The Iwagumi Reef

[biggles]

Looking good so far, i notice sand all over your colonies, are you having issues with flow disturbing the sand bed. You place a great emphasis on the rock scape and coral placement in respect to shape and color contrasts - i'm trying to follow that more 'artistic' approach this time around.

 

[Lurch98]

I'm a newcomer to marine tanks, so this may be a dumb question. Would the ceramic media in your sump be more efficient if it had flow through it instead of being in a plastic tub?

Love your tank, I'm a freshwater planted guy, so Iwagumi grabbed my eye.

 

[yano]

Looking good so far, i notice sand all over your colonies, are you having issues with flow disturbing the sand bed. You place a great emphasis on the rock scape and coral placement in respect to shape and color contrasts - i'm trying to follow that more 'artistic' approach this time around.

My intention is to recreate a reef lagoon, with its sand dunes mixed with rocks.

For this reason I have chosen a very fine sand (CaribSea Oolite Bahamas) and I don,t worry the sand over rocks (and I think the corals either), just adjust the Vortech to prevent sand fly too.

I'm a newcomer to marine tanks, so this may be a dumb question. Would the ceramic media in your sump be more efficient if it had flow through it instead of being in a plastic tub?

Love your tank, I'm a freshwater planted guy, so Iwagumi grabbed my eye.

Less flow is better for denitrification.

 

[yano]

Any more pics:

 

[rlpardue]

Yano, I love the nano-gobies - do you think that a couple of Haliocheres Chrysus wrasses would keep me from having some Trimmas and Eviotas in my 5x2x2 tank? I like the Chrysus for pest control.

 

[yano]

Yano, I love the nano-gobies - do you think that a couple of Haliocheres Chrysus wrasses would keep me from having some Trimmas and Eviotas in my 5x2x2 tank? I like the Chrysus for pest control.

I don,t have this fish never...but be carefull because other wrasse how Pseudochelinus hexataenia is bad idea with microgobies.

 

[Vlado4x4]

Shoudn´t you have the Siporax with great flow sitting in the sump, instead of in a tupperwear ?? Just wondering ...

Is there a cleanning rutine for the siporax ? Do you need to change them at all ?

Sorry if i missed it, but do you use Ca reactor ... if not ... what do you add and how much.

 

[yano]

Shoudn´t you have the Siporax with great flow sitting in the sump, instead of in a tupperwear ?? Just wondering ...

Is there a cleanning rutine for the siporax ? Do you need to change them at all ?

Sorry if i missed it, but do you use Ca reactor ... if not ... what do you add and how much.

If you want denitrification is better looking place with low flow for siporax. (denitrification occurs in anaerobic conditions)
It is only necessary rinse with aquarium water if accumulated detritus in siporax. With my current design detritus remain outside the Tupperwear.
I don´t use reactor, all additives are added by hand: Ca, Kh, Mg and Strontium in powdered, Iodine and Potasium in liquid form.

 

[emilypres]

Sump and equipment photos,...empty (12/09):

Return pump and pipes:

1. Evaporation filling pipe.
2. Return pipe.
3. Overflow pipe.
4. water changes pipe.

And all equipment runnig actually:

Can you explain your auto fill system and water change system a little better? I can't see but I am assuming you have small pumps in 2 separate chambers, one with ro/di water and one with mixed saltwater? Also it looks like your drain has a valve on it partially closed and your return has a valve that is wide open, this seems to be backwards from what most would do. Generally you see flow thru the sump controlled by a valve on the return and not the other way around. Is that a separate area your drain enters and flows down and around behind your skimmer?

 

[yano]

Can you explain your auto fill system and water change system a little better? I can't see but I am assuming you have small pumps in 2 separate chambers, one with ro/di water and one with mixed saltwater?

Yes, you are understand perfectly.

Also it looks like your drain has a valve on it partially closed and your return has a valve that is wide open, this seems to be backwards from what most would do. Generally you see flow thru the sump controlled by a valve on the return and not the other way around. Is that a separate area your drain enters and flows down and around behind your skimmer?

Return valve is open fully and drain valve is partially closed to mute the sound produced by swallowing air.

 

[Bello]

Beautiful!! Waiting for the FTS! I also have 36x36 cubes

A question about the Siporax. Could you also do the same thing with live rock instead of siporax? Or are you concerned about curing, pests or any other reason?

 

[emilypres]

Yes, you are understand perfectly.



Return valve is open fully and drain valve is partially closed to mute the sound produced by swallowing air.

Where does the saltwater come from, do you have a separate system mixing up saltwater and pump it in automatically or do you fill those containers manually? do you have the ro/di water set up to fill directly from your ro/di system or does it go somewhere else first? I like how neat your set up is but if you have to fill all that manually every couple of days then to me it wouldn't be worth it.

Very nice tank btw, you definitely got me thinking about my next tank and where i want to go with it.

Dale

 

[yano]

Beautiful!! Waiting for the FTS! I also have 36x36 cubes

A question about the Siporax. Could you also do the same thing with live rock instead of siporax? Or are you concerned about curing, pests or any other reason?

Siporax are similar funtion to live rock, its main advantage is that being much more porous you need much less volume.

 

[Bello]

Thanks for the reply!! Now how about that full tank picture?

 

[yano]

Where does the saltwater come from, do you have a separate system mixing up saltwater and pump it in automatically or do you fill those containers manually? do you have the ro/di water set up to fill directly from your ro/di system or does it go somewhere else first? I like how neat your set up is but if you have to fill all that manually every couple of days then to me it wouldn't be worth it.

Very nice tank btw, you definitely got me thinking about my next tank and where i want to go with it.

Dale

I have the ro system in my garden and I fill the container manually.

 

[yano]

Thanks for the reply!! Now how about that full tank picture?

If all goes well in the next pics will be full tank pictures. :thumbsup:

 

[yano]

The last pics for now: :thumbsup:

 

[yano]

Enjoy it!

 

[Bello]

Stunning! This thread oozes inspiration!

I'm now thinking about the siporax also

 

[SeabassSA]

Yano, how much of a roll does stability play for coral colour? Is colour not dependent on No3 and Po4 levels?