Matt b's Tank

[Matt_b]

Thought i'd post the progress of my new tank for all to see including myself!

My dad used to keep marines years ago when marine fish keeping was first introduced into this country ( UK )with an undergravel filter and an airstone for circulation, he says his angel fish cost him a weeks wages he used to also have a scorpion fish which after trying to find a scorpion fish on the web found out they are called lions now!! he also used to keep a pair of sea horses in the same tank!! and said that he never had any losses!!!! maybe they wasn't as advanced in those days and the fish was a little stressed but with todays technology i thought i'd be able to give it a go so here goes!

Being new to the hobby i thought the best way to go was to buy a tank thats made for marine, The Aqua Medic Percula 90 sounded perfect for me, all the equipment is included and with the Aqua Medic tag it sounded a good investment which i think it is( not too sure about the german price tag though!! lol)

Its a 53usg tank with the sump built into the rear



the only modification i've made at the rear of the tank is i've taken the bioballs out and put frags of live rock in there, also on top of the Lr theres a bag of antiphos, not sure if you guys have that over there but its just a granular material that absorbs phosphate

I've also made a few mods to the circulation of the tank as the standard flow was a bit weak, the tank comes with two pipes sticking out on the right hand side for flow, luckily this made it easy to get some kind of closed loop in there

theres 528 gph going through those two outlets

and 792gph going through those 3

( i spent over an hour writing a post but there was too many pics and i couldnt post it so this will have to be multiple!!!)

[Matt_b]

With great help from TRT i made changes to my base



theres 528usg flowing through that spray bar

theres also a tunze 6000 on a controller pulsing at about 30 - 60% and i also have a 264usg pump agitating the surface, great effect with the lights!!!

the lighting is a 150w metal halide with a 10000k bulb, also got led moonlights for night vision

Before i even thought about a marine tank i spent hours on the net reading all the info i could, cycling, algae blooms blah blah so i was prepared for anything, i also read that if you had your halides on for 10 - 12 hours a day from day one your initial blooms will be over quicker so thats what i opted for

JEEZ scary times!!!


Really started to think i had made a major mistake somewhere!!! my mrs was saying it looks cr@p and i've wasted my money,made a huge mistake

But like magic


Its exactly what you pro's say,give it time it WILL clear

[Matt_b]

After the changes to my base my aquascaping changed as well



A lot better than before i think, more space around the rock.

My tank has been running for 3 months now and i still do not have any fish or corals in there just my clean up crew, theres 10 turbos and 13 hermits

Maybe i'm lucky that the critters that pop there heads out of the Lr keep me amused? as all everyone says to me is when are you getting any fish!

this guy showed up after 2 months!!

Never seen him before!!AMAZING!!

theres also hundreds of these


and literaly thousands of these


theres also hundreds of these pink amphipods that are too quick to get a pic of!!

I'm going to start stocking my tank in janurary so i'll keep updating as i go along

Thanks for reading

Matt

[ski1297]

Looks good, give it time its the best thing you can do.

[Matt_b]

Thanks Ski, i definatly agree with waiting, not even sure i'll have to feed my fish hahaha

[Casey]

Awesome just give it time and it will grow to be sweet.

[ski1297]

Did you use starboard for the bottom?

[Matt_b]

I've heard starboard mentioned a few times on here but not sure what it is?? i'm from the uk and never heard of it, the stuff i used was called polypropylene , it was 10mm thick which is about 7/16" ?? stuck together and cut

[Matt_b]

Originally Posted by Casey

Awesome just give it time and it will grow to be sweet.

Thanks Casey

[Casey]

Same stuff we use it in kitchens for cutting boards.

Originally Posted by Matt_b

I've heard starboard mentioned a few times on here but not sure what it is?? i'm from the uk and never heard of it, the stuff i used was called polypropylene , it was 10mm thick which is about 7/16" ?? stuck together and cut

[Matt_b]

Noticed there wasn't a pic with my halide so here ya go



As you can see theres no need for a room light hahaha, early next year i'm going to invest in a cooler so hopefully i can lower the light to stop tooo much leakage and also keep the temp down in the summer months ( if we ever get a summer in the uk)

Matt

[tims]

very nice matt!

[Matt_b]

Thanks Tim


The only concern i have with my tank is when the halide turns off, it goes from daylight to moonlight in a split second, will this freak my fish out or will they get used to it? i've been thinking of adding a actinic(spelling?) so i can run it an hour before and an hour after the halide but not sure how i could do it?? any ideas??

Matt

[tims]

yeah that can be a pain in the butt...
you can add either some PC lighting or VHO this way you can add the actinic lighitng and things will not be soo whitish..
you can check the LFS or the sponors of a retro kit. not sure what you have over there.
there are a few threads about the timing for the MH also, epending on the corals you have in the tank, you might be able to get away with only running them a few hours aday.

[Matt_b]

I've just been sitting here working out what kind of water turnover per hour my tank is and i'm a bit shocked

Rear bar 2000lph = 528usg
front bar 2500lph = 792usg
spraybar 2000lph = 528usg
surface pump 1000lph = 264usg
tunze stream 7000lph = 1849usg

That all adds up to 3961 us gallons per hour, my tank is 53usg

3961 divided by 53 =74.73

Must admit theres a nice water movement and does'nt seem to be any dead spots in my tank, theres also 20lb of sand in there thats not getting blown about!! i really can't believe theres that much turnover per hour

Maybe i've got it wrong ??

MAtt