Andrew's Aussie 120G

[marine281]

Thanks, i've already had a change of heart on the rocks, i'll be putting the other large pieces on the left hand side sloping out towards the corner the same as the right side & leaving the centre bare, so it will look like a wide, upside down 'V' from the top.

The rocks looked a bit dodgy, so i've given them a rub down with a wire brush & they are now soaking in a tub of water & bleach to get rid of all the old organic material the had dried out on them.

 

[marine281]

Well not much has happened this past week, was busy with the rsm getting it ready for seahorses, we now have 2 plus a mandarin.

I added the rest of the base rock, still not completely settled on the design yet, but have time left to play around with it still.

I also spun the sump around so that the skimmer is in the first compartment & the return in the end one, instead of both in the same like it was. Think it will be much better this way & eliminate any chance of micro bubbles making their way into the display.

Still waiting on the vortechs to arrive before I can fill it up with water.

Can't wait!!

 

[Eric]

Nice Ponies

This build is coming along nice and steady, you'll have it up and running in no time

 

[marine281]

The Vortechs & RO unit arrived yesterday, I finished all the wiring last night & moved the tank into its final resting place. I also glued the rocks in position, so the aquascape is settled now.

Had to wait for the stores to open today to get an adapter so the RO unit could be plumbed. It's flushing at the minute, then the line comes inside & we start filling

The waste water is going into our water tank for the aquaponics system out the back, the high phosphates etc will be great for the plants!

I'll also be getting another, smaller tank to mix up the change water so that it's well & truely mixed & settled before going into the tank.

Andrew

 

[Eric]

Nice layout and good use of the waste water.

 

[marine281]

Thanks, I took my time on this one to make sure everything was right before water went in. Having another tank going was a nice distraction, as it stopped me from rushing

Glad that it's finally getting wet though, there were crickets jumping around in there last night!

Now the really fun part begins!

 

[tnwillia]

Super build!

 

[marine281]

The display has about an inch to go off being filled, the sump should be full by morning. About to fire up the vortechs & see what sort of mahem they can create

I'll attempt to take a video if it looks any good.

 

[marine281]

Couple of short vids of the vortechs in action, they are in Nutrient transport mode. Still figuring out all tthe different settings, but looks promising. I just added the salt mix a few minutes ago & you can see the flow paterns & speed in the cloudyness. Should do the job!

Now just gotta wait for the water to settle & the sump to fill & I can start thinking about what i'm going to grow & where.

P5131526.flv video by rsm281 - Photobucket

P5131525.flv video by rsm281 - Photobucket

 

[marine281]

Try this one, compressed & merged into one file.

untitled9.flv video by rsm281 - Photobucket

 

[marine281]

This is the biggest tank i've ever set up, so I have a question regarding the cycle. Am I going to see the changes, or is the water volume big enough that it will "dilute it", i'd estimate around 140-150 gal of water once rocks etc are taken into account..

 

[marine281]

Has been up & running for just over a week now. Diatoms started appearing a few days ago, and now the whole thing looks rather brown & unpleaseant

Still haven't detected any nitrite or nitrate & ammonia hasn't changed since initital set-up- could be a dodgy test kit though, its a few years old now, so I might get another to confirm.

This waiting part sucks the most!

My mandarin in the 130 has taken to frozen food- took about a week to get him eating, Vermetid worms helped a lot. They catch the shrimp & gave him plenty of time to examine them before eating. He is comfortable with them now though & is starting to eat mid water rather than scouring the rocks.

Off to get a container for my ATO now, and something to raise the skimmer a bit higher up in the sump.

 

[marine281]

Skimmer is running great now that i've raised it up a bit & the ATO is installed & running. I was having to add a litre a day, which I didn't want to be doing.. I have 10 litres in the tub above the sump now, so thats one problem fixed

Other than that everything is running smoothly. I have moved my 2 captive bred clowns in & a few snails. Everyone settled very quickly. The clowns took a while to explore after living in a 10 gal temporarily, but are now doing laps & enjoying the space.

I'm thinking of stocking more soft corals rather than the SPS now. The motion that the vortechs create is awesome, and I think that a collection of corals that wave in the flows would look really cool. So anemonies, torch coral, etc.

This last one is a frag of a coral that has grown incredibly fast in my other tank after the removal of the foxface & blenny that enjoys eating it. I'm hoping it will grown up the overflow box section.

 

[1Reefer]

Great update Andrew! Its gonna be cool to look back on these pics for growth rates!

 

[tnwillia]

Great start Andrew, got to love the vortech's!

 

[marine281]

The vortechs are good normally, but the ES models are really something else, it give so much variety in flow.. I'm sitting at the dining table watching a still surface that moments ago was surging with a huge wave motion. Now one pump is running flat out while the other just ticks over, lifting detritus off the rocks. Brilliant!!

It is great to look back at how things progress, i'm not running full lighting as yet, so growth will be minimal I imagine. I want to get everything in place where I want it to grow, then gradually bring them up to full power.

Its pay day tomorrow, so i'll be out buying some bits & pieces over the weekend to start getting some life & color in there.

 

[marine281]

It was my birthday on the weekend, so my gf bought me some bits & pieces.

Got a great macro algae rock for the small tank, which the seahorses love. Had to make some room for it though, so transferred a couple of corals over to the 120 gal.

I dropped a smaller diameter length of pipe down the centre of the overflow, which has pretty much eliminated the gurgling sounds, except when the waves are really going hard. The loudest thing now is the skimmer, which isn't too bad.

RSM

120 gal

 

[Eric]

Man the tanks are looking GREAT!

Happy Birthday as well, i know it's a little late

 

[marine281]

Thanks Eric

I just finished replacing a dodgy ballast in the light unit tonight, so we are at full power finally (fingers crossed it stays that way!)

My next project is to make some covers for the sump, there is a bit of salt spray collecting on one of the doors, & I don't really want it to end up under the tank wrecking the floor.. so i'll grab some sheets of pvc over the weekend & get that done hopefully.

 

[marine281]

Got a couple of encrusting acans today, one is green & the other red/blue. I'll take some pics when i've got the energy, but i've spent the afternoon attacking the garden with a chainsaw, so all I can be bothered doing is looking at reef sanctuary & drinking beer