alexcyf

Hey Darren! That’s something I did not consider actually! Been focus on reducing the number of pumps and I did not consider this. Maybe I can add in a new tee on one of the return pipes, but probably have to think through on the back flow issues to be safe. Perhaps for now, I try to direct the outlet towards my secondary return pump inlet instead haha. The only way that I am trying is pulling air from outside cabinet direct to skimmer. I am also considering CO2 scrubber but long term media cost is also something to think about. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Actually those are clay bricks mostly used for gardening. I assumed clay are okie?

Think from the photos, you may be able to tell that I like things neat and organized. Last post tonight is to illustrate this point.. Here’s a picture of my controller console / power supply panel. Ie my attempt to hide messy wirings and centralized the controllers that I always need to adjust. Especially since I have equipment from different brands and not all are on app/wifi control. And my mini storeroom under the stairs. No more nagging from wife taking up real estate in the living room and a little work station to do my reef chores! Looking forward to comments and more suggestion

Preventing a Disaster Some may recall that I had a major tank crash for my mixed reef. So there are some things that I broke my piggy bank for, to prevent another heartbreaking incident.. Battery Backup Definitely something that is worth getting, considering the cost vs any expensive fish or coral that you are getting. So I went with the Battery Backup from ecotech, mainly due to its compatibility with my Vectra. When power goes off, the Vectra will maintain sufficient circulation for both my display and frag/lps tank while help arrives. Some may ask why didn’t I chose to power my wavemaker

Maintaining Alkalinity With a larger setup, I ditched my usual practice of using dosing since it’s too troublesome and costly to sustain the dosing. Therefore I invested in a big ass Calcium Reactor from Skimz, CM202. Lucky I still managed to squeeze it into my sump. First time using a CR and really big thanks to Heng and Leon who has been sharing with me useful tips to install and manage this set of equipment. So let’s talk about the whole setup and hopefully Reefers who are thinking about installing a CR, instead of a dosing pump, can find some useful information here. Essentially, a C

Nutrients export Since I had an oversized skimmer for my old tank, I opted to use back the same Monzter SM251 that is more than enough for my current setup. After 5 years of usage the skimmer is still pulling kopi o gao out of my tank, and I get to skip the run in phase! Managed to prop my skimmer to the right height with a few leftover bricks from my reno. Another trusted equipment from my old tank is my Macroalgae Reactor MBR157. Other than helping my tank extract nutrients through the growth of chaeto, it also help to breed lots of pods that probably sustain a couple of dragonets,

If there is one advice that I can offer from my experiences, is to invest with equipment that can support your tank and reefing needs. Especially in this day and age when livestocks cost so much, at least much more than the time I started out. So I am going to share a bit more in the following posts on my choices of equipment. Starting with a full sump shot of my 5 by 1.5 ft sump!m! Circulation First, a quick share of the heart of my tank. I am circulating both tanks with 2 return pump (1 Vectra VL2 and 1 Skimz Quietpro 6.0 I think). Both pumps feeds to both my display and my frag/lp

Sunflowers. Simple Zoas but one of the nicest! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Time to move down to the sump. Bought a lot of stuff for my new house, furniture, lights, accessories etc from taobao and definitely, need to get some stuff for my tank too. Didn’t wanna save on equipment from China, in case anything goes wrong, but bio media i guess can’t go that wrong. Hence I bought almost 20kg of media. As it came by flight, e freight is almost the cost of the media but still I save half the cost hehe.. Went with two types of bio media, both with good reviews that they don’t melt like some other brands. Hopefully it’s true and works well to keep nutrients under control

The first set of equipment that I set up, and will be sharing in this post is lighting. Since the main display tank is going to be sps dominated, naturally my choice of my main lights was T5s. Most sps lovers would agree that even though T5 doesn’t create the fluorescence glow from sps, it gives a fuller light coverage. Personally, I always like the solid and natural coloration that sps display under T5s too. Naturally, I went with my favorite T5 module and got the ATI Sunpower Dimmable module from Aquamarin. Well, to still get a little of the LED effect, I added back my China made led strip

Ops! I must be too tired! I think I used tap water but I had to drain everything and wipe dry the tank to get rid of the water. Haha will try to update my post hehe Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The next big task would be to fill this tank up with salt water! By the way, forgot to mention that I wasted about 600litres of rodi water (which means much more actual water) doing a leak test for the tanks.. feel so bad for the save water movement, but having a leak would be far worse I supposed. Water change is one of the critical process to maintain a healthy reef tank and a lot of thought was devoted to keep this process as easy as possible.. Other than building an outlet for waste water, I also built an water inlet (complete with a basin) within the fish room. The RODI feeds from the w

Since it will take a while to cycle the tank, and I’m not gonna rush this critical process, my first task before any of the equipment is up, is to build the scape and kick start the cycling process. Even though I have yet to purchase most of the equipment. Learnt from previous experience that it is much easier to build a scape dry. I chose to use a combination of caribsea life rock (love the shapes) and my bleached/cured rocks from my previous tank. Started by building the first tier of the 6 foot rockscape. Here’s the final two island scape.. not the best shot and it looks like it’s full

Renovation is underway! And the tank is delivered! By the way, I opt for a galvanized iron frame to allow full access (without pillar) to my sump. Probably doable if you opt for aluminum frame too. Well my carpenter keep telling me it’s challenging to build the carpentry for a hooded tank. Realised so as I see them trying to fit the suspended hood to the tank like a glove. The almost completed carpentry for the display tank. Looks pretty much like how I imagined it. The air vent is also designed to allow circulation without allowing light from the tank to be “exposed” on the exterior.

As I had great experience working with CRA, I went back to look for Dan, whose company has been rebranded as Tank Culture, to build my tank. Here are the 2D drawings of the tank/sump layout, inclusive of the frag/lps tank and quarantine tank housed in the Fish room. The 4.5ft frag/lps tank is connected to the main display and sump and both tanks are powered by 2 separate return pumps (always preferred to make the insurance if one fails). The Quarantine Tank is a separate IOS tank housed below the frag/lps tank. You might be wondering why I called it a LPS tank. It’s probably because I