[ANDYG]

This tank has been up and running since 1992, it's 7'x2'x2' with a trickle filter, this was the filtration system at the time to have, filled with lots of Tuffa rock to build the reef. To fill the tank with live rock then would have cost a small furtune. In all this time I have had a carpet anemone, which came from my father in laws tank which was running before mine was set up (it was possibly 20 years old) unfortunately it has eaten over this period quite a few of my fish which is why I am down to 1 percula clown, 2 bangai cardinals and 1 royal gramma (which is 10 years old) All has been well over the last 18 years growing LPS and softies I've had acroporas and clams which have not been very succesful with. When just after xmas things started to go wrong.



First a return pump failed causing a few water issues,I replaced that, then the trickle filter started to leak, I replaced that with a second hand one from a LFS. Then a powerhead failed causing a reaction of some sort meaning the loss of some of the corals. After speaking to Trev C he referred me to Jason and Linsey and this is where the new story begins.

I went to Jasons and was advised to remove the tuffa rock, The sump needed altering which Jason kindly did, I started to slowly remove the tuffa rock but it started to break up causing lots of debris to fall into tank. I was advissd to remove the whole lot. I moved the corals that had survived and the fish into a temporary tank and started to completely empty the tank, taking out heaps of rock and draining down the system.
temporary tank

tuffa rock being removed

rock removed

Secondhand sump

remodelled by jason


I removed the picture off the back and painted the back of the tank blue, which wasn't an easy job I had to use a radiator roller which I had an extra lenth of steel welded on to reach the bottom of the tank.
The came the refill which took 6 days to fill using RO water, originally took a couple of hours using a hose pipe ( a no no these days). I then added 75 Kilos of coarse sand which my missus help wash, 25 kilos of which went into the sump for the dsb. Replumbed the weir to the sump. I've now changed from 150w Arcadia halides to so far a 250w luminarc halide, and will be adding another 250 at the other end and a 400 in the middle. I wired up the fist 250w on the right side leaving the arcadia in the middle for now.


I have just put in the 45 kilo's of live rock I picked up from Jason's today



Just waiting for it to mature.

Will keep you posted

[chriss]

Good update Andy, don't forget to keep them coming.

Chris

[lindsay]

Looking good m8,keep the updates coming .

[TrevC]

Well done Andy.

45kg of rock doesn't go far does it!

You've got loads of room to grow out some corals and a nice size tank to have some great fish.

Really looking forward to your progress

[Marcus Watts]

great to bump into you at Jasons on saturday, is been years since i fished the winterleague!! Tank looking good m8 - lots of light going in! sps and tang heaven me thinks!! I'll keep in touch regarding how the biopellets are performing as i think they will become the initial filtration media of choice. Big pellet reactor and little phos reactor in line before the skimmer is the way mine is going.

[ANDYG]

TrevC, on Mar 7 2010, 06:42 PM, said:

Well done Andy.

45kg of rock doesn't go far does it!

You've got loads of room to grow out some corals and a nice size tank to have some great fish.

Really looking forward to your progress

thanks guys no 45kgs doesn't go far, it seems less is more i a'm converted

[jason@jasonsaquatics]

Looking great Andy

Keep the progress pics rolling in m8 ,need out give me a call m8


yours

jas

[ANDYG]

Update
After checking all the parameters the tank is now mature so on Tues night the corals that I had in the temporary tank and the fish went back in. The 400w halide is now up and running. This is the result.



I went out and bought some new toys at the week end, but the problem was the size and they would have to sit along either side if the tank which didn't make for a pretty site, so I decided the tropical tank had to go.


My new home for my new toys.


All I have to do now is sort out the plumbing , just waiting for the fitting to arrive in the post.

[chriss]

Blimey, these 902's are a bit common now!!

Looking good mate.

Chris

[ANDYG]

chriss, on Mar 18 2010, 11:25 PM, said:

Blimey, these 902's are a bit common now!!

Looking good mate.

Chris

when you do your water change at the weekend let me know the litrage chriss so i can make up enough for mine

[ben]

tank looks great. have you got a fish list?

[chriss]

I meant to say, I take it you had a trip to Holsworthy for the skimmer then? If so I'm glad you did since I was thinking about it as I drove to Yeovil thinking Holsworthy was much closer. Don't feel so bad now! Did you get the feed pump too?

I take it you are going to have a nice sound-proofed door infront of it

Before you plumb it all in, strip it down and give it a good clean being careful when undoing the unions that you do not exert too much force on the point where they attach to the skimmer body. Take the pumps apart and check the condition of the impellors and the bores they run in. It's not uncommon for the impellors to ingest grit which leads to them getting scored which in turn can lead to them rusting out. Rust and sps don't go together well!

Mine were pretty grim with a lot of calcified deposits inside so I gave them a good clean out using a bit of green scouring pad. I'm missing a few o-rings so will be replacing them all anyhow since they tend to flatten overtime. I also found the blue outlet ball valve very stiff to move so removed it and stripped it apart completely to give it a good clean. It's amazing the amount of crud that collects inside the mechanism. It's now silky smooth to operate, particularly important considering that the join between pipes and skimmer body is a weak point and you don't want any excess twisting on these areas.


Chris

[jason@jasonsaquatics]

Looking good Andy ,will see you when your in next m8 .Pics on the progress will be tops m8


jas

[ANDYG]

ben, on Mar 19 2010, 06:55 AM, said:

tank looks great. have you got a fish list?

HI BEN my fish wish list is
4 yellow tangs,
6 anthias
long nose hawkfish
manderin
anybody got any other suggestions welcomed

[ANDYG]

chriss, on Mar 19 2010, 10:52 AM, said:

I meant to say, I take it you had a trip to Holsworthy for the skimmer then? If so I'm glad you did since I was thinking about it as I drove to Yeovil thinking Holsworthy was much closer. Don't feel so bad now! Did you get the feed pump too?

I take it you are going to have a nice sound-proofed door infront of it

Before you plumb it all in, strip it down and give it a good clean being careful when undoing the unions that you do not exert too much force on the point where they attach to the skimmer body. Take the pumps apart and check the condition of the impellors and the bores they run in. It's not uncommon for the impellors to ingest grit which leads to them getting scored which in turn can lead to them rusting out. Rust and sps don't go together well!

Mine were pretty grim with a lot of calcified deposits inside so I gave them a good clean out using a bit of green scouring pad. I'm missing a few o-rings so will be replacing them all anyhow since they tend to flatten overtime. I also found the blue outlet ball valve very stiff to move so removed it and stripped it apart completely to give it a good clean. It's amazing the amount of crud that collects inside the mechanism. It's now silky smooth to operate, particularly important considering that the join between pipes and skimmer body is a weak point and you don't want any excess twisting on these areas.


Chris

Hi Chriss yes I went to Holsworthy I looked at Muzzys but like you I thought Holsworthy was a lot closer as I'm in North Cornwall, I'm glad I got there first.
I also bought a calcium reactor and fluidised reactor off him which I'm going to run biopellets just waiting to see how that thread runs.
He's also got a load of other bits for sale including a 6x4x2 tank.

Yes I am going to put doors on it, I take it they are rather noisy. (Is yours up and running yet). I stripped it all down last night and soaked it in vingar for a few hours, it came up a treat, including the ball vales, yes they were full of crud.

My fittings haven't turned up yet so can't put it together yet, was hoping to get started this weekend. The next job is to strip the calcium reactor down and get that cleaned up.

[lindsay]

Going well Andy,well done m8.

[ANDYG]

April Update

Since the last update the skimmer is now up and running, pulling out plenty of crud.



And have now a few additions to the tank, Hysterix, Pourus sea road, and 5 Thread fin Antheas. Plus various snails, crabs and shrimps.






The weekend I have added Aqua Ray double 50k LEDS
The photo's don't do the colour change justice, especially the red Monti which flouresces bright pink and the maze is yellow




Halide lighting only


Blue LED's only

[ben]

comming on great.

looks like good spread from the LEDs

[chriss]

Some life in it now then! The sea rod looks great and the hysterix has plenty of growth tips on it, just make sure it's not too close to that powerhead that it doesn't strip the ends.

Chris

[lindsay]

When you look through this thread you can see how much this system is changing,both with the equipment and the visual look of the tank,looking good m8 .