Coral Tank from Canada (1350gal Display Tank)
- Thread starter nineball
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nineball
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Good to see you are paying attention Paul. I am hoping for some pics later today. The process is similar to building a custom home. There is a period during the building cycle when virtually nothing seems to be happening. This is when the power, plumbing, heating, cooling and ventilation systems are being grafted into the archetecture. Thanks to this community and it's wellhead of advice and information, this part of the cycle has been extended. Even the downstream possibilities are being roughed in for future planning.
At this stage of the fish room evolution a lot has been happening and yet it looks totaly unfinished.....but typical for this stage of development.
Peter
skibum9884
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Peter, what type of Cervelo? Road or TT?
I ride a P3C, great bike, but it's tough on me if I'm riding more than about 60-70 miles.
Sorry to derail. Funny how other hobbies of ours overlap!
I ride a P3C, great bike, but it's tough on me if I'm riding more than about 60-70 miles.
Sorry to derail. Funny how other hobbies of ours overlap!
Hey now. No Burlington Jokes! Just as good as Oakville.
I've finished reading through your thread and I'm enjoying it immensly. Some great advice from a lot of people.
If I may ad a bit of my own advice. It's hard to plan everything from the start of a build. There will always be mistakes, things you wish you had done etc. I always have a huge list of things I plan to do on my next build. But that's part of the enjoyment. Sometimes the best method is just to keep things simple from a technological point of view. There are a plethora of toys and gadgets to aquire and play with. In due time you'll get your hands on them all. It's inevitable. They all have pros and cons, but from what I can see you've got the basics already in place (water volume, flow, adequate biofiltration etc). In my opinion you'll be successful despite any additional technology you decide to employ.
Part of the enjoyment of this hobby is "tinkering". Aquiring the gadgets trying them out and deciding for yourself if its right for you. Lets face it we're not in the hobby to save money. I've got a ton of excess apparatus and additives lying around my basement from various tanks I've built. A bit of a reeftank hoarder I must say.
Everyone experienced in the hobby can give you usefull suggestions, but the decision must be yours. An interesting aspect of this hobby is how each tank seems to take on the personality of its builder. There are so many variables when it comes to technology and livestock that make each tank special. Your tank will have it's own uniqueness as a result of the decisions you make. There are few rights or wrongs in the hobby. Just different ways of doing things. We all make mistakes, learn from them, then move on.
There are several hobbyists in your area. A former tank of the month, whose screen name I cannot think of at the moment, lives in your town. I encourage you to contact these great people, see their tanks in person, inquire about their methods and reasoning. You can take a little bit from everyone. There's no subsitute for seeing the tanks in action. Even some of the most rudimentary tanks are also the most beautiful.
Everyone depending on their background will have certain biases when it comes to the choices they make. Being from a biological/medical background, I would suggest maximizing biodiversity. If you're trying to decide betweem Macro algae, mangroves or seagrass, why not keep all three. As long as space allows of course. Some of the "bad stuff" (aptasia, turf algae, etc) can be extremely beneficial in a tank outside the display, but plumbed into the system. Even some of the hitchhikers (but not all) you collected on the live rock, can be kept outside the display. Remember these creatures have evolved for a reason. They all play their own role in the mini ecosystem you're creating. Look up each creature in the liturature, educate yourself on them and decide where they fall in to the natural order of things. Give your tank a lot of time for equillibrium to establish istself.
There are a lot of rules and old wives tales floating around this hobby. Be sure to question everything your told and decide if it has any logic to it. Some things are just repeated over and over, but know one has ever given it some detailed thought and tested it.
As far as aquascaping, sometimes just time and patients will make any rock arragement look natural as it matures. I personally take the lazy man approach and stack the rocks with no adhesives. Some small pieces will drift around due to water flow and livestock, but once the tank is mature it looks very believable. I can always change it later. Yes it may trap detritus, or an avalanche may occur etc, etc. Just my way of doing it. Not right or wrong.
I guess what I'm saying is when you're being bombarded with an enormous amount of information and suggestions, sometimes it's best to step back, go with the simplest most logical tried and tested method. Sometimes a little critical thought goes a long way. For the most part you can always modify it later. The exception of course is tank shape and volume, the holes you drill in it etc. The basics which you've already planned for.
In due time you'll learn most everything about the hobby. It can't be done in a couple months. Then some clever person will come along and change the way we all do things. Who knows that person may be you.
This is a great thread, and you're open mindedness to everyones suggestions speaks volumes of your character. I know in my build thread I'm less accepting of the criticism than you. Sometimes you have to be a little selfish and say I'm doing it my way and that's final. Within reason of course.
nineball
Active member
Road, and I'm not surprised on the overlap. Another consistant link I have found is home theater but I refuse to go there until after the fish go in.
Peter
nineball
Active member
Cougarman, I have to say that my experience and effort on this build is very much in line with your observations. Bang on in fact, and I hope that's a good thing. Without recapping your entire post I do have to say that finding that single point of commitment and declaring a firm position on anything in this environment does take some courage. Fortunately, so far, almost everyone has given me space with support and encouragement to boot. This thread has for sure been invaluable from the outset and I hope to maintain enough interest to keep folks glued to their seats till we are all wet!!!!!
Thanks ever so much for sharing your insight. It is very much appreciated.
Peter
PauChi
New member
:bigeyes: hhhmmm ... I'm a big Linn audio fan and especially when they're Aktiv!! But then I've heard others and they don't come close to the real thing especially Classical or alternative rock music ...
Paul
nineball
Active member
:bigeyes: hhhmmm ... I'm a big Linn audio fan and especially when they're Aktiv!! But then I've heard others and they don't come close to the real thing especially Classical or alternative rock music ...
Paul
You are not alone. Chingchai is a big Linn fan. If I recall he even put a unit in the room with the aquarium if my memory serves me correct........
Peter
swissgaurd
New member
peter sweet collection you got there
thanks for sharing.
im quite interseted in your mars setup
when are you going to set it up.
from what i understand this system will hold corals and fish.
are you using it to quarintine fish before adding it to display.
and also is this system holding corals.
i imagine it will be running on its own and not inline with the DT.
why not get it running now with liverock to seed it.
if your going to be adding copper to this system then it will be useless to use for corals or invertabrates.
i think the mars system is a holding tank before adding to DT.
if so should it not have 2 seperate systems one for coral and one for fish.
vic
thanks for sharing.
im quite interseted in your mars setup
when are you going to set it up.
from what i understand this system will hold corals and fish.
are you using it to quarintine fish before adding it to display.
and also is this system holding corals.
i imagine it will be running on its own and not inline with the DT.
why not get it running now with liverock to seed it.
if your going to be adding copper to this system then it will be useless to use for corals or invertabrates.
i think the mars system is a holding tank before adding to DT.
if so should it not have 2 seperate systems one for coral and one for fish.
vic
Variansyn
New member
If you've got the success and you've worked hard for it, why not treat yourself ? I'd own a Ferrari or two if I could and one day it'll be possible. Hell, I don't think anyone in their right mind would ever turn down the rights of a Lambo or Prancing Horse if the means and situation was feasible. Of course for me however, it'd be parked outside and would have to deal with the weather and mother nature while my Datsun / Nissan stable would be packed tightly in the garage
You're right to a degree concerning price / performance (small degree), but again... nineball doesn't strike me as an individual that got into the nitty gritty details. He strikes me as someone that saw something he wanted for his wife or self and went with it. For track or gearheads of course, then it becomes another flavor. So forgive me a bit, but I'm really lost as to what the correlation of your post to the situation is ?
nineball
Active member
Vic, I can't set the mars tanks in motion until the infrastructure in the fish room is complete for about 8.9 bazillion reasons. When the wiring, plumbing, air conditioning is completed and the acoustic insulation is behind the drywall then the mars tanks can be brought to life.
The Mars bars are two systems. One is a double with shared chiller, sump and refugium. The other is a separate stand alone system. Neither will be plumbed into the display tank or its supporting systems. However, the water management(RO/DI salt water) will work for all three as will the top off RO/DI will work for the three units as well.
Isolation hospital tank will be a separate unit that is easy to clean and maintain, NOT the mars bars. The double unit is intended mainly for fish and the single unit is intended for coral. I expect to be running an enriched formula of oyster egg stew in the coral unit and good light. Some of the light will be improved in the double unit so that I can presoak the incoming coral in the same quality water that is in the tank. There will be no copper in any of the systems.........
Peter
swissgaurd
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nineball
Active member
If you've got the success and you've worked hard for it, why not treat yourself ? I'd own a Ferrari or two if I could and one day it'll be possible. Hell, I don't think anyone in their right mind would ever turn down the rights of a Lambo or Prancing Horse if the means and situation was feasible. Of course for me however, it'd be parked outside and would have to deal with the weather and mother nature while my Datsun / Nissan stable would be packed tightly in the garage
You're right to a degree concerning price / performance (small degree), but again... nineball doesn't strike me as an individual that got into the nitty gritty details. He strikes me as someone that saw something he wanted for his wife or self and went with it. For track or gearheads of course, then it becomes another flavor. So forgive me a bit, but I'm really lost as to what the correlation of your post to the situation is ?
Variansyn, this car stuff was intended to be a brief interruption before we get back to the main course. I don't want to stray too far with it. Having said that, the convertable was intended to catch everyman's dream with every woman's fantasy...........Again thank God my wife doesn't use computers!!!!!!!
More on cars after we get wet!!!!!!
Peter
swissgaurd
New member
so mars will be seeded at the same time as DT?
why i ask is so you can quarintine before adding to DT, then shouldnt it be setup before DT
nineball
Active member
I still get lost whenever you guys say Mars .... help !?!
The Mars bars (my name for them) are Mars retail display systems for both salt and fresh water fish. They are designed around commercial display requirements for typical pet store / Wallmart kind of settings. The thinking behind them was that they should handle primarily the fish trade and require the intelligence of a houseplant to maintain. They were not designed, I believe, to act as a long term facility as the product turnover was expected to be high. I initially got them to serve a couple of purposes.
First, I was determined to land any new life forms into a controlled environment where I could observe behaviour and health before introduction into the display tank. I am planing to use whenever possible, water from the display tank as part of the overall water change cycle (unless I have systemic problems with water quality) to ensure that the target environment is reflected in the staging tanks. I will place some of the live rock in the mars tanks to help in the continuity of experience for the fish in their transition to the main display tank. I will probably separate some of the coral varietals by tank to give me a chance to verify reef safe behaviour before the fish see the real thing. I will reserve at least six of the tanks as permanent display tanks for livestock I would like to have but can't safely introduce to the main display tank for whatever reason. I can light those tanks separately if I want to. I would also like to eventually raise some fish but honestly in the short run I just want to see a stable ecosystem in the display tank. I definitely want a frag farm as well as a rotational landing pad for display coral whose dietary needs might be enhanced with the occasional vacation into the fish room. I have a total of 27 tanks in two water systems that can be different from each other. I can socialize fish in a way that will reduce the stress associated with the intro to the display community.
Peter
nineball
Active member
Apologies.
no sweat...........
stay tuned to the next commercial :dance:
Thanks,
Peter
nineball
Active member
In the scheme of things you would be correct. Its just that I can't really do anything till the fish room is ready. I could wait for the mars bars to cycle first then begin feeding the Display tank but that means that most of you will have retired before I have begun to feed the fishes..........
So I will be introducing the live rock to all three environments..........waiting for stability.............then bring the coral in via the mars bars to the main display tank. One looooong step at a time.
Also the Mars bars are NOT QT tanks. Lets just call them early observation tanks and if we discuss QT we will be talking a different system called the hospital tank.
Peter
swissgaurd
New member
thats a good strategy for the mars setup but not liken the waterchanges from the DT to the mars. i think it would be best to use freshwater instead of old water.
ive done this before and had many algae problems, i didnt really see a benifit from using old water
vic
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