Lactimar's small ocean

Joined
22 May 2013
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Location
Tsitsikamma EC
Hey guys. So I have been out of the hobby for a couple of years but decided its time for me to get back into it. Been trolling the forum and checking everyone's systems and made me long for my own one again.

So a bit of background. I started my first marine tank in 2011. First year at University in Bloemfontein. Not alot of money available as it gets used up for other things. Luckily I met an awesome reefer there by the name of Jon Goetsch. He helped me out alot and was always generous with frags and advice. So stupid as I was and over eager I got a Boyu tl450 which I quickly realised wasn't going to cut it. Jon and I built myself a 1m tank that I ran for 2 years. Unfortunately no pics.

So in 2015 University and all the fun is done I moved back to the farm located in the Tsitsikamma, Eastern Cape. Now it was easier for me to start a tank at home and just transfer all the livestock to that tank than moving the whole thing down from Bloem. Yet again Jon baby sat my livestock for 3 months and brought it down to me. What a champ. So I had a 1.5m tank which looked like this:
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So that was the setup on the farm. The cube was added at a later stage as I had this awesome toby that I caught. Yes I had the right permits etc. I was just to found of him but he ate the corals i put in the tank, only certain ones, so he got his own little home.

August of 2015 I got the opportunity to go work in America on big machines. It always was a dream of mine to go work there. Parents didn't want to look after the tank for me so I had to sell it.
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So that was my love for machines adventure all done. I came back to the farm full time and started taking over from my dad. I started up a small cube because I already craved the salty side again
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Not 100% understanding the amount of work going into a dairy farm of 2500 cows I soon realised it and couldnt get to the tank as I wanted to.
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The area where i stay and some farm pics.

So now a full year and a half later. With alot of projects on the farm to grow and improve...
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I built a new dairy on the one farm.

im finally there for my next tank. Since im all settled in and not moving house for a few years and not going away for work again.

So the tank has been ordered. Looking at a 150x70x60 tank with polished edges and clear silicone. Watermark aquariums aka Cecil will be building it in Port Elizabeth. External overflow box. Will look something like this:
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1.2m overflow with return lines on either side. I want a clean and neat look so will be lockline returns inside the tank.
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Sump will have filtersock, bubble magus curve 7 skimmer. Might upgrade that to a curve 9. Im a big fan of macro algea ao i have a big chamber for that. Will run waterboy carbon and some form of phos remover. Finally return pump chamber with a ATU chamber that will run the bacl length of the sump.

So that's my story. Lekker Afrikaans boertjie one at that. The name of my agricultural business is Lactimar which means milk by the sea or sea of milk. I find it very fitting for my farm as well as the name to my thread
 
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Welcome back Dian.

How far away from the sea are you and can you use the natural sea water from there?
 
Yes i am using NSW. About 8km from my house. My one farm borders on the sea.
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My collection spot. Same place where I launch my boat when we go fishing

Bud that spot is so sick. If you don't mind me asking where about is it? Im often down in the kei. Very special place
 
So guys let me hear some takes on lights and filtration. My idea on filtration:
Filtersock
Skimmer
Modified reactor to run bio cubes. Dont know how i will do it yet but want it to work
Big macro algea chamber. Im a big believer in this filtration method
Reactors with carbon and phosgaurd
Return pump

Lights im thinking 2x AI hydra 26 HDs and dual T5s.

Im open to suggestions and advise
 
So guys let me hear some takes on lights and filtration. My idea on filtration:
Filtersock
Skimmer
Modified reactor to run bio cubes. Dont know how i will do it yet but want it to work
Big macro algea chamber. Im a big believer in this filtration method
Reactors with carbon and phosgaurd
Return pump

Lights im thinking 2x AI hydra 26 HDs and dual T5s.

Im open to suggestions and advise

Sounds great.. I'm just thinking about that fact of the dairy farm.. some people use milk filters instead of filter socks.. might be cheaper
 
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