My Tank Setup, Dipped My Toe,

[Matthew5664]

Chac:

I have use Cichlid mix to feed them last night and the brittle star!!! WOW never seen somthing without fins move so fast!! the Urchen had all his little tenticals out catchen bits and bobs and the for the sea star i stuck some bits in the sand for him.

Cople of things you say to use shrimp, could I use seafood mix? the stuff from the supermarket?

Cooked or uncooked?

A small problem with the Urchen is he likes to 'collect' hurmit crabs anything i can do? will he let them go?

Thanks for the info......

 

[Matthew5664]

well all find for now still using the cichlid mix and bits of fish prawn and mussle to feed them

the guy's are still very active

And the skimmers at full skim. got a full cup the other day o had it on for 36 hours, wasn't sure when to tur it on. Needed a bit of fine 'tuning' Its a seaclone you see. But all said and dont it's doing the job so I'm happy. As you can see from the pic the mod's I've done has it working better.

 

[SkiFletch]

Looks great Matthew. I'm debating going marine with a newly acquired US 45gal and just wanted to say thanks for the thread, its helped me learn a bunch

 

[Matthew5664]

Well over the weekend got the first fish in the tank 2 firefish ( N.Magnifica ) in addition to this some work on the sump light and some LR that I had cured at the LFS and then held in there display tank hoping for lots of life.

I can say I do love these fish and there are a realy nice pair. One lager that the other ( longer and fatter ) As you may know not realy able to 'sex' them but I think they are a FM pair after watching them for 4 hours last night. They already have a 'dart hole' witch there in and out of quite often. I guess because there getting used to the surroundings. thought it funny tho that thay come out and only swim round there dart hole, is this normal behaviour??

Anyway theres some pic for you hope you like.

theres the fish

the sump with the new light, went from 18 to 24W

and finerly the tank as of now

Any comments welcome, I'm still on the steep learning curve!

PS: your not pissed the last pic is off, welcom to victorian housing!

 

[SkiFletch]

Lookin good there mat. Where'd you get the LR from, it really looks healthy.

Oh, and you might want to program your digicam's date... It says those pictures are 4 years old

 

[Matthew5664]

The LR is from Maidinhead Aquatics in Woking

And it's not my camra

 

[Matthew5664]

Time for a little update I think.

I have got myself a coral beauty and about 5kgs of LR for the tank. took me a cople of days with the scaping but I'm happy with what I've done. same old cave on the left and pile of rocks on the right.

Sorry in advance for the scraper. and the CB just shot behind the rock as i got into focus. If you look closeley theres a thing on the glass between the firefish and up toward the top that looks like a baby starfish heres a closer look.

 

[Aquascaper]

I know its blurry but damn camera won't focus!!! Any ideas of what it could be???

Yep, that's an Asterina Starfish - Check them out
here

Also, I would look to putting something over that bulkhead fitting leading to the sump otherwise you'll end up with fish, etc. down in the sump

Otherwise, looking really good

 

[SkiFletch]

I like the scaping there, looks really neat and your water looks really clear in that pic. Nice work

 

[Matthew5664]

thanks for the info on the star looks like he's on the glass most of the time so might be ok. The water is always very clear in my tank for some reson? the sump looks a bit cloudy but i think its bubbles and algae so all is good there too. comming along......

If only I could get my finger out and finish the new sump.

 

[hairyhaggler]

sorry off topic here ..

this is for you matthew5664 if you want to use it , i have had this pic for ages and i saw yours and i thought this may look a bit better...

if you want to use it you can...

hoooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

[Matthew5664]

hairyhaggler> thanks mate but gunna stic wit wot i got.

hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

[SkiFletch]

Ah good old Thundercats... Man I wish I was 5 years old again

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Looking good matt! I like the scaping

Just wondering what size tubing you're using down to the sump and also what return pump you're using?
Could you also tell me what method your using to drain the tank and the method used for return? Thanks in advance

Is there anyway you can get the old pics back up? As this tank develops into a full reef new peeps are going to want to know what it first looked like so they can see the changes your tank has taken. Keep them updates coming i look forward to following your progress.

Dan

 

[Matthew5664]

Thanks for the interest Dan, to answer a few Q's

1)The pipe size to the sump is 34mm ID class 'E' solvent weld pipe

2)The return is a 1700lph £10 off Ebay job (nothing special)

3)To drain I'm using a 34mm tank connector with a little mesh to cover it. At first I had no mesh but with the livestock now in I was sick off all the Turbos ending up in the sump!

4)For the return I'm using from the sump a 20mm flex hose to 1" class 'E' solvent weld pipe this has a T, from there one part goes through a ball valve and back to the first chamber of the sump the other goes up to the tank top through a Hairpin with a couple of elbows into the tank.

And just as you asked the pics have gone back up so all can enjoy.

There was a seperate thred about my sump upgrade but you can see what I've done from the pic.

Got my first 2 corals in now a Pulse coral, X.elongata,

I think?
and a bubble coral, P. flexuosa,

Both seem very happy and opened up within 10min of being put in the tank after the 1hour acclimatisation period.

And finely a full tank shot as of yesterday.

.

Today got my 4th fish a Hi-Fin Goby. Going to hopefuly get a pistol shrimp he can pair with. I'll get some pic's of him soon, he's still quite shy.