a-f-a Posted July 4, 2013 Report Share Posted July 4, 2013 Hey guys as its of you know I'm a diehard African man but recent time and financial heddles has for Ed my hand and have had so sell some impresive breeding rake so m going to go to one tank instead of 20 I have decided to try my hand at a reef tank and have chosen a aqua one 400 with weir and sump I've never had salt or had anything to do with it so its going to be a learning curve that I'm looking forward to as I can devote my time to this one project with the wife as a posed to breeding haps This is going to start off basic with a good bace of live rock that I will build on slowly over the next few months till everything stabilizes than add a small amount of a animists and a few small clown Than once I get the hang of keeping the salinity and water quality right build on Is there any trick hints or pointers that I need to know As I am starting from scratch Live rock will be added in bounces of 5 kg at a Time in one to 2 week periods Starting at 5 kg I have some corral pieces dead that I will start with also as it at least is something to look at Have aprox 30 go of corral rubble in the sump with a wet dry bio wall chamber and skimmer will this doo for a 400l tank or should I be going a different way also going to pop 500ml of purigen in the sump to polish the water also and am running a 30 mm base of corral sand Going to collect water from the sea to start off as it will be cheaper than buying $150 worth of salt This is what I've got at the moment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny@ageofaquariums Posted July 4, 2013 Report Share Posted July 4, 2013 And chance of pictures of how you have setup the sump? $150 for 400L ??? Dude where are you buying your salt from! Are you going to get a better skimmer? Because thats my first suggestion. These are not a bad tank to start with, quite nice looking but I am expecting to see you slowly mod the heck out of the equipment side of it Welcome to the salt side of the hobby! You are gonna love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a-f-a Posted July 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2013 Hey Donny yeh mate The weir drops through the sponge at the back than comes up through the corral bed than drops onto a drip tray through the bio all than back to the tank Yeh mate just looking to have a nice display in side and thought what the heck y not if it dose not work out ill try again if fail twice ill convert to a Malawi display again but I have a good feeling about this I hope haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a-f-a Posted July 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2013 No doubt ill tinker fine tune to what I need with this tank but that's halogen the fun ill end up adding a chiller but just won't to feel it out first and get an idea of what the hell to do haga Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny@ageofaquariums Posted July 4, 2013 Report Share Posted July 4, 2013 First chance you get, i reccomend getting rid of the bioballs and putting something better in. This is easier to do at the start rather than once tank is heavily stocked. It aint essential, as you have a vast amount of coral bones in there......... but it will improve your surface area available for microbe colonisation even more and thats a good thing! As you say, absolute worst case scenario it will make a very nice african display! bloody hell I hate that skimmer just seeing it in the pictures makes me angry. see how you go with it after a few hours I lost my temper with it and I am no stranger to fiddly skimmers part of the problem I think is its placement in the sump the rest is likely the fact the designer thought he was making an "ehanced interrogation" device, rather than a foam fractioner! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a-f-a Posted July 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2013 Yeh what would you recommend instead if bio balls ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liquidg Posted July 4, 2013 Report Share Posted July 4, 2013 Nice looking stand, tank and hood mate. Bio balls pretty much only carry out the nitrogen cycle to nitrate in the way that you have them! That’s all that’s wrong with them more or less. Your live rock is supposed to do most of that, not the bio balls, so they will be basically a waste of space! Pretty much anything calcium based will be far better in your sump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a-f-a Posted July 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2013 Cool was wondering if I pull them than replace with sand or cc as a bed aprox 50-70 mm deep than block off the partition with foam so none spill into the pump chamber ? How dose that sound that way I can grow some algae and have some rock and use it as a recovery chamber if a fish gets picked on ????? What u guys think of that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a-f-a Posted July 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2013 Well I modified tha sump this morning I removed the baffle next to the bio balls and drilled 4 holes in it 200mm above the base of the tank going to run a sand bed I have 60 mm deep bed in there now and this will allow me to have 140 mm of water height in there to use as a corral grow or a hospital section if somthing get picked on Going to grow some plant in there to help out also Dose this look better guys ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liquidg Posted July 5, 2013 Report Share Posted July 5, 2013 (edited) Very nice, just set up a floor under your bed with egg crate with a 30 to 4o mill gap under it with mesh like mozi netting on top to stop the grit from getting through. This will create a bio sink that will remain clean, prevent hydrogen sulphide producing obligate anaerobes from getting set up and convert metals that come in the food and anything else that was a live. Make sure the water from your aquarium water is refiltered a great deal to stop anything from reaching that bed, or it’s potential for nitrate reduction will be compromised after a while. Also the coral chunks internal nitrate reduction will suffer the same affects. Clean your pre filters every day! Add more to that bed to make it 5 or so inches deep, put in place a glass a barrier to project the water to the top of the bed then apply a heap of the same rubble you have in the other compartments on top of the bed to the top of that glass wall and that will help no end as well. Don’t forget the pre filtering, it will enable your sump to keep getting stronger and not get weaker like others that let them get dirty and have to put up with that. Looking good! Edited July 5, 2013 by liquidg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny@ageofaquariums Posted July 5, 2013 Report Share Posted July 5, 2013 Prefiltering will be important, you dont want that much coral rubble building up with mulm debris, as that will slow the flowrate through it. block off the partition with foam so none spill into the pump chamber Yea you dont want little bits of coral making it to the pump, as worst case, if they get into impellor well they can do damage to the impellor. SO either the foam or a layer of more coarse coral over it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a-f-a Posted July 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2013 Ok so less corral rubble in the first chamber and I'm going to run a filter sock on the end of the drain as well Also I'm going to put 5 kg of live rock in next weekend will this be ok than add another 5 every weekend till I've scaled to what I won't Than leave as is for a few weeks till everything cycles and struts to test correct levels Will be looking to put 2 fish in at this stage and every one to two weeks add a small coral dose this sound right or should I space things out a bit longer between adjustments ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny@ageofaquariums Posted July 5, 2013 Report Share Posted July 5, 2013 Sounds like a good plan, but keep testing and recording so you can be fluid.......... and change the plan as the situation allows/demands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liquidg Posted July 5, 2013 Report Share Posted July 5, 2013 (edited) Don’t remove any of what will be your biological media. Try to imagine a length of storm water pipe a little higher then your sump wall with the base sealed that is of a slightly larger internal diameter then the filter sock. Cut a hole in it 50 mill down from the top and put in an over flow pipe to the first chamber of you sump having a small part of it protruding into the pipe as well. Glue on a small piece of pipe onto the other side of the pipe to the over flow, sit the filter sock on those two and you have a pre filter chamber that works very well. The water goes from your aquarium into the filter sock that its rim is above the exit, the water goes through its mesh and out of the exit and is pre filtered and it is very easy to take out and clean. Each time you go to clean it, turn off return pump and wait till there is no flow through the over flow pipe, then clean the sock by reversing the sock in side out and use the garden hose spray and your sump will always be protected, it is so very functional and simple to make. That is sort of my settling chamber design! Ask if you want to know more, it is more complex then that if you want to bother, I make my own socks though, that’s easy as well. Edited July 5, 2013 by liquidg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarg Posted July 5, 2013 Report Share Posted July 5, 2013 Tanks coming along nicely. There are some good external skimmers on the market if that ones not up to scratch. Your gonna have a bit of ammonia from the die off on the lr so I wouldn't worry about fish yet personally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a-f-a Posted July 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2013 Ok well I'm going to changbthe sump layout I'm going to take coral out and put a filtersock and skimmer in the first section with some fine sponge between the baffles to stop the micro bikes from entering the next chamber Than was thinking about adding a 30-40 mm bed of mirical mud to the middle chamber instead of the live sand what's peoes thoughts on this as I have read and been told that a deep sand bed should be around 80-100 mm deep otherwise it's unless Will still like to grow weed over the mud to help out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarg Posted July 7, 2013 Report Share Posted July 7, 2013 The mud isn't to bad imo. You don't need a lot but you have to change out half each year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny@ageofaquariums Posted July 7, 2013 Report Share Posted July 7, 2013 Love the mud personally. It takes up very little sump volume, and combined with macro algae results in incredible pod populations! And corals and fish love pods! You wont need to use really fine sponge to block microbubbles, often coarse sponge will do the job and get clogged much much slower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a-f-a Posted July 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2013 Well troupe I've gone through my first cycle had my spikes and have added a second lot of live rock Now up to 17 kg and going to go through a nother mini cycle hoping to add another 15 kg on the weekend depending on the test results but we will see In the last batch I had some sto always A bright red crab the size of a pin head that looks to be doing well and 2 starfish that have not done so well through the amonia spike but you get that There are a lot of critters fanning the water from the rocks and tubes protruding so looks to be starting to create a little habitat in my tank Will do a before and after shot when I add the next lot of rock Had a small amount of die off with the last batch but not to much so very happy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liquidg Posted July 18, 2013 Report Share Posted July 18, 2013 Got some pics of your live rock formation and finished sump for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarg Posted July 19, 2013 Report Share Posted July 19, 2013 Sounds like its cycling away nicely! New pics please!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a-f-a Posted July 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2013 Ok well added the last oh the rock today Looking good I think lots of holes between the rock for flow and have built the structure off the back glass to help with flow also Have a heap of hitch hikers 2 types of stars shrimp worms four crabs of what species not sure but one as a bunch of weed on his head Whatsoever u guys think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a-f-a Posted July 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2013 Total of 45 kg of rock in there not heaps but biggish pieces so they fill a good amount of space in the tank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny@ageofaquariums Posted July 19, 2013 Report Share Posted July 19, 2013 Sounds like the pot head is a decorator crab. Must admit I like those guys a lot........ but in general I am not a fan of most crabs in marine tanks. They tend to be destructive and have expensive tastes! I'd consider having those 3 more recent bits of coral that you have placed high......... placed.......... well lower. They look good like that yes...... and if this was 1980 I would say keep it that way. but its hard to place corals onto them........ and long term you will want to place real corals I imagine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a-f-a Posted July 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2013 Yeh Donny I'm hoping they cover algae and stuff so the bend in a bit but yes once I start adding corral they may go its just somthing I had I'm the shed But we will c Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
