the fish went in a 5 by 2 by 2

[Essential Phytoplankton]

hi all
just been put onto the site by wakeyblue
i have just recentley started a new project been doing marines for 5 years started getting really serious last year by doing my own 3ft builds sumped nanos etc
so far this is my my 5th project and first as a member on here

my first was a d-d 24g nano
my second was my 3ft tank
my third was a drilled and sumped d-d 24g nano which cracked lesson learnt never drill a d-d nano
my fourth was a small hospital quarintine tank using the sump from under nano and cutting chambers out of nano

now i have bought a close friends 5x2x2 seashell tank
and knowing me as usual i did not even get it out the van before i was cutting the weirs out which i picked up sat 16th may.
i picked the fish up and rock etc the day before fri 15th may so it was just the tank etc to get the next day.

it wasnt a bad tank but vic could never seem to keep a coral in the tank so it was a case of i will have a go see how i get on
so firstly i cut the square weirs out on 16th
then i cut the koi carp tank connectors out
pulled the flexible black pond pipes that were used for plumbing out
i went to everton glass got glass cut for the sumps extra baffles as it only had 2 baffles and for the weirs also

sun 17th may
i then washed cleaned and scrubbed like hell.
baffles siliconed in place as i wanted
also fitted act 800

mon 18th may
water tested sump small leak but sorted

tue 19th may
tested sump again all ok
added 3 bags of coral gravel to dsb
i then decided to fit all new plumbing using 32mm pipe from coral culture
tank connectors silconed in and left to set

wed 20th may
filled sump and skimmed some rock etc
added fine coral gravel out of established tank my very first nano
water tested tank connectors for leaks
2 x 32mm dursos in lhs and rhs of tank and used a 25mm return from or3500 in sump drilled holes right the way along for spray bar effect to give circulation behind rock work
weirs were then siliconed in place and also used existing blue plastic for weir comb ect
instead of putting square weirs back in i put angled weirs in.

thursday 21st may
turned return pump on to see what spray bar looked like seemed ok may upgrade to or6500
water tested tank all went well
started the tank cycling through sump etc all live rock put in tank and shaped to how i wanted it using 10mm acrylic rod
added 1 bottle of jbl denitrol
and some kent ammonia detox
tank is skimming well

friday 22nd may
corals placed in and most of rock out of 3ft tank now in
water test done ammonia slight reading
nitrite 0.05ppm
ph 8.4

will add some pics not sure how on here though just wanted to say a big thanks to my girlfriends dad gary power warren vic and alan without them it would never have got here in one piece thanks again

this is a little of my own diary will update more with pics soon

http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/images/smilies/thanks.gifmick

[Guest]

hi mick glad you found your way onto here freindly site good people here to , oh we like pics mate :D

[piglet]

Welcome to the family:)

Piglet

[Essential Phytoplankton]

thanks piglet will get some pics on john just finished setting up my aquatronica ballin system up today its going to look spot on
mick

[Essential Phytoplankton]

more pics in no order sorry
mick

[Essential Phytoplankton]

some more
mick

[Essential Phytoplankton]

some more again

[Essential Phytoplankton]

some more yet again

[Essential Phytoplankton]

and more again

[Gaters]

Welcome and the tank's looking great. Just two questions-how deep is your dsb and were you advised to put large grain sand at the bottom and finer sand on the top of it? I have a few great links for dsbs that i'll put up-when i find them;););) The main thing is dsbs need to be 2 thirds the size of the tank to be efffective. So if your tank is 5x2x2 your dsb should be approx 21"x24"x no more than 5-6" deep with finer sand on the bottom. Hth Neil

[Tangman]

Hi Mick and welcome to Reefcorals, if you know ma son you will do for here. As Gaters said about the sand for the DSB it all needs to be 0.5mm in diameter sand so that the bacteria can work, all the big stuff at the bottom will do is collect crud and rot and cause problems. I would redo the DSB with sugar fine sand the smaller grain the better, sorry to tell you this after you have been such a busy boy but rather now thatn later. HTH Twiggy:D:D

[marinemike]

hi welcome,hope you enjoy your stay.

[Essential Phytoplankton]

sorry these are only a few old pics will add some newer ones when i get the chance there is also a layer of mineral mud on the top its not so much a dsb but allows water to skim across the mud picking nutrients pods rotifiers and cheato to zap the nitrates on it way back to the tank
had this system on my old tank so done this off my own back as doesnt a dsb the water have to come from underneath to filter through thes sand etc

[Tangman]

Hi Mick if you have done it before and it worked thats fine m8, i was always told that the courser sand used it would hold all the crud and cause a problem thats why i always use sugar fine sand for DSBs. Twiggy:D

[Timo]

Hello welcome to Reef corals :D

[Buster]

Hi there. Welcome to reefcorals, your tank is looking greats. Please pm me all your details and I will sort out your own forum for you. Welcome aboard.:)

[Gaters]

Hi there. Welcome to reefcorals, your tank is looking greats. Please pm me all your details and I will sort out your own forum for you. Welcome aboard.:)

Quality avatar Buster:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D :D:D:D

[Tangman]

Quality avatar Buster:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D :D:D:D
Dont you start, its making my heart do flips when i look at them. Twiggy:D:D

[stevieh]

welcome to reef corals :)

[ROB]

Welcome:indeed: and nice pics,

Rob.

[cl0wn]

inclined to agree with gaters and eric (tangman) here. imo your particle size is too big at the bottom of the dsb. would have thought sand bed with mud on top and a thin layer of the coarser material would work better. the coarser material would weigh down the mud layer keeping it in situ. the fine sand at the bottom would create the anaerobic conditions required. would think how you have it would create more of a plenum type situation

dr ron has written the gospel of articles on dsb's.

http://www.ronshimek.com/deep_sand_beds.html

[cl0wn]

sorry, forgot to mention, welcome to reefcorals. just trying to offer advice :D:)

[Essential Phytoplankton]

hi mate doesnt a dsb have the water coming through the underneath of the bottom layer working its way up or the opposite way round mine is not really a dsb if you look closely my water only skims across the top of the mud seen this done a couple of times in america any ideas or help is appreciated not took the wrong way so keep it coming
thanks mick

[Gaters]

hi mate doesnt a dsb have the water coming through the underneath of the bottom layer working its way up or the opposite way round mine is not really a dsb if you look closely my water only skims across the top of the mud seen this done a couple of times in america any ideas or help is appreciated not took the wrong way so keep it coming
thanks mick

That would be a plenum;)

The whole point of a dsb is that the bottom layers don't get too much oxygen rich water (i think) so anaerobic bacteria-just like inside your live rock-flourishes and helps the nitrogen cycle-i could have everything the wrong way around also.:D:D:D:D:D

[cl0wn]

yep, as gaters says, the large particles would create a plenum type system. the porosity (sp) of the particles is the key. from high to low. get a bowl of sand with some tank water and agitate it the large particle will come to the surface, and the finer sand will go to the bottom, grunge (in this case MM) will come to the surface and be susceptable to being swept away. the whole denitrification will take place in the lower third of the sand bed, where there is less oxygen.

take a piece of live rock it's porous, but we shake it and turn it to make sure there is no O2 and let the anaerobic bacteria in the central, less porous parts of the rock do their bit.

[Essential Phytoplankton]

hi mate
so what do you think im best doing with my sump to make it more efficent
as this is the way it works at the moment


water from tank goes into
chamber 1 the alfra grog
then goes underneath into
chamber 2 live rock rubble
then goes over the top of
chamber 3 and skims across the top layer which is mineral mud then
goes over the top into
chamber 4 more live rock rubble then
goes into last chamber that has skimmer, uv, phos reactor, carbon reactor, aquatronica ph probe redox probe heater and 1 of 2 temp sensors

any ideas would be appreciated
mick

[cl0wn]

if it were possible i would have the skimmer before the dsb, otherwise it's gonna be skimming all the lovely pod life out of the water. then sort out the substrate as suggested. hth mick:D

[Essential Phytoplankton]

if it were possible i would have the skimmer before the dsb, otherwise it's gonna be skimming all the lovely pod life out of the water. then sort out the substrate as suggested. hth mick:D

so do you think take all the alfro grog out (this is good for nitrates) put skimmer and live rock in chamber 1
take big gravel out of the dsb replace with the thinner gravel
what about the mud? should i just leave it

[cl0wn]

never used alfro grog, so can't really comment on that, perhaps someone else can. use the mud, you can have a thin layer of the coarser gravel on top to stop the mud being washed away, i would use sugar fine sand where the gravel is now. good topic for debate btw:D

[Essential Phytoplankton]

will look into changing it when i get chance.
my old stock list when i set this up about a 2 months ago was
2 black and white clowns
purple firefish
coral beauty
flame angel
majestic angel
yellow tang
5 cleaner shrimp
2 blood shrimp
1 pistol shrimp
various crabs and snails
all from my old tank

since then ive added
sailfin added over 3 weeks ago cost £15
peppermint shrimp added 2.5 weeks ago
kole eye tang added 2 weeks ago which constantly grazes on rockwork i love this fish cost £31
sohal tang added today swapped for my majestic and £50 cost £115
tailspot blenny added today £18
excuisite wrasse added today £30
had to take most of rockwork out as couldnt catch my majestic

also added my aquatronica system to my tank now
with
ph probe
redox probe
2 plugbars
2 temp sensors
2 water level sensors
added 1 blue aquaray want 1 more as these are amazing for the colours

once camera is charge i will get some updated pics on
mick

[Guest]

nice one mick looking forward to seeing the pictures my fav tang is the sohal

[Essential Phytoplankton]

couple of pics to see as i set up firstly with act800 and sump lights

[Essential Phytoplankton]

some pics of the new aquatronica

[Essential Phytoplankton]

a few coral shots before rescaped this weekend

[Essential Phytoplankton]

some more and tank shots before the rescape

[Essential Phytoplankton]

some more pictures

[Essential Phytoplankton]

and some more pics even one from when i sold all my softies

[Essential Phytoplankton]

some old stock pics before i sold majestic to lfs for sohal

[Essential Phytoplankton]

fish pics continued

[Essential Phytoplankton]

some recent coral pics

[Essential Phytoplankton]

some more coral pics

[Essential Phytoplankton]

some of saturdays rescaping im alot happier with very sturdy with more acrylic rods etc

[Essential Phytoplankton]

some more rescaping pics

[Essential Phytoplankton]

recent livestock pics

[Essential Phytoplankton]

even more reccent pics

[Essential Phytoplankton]

and a few more pics

[Essential Phytoplankton]

some more pics again

[Essential Phytoplankton]

and some more

[Essential Phytoplankton]

and some more again

[Essential Phytoplankton]

last 2 livestock pics

[Essential Phytoplankton]

recent equpment pics

[Essential Phytoplankton]

recent equpment pics again

[Essential Phytoplankton]

some recent equipment pics
thats all my pics for now god thats hardwork

[Essential Phytoplankton]

Some really bad news came home from work at 7pm last night and noticed my new sohal tang has white spot and my kole eyed tang has a few spots not as many as my sohal something has stressed them out as none of my tangs have shown any sign of whitespot at all and the sohal has been in since saturday and developed it yesterday I'm absoloutley devasted uv is running permenant 24hrs and ozone is running just have to feed small amounts little but often anyone know where I stand with the lfs I got him from as I paid £119 for him
Mick

[TerraC]

not a leg to stand on I expect. They'll probably roll out the old "you mean you didnt quarantine before you added it to your display tank?" routine...

Keep up with what you're doing and keep an eye out for signs of aggression between the tangs.

Eric the tang master will probably be along soon to offer some good advice :D

nice tank btw.. that a fit or a classic cabinet?

[Essential Phytoplankton]

Just called home to have a look at the tangs again the kole eye is showing no signs of any spots whatsoever and the sohall does not look anywhere near as bad as what it did yesterday I'm well an truely baffled hope it turns out not to be but you noticed them even at a slight glance on the sohal and the tangs all swim together etc don't bother each other sailfin and yellow tang have no spots whatsoever

Mick

[Tangman]

Hi Mick this usually happens when you add Tangs, they do break out in spot but with good water quality and good food they should recover. Its the old adage with Tangs and WS i am sure they are carriers and when they get stressed out it comes. Keep the stress levels down and hands out of the tank with UV and Ozone running it should combat it, and feed them plenty of Algae sheet along with frozen and flake. HTH Twiggy:D:D

[Essential Phytoplankton]

Thanks twiggy
I add flake twice a day every 12 hrs only small amounts but enough when I get in I will stick a quarter of a big sheet of nori in say 5x3 inches a piece then whilst they are eating that I melt a small cube of loster eggs,red plankton, a cube of mixed homemade foods (that are all thrown in a blender with a cup of phyto and a sheet of nori which I then put in ice cube trays)
I add this 1hr after nori has gone with a basterx2 then more later on
Then before lights go out I add a small cup of phyto
Every 2 days I add live hatched brine shrimp and rotifiers
Mick

[Guest]

mick when i had w/s i added garlic gaurd to the food and soaked nori in it over night

[TerraC]

mick when i had w/s i added garlic gaurd to the food and soaked nori in it over night

i read a discussion a while back saying that garlic possibly nackers up fish's digestive system. worth bearing in mind.

[Essential Phytoplankton]

sohal died yesterday i even caught him and set upquarintine tank with another uv on it (defo was not white spot as they went the next day)
well gutted all params were spot on and took sample to lfs with fish in seperate bag and all fine so they were prepared to give me my majestic back and the £50 extra that i paid but i said i really wanted either another sohal or a achillies so he is going to ring me back tomorrow so some consolation but i really did like the sohal
mick

[Guest]

sorry to hear mick , but at least the shop was prepared to help you out not like one i could mention up here (non sponsor i may Add)when i first set up i bought what i believed to be a reef safe glass cleaner after i had bought 200 pounds worth of fish from the place the magnet poisoned the fish i got nothing back had to contact manufacturer of magnet they sent me some fish food :mad:

hope you find another sohal mate good luck

[Tangman]

Hi Mick sorry you lost the Sohal as they are a stunning fish, but dont take this the wrong way m8 but i think your 5x2x2 is a wee bit small for a Sohal as they like a lot of swimming space, and in my experience with Tangs is they get stressed if they cant stretch there legs so to speak. I would say the minimum size for a Sohal would be 6x2x2, then you would have to upgrade to one that is double that size when it grows. StevieH has a Sohal in his 138x30x36 inch tank and he his happy with the space to swim about in. Just my opinion Mick not a dig at you as people do what they want but a little advice never hurt anyone. Twiggy:grouphug:

[TerraC]

sorry to hear mick , but at least the shop was prepared to help you out not like one i could mention up here (non sponsor i may Add)when i first set up i bought what i believed to be a reef safe glass cleaner after i had bought 200 pounds worth of fish from the place the magnet poisoned the fish i got nothing back had to contact manufacturer of magnet they sent me some fish food :mad:

hope you find another sohal mate good luck

:( strange.. what kind of magnet was it?

[Essential Phytoplankton]

Just to keep you all up to date I came home from work and the following fish are caked in whitespot
Sailfin, yellow tang, kole eyed tang, flame angel, coral beauty, orange back wrasse all are eating well and being fed little but often the uv is running 24/7 and ozone is on with a cut off controlled by the aquatronica redox probe at 350
The only fish not to be showing signs of white spot are my 2 black and white clowns and my purple fire fish and tailspot blenny

How long can a bout of white spot last and when is the next time a fish can be added again to system I have a nasty feelin I'm going to loose most of my fish and I aint taking the chance of adding anymore fish

Any help or ideas
Mick

[TerraC]

some reading for you... Probably not what you want to hear but...

The ONLY way to cure is to remove fish to hospital tank and treat with copper. Leave the main tank barren of fish for AT LEAST 6 weeks.

If you wake up one day and all the spots are gone.. this is the life cycle of the parasite, they will be back within a fortnight and usually twice as bad.

http://www.reefland.com/forum/marine-fish-care-health-disease-treatment/20321-marine-ich-myths-facts.html

[Essential Phytoplankton]

think thats whats happened with the sohal tang that died had spots they were gone then it was heavy breathing then it died and now its come back with a vengenance on most of livestock its going to be 3 months before i can add any fish at least now fingers crossed with the ozone and the uv running they might survive

thanks again terra

[Essential Phytoplankton]

heres a few pics
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[Essential Phytoplankton]

some more pics
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some more pics
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[Essential Phytoplankton]

some more pics again
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[Essential Phytoplankton]

more pics yet again
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[Essential Phytoplankton]

even more pics
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http://www.reefcorals.co.uk/images/misc/pencil.png

[Essential Phytoplankton]

and more pics
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more pics again
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and lost lot of pics
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http://www.reefcorals.co.uk/images/misc/pencil.png

[Macca]

looking good!

[Essential Phytoplankton]

cheers macca not been on for a while as ive had no internet do you want some more phyto mate

[cl0wn]

i want those zoos!!!

[Essential Phytoplankton]

lol stunning under aquarays but my camera is crap

[Guest]

hey up mick looking great mate

[p&d]

the tank's looking great and nice stock........................paul

[Essential Phytoplankton]

thanks mate