Beginnings of a 220Uk gallon reeftank

[Navarre]

Ok, well i had my first fish loss in the new tank and im gutted. What makes it worse is that the death was totally unecessary.

One moment my bi colour angel was swimming happily and exploring and the next it was dead with its head stuck in one of my powerheads

Although its sad when you lose a fish through disease, when you lose one through circumstances like this really is upsetting.

Ok, well a reef tank needs a huge turnoever of water and this is a danger for marine tanks. Havine 4 powerheads that turnover 4000 ltrs each does pose a danger to unwary fish. SO t oget around this problem i have taken the following measures.

Fixing 12mm wastepipes to the powrheads. Then drilling multiple holes throught the pipe to diffuse the flow intothe powerhead.
Finally i place 2 cable ties at the bottom to stop fish (blennies and gobies basically)
frombeing nosey and swimming up there to their doom.

lets hope i never lose another fish to this ever again.

 

[3fsh]

I am so sorry for your loss... little angel. She was an absolutely gorgeous fish.

 

[nitro]

Sorry about your loss.

Your tank is coming along nicely.

 

[Opcn]

Intakes have always been my bain aswell, They make sponge filters for RFUGFs and you can hook some of them up, its such a pain to drill holes in the pvc.

 

[FrAnK3333]

Nice tank Navarre. If I had a tank of that size Id get some cuttle fish. They look so cool.

 

[Navarre]

OK time for an update....
I have posted elswhere in this forum about the loss of my fish during a huge whitespot outbreak. Sadly this left me with only 4 fish and i had to take drastic measures my adding Ozone to the tank. This saved my remaining fish and got the tank back on track once more.

I have recently started aquascaping the tank, still needs more work though

As you will see from the following pictures, the tank still needs lighting. I havent addressed this yet as there are no coral in this area. I have just "cured" another 12kg of liverock and this has gone into the system and formed part of the marine atoll.

Here is the tank as it looks now...

And a few piccys of my latest additions.

Male Bluethroat Trigger and Achilles Tang

Hope you all enjoy

 

[Aussie_Star]

thats so good, and i love the Bluethroat Trigger almost as good as a flame angel

 

[Navarre]

OK time for some more updates...

I have a new Clam. This is a boring clam (no not dull and uninteresting ) that burrows into the rock to keep itself safe from predators.

From the fron view its a lovely dusty blue...

From the surface its a metallic green!

This is a very very rare shot of my Marine betta. I hardly ever see it but when it makes in entrance its such a breath takingly beautiful fish!

A couple of shots of my Silty Wrasse

This is my latest fish.. sadly it was attacked by the achilles tang. but its recovering well.

Blueface Angel

Here you can see the wound the achilles inflicted on the side of the angel. This is after 10 days healing. When the wound was first inflicted it was very large and deep. I really thought that the Achilles had sliced open the angels internal organs Luckily this was not the case and the angel is healing well and out and about more often now.

And there is the monster!
This is my Achilles. It has never showed any signs of aggression before and i thought the Emperor tank (pictured with him) would be the trouble fish when i added the angel (the emperor is the boss and a real bully). However the Emperor totally ignores the angel and the Achilles just went totally insane!

Even though the Emperor is the boss and chases the Achilles off every now and then, should the achilles ever decide to take the emperor on then i have no doubt who will win...

The Emperor does lots of fin wagging and shows its spines ever now and then.. when the achilles strikes its like watching a Yoda fight scene from Revenge of the sith. its lethal!

And finally, this is my latest bit if aquascaping on the left side of the tank.

 

[One_Trick_Pony]

hey nav you have some fantasti fish there you got any whole reef shots of teh tnal as it is now???

 

[Navarre]

I have started work on the center and right side of the tank with more liverock.. i have now added 30kg more since the tank was first setup and it still looks like a drop in the ocean!

Because of plumbing issues (sump probs.. not yet connected) I have loads of unsightly powerheads running for high circulation. The Achilles tang needs high water flow or it simply withers and dies The rest of the tank is slowly coming toether though and in 2 weeks time the next set of additions will be in the tank. then i will start to do the touches on the sump and extra lighting.

I will try and sort out some full tank shots though... the problem is that during hte day the reflection of the window makes photgraphy almost impossible. I will try tomorrow night and see if i get better results.

 

[littlefishie]

Blagh, Nav!!! Damn you for having such gorgeous fish.

One day I will have SW... one day...

 

[andywg]

Coming along very nice now Nav. Very nice indeed.

Have you got a Halide for the right of the tank yet? Will you go for two 400W for the whole tank or get a couple of 250W due to the length of the tank? (or even, dare I say it, another two 400W? B) )

You must have some monster pumps in there. What circulation are you hoping for? and what have you got?

With the sump, did you decide to scratch the cryptic zone, or is that what is keeping it off line?

Finally, is any of the LR in there at the moment home-made, or are you still buying it?

Again, a very impressive tank

Andy

 

[Bloo]

oh WOW ! How I've not seen this thread before I do not know.
Navarre, you have a truly awesome breathless setup there. I've just spent the past 15 minutes reading the whole thread ! lol

 

[denbob]

Navarre,
What can one say but many many thanks, It's taken a brave sole to tackle such a huge task. well done.

 

[scott67892002]

congrats on a top tank can't belive i missed this post before!