Reefing The Australian Way Forums

by **little swimmer** » Thu 30 Apr, 2009 11:40 pm

Introduction:
Hi All
This is my first attempt at a Reef tank. I am making the change over from keeping cichlids for the past 15 years.
I haven't really decided how far I am going to take it or what corals I want but I have a bit of time to think it out yet. I do wanna keep a few fish, maybe a pair of clowns and an anemone for them. The rest isn't decided on yet, Still reading up on stuff.
I must admit this has been a step learning curve for me. I don't work with timber real well. Spent two days building that cabinet, but I am pretty happy with the way it turned out.

System Type: SPS, Mixed Reef, Softies only, Non photosythetic Corals?

Display Tank: 2x2x2

Display Lighting: 2x24w T5HO

Stand: Home made cabinet

Hood: Home made

Sump:24x16x16

Refugium Lighting: 11w energy saver

Support systems:

System Water: Natural salt water

Display Water circulation: In tank water circulation.

Return Pump:1500LPH

Skimmer: Reef Octopus classic 500

Evaporation Top Up:manual

Images:

Ignore the sump in the pictures. I smashed it (by Accident) I am building a new one. the foam under the tank is just there for now. I have a proper sheet for when I set it up.
Open to all comments and tips on what I should be doing or are doing wrong.

:cheers:

Josh

by **StripestheEel** » Thu 30 Apr, 2009 11:44 pm

Off to a great start. Go the cubes!

If you are intent on keeping clowns/anemones you will need MH or T5 HO equivalent.

Looking forward to updates.

by **amehel0** » Sat 02 May, 2009 12:05 am

nice cabinet, but as stripy said get at least 150w if not 250 over that!

by **little swimmer** » Fri 15 May, 2009 8:24 pm

Quick update
I am still waiting on my sump and skimmer. Has managed to finish building and staining the cabinet, need to clear coat tomorrow. The sump and skimmer should be here on Tuesday so Hopefully next weekend I can plumb it up and test run everything.
Have decided to add a MH when I build my hood, thanks for the advice

Josh

by **Quicksilver** » Fri 15 May, 2009 9:06 pm

That is mint and exactly what I want to eventually do - ie: Nice big cube.

Looks good.

by **StripestheEel** » Fri 15 May, 2009 9:42 pm

Stand has come out great!

by **little swimmer** » Tue 19 May, 2009 6:56 pm

Ok so Today was good for me. I got to plumb up the tank, because the sump arrived. I went a bit overboard on the fittings, but I may have to pull it apart if my career takes me to QLD this year.

Rear plumbing, simple, but it has some bits in it

Sumps fits like a glove, simple system, DSB will be in the front two thirds , skimmer and return pump in the back (skimmer still hasnt arrived!)

Whole tank and cabinet shot with sump under. I am going to add a MH light and build a hood for it soon, to raise the lights up some more.

Just checking for leaks with fresh water, found one and fixed, and checking water levels, then I need to find some way to get 250l of NSW home and start her up for real
:clap:

Josh

by **StripestheEel** » Tue 19 May, 2009 7:01 pm

Nice job!

by **little swimmer** » Thu 28 May, 2009 10:19 pm

OK
Finally got it in side the house, Been waiting for the surf to die down so I could some water for it. I managed to get 100l today and will get the rest tomorrow along with 20 kilos of base rock to start off the cycle.

Half full

More photos soon

Josh

by **Rhys123** » Thu 28 May, 2009 10:29 pm

Nice build.

Bit of advice that substrate looks very coarse (is it coral rubble) I would head towards a finer one or it will become a detritus trap leading you into problems later on.

by **little swimmer** » Thu 28 May, 2009 10:40 pm

The coral sand is a mixture of fine stuff, around 1mm, and some stuff they call 20mm. There isn't a lot of the 20mm stuff in there. I will take out the courser stuff.
Thanks for the tip
Josh

by **coral1** » Thu 28 May, 2009 10:48 pm

nice looking forward to your progress

by **ryanrid** » Fri 29 May, 2009 12:17 pm

i have 1-2mm in my DT with a small layer of 3mm on top to lessen disturbance from powerheads etc.

also noticed that you want to have SPS with only 2 x 24W t5's this will not be sufficient you are going to need a MH, if you want to have a few LPS would prob go with a 150W but then you are limited to keeping your SPS to the top 60% of the tank.

by **old_mr2** » Fri 29 May, 2009 3:56 pm

grab a 250W and a good reflector to start with to avoid upgrade later on

by **little swimmer** » Fri 29 May, 2009 9:12 pm

Hi guys and thanks for the comments.
I am going to build a hood for the tank and I was going to add 150w mh when its built, if a 250w is a better option then I will get that to start off with.
I had a closer look at my coral sand and it is larger then I thought, It isnt large, allthough there are some bigger peices in it. have a look at the photo and let me know what you think. Should i take it out and get finer stuff.

Tank full and now cycling. I wanted to add more live rock but my LFS really didn't have any more that was any good. I took the last of his base rock and most of his good stuff.

Josh

by **lachlanmiller** » Mon 13 Jul, 2009 6:16 pm

Nice tank, i love the stand.

Any updates?

by **little swimmer** » Sun 23 Aug, 2009 10:02 pm

Hi All
Its starting to come along now. I added a few fish a while back and A few corals last weekend.

Thanks for looking

by **wadeswang** » Sun 23 Aug, 2009 10:52 pm

cool man i love cubes

by **little swimmer** » Tue 06 Oct, 2009 8:06 pm

Added some more corals over the weekend.

These are growing over the top of a sea squirt.

by **mattnshez** » Tue 06 Oct, 2009 9:37 pm

Noice one josh

Pop over for a few frags when you are passing through.

Matt

by **sydneydrewid** » Tue 06 Oct, 2009 10:09 pm

nice new additions there :thumbsup:

i love the cabinet too.. looks to be very promising!!

by **little swimmer** » Wed 07 Oct, 2009 7:49 am

Thanks guys
Matt, I was up your way on Saturday and was going to call you. Will try and get up soon

Josh

by **mattnshez** » Wed 07 Oct, 2009 12:05 pm

Cool man

hope all is well with the family
I had a couple of the shire boys keen to go to the auction
but decided to dig up the backyard instead.

Matt

by **little swimmer** » Wed 20 Jan, 2010 10:56 pm

Quick update. The tank has kinda taken back seat to the reno's and family stuff.

Got some new rock and aqua scaped it a bit better. I am kinda starting again, but on a bigger scale!

Front side

side....side

Nice hitch hikers

Thanks

by **little swimmer** » Tue 25 Oct, 2011 8:30 pm

Hey all
Its been a few years since I have added any photos of the tank. It running quite well for a budget set-up with out all the fancy gear. I dont keep anything that is overly hard to keep. It suits my needs and abilities. As you can see from the pics, I like morphs!
I need an ID on the last one. It grew from the live rock, but really have no Idea what it is.
Being that most of the fish I like cant live in a tank as small as mine, I dont have many in there.

If anyone reads this and can ID this please let me know

thanks Josh

by **wmackay** » Mon 31 Oct, 2011 9:36 pm

Good to see another south coast guy on here! In reply to the idea, looks like
A dallas frag to me.. And a happy one at that!

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