phytotron's ocean

Joined
18 Aug 2010
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Location
Durban South Africa
hi all I thaught id put up some info on my new tank. I recently moved up to pietermaritzburg when I accepted a job here at the university. unfortunaely staying in a small bachelor flat up here didnt alow me space for my old tank so started the serch and planing for a new tank I was looking to build a cube when a 2 ft tank came up for sale on the for sale forun I negotiated and got it for a good price.

When I got it home I started converting it to a reef tank I cut an piece of glass for the overvlow and siliconed it in the corner and drilled the hole for the 40mm overflow pipe ( thanks @eric.f )

thats where the tank stood for the next few months untill exams were finished and i setled in to my new job.

fast forward to today I woke up early this morning transfered all my liverock from the tub where it has been cycling to sealable buckets fetched 2 25l drums of fresh seawater from the beach loaded it all in the bakkie and headed on up the hill and set it up in my office (I spend a lot more time there than in my flat)

all seems to be doing perfectly just need to compleate the plumbing to the sump probably tomorow and montor it for a week or to to make sure I dont get any cycles hapening shouldent as the rock was from my previous tank and had been kept at temp and with cerculation the whole time. then I can put all my sps back in that have been siting at a friends place fo the last 4 months.

cant wait to have my little piece of ocian back.

btw the ball of cheato will move to the sump once it is conected up



3631500d67b18e575.jpg
 
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Hi mupwi, glad to see your back in the game!
Will be watching... Good luck!
 
well got all my frags back in the tank and one new one hopfuly they will settle in and start growing into lice big colonys.

ls now includes

4xsps (can anyone identify them all came without details from verious shops)
1x colt coral
2x chromis
1x long spine urchin
1x snail
1 ball of cheato

the cheato will move to the sump as soon as I get around to instaling the sump light.

I also need to rebuild the hood I accedently spilt sw into one of the balasts this morning so now I only have 2x T5 and 1 T8 tube working geuse its time to break out that 150w haylide Ive been meening to build a hood for you think 1x 150w haylide and 2X 24w t5's will be too much for a 54l tank
 
good news the 2 chromis I put in yesterday have started eating much to my relief these were the only fish ive had that didnt start eating streight away
 
and here is a pic of the sump

3631502004c2e7ee3.jpg

1st chamber

jebo quadroplex skimmer with 2000l/h pump t works fairly well and I believe the bigger pump is the key.

ball of cheto behind the skimmer lit by 20w warm wight cfl lamp this is my sectet to a ulns.

and a few of bits of live rock

2nd chamber

return pump 3000l/h this is all that creates flow in the tank was going to add powerheads but tank is so small it didnt need them

top up valve this is just a float valve from the which is attached to the botom of a bucket which is elevated above the sump. the bucket is toped up manualy when required with distiled water why distiled cos its pure and I have a 2 1000l/day stills les than 10m from the tank
 
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perameters 7/8/2012

ph - 8.2
alk - 2.3 meq
temp - 25.5
cal - 480
Amonia - 0
Nitrite - 0.06
Nitrate - think I need a new test no reaction happening
 
perameters 7/8/2012

ph - 8.2
alk - 2.3 meq
temp - 25.5
cal - 480
Amonia - 0
Nitrite - 0.06
Nitrate - think I need a new test no reaction happening

Ph, temp, ammonia, nitrite all fine. Alk in dkh? Cal is a little high but it's ok if the corals will start consuming. Why you not measuring magnesium. Cal and Alk measure,ents are useless if your mg is up the tree.....
 
Better get that kit .
I'm curious to know you NO3 levels esp with that ball of chaeto in sump.
How long you run light in the sump?
 
ja planing to go get a new no3 and mg test today wasent testing mg before as I didnt have many corals and just when I got some I had to shut down the tank but now its been reincarnated its time to start testing. I think I mis calculated when I dosed the cal dont think I took into acount that the LR is taking up a fair volume.

only put the sump light in last night and havent put the lights on timers yet thats the plan for today will probably be runing then 12h on 12 off tank and sump on reverse cycle setting them up on the no and nc contacts of a relay so I only need one timer
 
no3 is 2.5 but I dont see it staying there for long now that the cheato is back in the sump with its light.

@mytank what is the relationship between the 3 I think I understand the cal and kinda the alk but how does mg fit in also I alk seems to be droping a fair amount where as the cal seems to be staying constant I thaught these were used up in similar preportions?
I have been dosing bicarb mixed with ro for the alk as per randys recipe2 alk part
 
perameters 7/8/2012

ph - 8.2
alk - 2.3 meq
temp - 25.5
cal - 480
Amonia - 0
Nitrite - 0.06
Nitrate - think I need a new test no reaction happening

Your tank stil cycling. Waiting until completed Ammonia and nitrite stil nul.

ph,temp,ca is fine. you can start dose alk + mg. keep alk 3.0-4.0mgE/L(8-11dKh) and mg (ca X 3) 1150-1350 is fine. dose too ca but little.

Good luck
 
no3 is 2.5 but I dont see it staying there for long now that the cheato is back in the sump with its light.

@mytank what is the relationship between the 3 I think I understand the cal and kinda the alk but how does mg fit in also I alk seems to be droping a fair amount where as the cal seems to be staying constant I thaught these were used up in similar preportions?
I have been dosing bicarb mixed with ro for the alk as per randys recipe2 alk part

Here we go http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-06/rhf/index.php
 
so it seems I am using 60ppm/ week of calcium I am docing reef foundation abc+ for this but am unsure how fast I should add it can I dose it all at once once a week or should I add id daily how much stability is required for calcium for sps is a 10ppm /day too much should I be dosing multiple times a day?
 
perameters 22/8/2012

ph - 8.2
alk - 2.3 meq
temp - 26.7
cal - 470
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate -0
mg 1230

my curent dosing regime is 2g of red sea reef foundation abc+ and 5ml of bicarb and ro mix (randys recipe2 per day and toping up about 2l of distiled water via a float valve

display tank lighting is runing 12h on 12h off sump light is runing 24h at the moment exept for hot days(few and far between at the moment) while I try starve out the bit of gha from the mini cycle I had moving the tank
 
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