So I have been dreaming about doing this since I was a little kid. Always thought it was too difficult and expensive, but finally took the plunge and I think I can say I am pretty much addicted. Spent a lot of of very late nights reading various forums and check out lots of YouTube clips on how the whole deal works.
Had a 100l bow front set up for 2 weeks and quickly decided I need to go bigger. So my current setup is a 240l DT (120x45x45), 60l sump and 40l dedicated refugium with different species of some caulerpa and some local macro algaes. Collected some rock from the sea that seems very porous and does the trick. Some live and some I dried out to kill aiptasia. No fish yet, just clean up crew and some star fish at the moment. Heading down to Cape Town for 2 weeks tomorrow, so waiting till the tank is settled nicely and I can give more attention before I add fish. (House mate checking after the tank for that time).
I like the whole vibe of having a marine planted tank so I got some sea grass and some sponge pieces of the rocks and small pieces of other stuff I found here. Anyone have any experience in this area. Will eventually do some softies, but don't think I'll do much more than that. Haha, but we'll see about that one. Have got one local coral. I believe it is a gorgonian twig coral. Looking great and polyps opening up very well.
Lighting is an odysea t5 unit, the 60cm one with two tubes. One 1000k and an actinic. I am looking at getting something with a bit more oomph, but got this one with my bowfront that I paid R300 for! So that one might go to my office soon.
Skimmer I am running a Berlin air lift 60, which is working supprisingly well. Modified a bit with a bigger wooden airstone, good air pump and have it set higher than the indicated water line, otherwise it fills up in 2 minutes. So getting a good medium dry skim.
Have a 1000l/h return pump which I will upgrade eventually. And a 3000l/h sunsun power head. Got a Jebao RW8 and RW4 coming which I bought second hand from a guy for a steal, including a reactor, which I will probably only use for carbon.
I'm in Jeffreys Bay, so drop me a pm if you are in the area, would love to chat and pick your brain a bit on the setup.
Here are some pics.
My refugium. Got tons of copedpods already and macro algae growing under a 10w LED flood light. Seems to do the job very well. I seem to be getting what seems like cyano growth on the one species. Scared this might block out some of the light it needs. Any ideas how to prevent this. There is quite low flow.
My workspace behind the tank before any wiring was done. Got my UPS and all my plugs here and store all the other equipment here.
Still busy with the cabinet. Needing some doors at the bottom and cover at the top still.
Cool star fish i found in the rock pools. Hope it is kind to my fish that will come.
The Gorgonian twig. Extending very nicely. Found it with all other kinds of stuff growing on it and looked like it was being smothered. So I cleaned it up, cut of some ends and it's doing well.
If you got any advice, feel free. If I am doing anything obviously stupid. Please let me know! Will appreciate some good feedback.
Had a 100l bow front set up for 2 weeks and quickly decided I need to go bigger. So my current setup is a 240l DT (120x45x45), 60l sump and 40l dedicated refugium with different species of some caulerpa and some local macro algaes. Collected some rock from the sea that seems very porous and does the trick. Some live and some I dried out to kill aiptasia. No fish yet, just clean up crew and some star fish at the moment. Heading down to Cape Town for 2 weeks tomorrow, so waiting till the tank is settled nicely and I can give more attention before I add fish. (House mate checking after the tank for that time).
I like the whole vibe of having a marine planted tank so I got some sea grass and some sponge pieces of the rocks and small pieces of other stuff I found here. Anyone have any experience in this area. Will eventually do some softies, but don't think I'll do much more than that. Haha, but we'll see about that one. Have got one local coral. I believe it is a gorgonian twig coral. Looking great and polyps opening up very well.
Lighting is an odysea t5 unit, the 60cm one with two tubes. One 1000k and an actinic. I am looking at getting something with a bit more oomph, but got this one with my bowfront that I paid R300 for! So that one might go to my office soon.
Skimmer I am running a Berlin air lift 60, which is working supprisingly well. Modified a bit with a bigger wooden airstone, good air pump and have it set higher than the indicated water line, otherwise it fills up in 2 minutes. So getting a good medium dry skim.
Have a 1000l/h return pump which I will upgrade eventually. And a 3000l/h sunsun power head. Got a Jebao RW8 and RW4 coming which I bought second hand from a guy for a steal, including a reactor, which I will probably only use for carbon.
I'm in Jeffreys Bay, so drop me a pm if you are in the area, would love to chat and pick your brain a bit on the setup.
Here are some pics.
My refugium. Got tons of copedpods already and macro algae growing under a 10w LED flood light. Seems to do the job very well. I seem to be getting what seems like cyano growth on the one species. Scared this might block out some of the light it needs. Any ideas how to prevent this. There is quite low flow.
My workspace behind the tank before any wiring was done. Got my UPS and all my plugs here and store all the other equipment here.
Still busy with the cabinet. Needing some doors at the bottom and cover at the top still.
Cool star fish i found in the rock pools. Hope it is kind to my fish that will come.
The Gorgonian twig. Extending very nicely. Found it with all other kinds of stuff growing on it and looked like it was being smothered. So I cleaned it up, cut of some ends and it's doing well.
If you got any advice, feel free. If I am doing anything obviously stupid. Please let me know! Will appreciate some good feedback.