Heliman...the end of a long journey
- Thread starter Heliman
- Start date
Thnks Jamie...I appreciate the compliment :wave:
There were many reefers around here ( locally) who were adamant that the system would not work in the format I had designed..........
Guess what......they were wrong !!!!!!!!
nice build.
jacob.morgan78
New member
Very nice! Very impressive!
Are you nervous that a stray billiards ball will find it's way to the face of the display tank?
looking forward to updates!
Are you nervous that a stray billiards ball will find it's way to the face of the display tank?
looking forward to updates!
Yes...that issue was a real concern, especially when the "boys" come over for a pool night and the amber fluid flows well !!!...they get to try some trick shots when they are plastered and balls go everywhere !!
So I have a Lexan sheet, cut to size that clips over the front frame when Pool nights are on. I only hope I remember to put it on.....:uhoh2:
jacob.morgan78
New member
Good idea ;-)
Padrino
New member
Just remember to ensure there is a 1/2" gap between the lexan sheet at the glass that way if a ball does hit it, the force is not transferred through the lexan into your front pane.
Cheers
Rob
Update.......
Everything settled in and going to plan !!!
Got through the Ammonia spike and have begun to add some stock.
Some assorted Zoa's, to make a Colourful Zoa garden in on side, and a few assorted corals on the upperslope of the rockwork....got 2 acro's (yes I know, the Acro Police will say my Tank is too new, but they are doing great.
Got a Powdwr Blue AND a Purple Tang ....again my apologies to the Tang Police, but they are the best of mates !!!! and going well....keeping the rockwork squeaky clean.
I got a very small outbreak of purple Cyano on a couple of spots, but general husbandry has cleaned it up, now I see the beginnings of the inevitable brown diatoms and will deal with them next !!! These early blooms dont bug me 'cause I know that good husbandry and time, with good water parameters will ultimately take care of them, no need to pump chemicals and additives, nature will do it better and cleaner over time.
No nuisance algaes so far but I am super careful with Phosphates and Nitrates. Running GFO and GAC plus a particle filter for the time being. Water changes at about 20 % per week and a good healthy growth of Caulerpa in the sump.
Tank Parameters as of last night...
Temp 25.9
Ph 8.24
ORP 449 (not using Ozone yet...not needed with this result !)
KH 9.3
Ca 450
Mg 1290 (just upped the dose rate, target 1350)
PO4 Not detectable with Salifert Kit, waiting on delivery of Hanna Tester.
NO3 about 3 to 5 on Salifert Kit
Salinity 35
So far no billiard balls have caused problems, the guys dont want to play any more...just sit and watch the Marine display
The mechanics and dynamics of the total system continue to perform brilliantly, all is very stable and water flows are impressive. My Aragonite sand remains pristine white, thanks to the CUC and the Sand sifting Goby who works like a Trojan all day !!!
I am particularly impressed with the Bubbleking Supermarine skimmer, does not have a lot of work to do at the moment, but soon as I feed the fish and coral it fires up and cleans it all up in a flash !!!....I think it was worth the money.
I will take some photos later today and post tomorrow.
I am humbled by the request for information, I did not realise that folks were waiting for an update, I wont be so slack in the future
Cheers and thanks everybody who is following
David
Everything settled in and going to plan !!!
Got through the Ammonia spike and have begun to add some stock.
Some assorted Zoa's, to make a Colourful Zoa garden in on side, and a few assorted corals on the upperslope of the rockwork....got 2 acro's (yes I know, the Acro Police will say my Tank is too new, but they are doing great.
Got a Powdwr Blue AND a Purple Tang ....again my apologies to the Tang Police, but they are the best of mates !!!! and going well....keeping the rockwork squeaky clean.
I got a very small outbreak of purple Cyano on a couple of spots, but general husbandry has cleaned it up, now I see the beginnings of the inevitable brown diatoms and will deal with them next !!! These early blooms dont bug me 'cause I know that good husbandry and time, with good water parameters will ultimately take care of them, no need to pump chemicals and additives, nature will do it better and cleaner over time.
No nuisance algaes so far but I am super careful with Phosphates and Nitrates. Running GFO and GAC plus a particle filter for the time being. Water changes at about 20 % per week and a good healthy growth of Caulerpa in the sump.
Tank Parameters as of last night...
Temp 25.9
Ph 8.24
ORP 449 (not using Ozone yet...not needed with this result !)
KH 9.3
Ca 450
Mg 1290 (just upped the dose rate, target 1350)
PO4 Not detectable with Salifert Kit, waiting on delivery of Hanna Tester.
NO3 about 3 to 5 on Salifert Kit
Salinity 35
So far no billiard balls have caused problems, the guys dont want to play any more...just sit and watch the Marine display
The mechanics and dynamics of the total system continue to perform brilliantly, all is very stable and water flows are impressive. My Aragonite sand remains pristine white, thanks to the CUC and the Sand sifting Goby who works like a Trojan all day !!!
I am particularly impressed with the Bubbleking Supermarine skimmer, does not have a lot of work to do at the moment, but soon as I feed the fish and coral it fires up and cleans it all up in a flash !!!....I think it was worth the money.
I will take some photos later today and post tomorrow.
I am humbled by the request for information, I did not realise that folks were waiting for an update, I wont be so slack in the future
Cheers and thanks everybody who is following
David
jacob.morgan78
New member
Thanks for the update! Looks good and I'm looking forward to the pictures!
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
Chris, Chris, Chris. The reason isn't for the new home. lolol
Here are a few photos taken this afternoon.
You will see that I have committed yet another Tang Police crime...I added a yellow Tang this morning...you can see it attacking a piece of lettuce and being totally ignored by the others.
The undisputed "boss" of this tank is the powder blue...wont take nonsense off anybody, but generally only gets stroppy at feeding time.
I am feeding a home made food that is primarily sea-food plus incorporates a large proportion of vegetables...broccoli, nori and lettuce and Kelp powder from the Health food shop.. I add Selcon and red Krill oil, plus a capsule of human multivitamins broken open and the contents stirred into the mix.
The coral and Christmas tree worms get fed on reef-roids twice a week and I can see that Tubularia, Hydnophora, Bryarium and the torch coral are taking small pieces of the fish food from the water column.
I have temporarily attached a canister filter to get rid of any free floating rubbish plus any detached algae and diatom bits. I change this filter daily as part of my attack on nuisance growths. I will discontinue this process when I have got on top of the problem....probably take another 4 to 6 weeks or so.
Just added 4 U/V pads to the Illumina lights and got to grips with a decent program for the daily schedule and the moon phases. Really impressed with Illumina, running at 70% output right now, with the light 2 foot above the water level. I will up the output 5% each week and when I hit 100% I will begin dropping the lights toward the water surface untill I get the PAR that I want.
That's about it for this time, will keep you posted on developments, I plan to add more corals in late Oct as the system matures and can take more of a bio-load.
Any question...please feel free to ask
Cheers...David
You will see that I have committed yet another Tang Police crime...I added a yellow Tang this morning...you can see it attacking a piece of lettuce and being totally ignored by the others.
The undisputed "boss" of this tank is the powder blue...wont take nonsense off anybody, but generally only gets stroppy at feeding time.
I am feeding a home made food that is primarily sea-food plus incorporates a large proportion of vegetables...broccoli, nori and lettuce and Kelp powder from the Health food shop.. I add Selcon and red Krill oil, plus a capsule of human multivitamins broken open and the contents stirred into the mix.
The coral and Christmas tree worms get fed on reef-roids twice a week and I can see that Tubularia, Hydnophora, Bryarium and the torch coral are taking small pieces of the fish food from the water column.
I have temporarily attached a canister filter to get rid of any free floating rubbish plus any detached algae and diatom bits. I change this filter daily as part of my attack on nuisance growths. I will discontinue this process when I have got on top of the problem....probably take another 4 to 6 weeks or so.
Just added 4 U/V pads to the Illumina lights and got to grips with a decent program for the daily schedule and the moon phases. Really impressed with Illumina, running at 70% output right now, with the light 2 foot above the water level. I will up the output 5% each week and when I hit 100% I will begin dropping the lights toward the water surface untill I get the PAR that I want.
That's about it for this time, will keep you posted on developments, I plan to add more corals in late Oct as the system matures and can take more of a bio-load.
Any question...please feel free to ask
Cheers...David
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jacob.morgan78
New member
I like the sounds of your homemade food. I made some but I made too much and it's getting freezer burn... 
I'm definitely going to make in smaller batches in the future. Do you mind sharing what proportions of each you use? Tank looks great!
I'm definitely going to make in smaller batches in the future. Do you mind sharing what proportions of each you use? Tank looks great!1 Batch of food = ...
4 oz Octopus
4 oz Squid
4 oz Prawns (head, shell and all !!!)
2 clams
2 oysters
2 mussels
1 tea spoon Kelp powder
2 capsules Red Krill oil
1 capsule human multivitamins ( have used Selcon at times)
I then make a coarse chopped mix of about 2 oz each broccoli and lettuce plus 2 sheets green Nori.
Mix it all together and freeze in flat packs.
Dont grind the sea-food part too fine, leave as fairly coarse lumps ( I put mine thru a food mincer ...not a food processor. I use the coarse grinding plates on the mincer. A food processor will just give you a pile of mush...which is a good recipe for bad water quality if you feed such)
4 oz Octopus
4 oz Squid
4 oz Prawns (head, shell and all !!!)
2 clams
2 oysters
2 mussels
1 tea spoon Kelp powder
2 capsules Red Krill oil
1 capsule human multivitamins ( have used Selcon at times)
I then make a coarse chopped mix of about 2 oz each broccoli and lettuce plus 2 sheets green Nori.
Mix it all together and freeze in flat packs.
Dont grind the sea-food part too fine, leave as fairly coarse lumps ( I put mine thru a food mincer ...not a food processor. I use the coarse grinding plates on the mincer. A food processor will just give you a pile of mush...which is a good recipe for bad water quality if you feed such)
Last edited:
Just a small update for the new build...
Now at 4.5 months from first fill and all is stabilising well and coming into line.
Params:
Ph 8.23
Alk 8.5
Ca 450
Mg 1290
ORP 423
PO4 0.01 (Hanna)
NO3 2 (Salifert.
Got through the brown diatom bloom, has now been beaten !!
Have 3 small purple Cyano patches which are struggling, usually gone overnite and return with the light.
I dont propose to do anything special about this, time and good husbandry will beat it.
Keeping up with water changes (20%) per week and being diligent with debris and detritus removal. Still using a supplementary canister filter with floss which is changed daily...to help with debris removal.
Was getting zero PO4 reading so I backed off on the flow of the GFO reactor until I got 0.01 and I will monitor the flow to try to keep it at that level.
I would prefer NO3 to be 1 or less, but it is now stable at 2, so I think it will trend down from here as the system matures more.
I have probably pushed it a bit with stocking levels, but not beyond what I feel I can manage without things going haywire !!
The corals are happy, good PE and visible growth. My Illumina intensity is now at 70% and I will leave it there for now, all seems happy at this intensity and the display looks good also. Getting strong and vigorous growth of Coralline on the rocks, so all begins to look more natural. I believe that good coralline growth is an important indicator of overall tank health.
Dosing Ca, Kh and Mg with Randy 2 part and other than that I am adding NO other chemicals, or quick fixes...and neither do I intend to.
One one of the Photos you can see my latest fish...it is a gorgeous Leopard wrasse. Very peaceful and full of personality. Like all wrasse, it is a prodder and a turner, so sometines the Zoas get a bit irritated, but nothing serious.
So far, i am really happy with progress, I am probably somewhat ahead of where I expected to be after this time, lets hope it all keeps going well
Cheers all
David
Now at 4.5 months from first fill and all is stabilising well and coming into line.
Params:
Ph 8.23
Alk 8.5
Ca 450
Mg 1290
ORP 423
PO4 0.01 (Hanna)
NO3 2 (Salifert.
Got through the brown diatom bloom, has now been beaten !!
Have 3 small purple Cyano patches which are struggling, usually gone overnite and return with the light.
I dont propose to do anything special about this, time and good husbandry will beat it.
Keeping up with water changes (20%) per week and being diligent with debris and detritus removal. Still using a supplementary canister filter with floss which is changed daily...to help with debris removal.
Was getting zero PO4 reading so I backed off on the flow of the GFO reactor until I got 0.01 and I will monitor the flow to try to keep it at that level.
I would prefer NO3 to be 1 or less, but it is now stable at 2, so I think it will trend down from here as the system matures more.
I have probably pushed it a bit with stocking levels, but not beyond what I feel I can manage without things going haywire !!
The corals are happy, good PE and visible growth. My Illumina intensity is now at 70% and I will leave it there for now, all seems happy at this intensity and the display looks good also. Getting strong and vigorous growth of Coralline on the rocks, so all begins to look more natural. I believe that good coralline growth is an important indicator of overall tank health.
Dosing Ca, Kh and Mg with Randy 2 part and other than that I am adding NO other chemicals, or quick fixes...and neither do I intend to.
One one of the Photos you can see my latest fish...it is a gorgeous Leopard wrasse. Very peaceful and full of personality. Like all wrasse, it is a prodder and a turner, so sometines the Zoas get a bit irritated, but nothing serious.
So far, i am really happy with progress, I am probably somewhat ahead of where I expected to be after this time, lets hope it all keeps going well
Cheers all
David
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
Sounding good. Its always good to hear the diatoms phase come and go. Such a relief.
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