SHOPS

Some really impressive shops I could spend a lot of time in ;-)

A NOVEL IDEA ??

Thought that it would be really cool to have your aquarium orders delivered with this truck ;)

ANOTHER UPDATE

I have managed to get the two main tanks - upper reef and open ocean plumbed together.

I have the overflow from the main tank running to the one below and this is introducing a fair number of micro bubbles at the moment.
I need to decide if this bothers me enough to want to do something about it or whether it is worth leaving as is .........
Time will tell ;)

SYSTEM UPDATE

Hallo again everyone !!!

This project has progressed somewhat .........the two main tanks to the system has been installed.

I have moved all existing stock over and final aquascaping needs to be done.

I have installed some of the lighting but the final components still have to be added.

The system has morphed into something slightly different to what I had started with.......

I will tell you more of this in future updates.

Thanx for reading this.

Happy Reefing !!!

NEW SYSTEM

I have decided to go for something decidedly different for my new tank(s).
An interconnected aquarium set-up comprised of several biotope-specific tanks .
A so-called multi-gradient system.

The breakdown of the system as follows:


A 350 litre near shore shallow reef display tank.(New)
A 420 litre mangrove root biotope tank.(New)
A 900 litre FOWLRtank.(My existing tank)
There are future plans for a sea grass biotope tank.

These tanks will all be linked in a U shape running of a central 500 litre sump.Because these tanks will be connected, the total water volume will be 1670 litres minus the volume of water displaced by LIVEROCK in the display tank and FOWLR tank and the deep sand beds of the mangrove tank.The sump is where all the needed filtration equipment will reside. This will be carried over from my current system.

A bit of information about what it is I am trying to achieve:

Let's start by looking at what a biotope is:

The word biotope is derived from the Greek words bios meaning life and topos meaning place. Thus it is the living place of a specific biological community. A captive biotope, such as an aquarium ,would aim to replicate the living conditions of a specific reef community. In the case of the system I am designing this biotope is located in the Indo-Pacific. The Indo-Pacific is home to seventy-five percent of the world's coral reefs, this is also where the majority of aquarium stock is collected so makes my job of selecting inhabitants for my tanks a little easier.

Whilst a serious "Biotoper" would want to be more specific as far as this biotope is concerned I have chosen to simply recreate a generic Indo Pacific Near shore Reef. I do not want to tie myself down to a specific area. It will be difficult enough to implement the discipline required to keep to the specific biotopes.I do not want to be concerned about the species to much.

The specific biotopes represented by each tank were chosen based on the critical role that biotope plays in the overall health and stability of the display tank's biotope. In other words, mangrove-fringed shorelines, sea grass beds and open ocean are all individual biotopes intrinsically connected to the coral reef ecosystem.

Mangrove Root Biotope – Mangroves provide a filtration system and provide a nursery ground for many reef species. Mangroves play a role in helping to control the reef's exposure to damaging UVB which leads to coral bleaching and detrimental algae outbreaks. I am hoping to nurse some juvenile fish species in this biotope with apogon species being the likely candidates.

Sea grass Bed Biotope (Future tank)– Sea grasses are efficient when it comes to nutrient export and provides a haven for many food sources consumed higher in the food chain. I have not found a reliable source for sea grass so currently this tank is not being implemented yet . For now this will probably be a refugium containing a DSBand cheato.

Open Ocean – FOWLR the water volume helps to stabilize water conditions that are essential for the survival of tropical reefs. In addition, this habitat is an important source of food supply for reef species. The raw water from this tank will feed into the sea grass habitat for processing.

A FOLLOW-UP

I forgot to say that I have seen and measured the tank I am interested in.

It would work very well with a few changes and would make for a very unusual display.

I just need to see what can be done pricewise. ;)

EDIT to add : This tank was sold before I had made my choice , it had been there for weeks ........go figure.

UPDATE AT LAST

I have been away for a while again. Not much has been happening on the tank front and things are pretty much "As Was".

I am thinking about building a multi gradient system and hope to have some more information to post about this soon.

I am going to look at a tank that could suit my purposes quite well and hope that we can negotiate a price.

Wish me luck !!!

STANDPIPE FITTED

I added the standpipe yesterday evening - bit of a rush and have not had the oportunity to fine-tune it yet.It has made a huge difference though. The tank is a LOT quieter , with some patience and dilligence I could probably get it close to silent.It does not bother me to much as it is now though so it is not a priority.

I have however discovered that my the 1x 14k halide (150w) was not working anymore . I ended up taking it all appart and discovered that some fusing had taken place on the ends of the bulb itself. I am not entirely sure why this had happened.A connector had burnt through and I ended up replacing these connections too. I re-assembled everything and it seems to be good to go ;-)

I will spend some time on both tanks this weekend , moving things over,aquascaping etc....

I will update with photo's and more next week.

Happy reefing.

SUCCESS !!!

I have fitted a much smaller pump (1900l/hr @ 1.7m) as the main return and it is certainly a lot better. The overflow still poses some problems but I will fit a Durso standpipe soon and am sure this will make some major improvements. The room the tank is situated in is fully tiled and I think that this does not help as far as noise is concerned. The tank cabinet itself acts as a bit of a soundbox also so will see what things are like once I have silenced the overflow.

I am hoping I will be able to live with it ;-)

I will add a few pics shortly , water has been salted , warmed and I need to get the Profilux computer system fitted and then I will start moving some of my stock over.

Happy Reefing

SUMP CIRCULATING FOR SHORT WHILE ONLY :-(

Well - I had water going for a while but the pump was resonating so badly that it did not last for long. I will have to find something a little lighter and quieter to function as the main return pump.I was hoping to create a great deal of turnover through the sump and also the main tank (was aiming at about 20x volume) . This has resulted in an overflow that sounded like niagra falls . The pump I used was probably a bit of overkill (5000litres/hr at 2m).

I will downgrade and go for about 2500l/hr using a much smaller pump.

Update to follow.

Happy Reefing.

A BIT OF AN UPDATE

I have water circulating through the sump !!! Yay !!!

NEW TANK IN MAKING

I have not sold the smaller tank yet , so have decided to keep it for the time-being. I moved it back into the house on Saturday.
Being on my own made things a little easier,no permission to seek ;-) I had some help from a wonderful lady and it is now sitting pretty in my lounge.
I will move all my sps into it and this will allow them to grow uninhibited by the softcorals that have started overtaking the main tank.

More info and pictures to follow soon.

Happy reefing

SOME PICS OF EXOTIC PETSHOP TANK

Hallo everyone , a flood of updates on one day :)

I have been cruising around a bit and here are some of the pictures I took whilst at Exotic in Boksburg.

TOTM ON REEFPARK

My tank has been chosen for tank of the month on Reefpark.

Go check it out at :

TOTM

or by clicking on Reefpark in my reef links added above.

Happy Reefing

UPDATE !!

Hi there everyone,things have been pretty quiet for me on the reefing front.
I have not made any changes to my tank for some time now but all inhabitants are still doing well.
I might have to move in the future so have decided to just let things be for now.

Happy Reefing

TANK FOR SALE

PICS OF STOCK

AMANO

"The Zen approach to aquascaping is difficult to put into words. Part of the aim is to turn the aquarium not into a mere reproduction of some habitat, but to assemble a composition that evokes emotion from the viewer. It is a living art, and the aquarium is the canvas. To extend the artistic analogy a bit further, a naturalistic biotope aquarium is realistic, the Nature Aquarium impressionistic."
- Takashi Amano

LOADSHEDDING ???

I noticed that most of my corals did not look very happy yesterday . This was after a 2 - 3 hour power outage due to the inability of Eskom to provide customer service.

There seems to be bleaching on some of the staghorns and I am not 100 % sure what the cause of this could be. I checked alkalinity this morning and it sat pretty low at 6.5 dkh . I am constructing my own monster Calcium reactor to place on-line, I am hoping to have it ready by this weekend.
I will use manual additions to bring things back in line again. I am not sure what the current calcium and magnesium levels are .

AQUASTICK ..........

I have decided to use a product called Aquastick made by Two Little Fishies to mount some of my SPS frags.
I have never used it before but bought it this time because my LFS did not have Deltec epoxy in stock.
The epoxy is only mildly adhesive but found it relatively easy to work with. I do like the fact that it gives off little residue and sets in 20 minutes.
I have found that without proper support frags tend to shift before the deltec epoxy has time to set. So this is an improvement as far as the deltec stuff is concerned.
A serious downside is the fact that even with very little visible residue my skimmer still went absolutely nuts.

AND A FEW MORE :-)

SOME INSPIRATIONAL AQUASCAPES - TO ME ANYWAY ;-)

LOAD SHEDDING HITS US AGAIN !!!!

It was scheduled for 8 AM but due to pressure on the network ended up happening at about 7. Grrrrrr.........

I wanted to go home and check on the tank , but just have'nt been able to get away from work.

I realy hope everything is ok and happy , expect power to be off for 2 to 3 hrs.

This tree kinda sums up how I feel.

ANOTHER POND PIC :) !!!

SOME POND PICTURES......

The pond as it looks now - hopefully I will be able to leave it alone cause it does look quite nice.

THE POND - AGAIN

I have changed things again.................... ;-)

Just could not let things be ......(Sigh)

In reality the pond liner had a leak. I tried to find it but had no luck , so eventually , ripped it out completely. I decided to use a large tote bin I had as the reservoir instead. It worked out pretty well - I will add some pictures of it soon. There is 5 goldfish in there now , the new residents have not been given any names as yet. Thinking Reel and Rod could be the way to go :-) .

That would make them Hook,Line,Sinker,Rod & Reel.......... Lol .

THE POND - ANOTHER ATTEMPT

Pond re-done !!!! I finally got around to doing the pond this weekend.Spent hours driving around looking for rocks. I would stop suddenly and jump out of my car to get a good look at rocks lying at the side of the road. My daughter felt it was all a big adventure , bless her little heart. Pretty happy with how everything has turned out.

A pic below




Until next we meet .

May the ZEN be with you.

THE POND - STILL ;)

I have decided that the pond needs more work. To get the waterfall and filter in requires a bit of re-arranging. I do not want any of it to be visible so need to hide it as best I can.I also want to include more large rocks as a feature of the garden and pond. The dogs , we have six of the little monsters !!! , managed to dig a hole nearby and filled the pond with dirt in the process. This will all be remedied by take number 2. I want to see if some sort of vacuum can be incorporated on the base of the pond.Wish me luck.

Oh - I will be adding a few common goldfish instead of koi as I feel the pond isn't deep or big enough to do justice to koi.

May the ZEN be with you.

POND

I got little joy from the skimmer pump so have decided to use it in a freshwater pond instead. I have finished doing most of the ground work and am pleased to say that I am happy with the results. I still need to make a simple filter that I will gravity feed and possibly have running over some rock work to create a waterfall. This will add O2 and should provide a nice soothing noise.
I have also included some papyrus grass and a pond lily. All considered it was a good weekends work. Pictures to follow.

I have three goldfish , Hook,line and sinker :-) who will be glad to have the extra swimming room. They are currently in a holding tank in my fish room.

The pond will form part of my Zen/Japanese garden that I am in the process of constructing.Pictures of this to follow too.

Things have been pretty quiet on the reefing front and I have ended up selling some of my equipment. I need to sell some more bits and bobs.

Happy fishy type dreams until we meet again !

SKIMMER PUMP FAILS SPECTACULARLY !!

I had my doubts about this pump when I originally bought it and my fears seem to have been well founded. (See post made in November)

Rust has formed around the impeller body - causing it to bind. I am not a happy camper.
An e-mail will be sent off to the company shortly :-( . I wait to see what response , if any , I get.

BACK FROM HOLIDAYS !!

Welcome to 2008 !!!!!!!!!!

I have had a good rest - hope you have had a good xmas break too.

Some sad news to report :

The cube tank is no more and many of the corals there-in I have unfortunately lost.
Long story - so don't even ask. :-)