kohanson 3.5ft Reef Tank

[kohanson]

Hi Guys, I am currently setting up my 3.5ft tank. This is my 3rd marine tank and I hope this will be my last.

 

I removed my partition wall for my house and replaced it with this new tank. I previously started with a 3ft planted tank and got really bored after my mini 10litre tank was doing well. i then engaged Aquarium Artist vincent to do up a 42cm cube and that tank went on for 1year plus, reaching 2 years. The cube is still running and I will decomm after the main tank is stable.

 

The new tank is 3.5ft x 1.5ft x 2ft Height. With Aquarium Artist's BFV system. Will only know how silent or noisy it is once the top cabinet and the side doors are fixed this weekend. So excited!!

 

Equipment:

Maxspect 15000k 160w

Bubble Magus Curve 7

Eheim 1260

Jebao RW-8 wavemaker

Caribsea Life Rock 17kg , and my current live rock. 

Caribsea Fiji Pink 40lbs just arrived today!

Red Sea Coral Pro salt mix

 

I am going to only keep easy corals as I do not have a chiller and don't want to have the additional cost, heat and sound in the house.

 

 

Edited September 7, 2015 by kohanson

[kohanson]

Some of the items that I am going to use for the tank.

[Admiraltian]

Camping here.

[admin2]

The rock look nice.. There is no cabinet door

for your tank?

[kohanson]

Tank have been running for more than a week. Currently rectifying some issues with the top cabinet doors and waiting for my aluminium light hanger to be ready. Will post pictures when the setup is ready!

[shy88devil]

Nice set up .. cant wait to see your updates

[Admiraltian]

Looking fwd to more updates and pics.

[Simonongst]

[Guest]

How's your patience been going haha. Update us!

[edmund_23]

Bro, is the 1st and 2nd pic the same tank? Why i see the 2nd tank light stand longer..

[kohanson]

Bro, is the 1st and 2nd pic the same tank? Why i see the 2nd tank light stand longer..

The second pic is my old tank, higher stand custom made from deaquatics.

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[kohanson]

Some of the initial pics:

Wall divider still around.

Wall divider removed to make way for fish tank!

Electrical works for the new tank.

Tank loading onto cabinet in progress.

Top cabinet fixed.

More photos to come, now at work.

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[Jimmy75]

what is your tank temperature like running with ANS fan?

[SimonLSB]

Some of the initial pics:

Wall divider still around.

Wall divider removed to make way for fish tank!

Electrical works for the new tank.

Tank loading onto cabinet in progress.

Top cabinet fixed.

More photos to come, now at work.

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Nice 1 bro.. 1st step into your house is 'Wow'.. Is it Feng Shui placement..? Hahaha..

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[kohanson]

what is your tank temperature like running with ANS fan?

Initially, I was running 1 ANS fan using ikea timer, 30mins on, 30 mins off. Temperature remains at 30 degrees. When i open the top cabinet, i can feel the heat coming out and likely is from the light and the light adaptor. I then use a screw driver to modify the top cabinet and put big rubber stoppers so when the cabinet doors at the top are close, there will be gaps around the doors.

After the slight adjustment, I added another ANS fan, 1 pointing directly at the water and another around 45 degree towards the water to push out the hot air under the lights towards the opening of the cabinet. Seems like it worked and temperature now maintaining at 29 degrees. Still monitoring and see what I can do with the fans and timer. Not intending to run the fan 24/7 as they are quite loud and evaporation abit high, haha.

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[kohanson]

@SimonLSB: not really bro, just that I always like to have a big marine tank like the bros here but space is a constraint at my house and I always hear about the high running cost of a marine tank. So i started with a 1.5ft cube to try out with proper equipments n no chiller and seems like not much failures except for corals dying likely due to heat. I try to run the tank as simple and cheap as possible. I previously have a 3ft planted tank with metal stand but feels that it looks messy in the middle of nowhere. And then I saw my divider and ask my wife if i could remove to replace it and she agreed! Yeah..

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[Jimmy75]

Initially, I was running 1 ANS fan using ikea timer, 30mins on, 30 mins off. Temperature remains at 30 degrees. When i open the top cabinet, i can feel the heat coming out and likely is from the light and the light adaptor. I then use a screw driver to modify the top cabinet and put big rubber stoppers so when the cabinet doors at the top are close, there will be gaps around the doors.

After the slight adjustment, I added another ANS fan, 1 pointing directly at the water and another around 45 degree towards the water to push out the hot air under the lights towards the opening of the cabinet. Seems like it worked and temperature now maintaining at 29 degrees. Still monitoring and see what I can do with the fans and timer. Not intending to run the fan 24/7 as they are quite loud and evaporation abit high, haha.

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No venting holes on the doors? even my sump area also feels warm.

[kohanson]

Maxspect lighting with aluminium hanger.

Sump area.

Completed tank.

Completed tank and tank cabinet. All corners around the ceiling and floor area are filled with white silicon.

Tank view from house to door entrance.

Tank view from side.

Tank view from door entrance into house.

My fishes love the nori from NTUC!!

Mushroom corals. They are really easy even when my tank goes up to 30 degrees at time. Trying to maintain the tank at 29 degrees.

The candy cane coral was with me for more than a year., bought from iwarna.

I face some difficulty in making the rocks higher as it is a 3 sided tank and I am limiting the tank to 1.5ft width. I am training my powder blue and blue tang in the sump to eat pellets, mysis and nori as I have just finished copper treatment in another tank for them. And thats all for now!

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[kohanson]

No venting holes on the doors? even my sump area also feels warm.

No vents as Vincent mention it was not easy to make. Therefore no vents and I only made the vents at the side.

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[kohanson]

Bought 5 packs of corals from T95, they are zoas, mushroom, open brain, anemone and the last should be favia.

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[kohanson]

Just sharing my tank after 7 months. Have started dosing 1 tea spoon of baking soda every week to maintain at around 8-9 dkH. 1 cap of purple up every week but never test for parameters.water temperature currently at 29-30 degrees without chiller. The blue tang is quite new, around 3 weeks in my tank, so its still getting use to the food and the tank mates.

Anyway, I lost many fishes when my tank kena ich in december due to me adding a powder blue tang. Lost a yellow tang, blue tang, 1 powder blue tang, 2 true pecular clown fish and 1 banggai cardinal. The tank was kept empty for 3-4 weeks after that.

[reef garden]

Bro,

I'm impressed by your neat and simple setup for the aquarium. I also love your rocks setup. Even the sump looks so clean and tidy.

I hope you don't mind sharing your knowledge and experience on the following.

1. How do you keep the tank glass and sand base so clean?

2. How many inlets and outlets are there from the tank?

3. Would the waste accumulate at the tank bottom or corners?

4. How do you manage the phosphates and algae?

Thanks.

[kohanson]

1 hour ago, reef garden said:

Bro,

I'm impressed by your neat and simple setup for the aquarium. I also love your rocks setup. Even the sump looks so clean and tidy.

I hope you don't mind sharing your knowledge and experience on the following.

1. How do you keep the tank glass and sand base so clean?

2. How many inlets and outlets are there from the tank?

3. Would the waste accumulate at the tank bottom or corners?

4. How do you manage the phosphates and algae?

Thanks.

Hi bro, thanks! Long time never update and the above video is my last video taken in Oct 2016.

1. I am currently having a diamond goby in my tank which keeps my sand very clean. However, my sands are shifted almost around the tank but it is very clean. I also have snails which digs itself into the sand and crawls out when there are food. Cant recall what is the name.

2. I have only 1 outlet from my sump which is on the top left of the video. The inlet is just beside the outlet.

3. TBH, I have never siphon my display tank before and i solely depends on the outlet, wavemaker and my goby to push the waste to the outlet and into the sump.

4. I have never tested my tank for phosphates and I always have 2 little pouches of rowaphos in the sump and replace them every 2-3 months. I also run a reverse light cycle in the sump where the red light will shine between 11pm to 7am daily. I have 2 turbo snails and 1 black spine urchin for the algae control in the main tank. I also clean the glass every 4-6 days with the magnet cleaner.

 

When I build the tank, I told myself I wanted a low maintenance tank so i will keep the hobby running. Therefore, I never bought a chiller and corals I bought are usually low cost corals where they are not so demanding.

 

 

[reef garden]

Bro,

I'm really speechless. Your fishes look so healthy and happy and you don't even have lots of complicated equipment to maintain this aquarium! So a well maintained aquarium like yours is possible with good planning, design, right selection and discipline. It doesn't necessarily have to come with a high cost and unnecessary equipment.

Thank you for this important lesson in the new year and I will strive towards this goal in mind.


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[kohanson]

13 hours ago, reef garden said:

Bro,

I'm impressed by your neat and simple setup for the aquarium. I also love your rocks setup. Even the sump looks so clean and tidy.

I hope you don't mind sharing your knowledge and experience on the following.

1. How do you keep the tank glass and sand base so clean?

2. How many inlets and outlets are there from the tank?

3. Would the waste accumulate at the tank bottom or corners?

4. How do you manage the phosphates and algae?

Thanks.

Thanks bro!

A few lessons I have learnt are:

1. Do water changes at least every 2 weeks.

2. Always buy the most aggressive fish last if possible and only buy 2 fishes at most at any one time.

3. Quarantine the tougher to feed fishes in my sump for at least 2 weeks until they start eating. 

4. Release new fish at night when most are asleep for the new fish to find its own home.

5. Dismantle wave maker and pump every 2 months for full cleaning and oil moving parts with vaseline.