My Marine Tank

[shon982]

Soooo

A few months ago I got another marine tank after going snorkeling in Vanuatu

And this is the result

Red Sea Max 130D

TLF 150 reactor with NPX biopellets

Jaebo RW-2 wave maker

Aquamedic 500 Skimmer

Jaebo Dosing pump for Ca, kH, Mag and NO3:POX

Maxspect Razr 2ft LED lights

Mainly corals in there and 2 small blennys but there's going to be a small school of yellow stripped cardinals, a mandarin goby and possibly something else depending on how stocking goes

Clean up crew - sea cucumber, 2 hermits, some turbo snails

There's a CBS shrimp in there too

[Jase86uxb]

Looking real nice [MENTION=2023]shon982[/MENTION]

[liquidg]

Very nice!!

You were already sort of into marines in a roundabout waywith your freshwater hobby, let alone your lovely actual reef tank!

Lake Tanganyika is a result of tectonic movement that madeit become a closed off ocean that took on fresh water till it was freshwater,so marines are in your blood, sort of, lol

The east African rift system that takes in a couple of lakesand not just Tanganyika is so fascinating,its really cool.

Edited October 7, 2015 by liquidg

[shon982]

Cheers guys!

I think there's a lot more online stores and easier access and better equipment around these days which is a good thing

[MENTION=3166]liquidg[/MENTION] might need to get some frags of SPS corals when you have some haha

I was keen on those redline shrimp too but they went quick

Here's some of my past marine tanks

[Donny@ageofaquariums]

Good work man.

And I mean that too, you became the fish keeper most of us only joke about in record time.

Max respec'

[liquidg]

Cheers guys!

I think there's a lot more online stores and easier access and better equipment around these days which is a good thing

[MENTION=3166]liquidg[/MENTION] might need to get some frags of SPS corals when you have some haha

I was keen on those redline shrimp too but they went quick

Here's some of my past marine tanks

Small tanks and great results that's the way to go

[shon982]

Good work man.

And I mean that too, you became the fish keeper most of us only joke about in record time.

Max respec'

Haha thanks Donny

I'm addicted!!!

Small tanks and great results that's the way to go

haha yeah easier to do water changes when compared to the 7x2.5x2.5 marine tank I had!

Now I've been less lazy and did some water parameter testing

I just can't get my phosphates down and I think I need to run something like phosban in my media reactor instead of pellets

I'm also getting this white, slime looking string growing in the dark areas of the sump and rock work, it gets quite long but it's also spreading to other areas where corals are... any ideas?

Phosphate was 0.25, and I've still not able to get it down with my usual NO3:POX dosing, might increase the dosage rate

Haven't tested my NSW from my IBC though

And using RODI to top up

My other thoughts, maybe I'm overfeeding my corals... I won't feed them for a week or so to see how it goes

I did add a bag of Chemi-pure elite yesturday too, so I'll see if that helps

Mag, Alk, Ca were all spot on - well to the lower range of the normal limits from what Salifert prints on their info sheets

but that was post water change so I'll give it a week and then adjust my dosing as required... in saying that, I do weekly water changes so it may not drop too much I imagine

[liquidg]

If the tanks dead coral, base or live rock is between a few months and two years and on wards to the obligate anaerobes that are even worse once rock gets clogged, what happens is the make up of your coral skeleton is partly calcium-phosphate, when you get good amounts of oxidating bacteria but more so the anoxic zone heterotrophic facultative bacteria that reduce nitrates, from these all bacteria produce an acidic response but these anoxic guys many call anaerobic, make and live in a powerful basic yellowish nitric acid, so when calcium/lime meets acid!! you get my drift?

The component we hate of that phos/cal is back in action, some folks call it leaching back out from the tanks water originally, no its always there and will leach from the most porus spots.

So cooking the rock as some do, is for the over all schem of things, useless!

[shon982]

If the tanks dead coral, base or live rock is between a few months and two years and on wards to the obligate anaerobes that are even worse once rock gets clogged, what happens is the make up of your coral skeleton is partly calcium-phosphate, when you get good amounts of oxidating bacteria but more so the anoxic zone heterotrophic facultative bacteria that reduce nitrates, from these all bacteria produce an acidic response but these anoxic guys many call anaerobic, make and live in a powerful basic yellowish nitric acid, so when calcium/lime meets acid!! you get my drift?

The component we hate of that phos/cal is back in action, some folks call it leaching back out from the tanks water originally, no its always there and will leach from the most porus spots.

So cooking the rock as some do, is for the over all schem of things, useless!

Hmm so what would you suggest?

I'll see in a weeks time if the phosphate it reduced by the chemi-pure elite, otherwise maybe implement phosphate absorbing media...

What would you say about the white, slime stringy stuff?

[smicko]

I'm not going to get all technical or give advice, it looks like you have it under control.

The scape looks great and will only get better with time, well done shon.

How does it feel to have colourful fish instead of silver tanginikans lol. Sorry couldn't help myself.

Cheers mick

[liquidg]

I always thought it was a toxic form of sponge but not sure, I have the same thing here and there and corals can not stand up it, so I take it out.

[shon982]

I always thought it was a toxic form of sponge but not sure, I have the same thing here and there and corals can not stand up it, so I take it out.

yeah that's what I find I'm doing at the moment, just brushing it off and siphoning it out

It grows like long hair algae!

[shon982]

so a few months on! couple things have changed

Started all over again lol

I think my rock was leaching too much phosphates so I removed everything

New substrate and new real look reef rock

Just to recap all the equipment:

Maxspect Razr LED lights

Aquamedic 500 skimmer

Phosban reactor with carbon and rowaphos

Dosing Alk, Mag, Ca (I need to finder a cheaper option for Alk as I'm dosing 15mls a day to keep my levels up)

Tunze nano auto top off with RODI water

And a fan to keep things cool

Stocking is just a pair of black clowns and a lawnmower blenny

Edited February 21, 2016 by shon982

[Donny@ageofaquariums]

Looks like those zoa are going to spread nicely.

[shon982]

Looks like those zoa are going to spread nicely.

haha yeah I fragged everything but now I need to sell off these frags

[liquidg]

so a few months on! couple things have changed

Started all over again lol

I think my rock was leaching too much phosphates so I removed everything

New substrate and new real look reef rock

Mate the rock holding phos, though it does a little with orthophosphate, is near on rubbish and I know where that rubbish comes from.

Oh first of a disclaimer is it, believe what you like, cal-phos and where and how it comes to pass is not well known yet!

Through out the corals life the calcium skeletal arrangement is of two cal forms in their make up.

One is the regular calcium carb and so on-

The second is calcium phosphate and so on-

Once your tank is matured and later on the rock is becoming choked with rubbish, the bacteria with in that already loves its nitric acid life style and is doing really well, especial the later on guys called obligates, but you see that acidic environment breaks down not only the cal-carb but the other as well and out it leaches.

In the short term many reefers can not figure out why cal is so high, deeerrrrr!

Why do you think the phos reactors and so on are needed more so over the life of a reef tank and of course more frequent water changes.

Its just nature.

Oh and cooking the rock, though I rarely tell any one this cause it will confuse them, it was in salt water in ways that could not allow oxygen into that rock, while swishing and moving the rock no phos after a while, oxygenated water is not conducive to marine functions of what was in the rocks biological functions, so in a while in the oxygenated water there is no phos production, lol. but later in tank there will be again!

Edited February 23, 2016 by liquidg

[Netto14]

Beautiful setup. Going snorkeling on holidays will always make you want to recreate some aquatic magic at home.

[shon982]

haha yeah I suck with updates...

Basically - going with a bigger tank now

3ft AR300 with a sump so I have a bit more room for eqiupment

Moving my auto top off, media reactors and dosing pump over

Got a new Maxspect razor 420R 3ft light with upgraded 15K LEDs and wide angle lenses

but I think I'll upgrade to radion XR30s down the track along with a vectra sump pump so it's all controllable

Haelia 500 chiller

Bubble Magus skimmer

Vortech MP40QD which is awesome!!!

And a heap of carib sea look-alike reef rock

Right now the tank is full of my freshwater tangs haha but once they're gone... I'll start setting up and moving things over from the RSM130D

[Obeice]

This is looking good, looking forward to the updates with the new build. I'm currently planning a 4 foot build, the old red sea 130L just doesn't cut it any more.