6x2.5x2.5 Reef Tank Plans/Progress

[roidan]

marinelife came 2 showgrade AT specimens..

you should add one to your tank....

good size for your tank

[AlfaRomeo]

Patrick, cannot do closeups on the tank sandbed... so must shoot from far ... if close, chialat.. hehehe

Beckett skimmer doesnt automatically means good water quality... still learning from the experts who have guided me so far and have lots of things to learn yet...

[weileong]

the price also very nice but if I had the space I will sure buy it!

[AlfaRomeo]

Roidan, cannot leh... blue tang still fighting ICH as it was just introduced 3-4 weeks ago... scared to intro the super sensitive AT...

[AlfaRomeo]

Another angle for overall tank outlook

[roidan]

yeah...wait till u see no more ich on the existing tangs...then wait abit more..then can try those powder series or AT...

but you using both ozone and UV right? should be no problem...wait till the existing tangs clear up lor....the best way is to feed them fat fat...then they can fight off the ich themselves and rely less on our external methods...

[weileong]

6ft is really 6ft.... gives that type of horizontal look Very tempting ah....

pump your tang till Bro Roidan's standard then sure no ich can attack it

[roidan]

Another angle for overall tank outlook

i am not sps expert i must clarify again...but i think your live rocks are not really growing alot of coraline algae yet....coz normally the general advice is to wait till the live rocks are encrusting with coraline algae then start to try sps...

if you notice those established sps reefers, their liverocks are totally encrusted with purple/red coraline algae....so you may wish to go slow on your sps stocking..

i have friends who started sps when there was so little coraline algae and compare to those who have significant coraline cover on their rocks, their sps tends to do better....dun talk about other factors like lighting and nutrient loads though.....

it's about the calcification process happening in the tank

[weileong]

A general rule of thumb is to wait for the coraline has grown to twenty cent coin sized on your glass and that time your tank is matured enuff for SPS already.

But no one says you can't try SPS with immatured tanks, just need to be very careful and standby to fight those algae

[AlfaRomeo]

Roidan, good point. Will have a look at my kh and calcium levels.. I think that influences coralline algae rite?

[roidan]

but then again...if the nutrients loads are superlow and lighting is good...there may be chances that the sps undergo calcification faster than the coraline algae and if not enough calcium/alk....the sps may do ok and yet see no coraline algae...

coz the sps uptaking the calcium/alk faster than the coralines....

just a theory, may not be true in practice

[roidan]

Roidan, good point. Will have a look at my kh and calcium levels.. I think that influences coralline algae rite?

yeah..high calcium and alk levels monitoring is needed...especially when you dun have your coralines to feedback to you.....you gotta monitor the levels more frequently...

one fren told me he can agar agar judge if cal/alk levels jialat or not by looking at the coraline growth and colour in his tank....if they start to lighten or not growing fast on his tank glass, he knows not enough liao...

but that's the lazy method and may not be true , the best way is still to test manually with the kits

anyway...sps is a whole new ballgame for a newbie like me ...

but i know the key stuff to look out for are..

low nutrient load

intense lighting

power skimming

and money...tons of money

[scarab]

Bro,

A suggestion. Add more rocks to bring your reef higher. Like that SPS can get more intense light. Will definitely give you better colours. Create caves below the raise portion for your fishes to swim thru, then you have best of both worlds.

Since your tank is quite new, the more light you give your SPS the better as water parameters are not as stable. That can't be help but to keep monitoring however you can allow them more light by placing higher hence the higher reef I suggested. You got good skimmer so you are one step ahead. I also started SPS with a not so matured tank

[ryz]

Very nice Tank! Very grand looking!

[AlfaRomeo]

Scarab, I dunt really like to see walls of rock/corals and more to the idea of lots of open space for fishes to swim with an underlying reef providing the background for the complete reef look. Also helps to potray an open look to the reef as it viewable from both sides. Will have to wait patiently for the SPS to grow and cover more of the water column with its colorful arms...

Hopefully my 250w DE Mh has enuff intensity to punch thru the water column and help my sps to grow and color-up.

[scarab]

Oh your tank can view from both side? Wah like that can put a lot of corals lah

[AlfaRomeo]

Yup, viewable from both sides but lots of vertical walls so very hard to attach corals/frag on the walls... Colonies are out of the question so will be looking for frag to attach to the walls and wait for them to grow out...

Any volunteers? hehehehe

[AlfaRomeo]

Roidan, no longer using the Ozone and hopefully the fishes can fight it out.

Dunno if the new skimmer is ozone proof or not...so dare not inject ozone into the skimmer...

Is there such a thing as an ozone reactor? like those used for CO2 in planted tanks? those swirling balls type of thingie?

[AlfaRomeo]

Water parameters as of 19/06

S.G : 1.025

Calcium : 460

Kh : 11

Mg : 1250

Nitrate : 0

Dont have test for phospate and didnt bother measuring nitrite and ammonia.

All test done with Salifert and SG by refractometer..

Looks like things are improving... finally...

[weileong]

Looks like your beckett is doing good for you, no regret eh?

Oh yes Alfa, you mentioned you switch to MD55 for your chiller, have you monitor the performance after that, how much shorter run time etc? I supposed you have no more condensation problem after this?

I wanna shift my chiller far away too but just worried abt all these possible problems.

[AlfaRomeo]

Weileong, yup looks like the beckett is doing good to the water params.

Also the FR with rowaphos must be credited for helping with the phosphate and silicate in the water helping with the algae problems I had.

Also the second chamber for my CR helps with the calcium and dkh levels too.

Bought the 3 above items from Joe_P so i guess credit goes to him for excellent products. He has my absolute endorsement for his products, value for $ and effective.

Using AquaMedic Reef Salt and the values are very good when mixed with distilled water. no need to adjust any parameters after mixing as all the values are at optimum. Excellent salt IMHO.

[AlfaRomeo]

Yup, using an md55 to drive the chiller now and can see a lot of difference in turnover rate. Condensation Issues persist so I guess I really need to insulate the cooling coil to prevent condensation.

The insulation will also have a beneficial side effect as to improve the efficientcy of the chiller rite? cos the full cooling power of the coil will be transferred to the water instead of being lost to the condensate?

[weileong]

My main concern is the run time of the chiller. Did you see a difference in the run time? Like for your tank should be around 50mins to drop 0.8 degs etc?

[AlfaRomeo]

Gonna change my chiller piping from 16mm to 25mm to match the outlet of the md55. can will reduce the losses considerably i think and further improve the performance of the chiller. now it takes about 2 hours to drop 1 degree and i think the flow is still inssufficient to fully optimise the cooling effect of the chiller as condensate is still forming and dripping.

I truly underestimated the cooling capacity of this chiller man. Would love to see how it performs with optimal flow.

Anyone got any idea of whats the max flow for the chiller? dunt seem to be able to find the info...

[weileong]

Bro Alfa, did you try to measure the flow coming out of the chiller? Cos at this point of time I do not get any condensation problem and I guess my flow now for the chiller is around 1000-1500 l/h.

I am using the oceanfree 9000 (4500 l/h 80w) to drive my chiller taking in from sump then thru the chiller and to the UV sterlizier and then back to the main tank. Total piping length is about 3m.

Run time now is about 35 mins to cool my 4x2x2 + 2x2x2 tank by 0.8degs with 900w of MH.