VictorMeldrew
Fish Herder
Looking great barney, keep an eye on them chromis, i have had two jump to thier deaths in the past.
Barney And Lyn's 5Ft Reef Tank (150G(Uk) System)
- Thread starter xxBarneyxx
- Start date
OP
OP
xxBarneyxx
Fish Aficionado
Thanks for the heads up victor, I actually have it completely open topped at the moment, the lights cover a good part of it but loads of gaps around the edge.
VictorMeldrew
Fish Herder
I had condensation trays on mine at the time but left the slightest little gap in them, which was enough for them to jump out during the night and cook until morning.
seffieuk
I used to be indecisive but now I'm not so sure!
Barney, see you are looking for some Koralias - there are two new K3 on UR
Seffie x
Seffie x
OP
OP
xxBarneyxx
Fish Aficionado
Brief update. Thanks to Jen I now have x3 K4's on the way (£85 inc P&P which aint bad). This will replace all the little powerheads I have in there which should give me close to X30 flow rate (rather than the barely making x10 flow with 8 or 9 powerheads).
Still have an algae issue but it is getting better, phosphate remover took awhile to get going but seems to be working now and the Algae blenny is doing a great job as well. Cyano is still there and there is hair algae on the bottom of the tank (on the glass as its still bare bottom at the moment) and on some bits of rock. This is all gradually dying off though and the increased water flow I think will help a great deal.
Corals where looking a bit rough for awhile after adding the phosphate remover but they are all starting to pick up again now. The bubble coral which has not been itself since I cook it the lights being on constantly for about 3 days has suddenly perked up as well and is finally fully expanding again.
The only corals which arent doing great are my zoas. They have just started opening again but they where fully closed for at least a week (probably closer to 2).
Think I might re-scape it before I put the new powerheads in as well.
Edit: Oh yeah. I didn't really believe that Xenia did use nitrates for growth. However I have to admit that in the last 4 weeks the growth rate of my xenia is a LOT faster. One small frag I took off has now turned into about 5 full grown stalks (in the space of maybe 3-4 weeks).
Still have an algae issue but it is getting better, phosphate remover took awhile to get going but seems to be working now and the Algae blenny is doing a great job as well. Cyano is still there and there is hair algae on the bottom of the tank (on the glass as its still bare bottom at the moment) and on some bits of rock. This is all gradually dying off though and the increased water flow I think will help a great deal.
Corals where looking a bit rough for awhile after adding the phosphate remover but they are all starting to pick up again now. The bubble coral which has not been itself since I cook it the lights being on constantly for about 3 days has suddenly perked up as well and is finally fully expanding again.
The only corals which arent doing great are my zoas. They have just started opening again but they where fully closed for at least a week (probably closer to 2).
Think I might re-scape it before I put the new powerheads in as well.
Edit: Oh yeah. I didn't really believe that Xenia did use nitrates for growth. However I have to admit that in the last 4 weeks the growth rate of my xenia is a LOT faster. One small frag I took off has now turned into about 5 full grown stalks (in the space of maybe 3-4 weeks).
TigerIssey
Queen TI
Not sure how I missed those photos at last Barney, think it was because you put them up whilst I was on holiday.
Looking good. Love that Algae Blenny.
Are you going for the rescape with acrylic rods??
What phosphate remover did you go with in the end. The Ultiphos P has been a godsend to me, it would have cost me at least £80 in Rowa, where it has cost me about £25 in Ultiphos, just to get rid of the Cyano.
Looking good. Love that Algae Blenny.
Are you going for the rescape with acrylic rods??
What phosphate remover did you go with in the end. The Ultiphos P has been a godsend to me, it would have cost me at least £80 in Rowa, where it has cost me about £25 in Ultiphos, just to get rid of the Cyano.
OP
OP
xxBarneyxx
Fish Aficionado
Yeah going to use acrylic rods. I dont have many bits of large rock to work with so going to have to stick a load of smaller bits together.
I ended up getting the fluval phosphate remover as this was all my LFS had at the time. I havent tested phosphate and nitrate for a couple of weeks to be honest so not sure how well its working, corals are starting to look better though and the algae is dying off so I assume it is doing something
I had a nice package in the post this morning, X3 Koralia 4's Will get these in the tank when I get home (they are massive!!!) and I think this will make a big difference as well.
I ended up getting the fluval phosphate remover as this was all my LFS had at the time. I havent tested phosphate and nitrate for a couple of weeks to be honest so not sure how well its working, corals are starting to look better though and the algae is dying off so I assume it is doing something
I had a nice package in the post this morning, X3 Koralia 4's
Will get these in the tank when I get home (they are massive!!!) and I think this will make a big difference as well.
Looking forward to seeing what you can do with the acrylic rods. If I may suggest though, since acrylic is reasonably expensive, why not try and source some carbon-fiber rods instead? You can get them thinner and have less chance of shattering rocks with drilling/skewering that way. Should be able to find carbon fiber rods at model airplane or model boat hobby stores as they all use them for drive shafts
OP
OP
xxBarneyxx
Fish Aficionado
Thanks scott, had a great birthday
We have been through some ups and downs with this tank now, firstly with the fish aggression issues, then whitespot then worst of all an ammonia spike from the die off on the new LR we got.
The die off on the LR was the worst. not only did we have the initial ammonia spike to worry about but we have since had stupidly high phosphate and nitrate levels to contend with. Normally just doing a huge water change would have solved the problem but changing out 100g of saltwater is not an easy thing to do. Because of the high phosphate and nitrate almost all our corals barely opened, we had TONS of cyano and loads of hair algae.
A couple of months on though and we are doing much better. Phosphate and nitrate levels are still higher then I would like but are acceptable. Cyano has pretty much been beaten and the hair algae is gone except for a few tufts on the rocks here and there. The corals are opening up again though I think I have lost my trumpet corals and I did lose one of my big mushrooms. Also the main colony of my GSP hasn't opened fully for awhile (moved it last night though so will see how it goes, might just be flow issues as I changed the powerheads as well).
The X3 K4's are doing a great job for water movement but I still need to rescape a bit to get better water flow.
In terms of livestock there have been a few new additions over the last few weeks, these are:
2 more lyretail anthias
1 Black and White Perc Clown
1 spotted mandarin (we are culturing pods as well for the mandy and for another tank project we have in mind).
1 Coral Beauty.
That's probably going to be pretty much it for fish now. We do want a green clown goby and once the fish start reaching adult sizes we may add more depending on if the water quality remains high and if there are no aggression issues.
Thats pretty much it. We havent had much luck but after a fair amount of hardwork the tank is finally stable again now. We are not planning on adding any more corals for quiet awhile to make sure everything stays stable but I will get some new photos and videos of the tank in in current stage soon
We have been through some ups and downs with this tank now, firstly with the fish aggression issues, then whitespot then worst of all an ammonia spike from the die off on the new LR we got.
The die off on the LR was the worst. not only did we have the initial ammonia spike to worry about but we have since had stupidly high phosphate and nitrate levels to contend with. Normally just doing a huge water change would have solved the problem but changing out 100g of saltwater is not an easy thing to do. Because of the high phosphate and nitrate almost all our corals barely opened, we had TONS of cyano and loads of hair algae.
A couple of months on though and we are doing much better. Phosphate and nitrate levels are still higher then I would like but are acceptable. Cyano has pretty much been beaten and the hair algae is gone except for a few tufts on the rocks here and there. The corals are opening up again though I think I have lost my trumpet corals and I did lose one of my big mushrooms. Also the main colony of my GSP hasn't opened fully for awhile (moved it last night though so will see how it goes, might just be flow issues as I changed the powerheads as well).
The X3 K4's are doing a great job for water movement but I still need to rescape a bit to get better water flow.
In terms of livestock there have been a few new additions over the last few weeks, these are:
2 more lyretail anthias
1 Black and White Perc Clown
1 spotted mandarin (we are culturing pods as well for the mandy and for another tank project we have in mind).
1 Coral Beauty.
That's probably going to be pretty much it for fish now. We do want a green clown goby and once the fish start reaching adult sizes we may add more depending on if the water quality remains high and if there are no aggression issues.
Thats pretty much it. We havent had much luck but after a fair amount of hardwork the tank is finally stable again now. We are not planning on adding any more corals for quiet awhile to make sure everything stays stable but I will get some new photos and videos of the tank in in current stage soon
Buddyboy67
Fish Herder
Look forward to new pics, tank looked well and glad to see i'm not the only one with a grove of leatheres to contend with,lol...
TigerIssey
Queen TI
Barney when you do the photos, is there any chance of an actual list of the fish stock you have in there now??
Looking forward to the piccies.
Looking forward to the piccies.
OP
OP
xxBarneyxx
Fish Aficionado
Can do you a list now if you want.
X2 Perc Clowns - One Black and white (poss not a perc) and one orange and white.
X3 Lyretail anthias (currently all juvenile/females, the largest is starting to show signs of turning into a male though).
X1 spotted mandarin
X1 algae blenny
X1 purple firefish
X1 Royal gramma
X9 Blue-Green Reef Chromis
X1 coral beauty
Would be interested to hear if people think this is overstocked/understocked. I personally think its just about right at the moment but I know people that would say there is loads more room for more fish and others that would say there are too many already.
The coral beauty and mandarin have only been in since the weekend but with the other fish at least they all seem to be doing ok and the only aggression I have seen is from the royal gramma who really hates the orange and white clown fish. This can of course all change as they are all pretty small still.
X2 Perc Clowns - One Black and white (poss not a perc) and one orange and white.
X3 Lyretail anthias (currently all juvenile/females, the largest is starting to show signs of turning into a male though).
X1 spotted mandarin
X1 algae blenny
X1 purple firefish
X1 Royal gramma
X9 Blue-Green Reef Chromis
X1 coral beauty
Would be interested to hear if people think this is overstocked/understocked. I personally think its just about right at the moment but I know people that would say there is loads more room for more fish and others that would say there are too many already.
The coral beauty and mandarin have only been in since the weekend but with the other fish at least they all seem to be doing ok and the only aggression I have seen is from the royal gramma who really hates the orange and white clown fish. This can of course all change as they are all pretty small still.
TigerIssey
Queen TI
To be honest, I am not brilliant on stocking levels. If I am right its 151x60x61 cm's which PFK says is 155 US gallon and 450 litres which works out to 98.99 Imp or UK gallons.
It does sound as if it is light on fishload yet is more than PFK recommend. PFK seem to have gone very conservative in their estimates recently and seem to aim at the absolute beginner.
In addition though you have the sump which gives you an extra 20 gallon and extra surface area, which to me is the most important part.
Will be intersted to see what others say. (You have probably realised by now, I have an ulterior motive to asking). I know my display will be 112 Imp or UK gallons and 135 US gallons or 508 litres then I have not yet worked out the volumes of the 3 sump tanks. Probably at least another 200 - 300 litres. Blimey, did not realise it was that much
It does sound as if it is light on fishload yet is more than PFK recommend. PFK seem to have gone very conservative in their estimates recently and seem to aim at the absolute beginner.
In addition though you have the sump which gives you an extra 20 gallon and extra surface area, which to me is the most important part.
Will be intersted to see what others say. (You have probably realised by now, I have an ulterior motive to asking). I know my display will be 112 Imp or UK gallons and 135 US gallons or 508 litres then I have not yet worked out the volumes of the 3 sump tanks. Probably at least another 200 - 300 litres. Blimey, did not realise it was that much
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