Reviving my TL-450

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Hi all

Ok so it's been more than a year since i posted anything. After some consideration and a lot of begging i'm bringing the tank back to live. After moving house i moved the tank to a family member "Reefer" to safe keep for a while, we moved all the livestock to his 4ft tank but did not empty the tl450, thus its been "cycling" for just over 15 months now with live Rock and one or 2 snails. :).

He did Regular water changes on the tank with water from his own tank during water changes. Will test the water the weekend.

So I decided to move the tank to my office were i will be able to see it all day long!
thought it a good time 2 do some Mods while i'm at it!

Done so far :

Added a 700l/h Return pump to the last chamber connected to the spraybar.
Bought a WG-308 Skimmer over the weekend to replace the stock skimmer.
Replaced the 2 x PL18 PC tubes as the old ones were more than 2 years old.
Ordered some LED's from Ebay, not Cree but lets see! :)

As I will only be keeping softies i was thinking of keeping the stock lights and add only 3 x 3W 20000k White and 3x 3W Royal Blue LEDS on dimmable Drivers to boost the light for now. Will this work?


Will be going slow but will try and keep this up to date with pics as soon as the DIY 'ing and Move begins.


Cheers
 
Looks like you been having fun.:)
I have bought some leds from ebay, they not too bad.
 
Ok so while i'm in the DIY mood and should actually be working I made a media basket to fit in in the first chamber, its quite small so i thought about using the to part for filter floss and the bottom 1 for some kind of media, so here's the question : what to put in it, I've been looking at either Purigen or Chemi-Pure Elite, as I'm not really sure, can some one please help and guide me in the right direction.

Sorry bout the bad picture, but as said i'm at work and used my Phone.

MEDIATRAY.jpg
 
orca biocubes or their phospha-guard GFH
 
Hi. thought i'll give some idea of the planned future....

Livestock "Wish List" to Stock the 450

2 x Blue Leg Hermit
1 x Red Fire Shrimp
2 x Turbo Snails
1 x Sand Sifting Sea Star ????

2 x Ocellaris Clowns (like the more than the Percula)
1 x Bi Color Blenny

Mushrooms , Zoa's , Small Leather or Kenya Tree, and will really like a Frogspawn .

Any Ideas?

Will soon stat looking for some frag's in JHB Area.

Do you guys think my Standard lights with the addition of 3 x 3w Royal blue and 3x 3w 20000k Led will do the trick?
 
Sound like a good list.
I would try add a few more if possible, but 6 is still better than nothing.
 
Last edited:
No that should be enough, specially in the beggining when theres not that much algae.
You could maybe look for a nassarius snail or two, they eat left over food, and dead things.
I don't really know too much about the star.
 
Hi. thought i'll give some idea of the planned future....

Livestock "Wish List" to Stock the 450

2 x Blue Leg Hermit
1 x Red Fire Shrimp
2 x Turbo Snails
1 x Sand Sifting Sea Star ????

2 x Ocellaris Clowns (like the more than the Percula)
1 x Bi Color Blenny

Mushrooms , Zoa's , Small Leather or Kenya Tree, and will really like a Frogspawn .

Any Ideas?

Will soon stat looking for some frag's in JHB Area.

Do you guys think my Standard lights with the addition of 3 x 3w Royal blue and 3x 3w 20000k Led will do the trick?
I have that selection also...it's perfect for the TL-450...just bare in mind that the chances are excellent that the Bi-Colour Blenny will nip at you'r SPS...should you wish to get some at a later stage...I got a loose Digitata Frag with my Mushrooms...right when I started with my Tank... and the Blenny nipped and dropped it about 20 times a day...
 
Added the Extra Return pump and new Skimmer on the weekend, I left the original pump in the 1st chamber, Boyu 1000l/h and added a 1200l/h pump in the last connected to the spraybar, then turned the spray bar to show a bit upwards to get the surface moving.

Only problem now is the skimmer cup keeps overflowing, and I cant seem to move it higher to stop this, as the hood won't close! Gonna have to figure this one out!

IMG00147-20120718-0658.jpg


IMG00162-20120721-1739.jpg


IMG00153-20120721-1734.jpg


Nice water movement!

IMG00152-20120721-1733.jpg
 
Took a FTS but with the phone, but water was cloudy after all the pump changes and messing around, will try to get a new and better one!

IMG00154-20120721-1736.jpg


REALLY CRAP PIC!!!
 
Hi

so after some more time, the poor TL 450 moved again, hopefully the last time for know, it became a office tank!!


Ok so the following was done!

Rinsed the sand in tank water.
Rinsed the Live Rock. (+- 5kg)
Washed the whole tank!!!
Added 6 3w LED's to the hood, (3x 20000k White, 3 x royal Blue)
Replaced the PL Tubes with new ones
Added a new SEIO Prop 320 to the display.
Added a 1200l'h return pump to the spray bar
Added Chemi-Pure Elite to the first chamber.
Replaced the stock skimmer with a WG-308
Started dosing Special Blend

Currently I have no Livestock in the tank, not sure if the tank will cycle again after the move, but to play it safe i will run if for 3 weeks before adding any!

Will try and keep you up to date on how it goes.

Germiston-20130409-00156.jpg
 
Something nice for the office. Will keep everybody entertained.
 
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