JH's 24x24x18inches Build Thread

[veliferium]

It's been a long wait but this dream of mine is finally coming through! Having said that, I'm trying to do a documentation of my tank's ups and downs through this thread. I also hope to encourage people, irregardless whether young/old to be part of this hobby as I've realised that keeping aquariums seem to be a dying trend.

Sad to say, in this time and age, the S.E.A aquarium is all that people know and I'm damn sure that this hobby can bring in so much more joy(than paying money to enter into a public aquarium). Times have changed and things are just not the same anymore

I have been introduced to this hobby since way back in 2004 (after the Finding Nemo craze). It was after the visits to the various LFSes along Lavender Road, where Reborn and Paradiz Reef used to be that things started to get serious. Back then, there were lots of restriction and being a student meant that there were many things which I was subjected to, both financially and in terms of space.

Now that I've moved to a new place and that I've stepped foot into the working world, I am finally able to fund myself both financially and independently on this hobby and decided to "get serious" and "learn from past mistakes".

Anyway, here are the specs of the set up.

Tank: 24x24x18 inches, 10mm glass thickness, 4-sided crystal glass tank

Sump: 18 inches cube.

Return Pump: Fluval Sea SP2 (running internally)

Skimmer: JNS ConeS CO-1 Skimmer

Chiller: HS-66A

Lightings: Zetlight ZP3600

Having said that, I'm no expert in this hobby either and I hope to learn along the way and also willing to receive critiques from fellow hobbyists.

All advice and inputs are welcome

(Spammers, please steer clear of this thread)

Thanks!

[Admiraltian]

Always nice to see a new tank thread. What will u be keeping in this setup?

[veliferium]

Some shots of the main tank and sump.

I'm going to get filter socks tomorrow, probably 1 PP and 1 felt.

As I'm new to a sump system, I hope fellow hobbyist can chime in on what I can add to the filtration. AFAIK, most people opt to have simple sump set ups, that is heavy skimming coupled with strong flow and LR as the primary biological media. For me, I am not intending to run fluidised reactors at the moment as the sump is rather small.

[veliferium]

Always nice to see a new tank thread. What will u be keeping in this setup?

Primary occupants would be small gobies and symbiotic pistol shrimp/goby and some softies/LPS before decidng to move further.

Not really a fan of big fish although I'm always fascinated by huge King Angels and Sohal Tangs brought in by LFSes.

As much as rare fish goes, I'm happy to have Flabelligobius sp. as Xmas present

[MarcoVan]

Flabelligobius? Sweet!!! Care to share some pics?

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[veliferium]

Flabelligobius? Sweet!!! Care to share some pics?

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Bro, Xmas present! hahaha, I very much hope that it can be my first occupant of this tank though!

[MarcoVan]

Oh!! Lol ps. I hope you can get them keke. Last one I know of is from digiman.

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[yikai]

Great beautiful square tank.

You are enthusiastic and knowledgable and will do well I'm sure. Looking forward to your adventure! :-)

Flabelligobius has not made an appearance for awhile now. Last time I had one with Digiman but not sure who I sold it to. Will let you know if we do order/encounter. It shouldn't be too impossible.

[veliferium]

Great beautiful square tank.

You are enthusiastic and knowledgable and will do well I'm sure. Looking forward to your adventure! :-)

Flabelligobius has not made an appearance for awhile now. Last time I had one with Digiman but not sure who I sold it to. Will let you know if we do order/encounter. It shouldn't be too impossible.

Thanks for the encouragement Lemon. I'm absolutely astounded by the contributions on the rare fish thread and your plethora of knowledge on various species of fish as well!

Yeah, I hope the prices would've stayed the same too, either that or be comparable to their Lolitia counterparts. IMO, gobies wouldn't be overly priced unless you're talking about those amazingly newly discovered species?

[yikai]

Like lotilia, Flabelligobius has dropped in price and novelty. Most gobies are never expensive as they are shallow and fairly easy to collect. If sold exorbidantly, it is usually because of novelty and market value. The actual cost is usually not too high. Flabelligobius has hovered around 100+- in price. Gobies that are in the thousands are usual deep water carribean ones that live in few hundred meters depth and is exp becoz of collection. Philippine and indo gobies are never that expensive.

[angmoh]

another 2-footer kaki !! Welcome to da family !

Looking forward to seeing your final masterpiece !

[Harlequinmania]

Who is your tank maker? Reef systems ?

[veliferium]

Who is your tank maker? Reef systems ?

That's right!

How did you know?

[Harlequinmania]

That's right!

How did you know?

From the piping work, not many shop design the piping work like them which I liked.

[veliferium]

Just filled my tank with NSW this morning and tested the params.

Specific Gravity: 1.021

pH: 8.5

NH₄: 0 ppm

NO₂: 0 ppm

NO₃: 5 ppm

kH: 7.6dkH

Ca: 420ppm

Mg: 1280ppm.

Salinity is a little on the low side. Wondering whether I should bump it up with salt mix at this point of time?

[hammy]

Just filled my tank with NSW this morning and tested the params.

Specific Gravity: 1.021

pH: 8.5

NH₄: 0 ppm

NO₂: 0 ppm

NO₃: 5 ppm

kH: 7.6dkH

Ca: 420ppm

Mg: 1280ppm.

Salinity is a little on the low side. Wondering whether I should bump it up with salt mix at this point of time?

The parameter seem gd. Can you share where did you get your NSW from? Thanks.

[veliferium]

The parameter seem gd. Can you share where did you get your NSW from? Thanks.

The water is from Iwarna.

Ammonia and nitrite I'm using API test kits. Nitrate I'm using Salifert. pH is Sera while the rest are D-D H2O.

[yikai]

i would just leave the sg as it is, and let it evaporate until the specific sg you want. then maintain it from there.

[veliferium]

Added cured live rocks, and powered up the skimmer, Its still breaking in,but the micro-bubbles are so fine due to the bubble plate feature! One of the reasons why I chose this model

http://s1059.photobucket.com/user/daybreaks91/media/DSC_0094.jpg.html'>

Rockscape wise, I'm trying my best.Hahaha. Wanted to create some sort of open lagoon but the dimensions of my tank and the size of the LR does not permit. More likely a crevice of some sort.

Oh well, time to showcase those cryptic nano fish!

http://s1059.photobucket.com/user/daybreaks91/media/DSC_0092.jpg.html'>

Will be spending my Friday night adding the sand in, grade 0 coral sand, using leftovers from previous decom. I think things may get alittle cloudy and should be expecting some sandstorm.

Also, tested the parameters right after adding the rocks,(abit kan chong).

NH4: 0 ppm

NO2: 0 ppm

NO3: 5ppm

I guess the cycle hasn't kicked off yet, shall test again tomorrow

[yikai]

nice scape!

low, neat, simple. i like it.

[veliferium]

Tomiyamichthys oni

This is the best ID I can come up with.

Not really in the best of shape, but I hope to be able to nurse it back to its prime!

Will update more later!

[yikai]

Tominamichthys!

[veliferium]

Tominamichthys!

Weird. Google gave me a "y" instead of "n"

Anyway, there was only 1 piece and I grabbe it hoping that its something different from the rest of the shrimp goby.

[yikai]

Weird. Google gave me a "y" instead of "n"

Anyway, there was only 1 piece and I grabbe it hoping that its something different from the rest of the shrimp goby.

oops typoe.

yes. tomiYamichthys.

it is regularly available at ah beng and cf, especially ah beng. you didn't pair it with a shrimp?

[veliferium]

oops typoe.

yes. tomiYamichthys.

it is regularly available at ah beng and cf, especially ah beng. you didn't pair it with a shrimp?

I found it unpaired..

Do you think they would pair up with a Alpheus randalli?