kenya live rock as this has good pods and bacteria and will seed the tank and DSB

Take a sealed area with only the top showing so the water goes over the sand not threw it, then take sand and fill it up to the 12-15cm mark with oolitic aragonit or reggies play sand( this must be sugar grain size)The sand must not be distured at all.

Test the parameters like ammonia nitite nitrate phospate witha desent test kit(not a stipe test) like Sera(if your on a tight budget) Tropic marin ext.

Get a light (energy saver bulb or 24w t5 depending on budget) in the sump for the pods(leave it on all the time) and try and get some macro algea like cheoto from a fellow reefer

Try with your sump to get some skim mate from the skimmer(bloody hard because of the quality)

And last try and get someone or visit some one that can help you(not LFS)

Hope this goes well and i dont mind if you challenge my opion(but do it online so we can advise you) and set the tank up slowly and i hope that all goes well

[Neil H]

I hve just had a rather nice metal stand made for my tank out of 50mm square tubing .... pm me and I can send you the details of the engineering company I used !