Matt's 5000ltr Display

[DanielH]

This thread made me sign up for this forum. Been coming here a lot of spontanious times during my 2 years as a reefkeeper without actually getting around to it.

Massive applause for this build and Im happy that i get to experience the thrill of getting notifications from here as it finalizes and evolves.

 

[d3hree]

This thread made me sign up for this forum. Been coming here a lot of spontanious times during my 2 years as a reefkeeper without actually getting around to it.

Massive applause for this build and Im happy that i get to experience the thrill of getting notifications from here as it finalizes and evolves.

Thankyou for your compliments Daniel, very humbling. Welcome to RC

...I spent some time last night taking some PAR readings. I have been delaying this because in years gone by whenever I have used my par meter I have always been dissapointed.

So i have had reservations with testing the 2800w of lighting in the 52" deep tank. Add to this the water has been (still is slightly) a little cloudy but curiosity got the better of me last night.

I also took the opportunity to snap some photos of the tank as it is currently

 

[d3hree]

 

[dave.m]

Looking very good, Matt! Please remind me what is currently holding up full deployment.

Dave.M

 

[d3hree]

Looking very good, Matt! Please remind me what is currently holding up full deployment.

Dave.M

A couple of things Dave. I have been discussing CUC with an LFS and have agreed to buy the total amount desired in batches, 25% each batch to coincide with the maturity of the tank. At the moment I am waiting on the blooms to kick in with the tank to ensure the first batch of cuc have a reasonable amount of food.
The fish stock I have will be in QT for another few weeks.
Then full steam ahead.

 

[aquaph8]

Looks incredible Matt, you got a nice blend of fish in that QT too. Did I see a Scott's in there?

 

[prop-frags]

Matt, your rockwork is fantastic! :artist: And what a nice variety of healthy looking fish you have there! It is great to see such a well-planned and immaculate build come to fruition. :beer:

 

[SOCOMMike]

You, sir, have built an amazing aquarium. I'm interested to see how it turns out for you. I will be tagging along with everyone else. I'm inspired.

 

[d3hree]

Looks incredible Matt, you got a nice blend of fish in that QT too. Did I see a Scott's in there?

Thanks Brett. Not sure about the scotts. It was sold to me as a multicolour dwarf parrot.

Matt, your rockwork is fantastic! :artist: And what a nice variety of healthy looking fish you have there! It is great to see such a well-planned and immaculate build come to fruition. :beer:

Thanks Mike...compliments indeed from someone with such a stunning reef

You, sir, have built an amazing aquarium. I'm interested to see how it turns out for you. I will be tagging along with everyone else. I'm inspired.

Thankyou so much Mike, youre very kind.

 

[muttley000]

The rock work really came out well. Glad to see this coming together for you!

 

[d3hree]

Some tests results from last night

Alk 5.4
Calc 440
Mag 1410

Nitrates down from 24 last week to 12.

Got me a big boys magnet. Suitable for glass up to 2" thick. I cleaned the glass for the first time and needed both hands to move it and needed a little lie down afterwards

 

[d3hree]

Just a little update on my woes of late.

after the ammonia spike during the first 24 hours of using cp I decided to hold off continuing the treatment until I had a constant ammonia indicator for the tank. I did 100% wc on the qt tank and waited for one to arrive.

while waiting I noticed my Fijian fox face had a couple of spots appear but the next day they were gone, or at least I didn't notice them. No need to panic, he is fat and healthy and eats like a pig, I can wait for the seachem ammonia dial to arrive.
in the six days that it took amazon to deliver the ammonia alert I lost 12 fish pretty much all in one go. The Fijian foxface wasn't one of them.

armed with the ammonia alert I re-introduced cp to the tank and tbh I doubt I will be using it again.

the issues I have with cp is that I can't test for it. I was using the guides for the therapeutic levels of qt. this dose can be doubled if you see an outbreak but even though I had an outbreak I wasn't comfortable doubling the dose.

the 2nd issue I have is the whole lights off regime of using it. Some fish are just not interested in eating during the night hours. I lost a further 8 fish and I am not convinced that the permanent lights out didn't factor in.

lastly it turned the water very very cloudy. This made it difficult to observe the fish to see if they were ok, to see if they were eating.

on Sunday night I decided that the therapeutic levels were not working fast enough for my liking. The cloudy water was making observation difficult and I had had enough of watching fish continue to hide in rocks even though I had just introduced food. I did a further 100% water change. On Monday I bought some copper meds (cupramine) from Burscough and have begun a 3 week course.

alk of this has distracted me from progressing the main display and taking chunks out of my to do list but hopefully (apart from a two week holiday that starts next week) I will be able to crack on now.

i have buffered the alk up from 5.4 and it now sits at 9.072 which is where I would like it to be. The phosphates are down from .6 last week to .4 tonight. I am still not running any anti phos nor am I skimming yet.

 

[d3hree]

Just a couple of quick iPhone pics. Blooms are starting to take off...cuc this week.

 

[LuchoTocado]

I finally finished reading the whole thread and now im mad because now Im going to have to wait for the updates.
Congratulations on the best build ive seen.
I hope everything keeps going well.

 

[theReefKing]

to cut a long story short it turned out that a fibreglass tank would suit my requirements pretty well.
With only a single viewing pane of glass and with the tank surrounded on 3 sides by brick walls there was no need to pay for glass that wouldnt be needed.

I am just catching this build! Awesome.
Having a hard time telling if I'm looking at photos or graphics! So cool!

 

[d3hree]

I finally finished reading the whole thread and now im mad because now Im going to have to wait for the updates.
Congratulations on the best build ive seen.
I hope everything keeps going well.

Thank you for the compliments lucho, I hope the wait for updates isn't too bad

I am just catching this build! Awesome.
Having a hard time telling if I'm looking at photos or graphics! So cool!

Thanks reef king..I can assure you they are graphics, I only wish the actual build was that neat and tidy

I sorted out some cuc this morning.
This is around 10% of the total that will be required and I will just add to it from now on.

so far I have..


tonga nassarius x 20
lge cerith snails 20
conch x 2
black cukes x 2


spiny astreas x 20
troc black x 10
true mex x 4


tuxedos x 2
mithrax crabs x 3


mexican red tip hermits x 12
cibanarius hermits 10

 

[LuchoTocado]

What are those 2 big worm looking things on the bottom left bucket?

 

[d3hree]

They are 2 black cucumbers, great for keeping the top of the sand bed clean

 

[dave.m]

That's a pretty good haul for first time out on the CUC. There aren't any LFS around here who provide such a varied selection. You may find you have to feed that lot until you get some fish and are feeding the tank regularly.

Dave.M

 

[d3hree]

I have 3 fish in the DT dave, another in QT for another few weeks. The DT has enough food to support the CUC. I was going to get a larger haul but decided on just a few for now so I can be certain that there is enough food.