The New 35 Uk Gallon Reef Tank

[craigybaby37]

So story is that ive got the upgrade bug so i decided i wanted to concentrate on just marines rather than keep tropicals aswell as even though they were both 20g tanks its supprising the ammount of maintinance thats involved keeping a marine and tropical tank.

So i closed the tropical tank down and all contents went to my sister and ime happy to say its all doing great along with her stock that she added. Back to the marine tank its all currently in the 20g tank still as i dont see any point moving it only to have to move it all again ide rather to the transfere in 1 go. Ime getting the tank built 60" wide 12" deep and 14" tall and will be picking it up on friday.

As for what ive done so far i have all the new hardware which will be used with the existing from the current tank and the list is as follows:

2 x 150 watt visi-therm heaters
1 x hydro koralia3 and 1 x hydor koralia 1 which will give about a 33 x turnover
1 x fluval 205 extrenal filter which will be running liverock, carbon and phosphate remover
1 x TMC v2 skim 400 protein skimmer
1 x 360 watt T5 luminaire fitted with 4 x 80 watt bulbs


Went to my LFS at the weekend and brought another 11kg of liverock which will give me a total of around 22kg when added with the existing liverock from the 20g tank. I currently have the new liverock cycling in a big blue bucket which i have put a spare 50watt heater in and the koralia 1 and everything seems to be going nicely with the nitrite and ammonia spiking so with a bit of luck by friday they should be good to add in the new tank.

Heres a picture of the tests i took this morning which show the obvious spike
[URL="http/img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/cra...11032008806.jpg"]http/img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/cra...11032008806.jpg[/URL]

And the set up i have for cycling the liverock
[URL="http/img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/cra...11032008808.jpg"]http/img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/cra...11032008808.jpg[/URL]

Lots more pictures to come saturday of the whole transfere from start to finish

 

[SkiFletch]

Thats an awesome tank dimension. Cant wait to see this all setup

 

[craigybaby37]

If i could go taller and deeper i would but sadly the way my rooms set out i cant do it. My television is mounted on the wall above it.

Will definatly look different as i cant say ive seen any tanks that are realy long but not 2ft deep or tall for example.

Just adding a small bit to this post i was bored tonight 12/3/08 and it looks like the new liverock has fully cycled as nitrite is down to 0ppm and ammonia is down to 0ppm and PH has raised to 8.4.

a cycle taking 4 days seems fast to me but test are showing everything is looking ok........whats the chances of anything rising again like the nitrites and ammonia??? or wouls u say its cycled now and is all fine?

 

[SkiFletch]

Ammonia and nitrite should be down. Nitrate and pH may continue to fluctuate for a month or so.

 

[craigybaby37]

thats ok then as long as the nitrite an ammonia stay down ime happy with that. ill do a few more tests before it goes in the tank just to make sure all is still ok.

Treated myself to a new digital camera today its a panasonic dmc-fx100 so ill have lots of pics from saturday when i get the new tank together.

How is it that people get lots of pictures in 1 post as when i try to upload pictures a have a 100kb upload limit which aint a lot at all and ive seen various other people upload 20 or so pictures in 1 thread. I can do it through photobucket but that takes time uploading the pics to my account then posting all the internet links to the pictures.

 

[SkiFletch]

Are you sure they were all uploaded using the TFF upload space? I prefer photobucket myself since I can get higher resolution pictures on there. JMO

 

[craigybaby37]

yea that is a good point. is there any way of doing it to that when u post the link the the picture it displays the picture rather than the link that you then have to click on???

And guess what...........The tank is here picked it up this afternoon and ime realy impressed with it cant wait to get it set up tomorow.
Been spray painting the back of it tonight i got 5 layers of hammerite blue spraypaint on it and its left a realy smooth finish with not a run in sight as i done 5 thin layers rather than just cake it on in 2 layers.

couple of sneeky pics for you to check out of it painted.

http/img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/cra...era13308076.jpg

http/img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/cra...era13308078.jpg

 

[craigybaby37]

Well ime glad to say all went well with the transfere and no leaks in the tank which is always a good thing. The rockwork is ok but ime going to get about another 5 kilos of liverock but smaller pieces as i havnt achieved the look i was after but it still looks good for the time being.

got a few pics for you to look over of everything step by step hope u enjoy.

Found a hitch hiker i think its a anemone of some sort as it moves around on the rock and i think i can make out a mouth

pump for the skimmer is nicely hidden up

More pictures to follow once everything has settled and all the corals are fully opened up.

 

[SkiFletch]

Copy the tag under the pic labeled IMG in brackets and post that in the forum text

Interesting spot for the TV

 

[craigybaby37]

yea the tv was there in the first place so measured the tank up so it would fit under it nicely.

As you may be able to see from the pictures i put some of the rocks in before the sand so that they were nice and sturdy and then i added the sand afterwards is it ok doing this as ime hoping that the powerheads will shift some of the sand round the back of the rocks.

 

[BigC]

Not wishing to criticise, but if you dont want condensation issues or heat from the luminaire to affect you television viewing at some point, then seriously, I'd consider moving the TV.
Everything else looks fine.
Regards
BigC

 

[littleme1969]

Have to agree about the TV, only way round it is some glass slider lids to cut down on moisture problems.
But the tank looks great and I love the long stretch look. Mines the standard 60" x 24" x 18" wide . I also got a freaky anemone on my new rock too snap!..lol

 

[craigybaby37]

ill keep an eye on it for sure. though having 2 tanks under it for a year or so i cant say ive had any problems yet..........the metal halide light that was over the old tank gave off a fair ammount of heat and it wasnt exactly that far from the side of the tele, but i dont meen that to sound ignorant as if ime not taking ur advice but i will definatly make sure its all ok.

 

[SkiFletch]

Actually, Unless you live in a really cold, humid climate, I wouldn't worry about it

 

[craigybaby37]

well my bedroom windows very rarely get shut so my rooms always got a good air flow.

Had a change around already i scaped the left side of the tank to how i wanted it so the left side looks a little bare atm but i dont mind as ill pick up some more liverock in the next week to get the right side matching the left heres a pic just so ya can see what ive done.