Rob's tank and greenhouse

And? How do you feel about it? Are you happy with the result?
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Yeah, more or less. All fake rock looks kinda crap one way or another. This looks like popcorn on steroids. Nobody would actually want this in their kitchen. It needs to act as scaffolding for stony coral, and not look completely terrible while waiting for it to overgrow.

I'm happy enough :)

Btw, I'd give my left nut for such nice grass
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Well, like they say, the grass is always greener over the septic tank ;)
 
sean_koekemoer said:
Btw, I'd give my left nut for such nice grass
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LOL Sean, I can show you grass here in Bothasig, where you are willing to give both nuts.
But what are you going to do with an empty bag?
 
:lol: @ Luckyfish and Rob

One thing that does not last here by us with dogs in the garden, is grass :(. We have sand here as soil- Oh how I miss the green grass of Nelspruit.

@ Luckyfish- Been there, got them kids, empty bags is a bonus now :biggrin:
 
jacquesb said:
Looking fantastic there, Rob! Great "fake rock"..... looks like plastic of sorts.... covered with sand?
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Howdy :) It's fiberglass and epoxy covered with coral chip and dolomite sand.

This is what it looks like before it gets covered:
img_7161.jpg
 
Rob, how will your system do biological fitration since it doesnt have any biological filtration to offer? Will you have other form of live rock in your sumps? Your 'rock' does look super awesome though :D
 
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scubaninja said:
Rob, how will your system do biological fitration since it doesnt have any biological filtration to offer? Will you have other form of live rock in your sumps? Your 'rock' does look super awesome though :D
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There's quite a large surface area on the fake rock for aerobic bacteria. I don't think I'll have ammonia or nitrite problems. In addition, I'll use a couple of tons of sand as a DSB in the display. That should sort out nitrates.

I also have 8 x 600L sunlit tubs in the greenhouse to act as refugia. One of them will be a mangrove habitat, one or more will be seagrass (I hope). I'll probably use DSBs in there too.

I tried to find a cost effective way of using coral rock or liverock, but it just didn't work out. I'll stick some liverock to the fake rock, though. That'll help a little bit.
 
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Yeah i thought of the surface area for bacteria to attach to, but i thought it would not be sufficient. So i was sure you were going to be running something BIG in your sump. I also had a thought of where fish would sleep. What will the flow be like under the rock assuming there is flow? do you think the fish will have enough ''ledges'' to sleep on/under in the rocks?
 
What will the flow be like under the rock assuming there is flow? do you think the fish will have enough ''ledges'' to sleep on/under in the rocks?
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No direct flow to speak of. It'll be open to the outside through various holes, so it'll be habitable by sleeping fish. I'm hoping this will be enough.
 
I hope there are no sharp edges? I think you should possibly look at some flow for under there, possibly something on a timer to be on during the day while the fish are outside. Otherwise there could be a nasty detritus trap in store. Having redone my scaping today the amount of stuff i found in my sand was horrifying. I can only image the stuff that will get trapped in yours would be much more
 
I hope there are no sharp edges?
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There are some. I'm a little worried that I might injure the fish. I don't know how well they'll perceive sharp points and edges. I nature there are plenty of nasty little sharp things, and fish don't skewer themselves on those, so I guess there must be some avoidance or detection.

I think you should possibly look at some flow for under there
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Passive flow will probably be enough for oxygenation. The holes are large enough.

I don't know how I can avoid detritus. I think it's be an inevitability.
 
robvdv said:
There are some. I'm a little worried that I might injure the fish. I don't know how well they'll perceive sharp points and edges. I nature there are plenty of nasty little sharp things, and fish don't skewer themselves on those, so I guess there must be some avoidance or detection.



Passive flow will probably be enough for oxygenation. The holes are large enough.

I don't know how I can avoid detritus. I think it's be an inevitability.
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The could be able to avoid sharp edges, but things happen. It might be worthwhile to sand down those edges a bit. It would suck to lose a prized fish to an off chance.

Yes detritus cannot really be avoided except for crazy flow, but you could reduce the amount that settles under there. It would be a bit mean if the fish had to use a layer of crap as their bed ;)
 
It might be worthwhile to sand down those edges a bit
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I'll try clip as many off as I can. Hopefully the lime dusting will dull some of the edges.

I'll periodically go down into the structure with a hose and blow out the contents. That should help keep detritus down.
 
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