Darren's 322 Tank

[Darren Sim]

Hi guys, This wouldn't happen without the help of those bros in this forum especially Willy bro, Ali bro and others ! Big thanks to Leon bro ! I'm starting this thread is to update my process and also learn from all the bros here.

I had a 3x1.5x1.5 tank with canister but i find it too troublesome especially of the space constrain so i have decided to go for 322 tank cabinet with sump ! Indeed i managed to find one affordable and high maintenance tank (surprisingly without any visible scratches). My equipments are all mainly from this forum. After camping the forum for almost every minute each day, finally managed to really get all the good equipments with very good prices. 

Firstly before my tank arrive, i went to bleach and soak vinegar my live rocks to kill all the unnecessary pest that will bother my in the future. 

Step 1, I went to soak bleach for 3days then rinse with tap water + Scrubbing ! (Buy a chlorine test kit to ensure NO chlorine inside the rocks before you sundry it)

Step 2, Bring out to sundry it, after which soak in vinegar for around 40-60 minutes. 

Step 3, Done ! But you can sundry it again if you want. 

 

This is the additives i will be using for now !

After long await, my tank finally arrived ! Quickly went to wash my tank another round even though it's quite clean (Left the water stains) 

Went to rock scape before adding in any equipments. Please advise on my rock scape !

 

My equipments :

Jebao DC 12k (Return pump)

Hydra Steam 2 

Skimz SM 202 

Skimz FR (Biopellet)

4 tubes of ATI lighting (2 coral plus and 2 blue plus)

 

Any feedbacks please comment and advise ! Appreciate it ! 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 23, 2015 by Darren Sim

[daveyy]

How come u soak ur rock in vinegar for 60min, isnt it kinda short?

I'm going to soak my rocks soon, but intending to soak for a day.

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[Darren Sim]

How come u soak ur rock in vinegar for 60min, isnt it kinda short?

 

I'm going to soak my rocks soon, but intending to soak for a day.

 

 

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As i know because vinegar is quite strong so if you put it for around 1hour is more than enough.

Edited December 23, 2015 by Darren Sim

[Harlequinmania]

Glad to see your thread here. Keep the photos coming !!

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[Admiraltian]

Camping here. Looking forward for more updates.

[tofubox]

Dont soak your rocks in vinegar for too long, It will turn brittle and break apart. As mentioned, 1 day is too long. An hour or two is more than enough, u just want the vinegar to remove the outer portion of the rocks. Last time had to experiment myself bleaching rocks. 

[Darren Sim]

Dont soak your rocks in vinegar for too long, It will turn brittle and break apart. As mentioned, 1 day is too long. An hour or two is more than enough, u just want the vinegar to remove the outer portion of the rocks. Last time had to experiment myself bleaching rocks. 

Agreed ! Even some of my rocks is breaking apart after 1 hour of soaking ! 

[edmund_23]

Clean and nice tank.. Get a wm too..

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[xavin]

Nice bro!!

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[SubzeroLT]

Nice to see a good clean start. Looking forward to updates.

 

 

[Darren Sim]

Thank you guys for all your supports !!

Going to update now !!

After setting up my tank, i went to plug all the necessary things needed to cycle my tank. That includes hydra stream 2 too. Hydra stream really reduce ammonia and nitrite level to 0ppm. That's amazing but TAKE NOTE it doesn't remove nitrate. You still need regular water change to remove that but another side is if hydra can remove ammonia and nitrite then will there be high nitrate? 

Decided to throw in the traditional way and that's market prawn. It helps to increase ammonia level for you so your cycle can start !

I didn't take very long to cycle my tank. I left it there for about 2 weeks and start measuring my ammonia, nitrite and nitrate level. Thank god results is in order for me to put my fishes in ! I really love the progress of adding new fish in. 

This is my current fish ! 

1X true percula clownfish

3X chromis

2X (i believe is Blue Gudgeon Dartfish)

1X Cleaner wrasse

By the way i left out my wave maker ! I bought gyre 150 from a nice reefer at a good price too ! Really lucky to get all these good deals !

 

To end the post, this is my FTS (Full Tank Shot) and FSS (Full Sump Shot)

Sorry about the messy sump because all items are still not in place yet. Still looking for another affordable reactor to run my Rowa so any lobang can recommend.

 

 

Any comment or feedback is appreciated. Thank you for your time ! 

 

[Admiraltian]

That's a real strong wm u r using!!

Edited December 26, 2015 by Admiraltian

[Darren Sim]

These few days having massive headache because of diatom !  

Going to off my lights and stop feeding them  for 3 days to see how the outcome will be ! 

By the way new addition to my tank ! 

Blue and green chromis X 5

Sand shifting starfish X 2

6 Lines wrasse X 1

Giant turbo snails X 3 ( Not effective ) 

 

[Admiraltian]

It's normal to have diatoms during ur initial startup, fret not.

[Darren Sim]

Updates ! 

Got a temporary frag corner in my sump. Planning to get rid of that after i diy a algea scrubber! 

[Darren Sim]

New addition to my tank ! 

AM Golden midas ! 

Really nice addition to my tank ! Still not stable but start eating pellets and mysis le ! 

[daveyy]

Wah ur rock work very chio

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[Guest]

Wow nice scape. How long you take to do?

[franklin]

Good looking sump

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[SubzeroLT]

The water level in the return section seems too low. Not enough 'buffer' water before its too low for your return pump.

I understand its because of the backflow when the return pump is off. Hope the suggestion to break the siphon with a small hole on the return pipe will work in your case.

[sgtayc]

Is the vinegar in pic 5L and where to get it? Sheng shiong only sell 2L bottle.

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[Darren Sim]

Is the vinegar in pic 5L and where to get it? Sheng shiong only sell 2L bottle.

 

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Hi bro, i got it from Sheng shiong. Mine is at marsiling they do sell ! 

[Darren Sim]

Good looking sump

 

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Thank you viewing my post bro ! 

[Darren Sim]

Wah ur rock work very chio

 

 

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Wow nice scape. How long you take to do?

 

Thank you for reading my post. My rockscape is done by one of my reefer bro. He loves rockscaping and he normally bring that into a whole new level !  He took around 30minutes? 

[edmund_23]

Is the vinegar in pic 5L and where to get it? Sheng shiong only sell 2L bottle.

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Actually you can find it at those market grocery store.. I bought mine 5L for $3.50..

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