Upgrading to a new tank - the adventure begins ;)

Hi Chris

Well you need one module per gyre so it is not cheap. I am only using 1 gyre at the moment so it is fine for me so far.

The cable connects into the v1/v2 port on my apex (my gyre connectors uses only v1) and it has an extra connector in case you want to run another gyre (with another module using the v2 port).

Running two gyres is something I might end up doing in the near future. At the moment I still have the jebao, yesterday I received the wireless mobile module but I still prefer the gyre. I dont know if I would need another gyre or not, I suppose I will see with time.

Hi ya Alex....how'd ya get on with fish street ???are they giving ya refund??posting out a new one????

My replacement still hasn't arrived??

Other thing is...I'm redoing my plumbing..and putting together. ..just wondering the union fittings you have....did ya grease up the o rings inside the unions???do ya have to put Teflon tape around the threads on the unions???

Or are they water tight as is??

Hi Chris

I had a chat with Eric (broken English chat)

The problem is with the T1 not the pump. It seems because my pump was sent months ago (although I bought them together) the new controller's software is not compatible, he said to wait 1 week until they get the new controller.

I swear emailing your man is a nightmare, he tries his best but I just can't understand what he is saying most of the time.

Anyway I dont mind waiting, I probably wont keep it but glad to know is not broken.

The unions dont need glue, only glue the part that attachs to the pipe of course, the rest is already water proof!

Let me know if you have any doubts

Cheers never used unions before so wasn't sure..

Hey guys

Just a quick update, everything doing well, no changes/issues so far.

Since everything is automated and controlled by the Apex, every time I need to shut something off or set a feeding cycle I have to look for my phone or laptop which is a bit of a pain specially when it is an "emergency".

So I decided to use my old tablet and hang if off the aquarium so I can always monitor and have direct access to my stuff

Its a temporary thing and it might end up against the way or with an easy remove type of bracket

You have more tecknowledgy on that tank than they have in the space station , i dont know how you understand it , i follow your posting but must admit i dont understand any of it , on a very possitive comment the tank looks fantastic . Continued sucess with it

The tech in your tank is amazing lol. Wish i had the funds and time to do things like you are

Thanks guys

But it is really not that expensive (at least that last post). I had that tablet laying around gathering dust so I decided to put it to good use!

Hi Alex,
Just logged into your webcam as I haven't done so for a while, what's the new light you have above your sump?
I don't remember reading that you had upgraded that, so what's the story?
Go on let us all know.

Hi Jonathan

Funny you mention, I got that the other day as I needed more power for my macro as the regular Blau werent enough. I stopped using the kessil as, although algae growth was good it was actually too much, I was getting film algae on the glass as well, Ideally I think I would need a combination of both the kessil and a 6500 kelvin light but as my algae scrubber will be ready in a month or two I dont want to bother too much. Once I get i wont need macro in the tank anymore.

My nitrates are also very low at the moment and so are my phosphates so algae is not thriving either.

It is just a test at the moment to see if it makes a difference, it just just a normal PC 6500 light, nothing fancy.

On the other hand I am just back from Seahorse Galway, I went there to get the Achilles tang, while I was there I saw a nice purple tang and I though why not, the achilles should get along with it as it is from a completely different subfamily.

And on the way back I stopped at seahorse dublin where I had a golden angel reserved for me and a copperband.

Here is the golden angel

It is a very very shy fish, he has been hiding in the corner for a while now, he was shy while in quarantine as well so I doubt I will be seeing much of him for a while.

Here are the other 3

They are all in the tank, I dont think I will be putting any more fish, at least not for a while.

I had my concerns tbh, sizewise the Purple is the smalles of the 4, then the golden angel, then the achilles and last the copperband.

My concerns were (or so I thought) with how he was gonna get along with my bigger tangs, since they are about 2-3 times bigger (sailfin and the hippo) I wasnt sure if they were gonna harass him or not. The good news is that the big tangs are completely ignoring them, even the achilles and the purple are kind of ignoring each other as well, the achilles has picked up a spot in the tank and made it his and everyone seems ok with it.

However..... what I wasnt expecting is that the bully in the tank is not the tiny black tang, he is not happy with the two new additions and has made it abundantly clear, he first went for the achilles who rapidly told him to f... off, and I think he got the message. But the purple, poor guy, black lad is really following him everywhere and showing his fins etc. The purple tang seems ok so far, eating and everything but I am not sure whats gonna happen. It is very early so far, and since the black tang is very small (about half the size of the purple who is also very small) they should be ok. We will see, it would be hard to catch any of them otherwise!

So funny, goes to show you how unexpected fish can be, thought the sailfin was gonna be trouble and it tuns out the dime size black tang was the boss.

Another thing I noticed is that, while the black tang is pursuing the purple everywhere the hippo is constantly getting in between trying to split up the fight, I thought that was very cute, he is literally trying to mediate in the fight.

And another thing I never noticed until today is that the clowns have also chosen a spot in the tank, a little spot on the right middle backwall. You can see them in the video. And now, when the achilles (whose spot is right below) swims by they kick him out!!

I swear I had not a single territorial issue until today... just interesting to see how fish react when you have new comers

Little video below showing all of them (except the golden angel, he is still hiding) The light had been off fow an hour hence why the corals are all closed.



Anyway I will report later

PS: Just checked, seems like Black Tang has finally stopped chasing Purple tang so good news so far.

I also forgot to mention, the purple tang is absolutely beautiful, and very gentle in nature (so far), he went into the tank and straight away started eating and ignored all the other fish.

The achilles is also amazingly beautiful, its coloration was different than when I saw him in seahorse, he is fully black now (he was kind of dark brown with a white belly patch in seahorse). And the way it moves and swims is really nice. I am not dissapointed with him.

The flame angel is still hiding. This fish is just so eye catching. He is really bright orange, and def a looker. I hope he is not like my pom pom crab, I got a few of those in the past, you put them in the tank, watch them fall, go into a rock and never see them again!!

Love the video , beautiful fish , hope they all settle down and become friends

Beautiful fish beautiful tank

Thanks guys

Soon I will upload a proper video, didnt want to turn on the lights too high in case it would create more stress to the fish

Ok so as promised a few pictures of the new fish (except the golden angel, he is still hiding)

This is the purple tang, he is doing great, very active and eating really well

The achilles is also doing great, eating fine and seems very happy. No agression towards anyone, they all eat together and dont fight for food

Here are they both together

And the copperband, he is eating okish, very slow fish but he is getting food so far

The little black tang is doing ok, I feel he has tried to stand up but realized that everyone was just ignoring him so he seems to be back to normal now, he is very hard to take pictures as he is constantly in the back, behind the action

And last but not least I thought I might as well take a picture of Julio

A bit confused but still happy, or I hope he is

And the sailfin, biggest fish in the tank but very relaxed and peaceful towards the other

Dyno is starting to recede from the sand as expected so great news.

Corals are doing ok, I will hope they will start to thrive once the aquarium stabilizes.

See, this is what I like about this post, you ask a simple question and get a complete update.
I would love to get a A1 prime or similar for my nano tank, and to be able to set a timer to ramp on and off the lights slowly. That's why I noticed that your light had changed!
But will have to wait until I see a really cheap 2nd hand one, or i can sell something ( like a kidney ) to pay for it.

Great photos, how many more can you get before it reaches maximum capacity?

Keep us all upto date, and keep the reviews coming.

Yes, the AI are a nice set of fixtures. I like them too, if I wasn't going for a scrubber I probably would have gone for AI for my refugium.

I will be selling my Mitras soon but they are a bit too much maybe for a nano. I think Chris wants them, if not I will put them for sale soon.

Regarding stocking, well that's it tang wise. Might get 2-3 more fish, I am still waiting for my heilfrichi firefish (pair) and I might add a bottom dwealer or rock clinger as long as they dont bother Julio.

It is ok now that they are small but when they grow thing might get a bit crowdy if I am not careful.

just fantastic fish ,beautiful

Ok guys

Bad news this morning. Last night Julio went for one of his nightly recon missions and didnt make it back. He managed to find a tiny gap between the weird and the return pipe (it was easily fixable I just though he wouldnt fit through that hole) and got stuck, then went into the main drain pipe and got squashed by the water pressure. I woke up when I heard him splash the water but by the time I reallized of what was going on it was too late. I never expected him to make it there. And to think that all I had to do to close that little gap was to more the return pipe slightly to the right, a 2 seconds job.

He is in fish heaven now. Very sad, he was my favorite fish. You will be deeply missed my old friend.

RIP Julio.
I hope he had a decent send off (mourned with a whiskey) and wasn't just flushed!
Will you replace him with Julio 2?

Thanks Jon

He was not send down the toilet, he will be buried among us.

No Julio 2 I am afraid. Even after all the hassle and practically building this tank to suit him I couldnt order a new one. Ordering a new one means picking up another happy specimen from the wild just for my own pleasure.

This fish should remain in the sea where he belongs. Where he would be truly happy! Unless I see one in SH one day then I am afraid I will succumb to its cuteness. But it would have to be because they decided to order it and not because I did.

I asked SH not to sell this fish anymore but of course in the end it is all up to them and what their customers ask. It is a shame most customers who get this fish have no idea of how to look after them, they are just astonished by their beauty.

First is a subtropical fish, which means your tank will need to be kept at temperatures between 14-19 degrees. This alone will restrict what you can put in the tank in terms of corals, fish etc.

They are very inquisitive fish, and they are never 100% happy in an aquarium, I would say maybe 30% happy. The reason why they are always trying to jump or sneak out is because they dont want to be there. If I had money I would have flown him to his home and released him into the wild!!!

In all fairness I have a lot of regrets when I hear that some fish have been caught in the wild just to bring it to me. Part of wo look after him. But I truly wish the fish we get were only captive bread. Dont get me wrong, some captive bred specimens can do well in an aquarium but still... anyway just a sad day today, sorry for being negative

sorry for your loss particually when its a favourite , I do argee that some fish no matter how well you look after them are just not meant to be kept in an aquarium .

Ahhh no he was a lovely fish (

Thanks Chris/Rob

I miss him tbh, he had such a great personality.

Anyway, no more fish for the moment, just getting a few more gadgets. I ordered an extra power bar for my apex and another gyre 150, I got another Icecap module so my plan is to run them both via my apex.

The good news is that the apex cost 200 pounds, which means 240 euro! that's over 100 euro cheaper than in our local shops!

More tech stuff ! Soon the fish will swim by remote control , wish i had the understanding of tech stuff that you have

Would ya not be better getting a float switch and a small pump and letting the apex be your ato???

The main problem I have with the ato is it keeps sounding the alarm telling me the chamber is empty but it carrys on dosing....don't make sense to do that.

Yes thats the plan. Bart is building me a cabinet where the ATO tank will go in, once I have it I willl use the Apex to top up the aquarium instead of the kore. I think the problem with the Kore is that it loses config when it goes off or at least, if it goes off several times.

At the moment I have it set up to switch off in the event of a power outage or in the event the sump runs out of water, also when the return is off the Doser will go off as well.

When Julio went on his little recon mission and got stuck in the drain, as the water level decreased, this activated one of the failsafe mechanisms, which shut off the doser and the skimmer (water level in the skimmer section was too high). When the power came back on the doser must have lost the config for some reason.

I will avoid this in the future by using the Apex, it was my plan anyway, I already have all the sensors needed so it is just a matter of hooking it up!

I have an auto top up on my sump and it just uses a sensor no float switch ,very compact unit would highly recommend

Hi Robert

The type of sensor you use does not matter when you use the Apex to control it. For instance, I am using a float sensor to tell me when the tank reservoir is empty and a optical sensor (double) to tell me, first when the sump water level is below the limit and another one to tell me when is it above. This will allow me to pour water when the level goes below certain level and I can use the other sensor to stop the ATO to prevent flooding (as a failsafe).

With Apex you can go even further and install sensors on, for instance, the skimmer compartment or even the skimmer collection cup that will shutdown the skimmer when either sensors is activated.

Its very cool stuff!

Sounds very good system