Falcon's Magnifica Cube.

Ok so this tank has skipped 2012,maybe it was afraid of the mayans predictions about the end of the world or something :p

Anyway what basically happened is that my back pane was beginning to crack at the overflow area due to touching my wall (its an odd dimpled kinda wall almost like a rough cast type finish) just a small crack but since i have a kid running around the flat these days I decided not to take a chance so around march last year I disassembled the tank to send it in for bright polishing while it was getting the back replaced and rebuilt the entire tank.

Due to time constraints and the fact that I decided to take a break i was basically just running a sump only for the most part of last year with a few hermits,two clowns,a damsel and the gbta.The anemone took a bit of a beating and I'll have to work hard to get him back into shape but I'm pretty confident that he will recover completely.


Tank came back two weeks ago rebuilt and its now finished a lot better and is rimless.Just hoping I wont have fish jump out but if i ever do then i will re-add the eurobracing.

Last week I finally installed a cabinet but the space for opening doors and accessing the tank is very limited so I had to basically make a clip on system which looks neat and understated with no handles but when you need access you have complete unlimited access which makes it very easy to work in the sump area.

Atleast now the wires are hidden from crispins prying eyes!
 
Filling it up again...er ignore the hanger lol was to try to get a pipe into the overflow much to the wifes discontent :tt2:
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Empty tank
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Scaping left...decided to move the whole scaping closer to this side since i hardly ever view the tank from here which is the dining room side,i normally see it from the lounge so fish will have more swimming space in lounge side of tank.
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Front scape
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Side scape
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Cabinet complete,need to sort out the light bleed from the sump maybe with a strip of plastic or something.I did not have space to make doors without hindering my space when i need to work in the sump so I basically made the entire panels removable with pieces of board for them to rest on at the bottom and clips on the top sections to keep them in place yet look neat.In fact thats a theme I try to carry out throughout the tank since I hate pumps and wires etc being seen in a tank.
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Playsand substrate getting blown away by the 12000lph duals,Ive since added aragonite but it also gets blown away so will have to get divertors for the pump unfortunately.Oh well atleast most of the pump will still be hidden.
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LOOKING very smart bud
 
Thanks express and nadeem,its a relief to finally have done my cabinet and I neatened up my wiring yesterday while doing the auto temperature controller and fan setup.
 
I think an update is long overdue...the tank is a FOWLR for now although all the equipment is reef ready(dosers.lighting flow etc).

I have had two sever cases of whitespot in this tank which wiped out thousands of rands of some hard to source fish so over the last 8 months I've been stocking the tank with a few select fish that I like and have kept the salinity at 1.010 to eliminate any whitespot.The idea is to never introduce whitespot to the tank even via a single drop of water from other tanks or corals.Not even planning to add quarantined fish into the mix after salinity is up,its more to test the theory that whitespot can be completely eliminated in saltwater aquariums by using hypo.

There are just one or two more fish I am looking for one of which is a healthy powder blue which unfortunately seems to be very hard to find since November at all the lfs that I've been to in and around JHB(it needs to be small and healthy).

If anyone does see a small healthy powder blue at their local lfs please give me a shout.

I have a few unclear cellphone pics but also a video.I'll upload later today.I know my rocks have some algae but its no big deal I'll up my filtration and get all parameters with salinity closer to coral introduction in a few months time,right now I'm just enjoying my fish.
 
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Current fish list:

Decorated Rabbitfish
Emporer angel fish
Vagabundus butterfly fish
Blue faced Angel fish
A common percula clown (that lived through everything this tank has been through)
Clown trigger (smallest fish in the tank but the boss of the tank)
Clown tang
Flame angel
Lunare wrasse

And two hermits which I didn't find while removing the others when I dropped the salinity,surprisingly they are doing just fine at 1.010.
 
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how long are you planning on running the tank at that low salinity. Too long and you can risk the health on your fish. Keep that in mind.
 
RiaanP said:
how long are you planning on running the tank at that low salinity. Too long and you can risk the health on your fish. Keep that in mind.
Click to expand...

This is what I'm concerned about,possible organ failure.I've set a time line of no longer than 2 months more at hypo max so if I don't get a powder blue in this month then I may never get one since I don't want to keep the fish at hypo too long.

Do you have or seen any experience of keeping fish at hypo, what would the upper limit be?I've heard of angels being kept at hypo for up to 3,5 years so I'm wondering if we have any conclusive evidence of our fears or are we just playing it safe with no real evidence?

RiaanP said:
one in the for sale section
[FS]: Powder Blue Tang: Cresta - Marine Aquariums South Africa
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot buddy,but unfortunately you know what they say about early birds,unfortunately I didn't wake up early!Looks like it was gone in a few minutes after your post!:lol:
 
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I've seen a purple tang with HLLE due to hypo. Seems tangs are more at risk to issues due to hypo than other fish.

Just remember to bring them out of hypo a lot slower than you took them in. Raise the salinity slowly over days, do it slowly.

Yip early birds got the worm, I mean the fish...
 
RiaanP said:
I've seen a purple tang with HLLE due to hypo. Seems tangs are more at risk to issues due to hypo than other fish.

Just remember to bring them out of hypo a lot slower than you took them in. Raise the salinity slowly over days, do it slowly.

Yip early birds got the worm, I mean the fish...
Click to expand...

Ok that explains the convict tang I lost to HLLE....food was high in hufa's and I removed the carbon but it still withered away.The surprising thing is that it was in hypo for less than a month and one of the two fish I acclimatised to hypo slowly the others just went right in.

Fortunately no other fish have shown similar signs at all and they look in pristine condition including my clown tang.Yes I'm planning to raise salinity slowly over the course of a few weeks to give their kidneys time to start working properly.;)
 
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