Belle's 3x2x2 slice of the Ocean

[peacemaker]

Wow... the PE is amazing... you are very disciplined on the bio-load as well. Don't see much fishes.

[james72]

Getting more beautiful the tank.......love the new scape. Sis, what salt u using?

[bellinayu]

My fishes are:

1 pair of true percs

1 occelaris

2 radiant wrasses

1 black cap

I removed some rocks to make space for my growing clams. I'm using either d-d or Red Sea coral pro salt. Now mostly the latter as it's cheaper. Thanks for the compliments.

[bellinayu]

Since I have a bit of time on my hands now, thought I should start my own tank thread. I'm not sure how committed I'll be updating it though. My reason of doing this is hopefully to know more reefers in the community.

Being a scuba diver, I've always love the ocean and marine creatures found below - so fascinating and peaceful. When my hubby and I moved into our new home, there was a space which we didn't know what to do with. I managed to convince him to put a marine fish tank. This was the start of my journey. We started off with a 4x2x2 tank designed and built by one of the sponsors (shan't mention names). To cut the long story short, that tank did not work out in the end and I dismantled it after 2 years. Notice that the "we" has become an "I"

Anyway, after taking a short break, I came back with to a smaller size tank. With 2 years of reefing knowledge, I was better prepared to plan for this tank. However, I must say that we will never be satisfied with our tanks and we will never get our dream tank. On 15 Dec 07, the tank was delivered. I designed this tank to keep LPS and fishes. No more Tangs.

I cycled for about 1+ mth before slowly adding back my corals. To fast forward, this is a pic of my tank in Apr 08.

In Jul 08, a friend by the name of Drato, influenced me towards keeping SPS (also know as the dark side). He is my "si fu" with regards to keeping SPS. You can see a few "sticks" in the below FTS.

That's all for now. Will continue my story another day...

Oh ya... forgot to add some bio data...

Tank display size: 3 ft x 28”x 24”. 12mm thick

Tank Age: 3 years (to date)

Tank Equipment (To date):

ATI 6 tubes Powermodule mounted on light mounting rail

Deltec 850 Skimmer with an Ehim 1260 feeding pump

Deltec PF501 Ca reactor with a Milwaukie PH controller fed by an Ehim 1250 tee off to FR unit as well

Skimz FR with Rowa Phos media, changed every 2-3 months

Modified Kalk reactor with skimz body connected to water top up unit

Return pump is an Ehim 1264

Artica 1/5 chiller with an Ehim 1262 feeding water back to the tank

Wavemakers: Tunze 6085 and 6055 with single controller

Using GF pipings

[bellinayu]

In Dec 08, I've decided to re-scape to get a new look and to turn it into a SPS reef tank.

Dec 08 & Jan 09 FTS

FTS for Mar, May and Aug 09

[bellinayu]

Was lucky to pick up these Squamosas . Kudos to Drato for helping to pick them up. Only have space for 2 in my tank.

[bellinayu]

Not forgetting 2 aqua cultured maximas

My latest FTS with the clams. The big clam is the centre pc of my tank now

[bellinayu]

Time to update...corals & fishes shots

[bellinayu]

I just got 2 pcs of the Par30 LEDs from Aquarium Artist. Vincent for your excellent service. I have been waiting for a smaller version of the par38 and immediately when they arrived, I didn't hesitate.

Aesthetics and flexibility of positioning are important so I selected the track mounting. The 2 smaller LEDs at each corner of my tank are my DIY moonlights. Idea came from Jack.

Tank with just the Par30 on

Tank with moonlights and Par30 on. This is when my ATI PM is switched off.

Tank with just moonlights

[bellinayu]

Some micro shots of some sps.

Just got this purple Porites & blue Digi, maroon polyp (pic below) from GO shipment yesterday. Sorry, cant get a close up shot of the blue digi but I like the contrasting colours of that pc.

My collection of BN. There supposed to be a Ponape and BOP but cant bring out the colours

No more space for anymore colonies so will just concentrate in maintaining the tank and letting the frags grow .

[bellinayu]

After adding 2xPar30 to supplement my existing 6-tubes ATI powermodule, found some colour improvements on some sps. Eg, managed to get a blue tinge on my pink millis. Since then, I added another Par38 on the track. What I like about this track is that I'm able to slide the holder along the track to focus on selected sps placements. Switch on the Pars for a total of 5-hours. Attached are some pics on the par30 & 38 bulbs and 2 moonlights.

Some Digis (orange, lime green & purple blue) on the left of my tank. Wilson, your bi-colour is below the orange digi. Your pink digi is beside it as well but in my tank, it's orange

FTS Mar 2012

[bellinayu]

It's been a while since my last updates...

BN is my fastest grower, with montis and digi next in line. Therefore, for those who want to try SPS, you can't go wrong with these few species.

Birdnest and Digitata

[bellinayu]

It has been sometime since I've updated my tank thread. Here are some pics. I've sold my overgrown BN colonies to make space for some millis. However, just barely 2 mths, the pink BN is overtaking my tank again so have to put it FS. The yellow one is tucked in a corner due to space constraints so the base is receeding due to no flow. Once I clear the pink one, I can frag it and shift it up.

The right side is a mixture of digis, montis, millis

My favourite pink hairy milli

Can't quite name the colour of this monti. With more light, it's light purple

Pics are all taken with my iphone so colours are a bit off. That's all for my update of my tank thread for Mar 12. Till next time... Reef on

[bellinayu]

Spent the whole day today to do a minor adjustment to the scape. Removed 2 rocks to make space for my growing clams. Don't look so cluttered now.

[bellinayu]

Came across a FTS before the removal of the 2 rocks to show the comparison of the clutter.

Some top down shots with just the back Par lights on. Really love viewing the corals top down without the return pump and wavemakers on.

[bellinayu]

An encrusting monti which I bought over from Jack when he decom his tank. It's hidden in a corner as I don't have space for this gem. This coral must be viewed from top down to appreciate it's beauty. Orange polyps and purple rim.

It's a war zone at the right hand side of my tank with encrusting montis and digis killing each other. That's the reason for the trimming sales.

End with an Aug 2012 FTS

[bellinayu]

Had to re-load back past pics of my reefing journal as I mistakenly deleted all my pics, thinking that I have max out my capacity when at there was a period of time I suddenly could not load any pics into the forum. Now, I'm able to load pics once again

[bellinayu]

Some top down shots...

Encrusting montis taking over my rockscape

Plating monti caps

Digitatas (purple, jade green, baby blue, green)

FTS_ Feb 2013. Just removed another rock to give my clams space to grow.

Will be setting up a small tank soon after CNY. Planning to keep some gobies for a start in the small tank. Look out for it in the nano / pico section.

[jquek]

Hi! Really like your scape - very natural and beautiful coral growth. And nice to meet you during the MASS frag sale.

[bellinayu]

Recently, as I started a 60 gal (include sump) tank, I decided to set-up a compressor unit to chill both tanks. Each tank has it's own thermostat. My 120 gal tank (SPS tank) is maintained at about 26 deg while my 60 gal tank (FOWLER) is maintained at about 28 deg (at the moment). Excellent job done by Dereck who installed the compressor unit. His after sales support is also excellent.

[Kakani]

Good idea to put the compressor high up.

[Mellow]

Amazing tank and growth you have that as you document the growth over the years.

Very nice indeed!

[bellinayu]

Time for some updates. I am trying out Fauna Marin stuff. This is my 2nd week so still too early to comment. However, I do see increased PE and enhanced in blue colour.

Some micro shots.

Pink Bird nest species (without and with lights)

Blue Millis

Blue Tenuis

Galaxy Monti cap.

Baby blue Digi & light purple monti cap. frag

True Fibre Optic Pocci

Digitata corner on the right

End my Mar 2013 log with a FTS

[David5077]

swee!! any frags on sale sis?

[sunnymau]

What more can we say? :bow: :bow: