Tivoli's $2000 3ft tank upgrade

[tivoli]

Hi folks,

There was a period of 3 months when I neglected my tank (busy in work) ... and things started dying, algae started growing and rust start forming on my metal stand .... and coralline algae grew all over my skimmer body.

I came to a crossroad and I asked my wife for an opinion whether I should invest and upgrade my tank or quit the reef hobby.

I asked one of my colleague who had been working in the same IT company for a straight 17 years for his opinion - whom has the expensive hobby of keeping remote helicopters.

He said "Man either play with toys or with woman".

That made sense to me ... so I discussed with my wife and cough out that

$2000 for my tank upgrade.

I wanted to chronicle my spending spree so that you guys have a reference where the money goes to and make your own decisions.

There goes ......

[bwilly]

..

got wife support really good hor..

take out the cheque book dear..! shopping time.

[tivoli]

First.

The problem with my old tank.

I tried to cut corners, buy the cheapest stuff and hope that it works and look good.

It was too bad but my wife complained .... "Your tank doesn't look as good as everybody' else cos you don't want to spend money".

Here's how my old tank looks like :

[tivoli]

1) The old tank was not bad, I used 4 x 36 PL plus 2 x 30 florescent, the lights alone came to 250 + 150 total equals $400 almost the same as DIY MH.

2) The only reason I used PL and florescent was to avoid buying a chiller.

Instead I used the fan blowing chilling technique which was not too bad it managed to cool my tank to 29~30 degrees. But in today's hot spell may not be effective.

The only problem with the fan technique is that it looks visually ugly plus makes me look like a real cheapo when my guest visits my house.

3) I was using a metal stand that was rusting badly and visually looks terrible. The paint and rust was flaking and dropping on my floor. Another visual killer.

[tivoli]

The good thing about my tank ::

1) I kept a BSD on my main tank about 5 inches and around 7 inches of BSD in my refugium. That was fairly successful and never had to battle with hair algae or red slime

2) My refugium was flourishing my pods grew like mad.

3) Everything was running ok till my FL tubes went old and then corals started dying.

[ryz]

spending 2000 on new tank and equipments?

[FuEl]

How tall would your tank be? If it's shallow you might want to try T5s out. They totally rock in output. They will save you alot of $$ in terms of replacement in the long run compared to using MH.

[tivoli]

Here's where the 2k goes to :

I decided to re-use my current 3 ft tank that was bought from CR aquarium around ~500 with metal stand.

1) Wooden stand and hood around $500 from CR Aquarium again. In my opinion it is abit ex but it gives me peace of mind cos they are reliable and trustworthy. (i keep worrying about my tank crashing on me when I was using the rusty old metal stand) The wooden stand is sturdy and strong.

2) DIY MH lights. I asked CalciumReef to modify my old Weipro Flourescent light frame and bought 2 x 150 CoralVue 10k lights from Reef Depot. Total around $450.

I turn it on from 3 pm to 11 pm everyday. I like the colour alot and Calcium Reef's workmanship is good.

3) Chiller. I bought Resun CL450 for around +-$500.

I think it is only 1/6 HP. But it is performing well and cooling my 3 ft tank + 3 ft refugium with no problem at 27 degrees. I think it turns on for around 10 minutes every 20~25 minutes when my MH is on. This chiller is of the new batch so there is still noise but not irritating. Just a low humming sound which is very good value for money. I bought this from Octopus Bay and their service is good and friendly and I think they are good honest folks.

4) Skimmer. I bought brand new H&S skimmer for $580.

I gave my hardworking wei-pro away after the skimmer body was encrusted with coralline algae. This H&S skimmer is damn ex ..... for a plastic body and a simple pump. Low technology yet expensive price. But it works and from the review it is the best in class so there goes the money. This is the last time I am upgrading for along time ..... so this is the max I go. Anyway the skimmer tower fits my cabinet height nicely.

[tivoli]

There's the pic of my tank.

It does not look much different from the old tank from the pic but that's the camera's fault.

The colours in my tank under the MK is for me astounding.

[Cedric]

Hey,

give yourself some credit, its looking good!

[tivoli]

Here's the diff :

1) The colours are astounding under the 10k coralvue lights. No actinics needed.

The colours of simple corals like my purple mushroom, green tip mushroom, frog sprawn, hammer start to stand out with their brilliant colours. (Unfortunately failed to be captured in the camera)

2) My corals actually started to bloom profusely.

My mushroom, hammer, green button , elegant, alveopora started to extend itself fully and gets bigger every week.

Esp alvepora. I liked this species alot but died on me twice in my old tank. But under MH, it is actually growing and flourishing.

3) Because the MH is strong intensity, I don't have to stack my rock structures too high for the light intensity, I could aqua-scape it to be lower and more naturally shaped.

I actually divide my rock structure into three groups. First the main rock structure to keep LPS, SPS and main bulk of my corals. A second smaller rock structure on my left for softies. Third rock structure on my right for anemones. This third rock structure isolate the anemones from the main rock structure so that they can only run around the isolated rock strcuture without stinging my main corals and also keep them safe.

4) plus the chiller keeps my coral blooming.

5) Pls my electric bill went up by extra $40 bucks per month

[sunnymau]

It does not look much different from the old tank from the pic but that's the camera's fault.

it looks much better man. great job.

[tivoli]

Will post more pics in the coming days. Time to sleep.

[sunnymau]

maybe can have more closer shot to show ur coral

[rainbowdarter]

Nice upgrading.....

Sometime when we need to spent, we must spend.

End of the day.....the result.....

[ReDDeviLs]

nicely done..

great investment bro..

thumbs up!! GOOD!

[Achilles Tang]

Congrats on money well-spent!

[CalciumReef]

Nice!

[bum]

thats 2k well spent!

hows about a look inside the cabinet?

[bwilly]

its a shift from current setup, money actually much more than that.

sands, filter materials, salt.. to name but a few. (also exclude LS)

so for 3ft, chao chao (smelly smelly) mai ai $3K..

but it does look more appealing..

[alanseah]

that a great upgrade... glad u never give up.. keep it going bro...

and money spend very carefully.. gd job...

[strat]

Nice tank!!

Wanna ask which H&S skimmer did you get?

[Dispar_Anthias]

Your tank tells me that i need to stack my rocks higher

[dradttg]

Very nice tank bro.

Zoom in...zoom in...want to see more leh.

[Acanthurus pyroferus]

more...more shots of your tank.... ....looking good bro......