My attempt at a native tank

Bought my tank in April. It was just the tank and a steel frame.
It has taken some time to get the cabinet made, but we are now ready to fill with water ad start cycling.
We have filled the tank with corals, stones and sand. Now its time to hook up the filter and chiller. Still want to buy a controller, but they are very expensive. On the other hand we wont be paying much for fish I guess, so I must bite the bullet.

We have visited Crusty crab and his native tank and were much inspired by what he has achieved.

Thats looking absolutely fantastic!

Whats your plan? what type of fish/corals are you going to put in? No skimmer yet?

What size it it? looks like a 150 cm tank!

If you are looking for a controller look at hydor. The 2 powerhead controller sells for around 70 euro. There is an italian guy on ebay that sells the controller plus 2 small 1900 lph powerheads for like 82 euro (plus shipping) he sells bigger powerheads of course

Looking good. Big Tide in September, best month for collecting.
I have a two way controller you can have.

Hurry! If you say no I'll take it

Absolutely savage tank fair play can't wait to see more

@crusty that's a very generous offer fair play to yea

The tank is 212x60x40, so about 400L.
We plan to have local fish in it that we would find around Beara and perhaps have a trip to Connemara where you have such beautiful beaches.

No skimmer yet. I wonder if I will need one. have a JBL 1501E filter and a small eheim 240 in the righthand tank corner. UV lamp in the filter circuit as well as the chiller. Plan on maintaining about 15 degr C. in the tank.
Am looking at the Neptune controller because it is so very flexible and has a server built in that you can approach with your IPhone or iPad as well as from outside the house. Including a video watch of your tank.
Apex controller
You can use it to manage your ATO, make wave with pumps, manage temperature, measure Ph, send email when there is an alarm etc.

Thank you very much Crusty for your kind offer. What does this controller do?

Best,

Jouke

It turns on stream pumps/ Powerheads at intervals, giving alternate currents in the aquarium. Its not a Neptune by any means.
Similar to the Hydor one.
Vinny has a Neptune System, very happy wih it. He got it mail order from USA. There is now a 220 volt /european version.
Bring your Wellies, Buckets and Nets. Might be worth arranging a days outing, if other members are interested.
Low tides on Thursday 19th, Friday 20th and Saturday 21st of September.

The skimmer will help you reduce the nitrates of your tank. IMO (and I am a newbie) skimmer is important, specially if are planning on keeping corals. Otherwise you will have to do a lot of water changes.

Crustycrab which one do you have? I am looking for one with a timer a bit shorter than the hydor. 5 second intervals could be too much for my nano (its only 58 cm wide), or so I have been told.

Joukeder wrote:

The tank is 212x60x40, so about 400L.

I think you meant 500?

Well, the tanks internal dimensions with anticipated water height are actually 35x54x210 Cm, so, close to 400 L volume of water.
Minus the coral and stone and sand.
Buy anyway, you are switched on arrhythmic-wise. Good for you Bohio!

CrustyCrab, many thanks for your kind offer, but I think I want to shoot for the Apex.
I will try to talk to Vinny to see how he feels about the 110v option,

In a Native Tank, a Skimmer can be counter productive. Anemones seem to thrive in tanks without skimming. Andy Horton has a paper on this subject on the BMLSS site.
That said, I skim my tank, with a skimmer rated for half the volume, and I have loads of anemones, they are thriving.
Native corals are mostly softies, and seem to enjoy a more mucky tank. I am still trying to understand why this is so.
More coffee time chat with the biologist in charge of the invert collection methinks
@Bohrio, it's a Hydor copy. Works well, I used it at 15 min intervals, heard that less than that could burn out the pump motors on some makes.

Joukeder wrote:

Well, the tanks internal dimensions with anticipated water height are actually 35x54x210 Cm, so, close to 400 L volume of water.
Minus the coral and stone and sand.

That'll teach me to keep my mouth shut! lol

Now I will google what a native tank, should have done that before posting... sorry

The 4' /122cm Clearseal with sump, about €900. Close to 500 litres, when sump volume is counted.
I like these Clearseal units, have an idea of an anemone garden in the 2' cube, of course like many of my ideas, it's wife dependant!
@Joukeder, low tides over the next few days, time to start collecting the hermits, brisslestars, and snails. This time of year, dwarf cuttlefish will be in the sandy pools, as will juvenile wrasse, 2spot gobies and pipefish.

No Bohrio, keep going! it adds to the debate. I learn all the time. For instance from Crusty's reply on skimmers in native tanks.

Native tank is a marine tank filled with local species. We live on the Beara peninsula with opportunities for collecting fish in rock pools and on beaches. Plus I have a few friendly fisher men friends as well as a professional diver. But it remains to be seem if they can catch the very small creatures I am after......

@ John,
I dont know what the market price for a 500l tank is John, I bought this tank and steel stand for 650€ from a lady that had bought it new, but never came round to using it. Kealan Doyle said it was a bargain, but i did not ask hime what the regular price would be......

I am planning to make my own LED lights over the tank. I wonder if anybody on the forum has done so before. I'd like to hear from anybody offering some advice or opinion.

COmmercial LED lights fro aquariums are expensive. Hence my desire to make something myself. I also plan to simulate the day and (moon) nights as they occur and the seasons. A native tanks does not need as much light as a reef tank I think.

The planned APEX controller has tables in it giving you sunrise and sunset as well as moon phase for your location on earth (Lat Long) It also provides four 0-10Volts outputs that you can use to control LED dimmers.
In my house I have some LED strip light that I bought from Ebay cheap. A 5 meter white strip light can be bought for 15€ including transport from China. they are waterproof to IP 65 or 67 which is a bonus in the aquarium environment.

My current thinking is to use two 5 meter strip lights in pure white. These will be cut into two strips of 2.10m each, making four strips. In addition to that you can get a 5m RGB strip where each colour red green and blue can be controlled individually.
With the RGB strip I can then slightly modify the total colour temperature of the combined led strips

I have so far bought a 12v 20A power supply for 20€ two 5630 type Led strips (€30) and one 5050 RGB led strip (€15) . Plus an RGB led controller (50€) Still looking for a one channel led dimmer that can handle the 12 A combined current for the two white strips

Still to make is the canopy that will house the strip lights.
We had a T5 light with the tank, but that would have to be hung over the tank and herself voted that down. It was not long enough to cover the tank anyway.

That's it I have subscribed to this thread... keep them coming!

@Joukeder Thanks, I immediately googled what a native tank was. And immediately understood why crustycrab was so excited about everyone being ready for tide season... Now it makes sense

I will be upgrading my tank soon, probably at around xmas. I am planning of buying a clearseal tank (some people say to go for the read sea tank as it already comes with everything you need). I personally rather build my own tank but I am currently doing this with my nano and although interesting is a bit of a pain as in built into my bookshelf. I am adding a nano sump too (around 45 cm), picking up my skimmer today and having the sump built @ seahorse so I am very excited too but nothing as complex not magnificent as what you are doing!

Super to see how this turns out as it will highlight our native species. Even looking at the life in a rock pool and the colours are magnificent

Keep the updates and the pics coming and best of luck

good to see Crusty has been of some use at last i was wondering what we do with him ya know i'm joking crusty... and guys for a native tank you couldnt do much better than talk to crusty.. the man the legend

Filled the tank today: NO LEAKS!!! Happy chappy.




But after adding the diluted salt and extra water it turned all cloudy.

Fitted all hoses and filters.
Switched on pumps. The beginning of the cycling




Have a look at the tech department. Left chiller, filter and space fort he ATO tank. Right space reserved for the controller.

I made the hoses long enough so I can take items out without disconnecting.
Electrical still messy until controller is in place.

Looking great I wish I had the space!

One silly question, what are those to tiny light (look like MH) for?

@Bohrio

The lights are two 10W LED flood lights that I had laying around. They willl ight the technical space. I will install door reed switches that switch them on when any one of the sliding doors is opened.

@CrustyCrab: Shouldn't I wait for the tank to settle somewhat before I put in some fish? I think about 14 days perhaps?
I will start to monitor Ammonia and the N's in a few days to see if anything i happening.
A fishing expedition per September in Connemara as you suggested will be great.
Anybody else want to join in?

WoW

Great job
cool post, I'll be keeping an Eye on this...



Des

Joukeder wrote:

@CrustyCrab: Shouldn't I wait for the tank to settle somewhat before I put in some fish? I think about 14 days perhaps?
I will start to monitor Ammonia and the N's in a few days to see if anything i happening.
A fishing expedition per September in Connemara as you suggested will be great.
Anybody else want to join in?

Let the water settle for a few days, if you had used natural sea water, it would be faster. Some rock, from the lower shore, and a few scoops of sand, will speed up the cycle.
Some of the old guard will be out collecting, so it should be an other fun day.
And I am sure a visit to Andrew, for some grub, and a pint or two later, will be in order ....

The sand in the tank is the Ballyconeely coral particles. Would that still be 'alive'?
Will add some local sand and rock anyway.

Joukeder wrote:

The sand in the tank is the Ballyconeely coral particles. Would that still be 'alive'?
Will add some local sand and rock anyway.

That would not be alive now, been dry a bit long. Get the sand from as low down the shore as you can. That will seed your filter system.

Things are looking UP. including Ammonia on 0.4.
Clarity much better. Still a bit yellowish