Marsh Posted June 4, 2021 Share Posted June 4, 2021 (edited) Hi all I am new to Singapore (relatively 8 months) and very new to reefing. I have been collecting equipment from members of sgreefub and bargains on carosell. Over the next few weeks I plan to put together a build log of an epic reef tank from start to coral. Please follow, please advise and please be entertained as I take my 20 years of freshwater knowledge and throw it out the window. I have really enjoyed being part of the community so far and HOPE to contribue for the benefit of current and future refers. Edited June 4, 2021 by Marsh Spaces 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member Thehaddonicarpet Posted June 4, 2021 SRC Member Share Posted June 4, 2021 Welcome to Reefing and all the best! Anything just askSent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marsh Posted June 5, 2021 Author Share Posted June 5, 2021 Day 1: stock take, cleaning and plan Collected all the equipment together to see what we have. The plan is to try use what we have before buying any thing. https://photos.app.goo.gl/eaq4o7Pfpr5ChpzZ8 I will have to buy some sea salt today if anyone has a recommendation. Time to make RODI water and scrub everything. Call these the before shots. https://photos.app.goo.gl/Z5Y6K4PQb66GoGrA9 https://photos.app.goo.gl/5mypMxtc5yLxmSjC7 https://photos.app.goo.gl/s6sHsHmQNjs6rBhP8 I will also have to fix some plumbing at a later stage as a pipe was cut in the moving process. The sump has 3 section but I am thing how to divide this down the middle to create 6 sections, please let me know your advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admiraltian Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 Welcome to src, u probably need lots of tees, elbows and other joints to create that much sections or just change the sump with 6 sections would be easier? Quote Display Tank : 36" x 20" x 20" Herbie overflow box design, Sump : 36" x 21" x 17", Frag Tank : 16” x 20” x 16”, custom built by Tank Culture. Lightings : Ecotech Radion XR15 Pro x 2 for Main Display Tank, Inled R80 x 1 for Frag Tank. Chiller : Dalkin 1hp compressor with build-in drop coil. Skimmer : Skimz Octa SC205i Protein Skimmer. FR : H2Ocean FMR75 Fluidised Media Reactor with Hailea HX-2500 (Feeder Pump) running Rowaphos. CR : Skimz Monzter E Series CM122 Calcium Reactor. BPR: Marine Source Biopellet Reactor with Continuum Reef Biopellet Fuel. Main Return Pump : SICCE Syncra ADV 9.0 & Jebao ACQ-10000 Water Pump. Wavemaker : Jebao MOW-9 x2 for Main Display Tank & Jebao SLW-20M Sine Wave Pump for Frag Tank. Water Top Up: AutoAqua Smart ATO Lite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marsh Posted June 5, 2021 Author Share Posted June 5, 2021 1 hour ago, Admiraltian said: Welcome to src, u probably need lots of tees, elbows and other joints to create that much sections or just change the sump with 6 sections would be easier? What would be the best way to: 1) remove old glass dividers 2) add new glass/perspex divides Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smartyjones18 Posted June 5, 2021 Share Posted June 5, 2021 With 6 sections, I think there will be valuable space wasted as you need partitions and buffers. Sent from my MAR-LX2 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marsh Posted June 6, 2021 Author Share Posted June 6, 2021 Update Everything has been washed with RODI water. I have fixed the hard plumbing and added a sock filter. I might change the Chiller to work on Hard piping. Should I have my chiller on a separate loop with its own pump or should I put it inline with my return? After testing all the plumbing filled the tank. I ended up getting Tropic Marin Syn-Biotic Sea Salt from Specialised Aquatics. I left the sand that came with the tank and vacuumed it with a sand cleaner, there was alot of fine sediment that came off. The water is not very clear and should this settle? Will activated carbon help? any other advice? I took my first measure measurements: Salinity: 1.024 Ph: 7.7 Kh: 15 (This seems very high?) Ammonia: 0.15 Nitrate: 0 Nitrite: 0 MG: 1290 Cal: 425 Lastly I added 2 prawns in a zip bag with a rock. Let the cycle begin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member Thehaddonicarpet Posted June 6, 2021 SRC Member Share Posted June 6, 2021 Sand being cloudy for the first few days is normal. Just let it settle over time. Activated carbon will not help. KH is very high at 15, may want to test a batch of freshly mixed salt in a container for alk to see if the salt batch has a problem Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marsh Posted June 6, 2021 Author Share Posted June 6, 2021 9 minutes ago, Thehaddonicarpet said: Sand being cloudy for the first few days is normal. Just let it settle over time. Activated carbon will not help. KH is very high at 15, may want to test a batch of freshly mixed salt in a container for alk to see if the salt batch has a problem Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app Thanks, I just ran the test again and it's 9.3, so I must have messed the first test up. I'll test again tomorrow to be sure. All test kits are new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marsh Posted June 7, 2021 Author Share Posted June 7, 2021 Day 2 of the cycle and the tank is much clearer now. Placed live rock today as well. Came from previous owner, rocks had sat in buckets for a few days. Even so there was a snail and a emerald crab that managed to survive the journey unnoticed. (They are in the tank now) Praws are starting to decay. Tank temp is 25 to 28 celsius fluctuating. Not running cooling at night. I plan to hard pipe the chiller. Currently it is on flex hosing with its own pump. Should I place it inline with the return? Should I run the skimmer during a cycle or not? Lights I am running 12 hours. When should I start ghost feeding? Some say from day 1 others say once prawn is removed/decomposed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member dtdream Posted June 7, 2021 SRC Member Share Posted June 7, 2021 The disadvantage of placing the chiller inline with the return is: (1) There's some head loss so you'll lose flow. (2) Flow required for your chiller to cool water effectively looks to be lower than the recommended return pump flow (5-10x tank volume/hr), so there's incompatibility there. (3) Single point of failure, eg. if return pump fails, then it's equivalent to taking out your chiller as well. You have no back up pump/return from chiller. The advantage of placing inline is that you'll just need 1 pump, so you can save some money on the cost of the additional pump and cost of electricity I guess. imo, disadvantages outweigh advantages, but your tank your call. Skimmer should not be required during a cycle, though the gas exchange does help, so you can consider running it dry (no skimmate). Lights is actually also not required, but if you want to turn it on that's fine as well for aesthetic reasons I think it would be good if you bought a cheapish but fairly reliable test kit(eg. Salifert) to test your ammonia levels before deciding if you need to ghost feed or not. You may not be required to ghost feed too, depending on your stocking plan. If you put in a hard-ish fish in first, imo you don't need to ghost feed once the cycle is complete. Just add the fish in and feed for real. Cycle is complete when ammonia is zero and you can detect nitrates. Should take anywhere from 2-6 weeks depending on your bottled bacteria (if you're using any). If no bottled bacteria I would say at least 4-8 weeks or more. Not sure if I was clear but please add the fish only when cycle is complete! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marsh Posted June 11, 2021 Author Share Posted June 11, 2021 Some pictures of the hard plumbing for the chiller Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halif Posted June 11, 2021 Share Posted June 11, 2021 Welcome to Singapore! Just wondering, is there a particular reason why you hard plumb the chiller?Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marsh Posted June 11, 2021 Author Share Posted June 11, 2021 8 minutes ago, Halif said: Welcome to Singapore! Just wondering, is there a particular reason why you hard plumb the chiller? Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app I plan to use the chiller loop to also feed water to reactors in future. That and the original pipes were leaking lol 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halif Posted June 11, 2021 Share Posted June 11, 2021 II see that make sense. Do keep us updated on your tank progress! Looking forward to it.Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marsh Posted June 17, 2021 Author Share Posted June 17, 2021 FrankenTank is Cycled but first some updates, the chiller I spent all that time hardpiping has been removed, it creates heat in the room which only works if the room air is being cycled which it is not at night. I run the aircon in the room 24/7 to maintain temp, its my office as well so I am there most of the time anyway. (you are welcome to convince me on a better solution) I have added some livestock to the tank over the week: 1 orange spotted Blenny (friendly fish) 1 sand sifting goby 1 green clown goby 1 blue tang 1 copper band (eating mysis like a champ) 1 sand star 2 snails 1 boxer shrimp 1 cleaner shrimp 2 medium hermit crabs some corals Equipment: Lights - Orphek Atlantic return pump - Jebao DCP5000 skimmer - Aqua-excel wavemaker - who knows, cheapie thing while waiting for new ones Monitoring - custom Arduino with probes (PH and temp so far) next: crossflow and wavemaker pumps (ordered) diy refugium auto topup auto water change? dosing system? more automation 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alvino Lin Posted June 17, 2021 Share Posted June 17, 2021 Nice FrankenTank is Cycled but first some updates, the chiller I spent all that time hardpiping has been removed, it creates heat in the room which only works if the room air is being cycled which it is not at night. I run the aircon in the room 24/7 to maintain temp, its my office as well so I am there most of the time anyway. (you are welcome to convince me on a better solution) I have added some livestock to the tank over the week: 1 orange spotted Blenny (friendly fish) 1 sand sifting goby 1 green clown goby 1 blue tang 1 copper band (eating mysis like a champ) 1 sand star 2 snails 1 boxer shrimp 1 cleaner shrimp 2 medium hermit crabs some corals Equipment: Lights - Orphek Atlantic return pump - Jebao DCP5000 skimmer - Aqua-excel wavemaker - who knows, cheapie thing while waiting for new ones Monitoring - custom Arduino with probes (PH and temp so far) next: crossflow and wavemaker pumps (ordered) diy refugium auto topup auto water change? dosing system? more automation Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky_1 Posted August 25, 2021 Share Posted August 25, 2021 Beautiful set-up.Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haloworld Posted August 26, 2021 Share Posted August 26, 2021 Bro how's your tank doing? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marsh Posted August 26, 2021 Author Share Posted August 26, 2021 Hi All I have not posted for a while but I have been very busy with the tank and Work. Since I last posted I added quite a few changes: I have battled through some Algae: added a refugium feeding less dosing NOPOX (Phosphate is still high) started a Tang Gang Trying to get the feeding right (any advice is welcome especially if I could get away from daily feeding): Frozen Mysis (2 blocks daily) clams (2 twice a week) Vitals Pellets (Every second day) Algae Flakes, Marine Grazer supplement if algae is starting to look min Seaweed Extreme (once a week) New Live stock: 4 Nemo fish Yellow Fox Face Long nose Butterfly Vlamingi Tang Purple Tang Convict Tang Black Tip Red Starfish wrasse lawnmower Blenny 6 line Wrasse Sea Hare 1 cleaner shrimp 2 medium hermit crabs Clam New Corals: quite a few New Equipment: wavemaker - Jebao MCP120 Aqua forest 110 for GFO Monitoring System is waiting for parts but is starting to take shape. I'll share more at a later stage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marsh Posted August 26, 2021 Author Share Posted August 26, 2021 Just took an updated photo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puffer_jame Posted November 20, 2021 Share Posted November 20, 2021 wow, a lot of progress in a short amount of time, nice tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QiKuaMai Posted November 20, 2021 Share Posted November 20, 2021 All getting into place. Beautiful Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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