Tony B (UK)
Important cool title
That's all for now folks,
Tony
Tony B's 9ft 800 gallon sps reef system
- Thread starter Tony B (UK)
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That's all for now folks,
Tony
biodegraded
New member
What a fabulous setup. I have a question in this photo:
Also, did you get permission from the Tang Police to have so many in your tank?
What's the stripey ropey thing at 1 o'clock to the red blasto?
Also, did you get permission from the Tang Police to have so many in your tank?
psusocr
Active member
What a fabulous setup. I have a question in this photo:
What's the stripey ropey thing at 1 o'clock to the red blasto?
Also, did you get permission from the Tang Police to have so many in your tank?
Thats not alot of tangs for a 9 foot tank IMO, its a perfect amount..
And i think your refferring to the pipefish above the corals..
BTW Great tank!!!!
biodegraded
New member
Tony B (UK)
Important cool title
Thanks for all the kind words.
Heres a few more pictures.......
And I also have a huge aiptasia
Heres a few more pictures.......
And I also have a huge aiptasia
Tony B (UK)
Important cool title
Here's some historic details of the build, this was from 10 April 2013:
For piece of mind and to be extra safe, I decided to employ a structural engineer before putting the hole through the wall and employing the builders. That way if the design or specification of the work or materials failed, I would be in a strong position for recourse, (if things go bad at a later date). A lot of people I've spoken to said there was no need for this, but when you look at the cost of the entire build, it was only a small price to pay for total piece of mind. I like to sleep easy at night!
Funny enough one of the guys in the Essex Reef Club, James, works in construction. I know this, as I got him his current position through my recruitment agency (James has never forgiven me for this!:laugh. James recommended a structural engineering firm, he also advocated I use a structural engineer and to be honest I'm glad I did.
Here's some copies of the engineering stuff, the calculations make no sense to me but it represents the start of the project:
There's a few more details and photos to come later, the house right now is a little dusty as the builders are over, the wall is coming down and the RSJ should be up this afternoon.
Thanks for reading,
Tony
For piece of mind and to be extra safe, I decided to employ a structural engineer before putting the hole through the wall and employing the builders. That way if the design or specification of the work or materials failed, I would be in a strong position for recourse, (if things go bad at a later date). A lot of people I've spoken to said there was no need for this, but when you look at the cost of the entire build, it was only a small price to pay for total piece of mind. I like to sleep easy at night!
Funny enough one of the guys in the Essex Reef Club, James, works in construction. I know this, as I got him his current position through my recruitment agency (James has never forgiven me for this!:laugh
. James recommended a structural engineering firm, he also advocated I use a structural engineer and to be honest I'm glad I did.Here's some copies of the engineering stuff, the calculations make no sense to me but it represents the start of the project:
There's a few more details and photos to come later, the house right now is a little dusty as the builders are over, the wall is coming down and the RSJ should be up this afternoon.
Thanks for reading,
Tony
Tony B (UK)
Important cool title
11 April 2012
A little bit more of an update.
As I've already got a tank and frag system running in the garage, I wanted to try and protect these from the dust that the builders would make, as well as providing some sort of shield from tumbling or dropped bricks. As builders do drop bricks now and again - accidents happen.
So my first job was to create this barrier, or shield. For this I used two full size sheets of ply wood and then some clear plastic sheet, which I gaffa taped and stapled to the ceiling which provides a nice air-tight seal.
Here's some pictures of what I mean:
I used more gaffa tape to cover the joins on the ply wood too, to make it nice and sealy-uppy air tight.
Once the existing system was sufficiently protected, it was time to call in the builders.
They came in and got started, they made good progress.
First job was to put in the acros to support the roof.
Here's some of the best mildy rusted acros you'll ever see:
Do we like rusty acros?
What? you want to see more rusty acros?
Ok, here's some more from the other side of the wall:
Next on the list was to get a spirit level and mark out where the hole was going.
Here's my builder posing with the level, and yet another shot of those steel supports:
I'm using an RSJ (universal beam), it is a 178x102 and 3 meters 5cm in length.
It will be used for supporting the load above it, although I'm not sure why the builder was standing on it, he was either too short, liked his trainers so much he wanted them photographed, or perhaps the RSJ was camera shy and this action prevented it from turning into a runner beam:
I go away to make the tea and coffee, I come back into the garage and I see a face and a hole in my wall
More images of wholesome work
Must be time for me to make another cuppa for the builders...........
When I come back, there's an even bigger hole
I decide to try and do some work in my office, so I'm tapping away on my keyboard, doing some invoicing and other bits and bobs.
Next I hear a thump followed by......... "Err Lee, I've dropped a brick and it's dented the wooded floor"
Lee asks: "How bad is it"
Brick dropper: "Yeah it's quite a big dent"
So at this point, I can't resist it any longer, I have to go and see. I walk into the lounge and right at the end of my hallway I see this bang in the centre of the floor
I did not get angry or nasty, I laughed and said oh whoops, who done that?
At which point Lee pointed at Mr Brickdropper! :laugh:
The guys were really good, they took the laminate back up and luckily I had a spare few planks left over from when the floor went down.
The floor got repaired and is now as good as new.
Best bit was, the wife couldn't even see what went wrong!
Back onto the hole in the wall and ladies and gents, here it is as of yesterday afternoon:
This was all done by lunchtime.
Next on the list is to take the acros down later today, get the plastering done in the lounge and finish off the wiring in the garage.
More updates will happen at some point in the not too distant future.
Thanks,
Tony
A little bit more of an update.
As I've already got a tank and frag system running in the garage, I wanted to try and protect these from the dust that the builders would make, as well as providing some sort of shield from tumbling or dropped bricks. As builders do drop bricks now and again - accidents happen.
So my first job was to create this barrier, or shield. For this I used two full size sheets of ply wood and then some clear plastic sheet, which I gaffa taped and stapled to the ceiling which provides a nice air-tight seal.
Here's some pictures of what I mean:
I used more gaffa tape to cover the joins on the ply wood too, to make it nice and sealy-uppy air tight.
Once the existing system was sufficiently protected, it was time to call in the builders.
They came in and got started, they made good progress.
First job was to put in the acros to support the roof.
Here's some of the best mildy rusted acros you'll ever see:
Do we like rusty acros?
What? you want to see more rusty acros?
Ok, here's some more from the other side of the wall:
Next on the list was to get a spirit level and mark out where the hole was going.
Here's my builder posing with the level, and yet another shot of those steel supports:
I'm using an RSJ (universal beam), it is a 178x102 and 3 meters 5cm in length.
It will be used for supporting the load above it, although I'm not sure why the builder was standing on it, he was either too short, liked his trainers so much he wanted them photographed, or perhaps the RSJ was camera shy and this action prevented it from turning into a runner beam:
I go away to make the tea and coffee, I come back into the garage and I see a face and a hole in my wall
More images of wholesome work
Must be time for me to make another cuppa for the builders...........
When I come back, there's an even bigger hole
I decide to try and do some work in my office, so I'm tapping away on my keyboard, doing some invoicing and other bits and bobs.
Next I hear a thump followed by......... "Err Lee, I've dropped a brick and it's dented the wooded floor"
Lee asks: "How bad is it"
Brick dropper: "Yeah it's quite a big dent"
So at this point, I can't resist it any longer, I have to go and see. I walk into the lounge and right at the end of my hallway I see this bang in the centre of the floor
I did not get angry or nasty, I laughed and said oh whoops, who done that?
At which point Lee pointed at Mr Brickdropper! :laugh:
The guys were really good, they took the laminate back up and luckily I had a spare few planks left over from when the floor went down.
The floor got repaired and is now as good as new.
Best bit was, the wife couldn't even see what went wrong!
Back onto the hole in the wall and ladies and gents, here it is as of yesterday afternoon:
This was all done by lunchtime.
Next on the list is to take the acros down later today, get the plastering done in the lounge and finish off the wiring in the garage.
More updates will happen at some point in the not too distant future.
Thanks,
Tony
Tony B (UK)
Important cool title
20 April 2012
Tiny update, the wall has been plastered:
Tiny update, the wall has been plastered:
Tony B (UK)
Important cool title
24 April 2012
I'm all ready for Seabray in the morning.
Here's the RSJs in place and the second image has the ply and poly on top.
You can expect a few obligatory images of the tank builders at work tomorrow.
Regards,
Tony
I'm all ready for Seabray in the morning.
Here's the RSJs in place and the second image has the ply and poly on top.
You can expect a few obligatory images of the tank builders at work tomorrow.
Regards,
Tony
Tony B (UK)
Important cool title
25 April 2012
Seabray have done what they do best and have built an amazing tank, I am very pleased with it:
Out comes the base....
The base has landed!
Some glue gun action
Nice and straight with the lines.....
Down goes the second base panel
Next is the front panel
Eased into place
A bit more sticky stuff in dat bit
Seabray have done what they do best and have built an amazing tank, I am very pleased with it:
Out comes the base....
The base has landed!
Some glue gun action
Nice and straight with the lines.....
Down goes the second base panel
Next is the front panel
Eased into place
A bit more sticky stuff in dat bit
Tony B (UK)
Important cool title
From the back more men at work
Brace bars fit nice
Completed, shot from the rear
View from the lounge
Now I've got to wait two weeks for the silicone to fully cure!
Thanks for looking.
Tony
Brace bars fit nice
Completed, shot from the rear
View from the lounge
Now I've got to wait two weeks for the silicone to fully cure!
Thanks for looking.
Tony
Tony B (UK)
Important cool title
31 July 2012
Over the last couple of days I've been busy and I've used up about 50 packs of milliput sticking rock together. It is now in the tank and tomorrow I will silicone it to the base of the aquarium to ensure stability.
I was going to take a photograph but the static nature of photos, even of multiple images, fails to show the various perspectives. So I've just taken a video with me old mobly phone, here it is: http://youtu.be/kLwJXOAVPXo
Later this week sand will be added, then a week running with RO water, carbon and po4 remover, then salt the fecker up and let her cycle.
Fingers crossed I get to keep the house, if not I'll enjoy the few weeks/months of it running before a big strip down.
Love you lot :wub:
Tony
Over the last couple of days I've been busy and I've used up about 50 packs of milliput sticking rock together. It is now in the tank and tomorrow I will silicone it to the base of the aquarium to ensure stability.
I was going to take a photograph but the static nature of photos, even of multiple images, fails to show the various perspectives. So I've just taken a video with me old mobly phone, here it is: http://youtu.be/kLwJXOAVPXo
Later this week sand will be added, then a week running with RO water, carbon and po4 remover, then salt the fecker up and let her cycle.
Fingers crossed I get to keep the house, if not I'll enjoy the few weeks/months of it running before a big strip down.
Love you lot :wub:
Tony
Tony B (UK)
Important cool title
6 August 2012
Thanks for the posts guys :thumbsup:
It's been filling up with RO for a few days now, just under half way there.
At the moment I'm using phosphate remover and carbon in an internal filter, to help soak up the organic loading from the reef bones.
Once the tank is full of RO I will add salt and then blitz the tank with very heavy carbon dosing, sugar and maybe vodka too. This will really rip out a huge amount of organic crud from the reefbones. I will dose carbon in excessive amounts, I can do this as there's no livestock in the tank. The skimmer will go nuts, several litres a day is what I predict for skimmate volume.
Anyway enough waffle, here's a picture of where I am at now:
Thanks for the posts guys :thumbsup:
It's been filling up with RO for a few days now, just under half way there.
At the moment I'm using phosphate remover and carbon in an internal filter, to help soak up the organic loading from the reef bones.
Once the tank is full of RO I will add salt and then blitz the tank with very heavy carbon dosing, sugar and maybe vodka too. This will really rip out a huge amount of organic crud from the reefbones. I will dose carbon in excessive amounts, I can do this as there's no livestock in the tank. The skimmer will go nuts, several litres a day is what I predict for skimmate volume.
Anyway enough waffle, here's a picture of where I am at now:
Tony B (UK)
Important cool title
20 August 2012
A small update, I'm on day two of carbon dosing. This morning I added 5 tablespoons of sugar and a cube of frozen squid.
There's an amazing bacterial bloom within the system, the water has gone milky white:
As expected the skimmer is acting like a cheap 18-30 night club foam party machine!
By this weekend I will have stopped the carbon dosing and I will let the system stabilise for at least another week before trying to add coral.
That's all for now folks :thanks:
Tony
A small update, I'm on day two of carbon dosing. This morning I added 5 tablespoons of sugar and a cube of frozen squid.
There's an amazing bacterial bloom within the system, the water has gone milky white:
As expected the skimmer is acting like a cheap 18-30 night club foam party machine!
By this weekend I will have stopped the carbon dosing and I will let the system stabilise for at least another week before trying to add coral.
That's all for now folks :thanks:
Tony
Tony B (UK)
Important cool title
23 Aug 2012
Not a huge amount of news, but I put up one of the T5 light units today.
Here's the tank, still a bit cloudy..... Ultra poop photo taken with my phone:
Now I should have just left it like that, as I can only imagine how hostile the environment is, however, a little yellow hysterix frag kind of fell in by accident
Well, if you don't try, you'll never know :whistling:
Another poor photo taken with my phone:
Not a huge amount of news, but I put up one of the T5 light units today.
Here's the tank, still a bit cloudy..... Ultra poop photo taken with my phone:
Now I should have just left it like that, as I can only imagine how hostile the environment is, however, a little yellow hysterix frag kind of fell in by accident
Well, if you don't try, you'll never know :whistling:
Another poor photo taken with my phone:
Tony B (UK)
Important cool title
26 Aug 2012
I mix the sugar in salted tank water, it mixes fine in a pint glass.
Talking of pint glasses, I'm using one to hold down my skimmer lid at the moment, else it floats of on a blanket of bubbles!
Today again I dosed sugar, I'm down to one tablespoon. I also added some sinking pellets into the DSBs to help feed them.
Here's some pictures of the DSBs:
The corals I've added look ok, but you'll have to wait a few more days before I photograph them again.
That's all for now folks! :wave:
Tony
I mix the sugar in salted tank water, it mixes fine in a pint glass.
Talking of pint glasses, I'm using one to hold down my skimmer lid at the moment, else it floats of on a blanket of bubbles!
Today again I dosed sugar, I'm down to one tablespoon. I also added some sinking pellets into the DSBs to help feed them.
Here's some pictures of the DSBs:
The corals I've added look ok, but you'll have to wait a few more days before I photograph them again.
That's all for now folks! :wave:
Tony
Tony B (UK)
Important cool title
31 Aug 2012
Some changes had to take place. The skimmer was swapped out for my old Aqua-C but I had to modify it to take another pump, namely the bubbleblaster off the Reef Octopus XP 3000 as I did not have a pressure pump to hand.
The reason for the skimmer swap is, the foam being produced during carbon dosing just does not want to go into liquid, it remains a head of froth. This caused the majority of skimmate produced by the XP 3000 to float over the lid in a raft of bubbles, most of it avoided the drain pipe.
The Aqua C skimmer has rubber seals and the only place for air to escape is down through the drain pipe, so the foam party has no choice but to head for the waste department.
That said, the foam still finds any air leaks, look at the skimmate escaping via the union between the cup and riser tube, due to a small air leak:
The XP 3000 cone will go back on once this heavy froth phase passes.
And this is what comes out of the tank after 24 hours, a bucket of froth with a few inches of rotten black tea at the bottom of the bucket:
The yellow hysterix has started to strip but the acropora is ok and the pink hysterix is ok too. The micromussa frag I put in has been munched by the foxface, despite the foxface coming from the 5ft tank which was filled with acans and the parent micromussa colony!
The fish in the 9ft tank as of today are:
Lipstick/Naso tang
Two halichoeres wrasse
Foxface
Yellow tail damsel
I've also added one of my self propagating black cucumbers.
There is a fair amount of bacterial films coating the sand and rocks.
I've only just got around to adding the auto-top up yesterday, so today is the first day of stability. I've only tested salinity so I have no idea what the other chemistry levels are. Within the next few days I will test a few values and react accordingly, if required.
I am very happy with the development of the system and it is progressing nicely.
Here's a few poor quality photos:
Hope you enjoyed the update......................
Tony :wave:
Some changes had to take place. The skimmer was swapped out for my old Aqua-C but I had to modify it to take another pump, namely the bubbleblaster off the Reef Octopus XP 3000 as I did not have a pressure pump to hand.
The reason for the skimmer swap is, the foam being produced during carbon dosing just does not want to go into liquid, it remains a head of froth. This caused the majority of skimmate produced by the XP 3000 to float over the lid in a raft of bubbles, most of it avoided the drain pipe.
The Aqua C skimmer has rubber seals and the only place for air to escape is down through the drain pipe, so the foam party has no choice but to head for the waste department.
That said, the foam still finds any air leaks, look at the skimmate escaping via the union between the cup and riser tube, due to a small air leak:
The XP 3000 cone will go back on once this heavy froth phase passes.
And this is what comes out of the tank after 24 hours, a bucket of froth with a few inches of rotten black tea at the bottom of the bucket:
The yellow hysterix has started to strip but the acropora is ok and the pink hysterix is ok too. The micromussa frag I put in has been munched by the foxface, despite the foxface coming from the 5ft tank which was filled with acans and the parent micromussa colony!
The fish in the 9ft tank as of today are:
Lipstick/Naso tang
Two halichoeres wrasse
Foxface
Yellow tail damsel
I've also added one of my self propagating black cucumbers.
There is a fair amount of bacterial films coating the sand and rocks.
I've only just got around to adding the auto-top up yesterday, so today is the first day of stability. I've only tested salinity so I have no idea what the other chemistry levels are. Within the next few days I will test a few values and react accordingly, if required.
I am very happy with the development of the system and it is progressing nicely.
Here's a few poor quality photos:
Hope you enjoyed the update......................
Tony :wave:
Tony B (UK)
Important cool title
17 Sep 2012
These are some really rough photos, the water is still cloudy from all the milliput so there's a white 'haze' in the water, which ruins the photos. Some of the first corals in their new home:
These are some really rough photos, the water is still cloudy from all the milliput so there's a white 'haze' in the water, which ruins the photos. Some of the first corals in their new home:
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