My Marine Aquarium

Hi Everyone,

Been lurking around here on and off for a while now - don't think I have ever posted about my tank. I've introduced myself before - pretty straight forward really 10yrs tropical (mainly chiclids and discus) and 10yrs marine.

My tank is 240cmx60cmx60cm (8'x2'x2') with a 48\"x18\"x15\" sump and a 48\"x12\"x12\" refugium.

Skimmer is a Deltec turbo 1060s, return pump is a red dragon 6500, got a heater controller and 4x300W heaters. Sump and equipment is all outside in a shed. Lighting is 250W MH lamps. Circulation via Tunze streams...... got about 100 kgs or so of LR, 50 kgs of caribsea Sand. Fish include an emporer angel, 4 tangs (yellow, purple, powder blue, lipstick), 5 anthias (lyretail) and an orange spot goby. There are 4 shrimps, loads of snails (they reproduce fairly quickly), and sps corals (mainly acropora / montipora).

Parameters:
Ammonia / nitrite / nitrate / phosphate - all undetectable.
calcium 430ppm / alk about 9kdh / mag about 1350ppm

Here a pic (crappy phone pic - will try and get a better pic with a proper camera)



Anyway, just thought I'd share.
Regards,

Matt

PS. Any other reefers in Cork?

Hi Matt,

Wow, this is a fabulous looking tank ! Well done!

I'm not sure whether I already welcomed you to the forum, if not, welcome !!!

Valerie

Hey I am going to tell your boss you are on the forum during work time, welcome back again.

Registered: Feb 2000
Location: Ireland
Occupation: Mechical Engineering Consultant
Posts: 1797

Dear God thirschmann!!! that is some set up........

That is something to read tomorrow morning once I've clock into work!!!
look forward to it!


__________________
Regards,

Matt

Hobby Experience: Marine since Xmas '97. Prior to this, approx. 10 years freshwater.
Current Tanks: 8x2x2 Aspiring SPS Reef with 200 lbs+ Fiji LR, 1\" Caribsea SSB, Emporer Angel, Yellow Tang, Purple Tang, 5 Lyretail Anthias. 48\"x18\"x15\" sump. Red Dragon 6500 Return. 2 x tunze steams 6060. 2 x 250 SE MH. Deltec Turbo 1060s. Delte
Interests: Diving, Cars, of course..... the hobby in general.

Hi Matt,great looking tank particularly the way its built in .How do the angels behave with the corals?

really nice tank matt

Hi Matt that tank is really impressive! I am in Cork and have a marine tank up and running for over two months now so its still a new project, lots of invertebrates and two ocellaris clowns all doing well so far, 48\"x 24\" x 20\" so its somewhat smaller than your own but I reckon its an addiction and maybe another few years experience under my belt I would definitely go bigger! will try and put some pictures up...

my tank so far

funny blue fella and friend!

havng sonme trouble uploading photos.. will try again

My Word - alot has changed since I posted that pic

Here is an updated pic (about 6 weeks old maybe):


Tank has gone barebottom, all teh sps are gone, concentrating on softies now - at least the onces that my emporer angel hasn't eaten......

Speaking of which, here is.... a good 6\" now:


Regards,

Matt

beautiful shoots
Mickey

The emperor angel looks great. I have seen the juvenile colouring and the adult but never the change over.
Can i ask why the change to a bare bottom?

Barebottom.... .well there are two schools of thought:
1. Sand is a natural habitat that allows for the natural break down of waste, completing the nitrogen cycle, and reducing nitrate.

- OR -

2. Sand will harbour all the detritus, and whilst it can work very well, it is not gauranteed to, so rather than take the risk, do away with it. Sand does ahrbour detritus, that is a fact - it also reduces nitrate - that is a fact too..... but somewhere inbetween, alot of nutrients are building up, which can lead to algae problems, low pH, etc.

I am of the latter opinion. I was having some horrible algae issues, and reverted to that which I know best..... bare bottom..... and the tank has gone from strenth to strength since.

Hi matt,why did you choose to go bare bottom? (tank that is).with a 4ft refugium for that size tank i find it hard to imagine you have a nitrate problem.what are you growing in the refugium?

Barebottom - Well essentially there are two schools of thought:
(1) Have a sand bed, allow lots of microfauna to populate it, and let nature take its course i.e. NNR (Natural nitrate reduction). This however means you are letting waste accumulate in the bottom of your tank, and you are relying on bacteria and critters to process that into harmless gas to bubble off. You are left with a harmless inert detritus bi-product.
(2) Remove as much waste as possible before it gets a chance to decompose, thereby breaking the chain before it starts.

The latter is the barebottom method - nigh flow in the display tank stirs up and breaks down waste matter which quickly makes its way to the sump, where a big, uber efficient skimmers draws it out, more or less on demand.

I have done both methods, and ran both methods, and for me the barebottom method is by far the better way to go. But it takes a bit of time and effort to set up properly - most people skip these early steps, which is why they do not fully apprecaite the benefits. My tank is practically algae free. I clean the glass once a week - and to be honest I only do it out of habbit, I could easily let it go 2 weeks but then I would have to work a bit harder at it. My nitrates however at about 20ppm - which is a little higher than I would like them, but I have not done a water change for about 2 months - they were 20ppm 2 motnhs ago, and still are 20ppm or there abouts. pH is stable, without excessive bio-activity to cause it to fluctuate.

The tank is 8x2x2 - it has a 6-7\" emperor angel, 4 tangs (each 4\" avg.), a pair of clarkii clowns (3-4\") and 4 anthias. I feed a sheet of nori plus 4-6 cubes plus a heaped tespoon of pellets on a daily basis.

Why did I go barebottom - well my previous tanks have been predominantly bare bottom - or else with very little sand - and I have great sucess with them. I tried sand in this tank, and in spite of doing everything right, it just wasn't as easy to maintain as my previous tanks. I got some great advice and detailed help from some of the hobbies best resepcted experts - and still couldn't kick nuisance algae...... so I did what I know - I syphoned out the lot, did a huge water cahnge - cooked the rock for 6 weeks, put it all back together and I have never looked back.

Apart from that - I like high flow in my tanks - sand prevents that.
Barebottom means practically no food goes to waste.
It is so much easier to clean the glass, not having to worry about dragging the magnet into the sand.
pH stays more stable.
Less sand = more water volume too.......

It depends on how you position your tank too - unless you stand right in front of mine you can;t tell its bare bottom. Its over 36\" off the ground, so when you are seated you are looking slightly up at it, so the bottom is below the horizon as it were.

Anyway - thats why I went BB. I do not know anyone that went BB properly and later reverted to sand..... I do however know plenty of people that tried sand and went back to BB.

Here's a recent pic of my emperor. He's well over 6\" now, nudging 7\".