Tina's Twin Bommies

[SkiFletch]

Looks great TI. What kind of refuge do you have?

 

[TigerIssey]

looking forward to the next installment

Seffie x

ps
I haven't seen one of those old coal skuttles for years - love em, wish I had one for my coal fire (mind you it only gets lit when we have powercut or at Christmas, shame really

Our wood burner is our heating I am afraid Seffie, it heats the radiators and the hot water (we do have an immersion for summer), must say, have a lot less colds than I used to when I lived in a house with central heating. It means we sit either side of the fire, a sofa each when it is really cold, just hard work lighting it and cleaning it all the time.

Looks great TI. What kind of refuge do you have?

This is a picture of the sump as it is now Ski, the V2 nano will be swapped for my Aquamedic Midiflotor when I can get an air pump, will get a double one so that the other outlet can be used for food cultures. I am working on a home made way of housing the carbon and phosphate removers (inspired by Trucks using a Bubble stop), will be tinkering with that ths week I also have more chaetomorpha on the way. I also need to get a couple of ball valves for the return pipe to control how much flow goes back to the sump and how much via the UV to the tank.

This is the HOB refugium I used on the Nano reef

I have made a decision to use the UV steriliser for about a month after this swap over after reading Ben and Barneys Journals, they both had problems with white spot after they swapped tanks. No way I want to risk leaving my mum to deal with that.

The swap was extremely hard work, I was cream crackered after finishing and did not get my tea till very late. There was stuff everywhere and Andrew really did end up having to help more than I expectd he would. My plumbing was not too bad but if we used the pump without the T-piece, the piping leaked where it joined on to the UV. Andrew sorted this for me by using a 15mm washing machine connector on the return pipe that goes back to the sump.

All in all though, I did the plumbing and am incredibly proud of myself. I have a sump. It does gurgle gurgle swoosh and I actually like it.

After the switch on

Here is Andrews custom UV stand, it fits nicely into the cut out that was already in the shelf in the cabinet.

I had to add another extension lead as I had not allowed for the size of the timers. Does not matter, I need the space up top anyway, will be revealed in due course.

The oolite Aragonite sugar fine sand was a nightmare to wash. I had not got enough RO to wash it as thoroughly as I would have liked, hence the Display has been very very cloudy today. I have still taken some pictures though however I did leave it till tonight before doing so.

Before I show the photos I want to explain what I was trying to achieve. I have been buying back issues of Ultra Marine Magazine from my LFS, in Issue 12 October/November 08 there was an article entitled "A walk on the wild sideart 2" by Simon Garrett. In that article Sanjay Joshi's 500g display tank is shown with just the rocks and then later with corals. I will post that picture and hope as I am attributing it to UM mag and that it is Sanjay's tank I will be OK.

This was my inspiration although it would be on a much smaller scale. I like the way the bommies give all sorts of spaces and conditions for different corals. It also allows you to thik about which coral will go where as you place the rock.

Now, as I was placing very carefully in water that was foggy as these here Lancashire moors, I realised I would not be able to aqquascape the finished article, I do not have enough pieces of rock. Therefore this leaves me having an unfinished scape. I have tried to make the best of that and allow for more rock. The right hand side is too far to the right of the tank, this need moving a little left as the rocks are not fitting together how I know I had them in the Nano, also it means some of the rocks are leaning against the tank and that is not the look I want. This will also give me more scope to stack above. As this tank is deeper than the last, I have raised the corals slightly from the postitions they were in before.

Okay, here is the FTS

The Left Bommie

The leather is in a massive sulk, I really had problems because I could not for the life of me get it off the rock, as a result it got very very little acclimatisation. The polyps have been coming out however it is like a man jumped in cold water rather than being nice and erect.

The right Bommie

The clowns have gone back to hosting the frogspawn. They do not seem to realise where the Rhodactis are, however the bad crab (spoke to lady in lfs about this) was living just above them, they seemed to recede before I caught the crab, they appear to have fragged themselves and took off round the tank. There are some left but not all over the rock as it was.

Reet onto my purchase from a fellow reefer (mentioned at the end of yesterdays update). I have managed to get hold of a T5 dual 55w power compact ballast and tubes. I just need to wire them. This is why I need space in the unit, that is where the ballast will live. I also need to work out a way to fix them to the hood, can you get reflectors for PC's.


I am presuming with 110w T5 Power comact and 36w actinic T8, I should be able to keep a few SPS aswell.?

Here they are

I went for these as I could not get hold of any Interpet ones.

Hope you like what I have done, will be tinkering with things all week and will keep you informed of how things go.

EDIT - Pressed post instead of preview, needed to finish off.

 

[seffieuk]

Wow impressive Tina and made a great read, I really did enjoy it a lot - really liking your aquascape as well, can't wait to see it evolve - thanks for taking the time to show us.

Seffie x

 

[GlidergirlUK]

Its coming along nicely now....
Im sure your Mum will cope fine when youare off on your hols....sounds like you really deserve a nice one!

 

[ben1987]

i like that scape tina. Looks good, you dont hang around do ya!

 

[TigerIssey]

Thanks folks, just about to ring mum to take me to LFS again, need to return the empty salt buckets I borrowed full of water and see what base rock she has. She has some in with the live rock that is not premium stuff but is suitable for places it will not be seen at just £5 a kilo, as its in with the live rock, there should still be some life with it too. If there are any smaller pieces of live rock I did not buy Saturday, will get a few of those too, really need to do something with the right hand side, its bugging me today. YWG and Flasher seem to be sulking with me, oh well, they have a fab new home and I am sure they will come around soon.

Will take some more photos, later, the fog has cleared today so I should be able to see what I am doing.

I couldn't hang around Ben once it was started, had to move equipment from one to the other which was the nightmare really, gave me a headache working out what order to move thing in. I kept the fish and corals in the old tank as long as possible then just acclimatised them in buckets, seems to have paid off too, the corals are puffing up nicely today, except the GSP, I am sure that will sulk with me for a few days.

The shrimps were cute when I put them in, they both went in on my hand, the oldest one is a bit more skittish but the newer one spent 5 minutes cleaning my hand, not surprised, my skin is that dry from having one hand in the tank constantly for 2 days.

Until later.

 

[ben1987]

i would have the right hand side a swim around if your chanign it. So the fish can get round it on all sides. Makes the tank look bigger if fish apear from behind stuff.

 

[TigerIssey]

Yep Ben, thats exactly the reason I am changing it, I could not see properley yesterday, it was too foggy from the new sugar sand so I will bring the 2 base rocks out and slot them together as I had them in the nano, I then will see if I can get a flatter piece of rock to complete the overhang look I want for just above the bubble. I like the shape on the top two rocks though, they are new ones, looks like some nice coralline will appear on them soon too.

At the mo, the YWG is peeking from the left of that bommie and the flasher from the reet, all fish seem to be staying around that right hand side, new fish after the holiday though, not sure what to go for yet, will be sitting down with Andrew later and choosing a fish list.

As I have doubled the size and have the sump as well, how many fish should I think about adding, I was thinking 4 or 5 depending on size.

 

[TigerIssey]

Had a nice trip to LFS to get some more rock. I had a piece of the base rock mentioned earlier, 2.5 kilos for £12. A few bits (what was left) of the fuji LR and some more epoxy along with yet more back issues of Ultra Marine, gawd knows what I will read when this supply runs out.

Moving the rocks created a fog once again, did not clear properly till tonight, thats why the update took so long. I am almost happy with the scape now, will get a few more bits of good LR on Friday after LFS has visited TMC on Thursday. Just need a few small select pieces to top the stacks off and I think I will be happy.

We will start with a picture of the Flasher peeking out at me.

Akhenaton, the Emerald crab, he gave me a panic once the tank was down to fish and inverts as I could not see him anywhere. It seems he hitchhiked on the live rock and ended up in the tank first.

The Left Bommie

The Right Bommie - spot the YWG

Shot from the Left

Shot from the Reet

The Full Tank Shot

Sorry about the bubble not being out, had not long withdrawn its polys when the photos were took. Will take some individual pictures once they have resettled.

Some tweaking will be done tomorrow, looking to do the phosphate remover and carbon. Also need to get the sump light installed and I need to sort the red LED's from the old tank, did not bother Sunday as they were not essentials.

Have been looking at fish with Andrew tonight, we have chosen some species but apart from the Mandarin have not completely decided yet. Will probably post about that tommorow.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

 

[SkiFletch]

Wow, great work there TI, looks awesome

 

[TigerIssey]

Cheers Ski,

Have done some shopping on Fleabay in these wee hours of the morning, what did we do before the internet when we couldn't sleep

Now if you are having trouble sleeping, you can shop 24/7.

First off I bought an Eheim 400lph twin outlet airpump to power my Aquamedic midiflotor counter current protein skimmer.

Eheim Airpump

Next from the same seller I bought a NT labs brine shrimp / Artemia hatcher, I know I could have used a pop bottle but his will look better and fit better me thinks.

NT Labs Brine shrimp hatcher

I have also had to replace my moonlights, since the episode with the saltwater in the electrical socket they have not worked.

Moonlights

Then after reading Jennybugs journal I have decided to try the Korallen Zucht Amino Acid supplement.

Korallen Zucht Amino Acid Supplement

It seems expensive but it says you only need 1 drop per 50 gallon, not sure how often but 250 ml should last a reasonable amount of time.

I now have a great week of deliveries, I do like deliveries. Not so keen on making sure I am up for when the postman gets here though. Last time I had l;ots of deliveries I shoputed at him for not waiting for me to get to the door, he left the parcel outside and started to walk off. I said, if you are going to ring the doorbell you could at least wait for me to get to the door, you know I am on crutches. He is a moron, drives like one too, I have complained to the post office at the way they drive on our road (private I might add). There is a post box outside, we had a head on collision with one a few yrs ago when they were driving at 70mph on a single track country lane.

Anyhow I digress, more as it happens.

 

[ben1987]

Wow i really prefer that looks very nice. My flahser used to get blog on like that.

 

[TigerIssey]

Cheers Ben, I am quite pleased but a little tweaking never hurts does it

I have now uprgraded the lighting and installed a light above the sump, need to find the spare timer.

We have come up with a fish list, now I am not sure how many more fish we can add, so here is the list, any help appreciated. I don't think there are any compatibility issues but do tell me if there are.

Current stock

2 Percula clowns
Yellow Watchman Goby
Male Filamented Flasher Wrasse

Ou Wish List

Definate

Mandarin Dragonet - Will be added last after tank has matured more. Will start culturing copepods soon.
Another Flasher wrasse
Dwarf Angel - Looking at Cherub, Coral Beauty or Flame, depends what takes Andrews eye.

Maybe

Bangaii Cardinal - (I know seffie thinks boring but its different in colour and always on view)
Purple Firefish
Bicolour Blenny

An order of which to add them in would be good too, I would presume Cardinal or firefish first.

I have given up with the homemade chemical media container, LFS visiting TMC on Thursday so I am asking her to get me a V2 bubble stop, along with a few plumbing bits.

I am wanting to add a banded serpent star, any problems with that??

I am also thinking about a sea hare, is this ok??

Are there any starfish suitable for this size tank that are easy ish to feed???

Enough for now. Will take more photos later, tank is now super clear hoping moonlights will arrive today and will be fitting red leds. Will do you some lighting comparison pictures again, I know you enjoyed that in the Nano tank.

 

[TigerIssey]

Okay now I am absolutely gutted. I did not see the Flasher wrasse all yesterday afternoon, this morning after noticing my skimmer going mad, I checked water stats, 0 ammonia 0.025 nitrite (on Monday both 0) my nitrate is 0 pH 8.0 KH 8.6. I found the body just in the shrimps lair. He was pretty eaten but did not look unusual apart from that.

I have not got a clue why, clowns and YWG are perfectly healthy. Must have been something to do with the move.

Mereneptah

DIT Transcribed nitrite level wrong.

 

[ben1987]

The move probably just stressed him a lot. They can be quite mardy when they want to be. Sorry Tina.

Looks at a potters angel?