Tivoli's $2000 3ft tank upgrade

[tivoli]

MY updated left rock tower

[tivoli]

my updated right rock shelf.

Soon will have no space left

[tivoli]

hi all ...........

after 5months of neglect the same cycle goes again.

The ugly brown sponge built up in the back of my tank . Algae growing everywhere

and fishes start dying.

Finally enough is enough and its time to rescape again.

This time I wanted to take the opportunity to dig out eery crab every bristle worm I can catch cos my fishes are mysteriously dying.

I tore down my tank and place every live rock into a fresh water dip.

I oulled out worms that are 30 cm long. Finally killed a box crab that is 1 inch big.

[tivoli]

but nothing prepared me for seeing this monster . Now I know why my small fishes like my wrasses are missing.

This monster is around 8 cm long. Till now It still give me the creep ............

[tivoli]

AFter the one inch crab was removed ......... my coral stopped being toppled over.

[tivoli]

This is now my new tank scape

[tivoli]

enhancement now includes two seio 820 in my tank to provide the needed current pointing at opposite direction to create turbulence and random flow.

This the left shot of my tank.

[tivoli]

This is the rights side

[tivoli]

The water is crystal clear ....... and the water quality must have improved alot cos within 2 weeks ....... my LPS started to change to be more brightly colored. eg. my brain's red has deepened .... the green more luminious.

Plus I still like acan alot.

[tivoli]

I love anemone alot. I just bought this piece of bright lime green from irwana. It is settling well.

[tivoli]

I started to add in lots of alage into my main tank from my refugium. I was inspired by Bob's tank to add in alage as the MH light may prove to stimulate my alage growth more. Also pods love the algae alot.

I added in green caupela plus red bamboo + red grapes into my tank. They are having growth spurt under my 2x150 watt MH.

[jervismun]

Very interesting journey... what happened to all the coralline on your LR? After the rescape, they all seem to disappear... due to the fresh water dip?0

[tivoli]

tHIS is a shot of my refugium

[tivoli]

Hi Jervi

I used a toilet brush to give my rocks a good scrub before water dip. Excessive coralline is a nuisance for me.

They are easy to grow ..... just add reef buffer / reef builder / carbonate

[jervismun]

Hi Jervi

I used a toilet brush to give my rocks a good scrub before water dip. Excessive coralline is a nuisance for me.

They are easy to grow ..... just add reef buffer / reef builder / carbonate

Ah ic... I will do the same once I transfer all my LR into my new tank

[godzillaliu88]

the new scapin provides more potential

[jervismun]

Bro u have like... 20000 species in your refugium... nice work!

[godzillaliu88]

Hi Jervi

I used a toilet brush to give my rocks a good scrub before water dip. Excessive coralline is a nuisance for me.

They are easy to grow ..... just add reef buffer / reef builder / carbonate

it's tat easy to grow coralline?

my carolin fade fade fade. left a lil.

[jervismun]

it's tat easy to grow coralline?

my carolin fade fade fade. left a lil.

Hi bro my tank is less than 2 months old but I notice coralline started growing again last 2 weeks... at tremendous speed. What's ur calcium lvl? They also need other elements to grow e.g. Iodine & etc.

[colinsoon]

bro jervis, why dun you list out wat additives you dose, and we can probably figure out wat we need to dose.. the brand and type.. cos i do dose a lot too, but seems to be not growing.. haha.. oh ya, water parameters too! the most recent one will do...

[godzillaliu88]

if coralline can grow easily. it means that the water is healthy for all inhabitants?

[tivoli]

Hi godzill ......

it all depends on your system.

For me, I will try to change one bucket of tank water for one bucket of new sea water bought from the marine shop every 2 weeks ....... plus add in 1 little of kalwasser every week.

This should keep the water in good condition by changing water frequently ... plus of course you need good skimmer to maintain good quality water...

additional dose of reef builder (carbonates/buffer) if you want lots of coralline growth ....

cheers

[jervismun]

bro jervis, why dun you list out wat additives you dose, and we can probably figure out wat we need to dose.. the brand and type.. cos i do dose a lot too, but seems to be not growing.. haha.. oh ya, water parameters too! the most recent one will do...

Bro Collin (aka Crazy Horse)

First of all, I think most credit should go to the Tunze Calcium Dispenser which has been constantly (at least twice a day) dosing Calcium Hydroxide (aka Kalk/Limewater) into my tank together with water top-up system. So calcium lvl is constantly above 420 mark.

On top of that, I dose the following 1/4 cup every 3 days:

1. Kent Marine (KM) Essential Elements

2. KM Strontium & Molybdenum

3. KM Liquid Calcium

4. KM Pro Buffer dKH

5. KM Iodine

Bought the whole set as a beginner set (4 oz. small bottles) from reefdepot.com.sg

Thinking of using better product once my new tank matures.

Of course, good skimmer, filtration, very water movement and strong 10 hr MH lighting (7.5W/gal)

Water parameters optimum. So I believe it's a combination of lots of factors... so I am very stressful now, scared not being able to achieve the same result once I move to a larger tank next week... what if the whole thing crash?!?

Oh not forgetting... I bought matured cured rock with large amount of coralline from a kind bro... so not starting from dead rocks, lol...

[tivoli]

Hi ........

Jervis setup is more sophisticated .........

For me i am a busy man with job and baby and wife ..... so I try to the simplest way to reduce cost and effort.

For me , I just dose kalwasser for calcium, once a while iodine + reef builder. But I change one bucket of tank water with one bucket of sea water. I assume that the fresh sea water water will contain the sufficient trace elements replacement ....

Simple and cost effective.

[c0ol]

BUt bro not all LFS sell gd NSW...i guess your supply of nsw is gd