Desi & Ketchup 4x2.5x2 tank

[desideria]

Hi all,

after 2 years of maintaining a very small 2 feet x 1 feet tank and going through multiple ups and downs with that setup and ogling plus reading like siow at all the nice big tanks online , we have decided to take the plunge and upgrade!!!

We are using the marine tank to act as a dividor between our living and dining areas such that when we open the main door, the first thing you'd see is the tank.

THe specs are as follows:-

1. LOW-IRON GLASS TANK WITH EXTERNAL OVERFLOW COMPARTMENT Size: 48†x 30†x 24†(LxWxH)

Thickness: 12mm Material:low-iron glass for 3 viewing panel, floating glass for the remaining 2 panel. There will be bracing on the top and below. Will be using Black silicon as well.

2. SUMP Thickness:8mm Material: floating glass, external acrylic box ( can't remember the size of this.. )

3. Floor to Cieling wooden cabinet made of solid kapur wood for structure, waterproof wood panel for doors and panel ( 6 feet long.. 1 feet for external overflow, 4 feet for the tank and the remainder for space to hide the chiller and some shelvings)

4. JBJ Artica chiller DBE-200 1/4Hp

5. DELTEC Protien skimmer TC2060

6. DELTEC Phosphate Reactor FR509

7. 2 sets of ENHEIM Universal 1264 pumps

8. Georg Fischer Plumbing system with angle check valve and ball control valve for the 2 main return pipes, 3 tank adapters, all pipes will be secured firmly to the cabinet of wall. 2 penductor will be used for the outlet nozzle

9. AUto top up : Tunze Osmulator Universal 3155 with a reservoir of about 30-40L

10. Tunze Wavebox 6212 <-- I think. I can't remember the exact model..

11. Lighting : GIESEMANN INIFINITI HQ 1200mm WITH MOVALITE TRACK ( Black)

For the initial salt water baptism, we be probably dumping in 1 25Kg tub of Tropic Marine salt.

As for the sand, is there any reefer out there with experience of using Black Sand? We are going for the Carib Sea Black sand.. haven't picked out whether to go for indo pacific or hawiian. Any reefer used this before? any feedback about using black sand?

Also with a wavebox, any reefers out there can give us feedback whether or not if we choose to rockscape with just 2 islands in the middle of the tank, whether there is still a need for wavemakers to be situated to ensure there is current below? Or is the wavebox really sufficient for our tank size?

In the first 3-4 days to get the system going, can we use normal tap water for the cycling before putting in the sand and live rock? Will that time span be enough for the cholorine and what not to be gone from the water? Or is it better to put in the SAND first then use RO DI water to fill the tank?

Hopefully the setup will be done before xmas and we will begin our 3-4 week cycling depending on the then current mood of kiasu-ism.

Greatly appreciate any senior reefer's advice and comments on the above setup or lack of!

thanks a bunch!

Desi & Ketchup.

[teebs]

My suggestion is get NSW from a LFS for your cycling. You will not want to be mixing a few hundred litres of salt mix for your tank.

[vt_snowman87]

+1 on the seawater approach.. NSW haven't failed me even after 2 years even for water changes..

i'm using Nature's Ocean black sand from AM, nice look depending on how you want your scape to look like, imo you should place sand first, den add water, saves alot of trouble also, just my opinion..

looks like a nice big setup on the rise.. keep us updated..

[Ketchup]

Which LFS has seawater and what's the costs like? The other suggestion we had is to use distilled water but we decided that it's not very practical and costly too (S$7.50 for 10 litres?)

How's the Nature Ocean black sand? I don't recall seeing that at AM when i last visit their shop in JK before they close. I quite like the carribsea version and online review seems quite positive.

We most likely will go for black sand as we like the look as our cabinet will be all black with flower motifs and also using black silicon. With the blue artinic light and MH, it should be quite nice.

Keep the suggestions coming... Desi and me will keep this thread updated as we go along and hopes to learn more from the sifus in SRC

[Ketchup]

http://www.livesand.com/

i guess this is the one? Looks great... how much is AM selling?

http://www.reefsand.com/

Anyone tried this? And is it available in SG? The good thing i guess for this is the black sand comes in different grade.

[Solo77]

for NSW, can try LCK or iwarna. Maybe you want to consider white sand to break the contrast. Your concept is the same as mind. Full black cabinet and act as separator between dinner and living hall. Impressive setup. Keep the updates coming. : )

[Solo77]

For my setup, the initial cycling was salt mix with tap water. Thereafter, i change water with NSW. i also uses dead rock, hoping to avoid getting bobby or bristleworm(doubt is possible unless i dont add coral or always treat them before adding to my main tank). Using live sand and dosing bacteria to speed up the cycling. I used close to one month for cycling.

[desideria]

yeah I would also like to start up with dead rock actually to avoid all those unwanted hitch hikers... I would actually like to boil the rocks in water to KILL off everything before putting them into my beloved setup!

I don't mind the longer cycling time with dead rock as long as I don't have all those irritaing thingys crawling out eons later to haunt us!

Desi

[ReDDeviLs]

HI there,

thats what i did to my rocks. since you are afraid of those irritating critters,i assume u arent keen on parasites and stuffs.

if budget is not a concern, go for Distill waters either in bottle form or DI units.

some people will say its crazy to spend such $.

think back, isnt it crazy to use livesand as well?

[ReDDeviLs]

just to add,the rockscape and wavemaker position and all,depending on the type of corals u keep.

[Solo77]

and wave maker and wave box do have some differences. . . one is making current and the other is displacement of water.

[desideria]

hhhmmm currently.. I have 2 tunze nano 6025 wavemakers in my little 2 feet.. yes I know it's overkill but it helps to keep my bare bottom 2 feet tank clean. LOL or relatively CLEAN la... I point both downwards to prevent build up of dirt on the floor and both on timers so it's not a washing machine 24/7 LOL

and yes, I hate parasites, kena a couple of nunsience crabs and a bristle worm.. and that's in the little 2 feet!!! So I die die wanna avoid that shit in the big set up.

Also since, we have a wavebox already... I am thinking of putting either both nano wavemakers in the middle to provide current for the mid section. I know that the nano is meant for maximum 400L tank and ours is hitting 570L but since there is a wavebox, is putting 2 nanos in the mid section ok? as in placing it at the non viewing panel short side of the glass "blowing" in the direction of the long side of the glass? The flow rate is 2,500L/hour. I want to avoid deadspots. I have to admit that I hate the build up of dirt.. I have walked past my 2 feet tank at 130am in the morning and end up cleaning it when I can't tah han to see the dirt build up on the floor of the tank.

Btw. We intend to keep mainly softies and LPS.. no sps..

[Ketchup]

HI there,

thats what i did to my rocks. since you are afraid of those irritating critters,i assume u arent keen on parasites and stuffs.

if budget is not a concern, go for Distill waters either in bottle form or DI units.

some people will say its crazy to spend such $.

think back, isnt it crazy to use livesand as well?

We are getting a DI unit but havent decide on which yet... any good recommendation?

[ReDDeviLs]

please dont use timers to control your 'non controllable' wavemakers..

they will be damage and spoils very soon.

these pumps arent made to have soft start and stop. wear and tear will come very soon and worst,motor block gets burnt.

[ReDDeviLs]

u can get them from AM or RD.

the rest im not too sure. did not try them for long.

ML have them too. go take alook

[Ketchup]

u can get them from AM or RD.

the rest im not too sure. did not try them for long.

ML have them too. go take alook

oh ok... didn't think Henry sells them as well.. will try and look around.

[desideria]

Hi all,

a little update. Our tank is coming in on the 29th and 30th of December.. we are praying for no more delays.. haiz! But in the mean time, Ketchup and I have been going on a tour of LFS and buying stuff we think we need!! We also thought up on the rock structure, support and other elements of getting it set up right. Hopefully we did not miss out on anything else!

We were inspired by some reefers using egg crate and PVC piping as their rock structure support so we went around Jln Besar which had those hardware shops to look around for the PVC pipes to use.. Unfortuantely all those PVC pipes meant for plumbing do not come in a 4 way cross format but rather a T format. We were advised to try an electrical wiring shop which sells a 4 way joint which to our delight we found. My husband Ketchup had to hammer out the metal bits which were in the holes of the joint as we were afraid those little metalic bits would rust and poison our fish! We intend to use these 4 way PVC joints as supports of the egg crate in the sand as well as to put rocks on top of it such that there would not be any stagnant water under the rocks which would inherently cause a build up in debris underneath. Our aim is to have the water being able to move around, above, under the rocks. We also got a couple of L shaped pipes to bury partially in the sand for little critters to be able to burrow in and out of from one opening to another.

We don't know whether this is a good idea but we also decided to give it a try with the Fiber Glass rock structures. We're not going to use it 100%.. probably 50% that and 50% life rock. As ours is going to be predominatly a LPS tank, the nooks and crevices of the fibreglass looks really nice and it seems great to stick corals in.

Anyway, here's some pics of the stuff we have bought... hah.. the pocket is hurting now.

THe 8 packs of black Sand for the main tank and a 3Kg bag of fine sand for the refrigum. WE got another 4 more bags of black sand for the main tank but it's not here yet.

The 4 Way joint and the little piece of metal which my husband ketchup had to remove so nimbly..

Ketchup banging away!

THe egg crate and the 4 way joint to give you a perspective of size. The Egg crate measures about 3.5 feet long and 2 feet wide. The tank we have is 4 feet long and 2.5 feet wide.

The 3 pieces of fiberglass rocks we bought and how we intend to place it on the eggcrate. Of course this will be supplemented by LR which we will get as well. So any reefers out there getting rid of LR within next week or so?

The pail of water soaking the pipes ... ketchup had to bang at the 20 pieces of Cross pipes we bought ... hahha he got better and better at it....

All the other nick nacks we bought, power cord extensions, epoxy, plugs, cable ties, digital thermometer, magnet cleaner, plastic tubings, bacteria and even sea monkeys!

THe DI unit which we got and we have hung it in our utility area bathroom with hooks.. lol. Ketchup got the hooks from my KITCHEN which I had intially used to hang my pots and pans!!! ARUGH!!! have to buy again!

ok that's it for now... if we have missed out or anything, we'd be grateful for any other tips all the korkors and jiejies of reefing out there.

Thank you all so much and WE Can't WAIT FOR OUR TANK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers,

Desi and Ketchup.

[ReDDeviLs]

great planning!

i believe your tank will be a good 1 soon!

guess i have been seeing both of you quite often recently

[peacemaker]

Nice to see a couple tank in progress!

[jackywongto]

tagging along.

keep us posted !!!

[bellinayu]

Yup, seldom see a couple in this hobby together. If you wish to know more reefers in person, do pop by and join us for a talk on corals in Singapore. It's on 2 Jan at 2pm. Venue is in Hougang. For more details, refer to the post under clubs and societies - Marine Aquarist Society.

[desideria]

Yup, seldom see a couple in this hobby together. If you wish to know more reefers in person, do pop by and join us for a talk on corals in Singapore. It's on 2 Jan at 2pm. Venue is in Hougang. For more details, refer to the post under clubs and societies - Marine Aquarist Society.

oooo thanks for the invite...... unfortunately, ketchup is going to cambodia for his photography trip so i'm left alone to tend to the tank.. due to the delay of the tank setup, we have to rescehdule the delivery of the NSW.. waiting till next monday before I rescedule IN CASE, kena delay again I think I will scream till you can hear me in Hougang from AMK. Perhaps next time. Thanks again!

Cheers,

Desi

[ReDDeviLs]

wheres ur location btw?

dont worry if u miss the talk.

some shipment day u can go too, will see alot of reefers there and most of them are friendly.

[Ketchup]

Hihi...

We stay in AMK, very near the YCK MRT, walking distance

From now till end Jan i expect us to be very busy with work/tank... but will try and update the thread with pics and stuffs!

Next up... Cabinet and tank set up ... ETA 29/30th Dec!

[mitlancer]

Bro n sis, keep us updated... looking forward to ur tank pics...

: )