My 4x2x2 Reef Tank

[Tommo]

Hi everyone although I do not live in Singapore I live in Melbourne Australia ,my wife visits for work a few times a year and I get to tag along with her “for a holiday , while she works, I go site seeing/shopping.

Anyhow I just though I would share my reef tank with you all and I hope you like it.

This is my first reef tank.Been running now for 8 months.

Specs Are

4ftx2ftx2ft Tank and cabinet

Sump 3ftx18’x18’

Return Pump 5000 liter eheim compact pump.

Power heads Boyu Dc Controlled pumps, 2x2500 ltr/hr Tunze power heads 1x5000 lt/hr hydor copy power head.

Heaters 300w Fluval 250w Jagerâ€eheimâ€

Chiller Resun 650 Chiller with a 1000 ltr/hour reef octopus pump

Skimmer Octopus Vortex 800 VENTU-150-6530

Lighting 3 x250w metal halides with 20,000k lamps

Night lights 2 4ft blue LED Lights 2 2ft Blue LED Lights

Calcium Reactor Octopus CalFusion 1800 Calcium Reactor with add on chamber

P.H Controller and 6.5 kg Co2 Bottle

A 16 Liter auto top up tank

Where all of the equipment is controlled via a control panel

How it works is like this

I Have A PLC "Programmable Logic Controller" That Has 12 Inputs And 6 Outputs .

This Means I Can Use For Example 12 Switches/Buttons " It Can Be Much More Complex Than This But We Will Keep It Very Simple " No Disrespect To Anyone Here .

With These 12 Inputs I Can Program The Out Puts To Do Anything That I Wanted."Mind You Though You Don’t Have To Use All Inputs I Only Used 8"

From The Pic You Can See I Have 3 Lights At The Top.

The First Light Is A Red LED ,That Is An Alarm For The Temp Controller Which Is Not Associated With The PLC. The Temp Controller Controls My Heating And Cooling Via A Thermocouple That Senses A Voltage ,Via A Difference In Temp 0-10 Volts Then Switches Either A Heating Relay Or Cooling Relay ."That It For The Temp Controller, I Wanted to Do More With It But The Control Box Physical Size Would Not Allow Me ,And My Wife Would Have Killed Me If I Had A Bigger Panel"

The Second LED Is Blue , This Is Telling Me That The Auto Top up Is At The Correct Level.

The Pump To Come ON Only For 3 Min Every 12 Hours Subject To The Float Switch . "If The Sump Is Full Them There Is No Water Needed To Be Pumped Into The Sump."But From This Pic, The Bottom Right Hand Selector Switch Allows Me To Turn This Top Up Pump On And Off At Will,But I Must Hold The Switch In The On Position As It Is A Spring Return "So I Can Not Walk Away And Forget About It And Over Fill!

Now To The Second Row Of Switches

The First Button “Illuminated As All Buttons Areâ€

1)Red ,This Is The Return/ Calcium Reactor Button.

It Is Controlled Via The Switch And Also Other Buttons, But We Will Get To That If I Have Not Bored The Crap Out Of You Just Yet !

2)Blue, This Is The 2x250w Metal Halides These Turned On Via The Timer Through The PLC Also The Button And Also Controlled Via Another Switch .

3)White, This Control’s The Sump Light

The Third Row Of Buttons

1) Red This Is For My Power Heads They Can Be Switched On Or Off But Once Again Programmed To Be Off Via Another Switch.

2)Blue This Is For My Center Light A 1x250w Metal Halide Only On For 3 Hours A Day Via The Timer In The PLC But Once Again Can Be Turned On Or Off Via The Button.

3)LED Blue Lights These Come On After All My Metal Halides Go Off “Only For One Hour Though, Just To Stop Light Shock. Once Again Controlled Via A Timer And The Button.

The Fourth Row Of Buttons

1) Green Button This Is My Feeding Time Button . It Will Turn Off All Power Heads And Return Pump And Calcium Reactor For 10 Min , It Stops Blowing The Food All Over The Tank , It Automatically Turns All Pumps Back On After 10 Min.

2) Yellow Button This Turns “Everything OFF†Once Pressed For 8 Seconds .â€I Forgot To Mention The Metal Halides Have The Same Feature, They Need to Be Pressed For 3 Seconds To Activate “

The Selector Switches “The Bottom Of The Control Panel

Switch 1) Skimmer Either On Or Off

2)Chiller Pump On/Off

3) As Mentioned Above The Auto To Up Switch

Ok here are the pic’s

Cheers Everyone please enjoy

I have made a $h!t load of stuff ups and have learnt a lot through the forum and also through my mistakes,

My best advice is try first , then if it does not work ,find out why it doesn’t work! But always listen to people who have more experience than yourself !As I have learnt with some things the hard way ! “ A costly Exercise this isâ€

[ambystoma82]

DOESNT UR anemone moves ard?

i c u just place them there..

wow.. so envy..

[vt_snowman87]

very superb stuff..

[kueytoc]

Niceeez...can U zoom in on ya Monti...look like a GEM mate.

[ReDDeviLs]

love the moorish idol,how long you had it?

[Tommo]

DOESNT UR anemone moves ard?

i c u just place them there..

wow.. so envy..

Hi ambystoma82 Thank you for the nice comments,anemones will not move if they are happy, my anemone on the right hand side of the tank a radianthus "not sure what sub species it is" does not move it is happy "gets fed water flow is right lighting etc etc". But my Carpet anemone on the left hand side of the tank , well he has now move over to a rock he did not like to be on the sand."

Cheers Andrew

[Tommo]

very superb stuff..

Thanks vt_snowman87

Cheers Andrew

[Tommo]

Niceeez...can U zoom in on ya Monti...look like a GEM mate.

Thanks kueytoc Sure i shall post some more pics for you later on today if you like

Cheers Andrew

[Tommo]

love the moorish idol,how long you had it?

Hi ReDDeviLs , well i had the Idol for about 1 month but he died last week but the time i got him eating some proper food it was too late

i dont think i will try another as they are very hard to get them eating !

Cheers Andrew

[ReDDeviLs]

thats sad to hear that mate.. nice tank still, and all the best!

[Tommo]

thats sad to hear that mate.. nice tank still, and all the best!

Cheers ReDDeviLs

[Tommo]

Niceeez...can U zoom in on ya Monti...look like a GEM mate.

Here are a few close ups of the monti for you

Cheers Andrew

[raydiative]

great tank you have there!

all the corals look stunning!

btw, which part of melb do you live?

[Tommo]

great tank you have there!

all the corals look stunning!

btw, which part of melb do you live?

Near Frankston

Do you know Melbourne ? where are you from ?

Cheers Andrew

[raydiative]

Near Frankston

Do you know Melbourne ? where are you from ?

Cheers Andrew

am from Singapore

planning to go Melb to further study in a yr or 2... looking to stay around chadstone if i do go over.

so are there many LFS @ Frankston?

[Tommo]

am from Singapore

planning to go Melb to further study in a yr or 2... looking to stay around chadstone if i do go over.

so are there many LFS @ Frankston?

There is one of the best right near chadstone Seca Marine Life 2min Drive

Cheers Andrew

If you do move to Australia i bet you will miss the chicken rice at Purvis St it is the best ever

[raydiative]

There is one of the best right near chadstone Seca Marine Life 2min Drive

Cheers Andrew

that's good news! haha

been to the LFS @ QVM and notice the prices of LS are actually quite steep as compared to Singapore!

In the event that I do go over to melb maybe i can go over and look for you! =]

[Tommo]

that's good news! haha

been to the LFS @ QVM and notice the prices of LS are actually quite steep as compared to Singapore!

In the event that I do go over to melb maybe i can go over and look for you! =]

No worries at all look me up or let me know if you are comming

Corals and Fish are expensive here compared to Singapore

[raydiative]

No worries at all look me up or let me know if you are comming

Corals and Fish are expensive here compared to Singapore

yeah.. i remember seeing false percs selling for AUD20 when it only cost less then SGD3 in Singapore!

i maybe down for boxing day sale but nothing is firm yet!

cheers,

Ray

[Tommo]

yeah.. i remember seeing false percs selling for AUD20 when it only cost less then SGD3 in Singapore!

i maybe down for boxing day sale but nothing is firm yet!

cheers,

Ray

Well Ray i bought 2 false percs about 2 months ago and they cost me $60 AUD for the pair, a sixline wrasse cost the cheapest i can find them for are $24 Aud most places charge $40 + Aud

Cheers Andrew

If you do come to Melbourne Look Me Up or PM me it would be cool to catch up

[raydiative]

Well Ray i bought 2 false percs about 2 months ago and they cost me $60 AUD for the pair, a sixline wrasse cost the cheapest i can find them for are $24 Aud most places charge $40 + Aud

Cheers Andrew

If you do come to Melbourne Look Me Up or PM me it would be cool to catch up

Wow! that's really expensive! what about the corals?

yeah. will PM you if i do come over!

[Tommo]

Wow! that's really expensive! what about the corals?

yeah. will PM you if i do come over!

Corals Range from anything from really cheap $10 aud to $100 Aud

Anemones From $30 Aud to well the sky is your limit

Clams From $100 Aud to $$$$$$$$$ expensive

[raydiative]

think the pricing for corals are more reasonable then fishes. do post more pics of your tank!

[Tommo]

The fish i have are

1)Blue Tang

1)Mandarin fish

1)Pair Of Clarkii Clowns

1)Pair Of False Clowns

1)Bi Colour Blenny

1)Lawn Mower Blenny

1)Flame Angel

1)Coral Beauty

1)Sailfin Tang

1)Royal Dottyback

1)Hawk Fish "Too Agressive Getting Sumped "

1)Blue Assessor

1)Blue Chromis

1)Pepermint Shrimp

1)Pair Coral Banded Shrimp

Cheers Andrew