Out of Africa (picture intensive)

On to some more beautiful denizens"¦"¦"¦

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/42085951@N06/4117913043/" title="DSC_0036_edited by Kinlayan, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2782/4117913043_3570302404.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="DSC_0036_edited" /></a>

The Copperband butterfly, what a wonderful fish! I love it , at the moment it is the sole butterfly fish in my aquarium but I plan to add some other species in the near future if all goes well, She has been with me around 3 and a half years, when I got her the only food she would eat was bloodworm and live copepods in the aquarium but now she has become so greedy she eats even nori , pellets almost anything and loves to be hand fed that mouth is surprisingly strong for such a frail looking apparatus , it easily tears out chunks from full prawns.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/42085951@N06/4118690890/" title="DSC_0094_edited by Kinlayan, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2526/4118690890_41e86af846.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="DSC_0094_edited" /></a>

When it comes to dwarf angels this is undoubtedly one of my favourites! While I have only had her for around 8-9 months , I purchased her from an expert sps friend who had her living in his sump for 3 months, this was no doubt very good for her as she had a healthy appetite and was in good condition, The Potters angels don't often arrive in South Africa in good condition at all ,very few survive, so I am blessed to have got her , often she and my oldest fish the flame angel cavort around like they want to " get it on", so I can really see why one could get flame and potter hybrids in the wild this happens just before the lights go out on a staggered sunset cycle.
 
kinlayan said:
Hi Elliot no problem ask anytime

The sulphur denitrator currently is quite hassle free but i did go through a learning curve with it, it is good at keeping my nitrates at between 5-10mg/l. In the beginning it used to clog up very rapidly with biofilm and the flow rate would go to almost nil out of it, to remedy this i mixed in some bioballs with the sulphur beads and also put some eggcrate at the top of the beads to prevent it clogging the outflow. Once a year i have to clean out a half of it and rinse the beads to keep it running smoothly.It doesnt require as anoxic conditions as conventional denitrators and i consider that a benefit it usually runs at -250 to -350mv.the outflow goes into a heavy aerated (skimmer outflow)area of the aquarium.Phosphate is my main burden with regards to water quality i run Gfo 3-4 litres in a fluidised reactor i change this every 3 months and my phosphate levels fluctuate between 0.03-0.1 on a salifert kit with this setup. Main control is water changes 1000 litres a month currently using R/o water and Aquamedic salt (The brand changes if i get a better price and quality), With Natural Seawater i experienced alot more algae problems.

The motor of the pump runs pretty hot and yes there is no direct contact between the motor and the water but the motor does transfer quite abit of heat to the impeller section so it always runs warm coupled with the fact that
it definitely heats up the room.

I have been toying with the idea of using my coldtap (11-18 degrees celsius) water supply to my home to cool down my Aquarium using a heat exchanger and perhaps solenoid valves but im not sure how effective it would be but it certainly would be cheaper than using a chiller( need to research this some more though)
Click to expand...

What size Iwaki pump do you have and is it 220 v
 
Please... keep posting more pictures....

Please tell me what was your bigest issue You have to solve during the project definition !

Best regards...
 
Carlos Arouche said:
Please... keep posting more pictures....

Please tell me what was your bigest issue You have to solve during the project definition !

Best regards...
Click to expand...

Hi Carlos Arouche

The biggest was that when transporting the 380 kg glass a nail protruding in the container chipped the top of the glass and, in order to remove this chip , without cracking the glass , we had to hand sandpaper the glass for days with water and sandpaper to sand the chip out totally(machine sanding might have cracked the glass further), luckily it was on a top edge and once removed allowed the glass to be almost perfect again, but it took about 4-5 days to sand it out :spin2: the guy doing it for me knew about glass and how to work with it , this allowed me to salvage the glass from the damage and still use it
 
Elliott said:
could you have used an acrylic viewing panel using the same process you used to secure the seal?
Click to expand...

Hi Elliot,
Yes i could have used acrylic, but it would have been more expensive and would have scratched so much over the years that, that it would probably have necessitated me draining it over 5 years to buff out the scratches.
that was my main reason against using acrylic.
 
kinlayan said:
Hi Elliot,
Yes i could have used acrylic, but it would have been more expensive and would have scratched so much over the years that, that it would probably have necessitated me draining it over 5 years to buff out the scratches.
that was my main reason against using acrylic.
Click to expand...

would the bonding materials and design to adhere the acrylic to the cement tank have changed if you used acrylic instead of glass? I'm asking because I am planning a cement tank with an acrylic viewing panel. I agree it scratches easily however I'm willing to accept that in leu of a potential glass break/leak. :)
 
Elliott said:
would the bonding materials and design to adhere the acrylic to the cement tank have changed if you used acrylic instead of glass? I'm asking because I am planning a cement tank with an acrylic viewing panel. I agree it scratches easily however I'm willing to accept that in leu of a potential glass break/leak. :)
Click to expand...

i am quite sure the bonding materials would have had to change as you need a silicone which would be able to adhere to the oils in acrylic that arent present in glass but i have seen many Aquariums large ones done in the same fashion but with acrylic, i am just not sure which sealant type they used.
 
On to some more"¦..

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/42085951@N06/4131619947/" title="IMG_0092_edited by Kinlayan, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2541/4131619947_dffcaffe76.jpg" width="500" height="245" alt="IMG_0092_edited" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/42085951@N06/4132365592/" title="CSC_0081_edited by Kinlayan, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2528/4132365592_ec24739ab7.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="CSC_0081_edited" /></a>

The Convict tang , have had this guy about 9 months now, and it is an under rated tang in my opinion full of character and a very good algae eater but I wish it had a taste for bryopsis , unfortunately not much seems to enjoy eating bryopsis, This fish is a bit sensitive and didn't handle quarantine very well inspite of me trying to fatten it up , only once it got into my main system did it recover from the dismal appearance in the first picture to the latter recent picture which is how it is now , much fatter and healthier, it does need a lot of food (mainly Plant matter but it eats meaty food to)to thrive and is a constant grazer. I have placed it in the right coral section as I consider it low on the pecking order of my tangs(it has virtually non- existant scalpels) and I need a good algae grazer with the yellow tang in there.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/42085951@N06/4132367414/" title="CSC_0080_edited by Kinlayan, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2602/4132367414_a706ff4208.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="CSC_0080_edited" /></a>

The Salarias fasciatus/lawnmower blenny also occupies the same area of the aquarium as the Convict tang and he cleans up most of the diatoms and derbesia type algae but again not the nice clump of bryopsis you see sitting under him, he has been with me for 1 year 4 months. Quite a comical character and so very well camouflaged most people miss him if he doesn't move ,again this is an excellent utilitarian species for algae control.
 
your descriptions are great, thanks!

what is the total volume of your system and do you think your bioload is at it's maximum (based on ability of your tank to export waste)?
 
Elliott said:
your descriptions are great, thanks!

what is the total volume of your system and do you think your bioload is at it's maximum (based on ability of your tank to export waste)?
Click to expand...

Elliot, thank you,

total volume is 5500 Litres minus about 700 litres displaced by rock and sand
So id estimate approximately 4800 litres total water volume, i do think my bioload is definitely nearing it's maximum on my current filtration and water change schedule of 10% a month, I estimate i can add a maximum of another 3 or 4 fish that would attain 15 cm full grown. Some of my fish can still grow quite alot though if the vlamingi grows to full size , he will take up that bioload himself. My only ways to counter the increased waste created by tthis is to 1. increase my water volume,2. increase my filtration 3. increase the water change schedule.

Of course some of the fish are very old, and nothing lasts forever, so that could also mean a reduction in bioload if they go to the " big ocean in the sky" of course i dread this happening to any of them.
 
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