Rob's 3X2X2

[TigerIssey]

Just an idea, if you are worried about the cats, would egg crate suit the purpose yet not need the scraping like the glass may.

 

[Anguilla82]

mmm, thats true, and i've got a couple of sheets left over.

 

[Anguilla82]

new order from coral culture should turn up today, so i'll be able to finish off the sump area. The 'leaky' connection is producing masses of bubbles which are going into the tank. Tank has now cleared from the introduction of the sand to the sump, but these bubbles are a pain.

CUC are all looking good, not getting any algae growth yet in the main display, so am feeding the odd bit of flake to keep them going before the stock from the nano gets transferred over.

My Durso is gurgling like a good un, and every now and again it whooshes down into the sump and bubbles over into the refugium compartment. Is there a way of stopping this?
i'm assuming that the increased bubbles in the main display isn't helping but i'm sure i've seen somewhere about people adding a length of tubing to the top of the durso.
FYI the durso does have a small hole drilled into the top.

p.s. forgot to say that the zoas i picked up from SW marines are looking really cool!, they're gonna 'glow' under the actinics in the new system!

 

[TigerIssey]

You could probably cut it out better around the pipework also which would be of benefit if you are considering any potential jumpers such as flasher or fairy wrasses, I believe some gobies and firefish do jump too.

 

[SkiFletch]

Sometimes a negative leak like that can be solved with superglue or just a liberal application of PVC cement around the fitting.

And if that top is removable, DEFINITELY go for the egg-crate. You will not regret it.

 

[Anguilla82]

Sometimes a negative leak like that can be solved with superglue or just a liberal application of PVC cement around the fitting.

no this leak won't be fixed with cement. tried putting loads of silicone sealant around the join but it didn't work.

fingers crossed the pipework, that should be sitting at the post office right now waiting for me to pick it up, should do the trick!

 

[Anguilla82]

So i managed to get all the pipework sorted by about 7pm on friday. Hurrahh! no leaks!

yesterday i checked nitrate levels, just to make sure that my assumptions of all the params being good were correct, and they were fine so we took the decision to move everything across from the nano.
We were gonna do it gradually in stages, but to be honest we were gonna disturb the tank sooo much by doing this that we decided that it would probably just be best to take the risk and do it all in one hit.
well 3 buckets of corals later (how we ever got them all in teh nano i'll never know!) and it was empty. We took maybe half to 3/4 of the sand from the nano and distributed it between the main display and the sump. It was full of worms and things so did'nt want to waste it.

What we really wanted rid of was a eunice worm which had made its home in one of the bottom rocks. we got the rock out and i split it up into peices with a screw driver and hammer.
What a surprise NO EUNICE!

We checked all the sand and it wasn't there either.
The rock however was teeming with life of all sorts so rather than waste it i've decided to sump it.
If mr eunice is still alive i don't mind him being down there, (he was pretty cool really!)

anyways things have cleared today so have taken a few pics, as i know you all enjoy them.
defo gonna have to get a better camera though!

Pic of whole tank:

Sump

Sump 2

FTS

Mushies and zoa area

Favias (want to move the big rock but not sure where to yet)

Fungia (favourite coral!)

Some of the zoas i picked up from SW marines

More Zoas

Couldn't resist, mr bean goby was posing for the camera!

 

[TigerIssey]

That really looks beautiful now.

Plenty of space for the new corals you will buy too.

Stunning Goby pic.

 

[ben1987]

looks great. Tank looks huge compared to that nano

 

[john.o]

WOW that looks amazing and there’s loads of room left for more coral as well. I hope there’s plenty of over time available at your work place as your wallet is going to take a real beating filling that thing

 

[john.o]

Have you moved the skimmer as well {good call}
Quote... post 11
{It is essential that any sump based DSB or miracle mud is placed 'AFTER' the skimmer and not before. Otherwise a large proportion of this beneficial food will be skimmed off ..........'what a waste of free food'...}

 

[Anguilla82]

The moving of the skimmer was more to do with the fact that it was pushing masses of bubbles into the return pump section and therefore into the main display.
The skimmer now has the intake tube in the section with the outlet from the main display. Crucially some of the 'food' from the main display will not be taken up by the skimmer and will continue to the next section which is full of live rock. this then flows into the main refugium area. where any remaining phosphates and nitrates can be soaked up by the plants.


well thats the plan anyways!

all corals and fish seem ok after the move.
haven't noticed any problems yet due to the much increased light intensity now over them.

did find a fantastic mushroom burried in the rock work in the nano. It was completely in the dark but had developed an almost luminescent green colour! sadly it wasn't attached to anuything so i think it has found itself a similar dark hole in the new tank. if i find it again i'll have to get a photo cos i doubt i'll ever see another like it.

 

[johnnyjtaylor]

Thats looking sweet

Nice job on the scape, I like the cave.


Johnny

 

[seffieuk]

Thats looking sweet

Nice job on the scape, I like the cave.


Johnny

Have to agree with Johnny how did you plan your aquascape Rob?

Seffie x

 

[Anguilla82]

Have to agree with Johnny how did you plan your aquascape Rob?
Seffie x

Hate to say it but i didn't really!

i looked at alot of scapes on UR and really liked the two 'mountains' theme with a 'path' between them going round to the back, but once i started putting the rock in, it soon became obvious that the tank just wasn't big enough to do that.

i knew that i wanted lots of flow between the rocks so i initially put some small ones onto the sand and then stacked larger ones on top to create caves and bridges.
It just sort of went from there, with me adding the rocks that i had to hand in to various spaces.

Half an eye was always kept on maintaining various zones within the tank as regards light levels and flow.
The right side was constructed so that it had high flow and light and is meant for SPS.
The sand area is medium flow and low light and is for favia and fungia.
The left side is low flow and varying light levels for mushrooms and zoas.
Lots of ledges and outcrops were put in to provide places to put corals on, meaning that which ever corals i end up getting i can try and accomodate them somewhere.

Having the 2ft depth made the aquascaping much easier, and also means that although there is alot of rock in there, there is still alot of free space around the back to prevent dead spots occurring.