comy's newbie tank

[comycus]

After 4 weeks, think my tank finally finished its cycling, ammonia and nitrite readings are zero. Gonna start a simple journal here for everyone to comment on my noob tank.

New tank done up by Yongshun! V. happy with the quality and build.

After countless scaping with the help of my buddy n his gf (she was the 'architect' , we were the construction workers...) finally settled on this scaping... hope bros here can give some constructive C&C thanks!

Front

Back

Side

equipment coming up...

[davidluvfishes]

After 4 weeks, think my tank finally finished its cycling, ammonia and nitrite readings are zero. Gonna start a simple journal here for everyone to comment on my noob tank.

New tank done up by Yongshun! V. happy with the quality and build.

After countless scaping with the help of my buddy n his gf (she was the 'architect' , we were the construction workers...) finally settled on this scaping... hope bros here can give some constructive C&C thanks!

Front

Back

Side

equipment coming up...

The rockscape looks a little unstable.. You may need to secure it with epoxy at the joining areas. .. or rearrange with smaller flat rocks at the top... The rocks may drop once you add corals on it and the results may not be too good..

Just my comments...

[comycus]

yeah i know... frontal view LHS top 2 rocks are like performing a balancing act! will definitely get some epoxy to secure them... maybe will glue the bridge in the middle too! the rest looks fine to me... actually only made up of a few big pieces of rocks, so the structure actually feels quite stable to me!

tried to create many caves, but ended up with only 3 big caves n prob some smaller ones here n there... dunno whether this scaping will have enough space to put some gems! heh went to GO the other day... omg feels like little boy in giant candy store! lol

[comycus]

Collected chiller today!

Teco TR15! due to my canister filter which has a flow rate of 1250L/hr before filter media, I had to settle for this with recommended min. flowrate of 400L/hr.

It seems I'm attracted to Murphy's... the thermostat n my 2 external thermometers all read different temperatures!!! difference of +/- 0.5 degrees. To make matters worse, it took the chiller (1/5hp, rated up to 800L) approximately 1hr to cool my tank from an ambient temperature of 30 degrees to 28.5 degrees... errm what's happenning!!??

Its sitting in the corner with about 1.5ft of clearance at the back and another ft of clearance in front. Sides are quite tight though... Anyone with experience in Teco willing to help?

[[V]tEc]

Collected chiller today!

Teco TR15! due to my canister filter which has a flow rate of 1250L/hr before filter media, I had to settle for this with recommended min. flowrate of 400L/hr.

It seems I'm attracted to Murphy's... the thermostat n my 2 external thermometers all read different temperatures!!! difference of +/- 0.5 degrees. To make matters worse, it took the chiller (1/5hp, rated up to 800L) approximately 1hr to cool my tank from an ambient temperature of 30 degrees to 28.5 degrees... errm what's happenning!!??

Its sitting in the corner with about 1.5ft of clearance at the back and another ft of clearance in front. Sides are quite tight though... Anyone with experience in Teco willing to help?

dropping 1.5 degree within an hour seems fine to me. most chillers will take ard 40 - 50 min to drop 1 degree....if u wan faster, suggest u go for drop in coil....

[ambystoma82]

Collected chiller today!

Teco TR15! due to my canister filter which has a flow rate of 1250L/hr before filter media, I had to settle for this with recommended min. flowrate of 400L/hr.

It seems I'm attracted to Murphy's... the thermostat n my 2 external thermometers all read different temperatures!!! difference of +/- 0.5 degrees. To make matters worse, it took the chiller (1/5hp, rated up to 800L) approximately 1hr to cool my tank from an ambient temperature of 30 degrees to 28.5 degrees... errm what's happenning!!??

Its sitting in the corner with about 1.5ft of clearance at the back and another ft of clearance in front. Sides are quite tight though... Anyone with experience in Teco willing to help?

by rite ur tank capacity is so much lesser than e 800l by e chiller,shldnt take so long to chill..

u might wanna check on ur chiller pump flow rate?

i heard faster flow rate e chiller wun keep cutting in n out so fast...

[comycus]

by rite ur tank capacity is so much lesser than e 800l by e chiller,shldnt take so long to chill..

u might wanna check on ur chiller pump flow rate?

i heard faster flow rate e chiller wun keep cutting in n out so fast...

Yeah tt's what I thought too. Btw, the chiller came with a flow indicator, and I have no idea how it works. Theres just this blade that spins.

I closed off part of the inlet valve to restrict the flow in (just tinkering ard this morning during breakfast). Guess what? it cooled down from 28.5 to 27.5 in under 30min. Weird right?

[[d]3v|L]

hey bro,

Nice rockcape there. Care to share what filter and lights ur using?

BTW I bought a 1/8hp teco chiller for my 2ftcube recently also.. figuring out how to use the valve also. Do let me know once you got it ok bro

cheers~

[reef999]

Nice scape....

The front view and back view looks nice.

[comycus]

Nice scape....

The front view and back view looks nice.

Thanks bro reef999! gonna get my epoxy tmr, hopefully securing it will be easy for a clumsy person... haha

[comycus]

So onto my equipment list:

Lights: Hopar 4x39w, Aquablue special, Blueplus, True Actinic

1xHydor moonlight aquacolour

Skimmer: Deltec MCE600 with SORB-4

Chiller: Teco TR15

Wavemaker: Vortech MP20 (lotsa problems with this... hope to solve it soon)

Canister: Eheim 2075 with 1kg Biohome and PUR-II

Live sand: 60lbs Caribsea Ocean direct. Mixture of grade 0 and 1

Live rocks: ~140+lbs of huge live rocks from a friendly reefer

Firing up the skimmer for the first time. Deltec rocks! Just cleaned up the goo from 3 days worth of skimmate... it is absolutely disgusting (n I haven't even added any LS! *shudders*). Forgot to take pics of the skimmate, was too turned off by the smell to run for my camera to snap some shots lol

My current headache... got the MP20 at a great discount at Irwana. To my dismay, the main wire was frayed, and the serial numbers of the controller, instruction manual and packing box doesn't match!!! It's already 4 weeks of waiting, and still no word on replacement.

To Victor's credit, he has been v. patient and accomodating to me. I just wish the replacement unit comes soon! Have emailed Ecotech Marine and Ecotech Marine Asia to complain about the delays. I don't know if anyone has any experience with them, but in my opinion, their customer service/after sales support is a joke. Mailboxes are constantly full, and head office seems to be sleeping. Really quite disappointed in Vortech...

Bro [d]3v|L: Since there are no obvious markings on the flow indicator, to my primitive knowledge, firing my eheim on at full blast of ~1250L/hr, the blade spins relatively fast. Will update again on my chiller as I'm doing some 'tests' on it now

[Gouldian]

Hi Bro,

Any reasons why you opt to have cannister vs sump tank?

[comycus]

Hi Bro,

Any reasons why you opt to have cannister vs sump tank?

lol after so much research, i am convinced that having sump tank is good. Pls dun flame me, but can I say that

1) aesthetically I prefer the look of a canister in my cabinet, coz its more tidy, no water splashing here n there

2) kinda like my side panel with skimmer, salinity monitor, thermometer, ph reader (its not as messy as it sounds )

3) super obstinate and wish to prove to myself and others that sump or no sump, the reef tank can still look nice, and function well

4) hehe the most impt factor is I already bought the deltec 600 for my previous setup... so kinda limited by it

[Gouldian]

Oic, thanks for sharing. Do keep up updated on your progress.

lol after so much research, i am convinced that having sump tank is good. Pls dun flame me, but can I say that

1) aesthetically I prefer the look of a canister in my cabinet, coz its more tidy, no water splashing here n there

2) kinda like my side panel with skimmer, salinity monitor, thermometer, ph reader (its not as messy as it sounds )

3) super obstinate and wish to prove to myself and others that sump or no sump, the reef tank can still look nice, and function well

4) hehe the most impt factor is I already bought the deltec 600 for my previous setup... so kinda limited by it

[ambystoma82]

Yeah tt's what I thought too. Btw, the chiller came with a flow indicator, and I have no idea how it works. Theres just this blade that spins.

I closed off part of the inlet valve to restrict the flow in (just tinkering ard this morning during breakfast). Guess what? it cooled down from 28.5 to 27.5 in under 30min. Weird right?

mayb u wan ask some other reefers out there whats e cutting in n out for a tank n chiller capacity like urs?

in ur case if it cools faster it always cut in faster...

more times it cuts in = more electricity..

cut in lesser time but run longer some how lesser electricity but also depends how long it runs...

what is the flow rate u using for chiller???

[ambystoma82]

i m using 3000+l/h for mine as return n chiller pump

i m surprise ur is only 1250l/h but since ur cooling power is stronger... shld take faster to cut out...

mayb u wanna look at ur chiller suction n discharge pt n nt let it run thru too many media b4 coming out? as e flowrate would b diff by then...

[comycus]

i m using 3000+l/h for mine as return n chiller pump

i m surprise ur is only 1250l/h but since ur cooling power is stronger... shld take faster to cut out...

mayb u wanna look at ur chiller suction n discharge pt n nt let it run thru too many media b4 coming out? as e flowrate would b diff by then...

Reason I chose Teco was coz of its slow recommended flow rate. min. 400L/hr, AM recommends 500-1000L/hr. I'm quite sure even after media, flow rate should still be fast enough for the chiller. Actually have quite a few issues with the chiller. Called up the service center today, and they are offering to send someone down to either check if my settings are off or do a 1 for 1 exchange. What a breeze compared to my Vortech! Will ask them how the flow indicator thing works too.

[comycus]

Just checked my water parameters.

Ammonia: 0

Nitrite: 0

Nitrate 25ppm

Phosphate: 0.5ppm

KH: 12dkh

Calcium 430ppm

Salinity: 1.025

ph: ph meter broke down! as of this morning, it was 8.40

Temperature: 28 deg C.

hmmm how are the parameters? Think Phosphate is toxic levels right? Added 200g of SORB-4 into my skimmer, hopefully it will bring it down to more manageable levels. Should I do another 50% water change? I already did a 50% last weekend. Super tiring! My big bucket of salt is depleting so quickly, n salt isn't v. cheap.

So is my cycling finally ending soon? I am thinking of adding 3 blue green chromis and maybe some snails this weekend.

[ambystoma82]

Just checked my water parameters.

Ammonia: 0

Nitrite: 0

Nitrate 25ppm

Phosphate: 0.5ppm

KH: 12dkh

Calcium 430ppm

Salinity: 1.025

ph: ph meter broke down! as of this morning, it was 8.40

Temperature: 28 deg C.

hmmm how are the parameters? Think Phosphate is toxic levels right? Added 200g of SORB-4 into my skimmer, hopefully it will bring it down to more manageable levels. Should I do another 50% water change? I already did a 50% last weekend. Super tiring! My big bucket of salt is depleting so quickly, n salt isn't v. cheap.

So is my cycling finally ending soon? I am thinking of adding 3 blue green chromis and maybe some snails this weekend.

i assume they took away u chiller thts y 28degree lolx.. realli gd service they provided..

eh bro u r suppose to be cycling the tank lehz y r u doin water change huh?

hasnt ur nitrate level stabilised? what salt u using? no nid set e salinity too high if u nt keeping corals yet..

sealife keep their fishes with lower salinity also...

it might b kinda of wasted if u used sorb4 while recycling ur tank.. lolx..

since ur vortech is running it time to get those coraline algae in place... =)

[comycus]

My parameters last weekend already 0 ammonia n nitrites. Nitrates were ard 50ppm, tt's why did 50%water change, nitrates also reduce by 50%. I thought i'm supposed to do that right? using d-d h2ocean salt... reviews looked quite good online, so decided to just take the plunge

chiller still at my place, will arrange with them tmr coz i called them in the evening when they were all knocking off. hai, already take me >1hr to chill from 29 to 28, if i set to 26 will prob take half the day! lol

sigh vortech not running yet... Victor says can exchange only if its in new condition, so hoping it will come in soon... sometimes I feel like some higher power trying to stop me from getting into this hobby... give me problem many many even before i put anything into the tank.

[comycus]

new additions.

There are 2 aggressive ones in there... Can identify them from their dorsal fins. *crosses fingers* hope all 3 of them work something out...

Yummy looking toadstool that has not opened up. I hope it returns to its formal glory soon. Does anyone know what all those funny little white spots that can be found on its skin?

[iskay]

new additions.

There are 2 aggressive ones in there... Can identify them from their dorsal fins. *crosses fingers* hope all 3 of them work something out...

Yummy looking toadstool that has not opened up. I hope it returns to its formal glory soon. Does anyone know what all those funny little white spots that can be found on its skin?

The toadstool looks yummy indeed as the flatworms seem to be enjoying it! Those 'white spots' looks like flatworms to me. I'd recommend a set of fresh water dips to rid them off. They like mushrooms a lot so act fast if you have mushrooms in your tank.

[comycus]

The toadstool looks yummy indeed as the flatworms seem to be enjoying it! Those 'white spots' looks like flatworms to me. I'd recommend a set of fresh water dips to rid them off. They like mushrooms a lot so act fast if you have mushrooms in your tank.

yikes! thanks alot for the quick warning bro emergency action! errm... I don't have any other corals now... will be monitoring it closely before I add any others i guess.

[albinosage]

Yup looks like flatworms... For natural long term pest control, get a small wrasse

[wilsontantw]

hi comycus...

nice tank setup. i'm sure with the right equipment and husbandry... with or without sump, the tank can be a success!

look forward to more updates from ya!

Btw: mixed reef with tangs? or dwarf angels??