Matt's 34G TL-550 ;)

Joined
5 Jan 2008
Posts
1,992
Reaction score
44
Location
JHB
Huge update! ;)

Alright, I was planning a possible upgrade in the future, and then this 34G just fell on my lap. And being quite fond of these all in one nano's I couldn't quite pass it up.

Here's a size comparison of my new BOYU TL-550 next to my old JBJ 24G Nano Cube. Difference is 10G (About 40L)

Poor quality pic, just for size comparison
55547f2a220927ef.jpg


Rear chambers, including skimmer on right. The horizontal piping is a temporary guard to stop my midas blenny jumping into the rear chambers
55547f2a295222eb.jpg


Skimmer was pulling clear liquid at first, but has started pulling some stuff out:
55547f2a29521555.jpg


Tank is lightly stocked (1 midas blenny and 2 clowns, then some CUC) so I didn't expect skimmate to look too brown
55547f2a2952079f.jpg


PC Lighting (hopefully upgrading soon)
55547f2a2951d2eb.jpg
 
Ok onto the FTS, felt like I had a lot more rock in my old tank! (i've got another nice big piece of LR curing in a friends tank)
55547f2a22093db4.jpg


RHS of aquascape:
55547f2a220954b2.jpg


LHS of aquascape:
55547f2a2209492a.jpg


Tried to keep the scaping quite open:
55547f2a22085ae1.jpg


Onto a few new corals:

Blue zoos (some GSP attached, might scrape it off the zoos)
55547f2a22091c53.jpg


Some GSP (I know they grow like weed but I really like them)
55547f2a295162df.jpg
 
Got another blue/purple mushroom
55547f2a2951ea2c.jpg


New red mushroom
55547f2a2951f85d.jpg


Fragged my pink zoos
55547f2a2951de2c.jpg


Found these green zoos under the rockwork:
55547f2a220978fd.jpg


Some older coral:

These zoos were bleached as soon as I put them in, they're starting to colour up slowly
55547f2a2951bc32.jpg
 
Green zoos look happy
55547f2a22096be8.jpg


Hitch hiker paly's grown so much in the 2 months i've had them
55547f2a2209605e.jpg



One last question, I basically put in new substrate (seeded with a bit of old) and i've noticed this growing. Is this diatomes or do I need a sand sifter to clean my substrate?
55547f2a22093299.jpg
 
Thats it for now folks ;) Sorry about some of the photos being quite poor quality. It's nice to have the extra 40L, little as it may be
 
Nice one Matt, You have some serious height there now.

Corals are looking really healthy
 
Way cool! Livestock looking great! I have the same tank. You may want to:

1. Keep the feeding flap open constantly, to prevent overheating (mine hit 29C regularly with the flap closed, but sits at a steady 26C now).

2. Seal up the filter inlet gates at the back right - they leak and prevent the surface from skimming properly through the top gate.

I'll send some photo's of mine some time soon.
 
Quinton: I run a chiller so temps pretty constant 24-25C.

How did you seal up the gates? ;) You got a tank thread?
 
Looking really good Matt :thumbup:

Don't worry about the diatoms, you've probably got a little mini cycle going on with the new substrate, it'll go away in a week or two.
 
Quinton: I run a chiller so temps pretty constant 24-25C.

How did you seal up the gates? ;) You got a tank thread?

I've not yet actually gotten around to sealing up my gates, as it's a bit of a PITA - ideally one needs to drain the tank to do it properly. I guess that PVC Weld would probably be the best. Cyanoacrylate (sp?)/superglue might also work.

Here's my tank thread:

Quinton's new (and somewhat empty) Nano - Marine Aquariums of South Africa

Quite out of date - I'll try to update it this weekend with some fresh photies. I've been lucky enough to get lots of new livestock in the past few weeks :slayer:
 
Bought 2 purple firefish! They've been in the tank a day now and are much happier! Both eating so thats a great sign. Getting chased by the clowns here and there but nothing serious. Both seem to be getting along and hanging out together so hopefully there won't be any problems.

Please excuse the out of focus cell phone pics, folks on holiday with my camera.

5554804f77518cd1.jpg


Check the damn diatoms! Been here for the last 2 weeks (since I moved over to the new tank) used brand new substrate. When will the algae go?

5554804f7751b496.jpg


5554804f7751a7bd.jpg
 
Got the same tank as you, I see you run your water quite high, which I like as you can't see the water line, but don't you find your skimmer sits too low in the water?
What fillter midia do you run?
 
I have my skimmer in the 1st chamber, and if you look on the grey rim (where the skimmer cup joins the body) there's a piece that slots onto the inlet bits of the rear compartment.

If my water level gets too low then I find the skimmer doesn't work properly! So keep the water level up ;)
 
Mine is the same but with the water that high dont you find that the cup sits very low in the water? or does the skimmer work better that way?
Like your chiller how many L/H is it and where did you put your inlets and out lets for it
 
I find that the neck of the cup is in the water but the skimmer works better that way. skims a bit wetter but creates a good skimmate.

It is a Haelia 130A chiller. Rated for up to 300L. Driven by an Atlas1200 that sits in my one rear chamber. pipe goes from rear chamber straight out back (through one of the big holes in back of hood already there) to chiller then back and into my main display (so cools the water and helps improve flow in the tank)

Also by having 2 pumps in the rear chambers theres better flow from the display into the rear.

Chamber 1 - skimmer
Chamber 2 - live rock rubble
Chamber 3 - Atlass 1200 - pumps to chiller - back into main display
Chamber 4 - stock pump and UV filter.
 
Sound like a good idear. When I first got my tank I put a 1000l/h pump in the 4th chamber under the standard pump (to inprove flow) but I found that the chambers could not keep up with the flow and ran quite low so I removed it, maybe it will be better with more water in the tank.
Where is your heater dont see it in the pics, mine is in the 3rd chamber.
 
Back
Top Bottom