Reefkeeping South Africa » Items by silvano14

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Items by silvano14

Marine Aquariums of South Africa

• 

  Starting again

  Posted: September 25th, 2011, 11:10am CDT by silvano14

  Hi,
  
  So I have moved my tank due to selling my place and moving, so I am starting again to a certain point.
  
  My current setup is in a plastic pool in the garage.
  
  I was advised to get rid of my cheap skimmers and get a decent Reef Octopus and then get rid of my two DSB's and my algae scrubber and replace it with a reactor.
  
  Am also planning on replacing my return pumps with a decent 15000l pump, just one instead of the 3 smaller ones I currently have.
  
  What are your thoughts?
  
  For now this will be a fish only tank.
  
  Thanks.
• 

  Welding or screws for frame

  Posted: March 27th, 2011, 9:50pm CDT by silvano14

  Hi,
  
  Quick question. Is it possible to screw your frame together instead of welding the frame?
  
  If not why not?
  
  Thanks.
• 

  Calcium Reactor

  Posted: September 12th, 2010, 8:52am CDT by silvano14

  Hey guys,
  
  I have been made an offer to buy a ReefOctopus Calcium Reactor.
  
  Good idea. Yes/No?
  
  Currently my tank has mainly fish. I previously had a large variety of different corals and then my system crashed and I lost all but 3 coral. I am thinking of starting to restock.
  
  Is a calcium reactor a good idea? If so why and what is the advantage?
  
  Thanks.
• 

  Many tangs

  Posted: September 10th, 2010, 8:13pm CDT by silvano14

  Hi guys,
  
  So this is my thought. Looking at trying to get a school of tangs. I am thinking of a mix Regal Tang & Yellow Bellied Regal Tang, mix of Nasso Tang & Blonde Nasso Tang, Powder Blue and Powder Brown Tangs.
  
  Numbers I am thinking 11, 7, 5, and 3.
  
  How many of each? How do you add them?
  
  Different sizes and if so which ones which sizes?
  
  Thanks for the help.
• 

  No Skimmer

  Posted: July 29th, 2009, 6:37pm CDT by silvano14

  Is it possible to successfully run a marine tank without a skimmer?
  If not why not?
  I read on another post that if you have an algae filter you can do away with your skimmer.
• 

  Metal Halides only

  Posted: August 9th, 2008, 12:28pm CDT by silvano14

  Hi.
  
  I was wondering can you run a marine tank only on metal halides.
  
  If so what wattage and how many of them?
• 

  Pistol Shrimp

  Posted: December 29th, 2007, 9:27am CST by silvano14

  Hi there,
  
  I think I have a few of these guys in my tank.
  
  Should I get rid of them or are they ok?
  
  I know I have one living in my sump and a few in the tank.
• 

  How to stick live rock together

  Posted: December 21st, 2007, 11:57am CST by silvano14

  Hi there,
  
  I have a lot of loose small rocks which I want to glue together in some way to stop rock falls.
  
  What product do I use and will it work if the rocks are wet?
  
  I don't mind taking the rocks out for a few hours but I don't want to let them dry.
  
  Any help will be appreciated.
  
• 

  Why not crushed coral subsrate

  Posted: December 6th, 2007, 1:17pm CST by silvano14

  Hi there.
  
  I have a question to the expert's out there.
  
  Why are you guys recommending to use silica sand and not crushed coral as a substrate.
  
  Surely the coral is more porous which means that more organisms can live in them.
  
  Is silica sand not completely impermeable?
  
  A recommendation was made on my tank to remove the crushed coral, rather course variety, and to rather use silica sand.
  
  Hence my question?
  
• 

  Patience is the name of this game!

  Posted: December 2nd, 2007, 2:41pm CST by silvano14

  Ok so where do I begin.
  
  About a year ago I started becoming interested in an aquarium.
  
  I ordered and 3 meter tank and then ran out of patience as it took forever.
  I purchased a small Nano tank and started enjoying the tank. 2 Clown fish, an anemone, 1 camel shrimp, Polp rock, and box shrimp.
  
  In the meantime the progress with my 3 meter was tediously slow.
  
  When it was finally finished I decided to fill it. It leaked so they came out to fix the leak. I wanted to keep a mix of predator as well as non predator fish. I therefore inserted a division in the middle with a gap at the bottom so the water could move between the divisions.
  
  Anyway they fixed the leak and my eagerness or not enough bracing lead to it bursting four hours after it was filled. I now know it is about 10cm of water in my house if this occurs.
  
  Anyway they came out again replaced 3 of the 4 panes and then I waited 1 month before filling it.
  
  I filled it waited a week then added salt.
  
  It has two 50mm overflows in each corner leading to a 1,5meter sump. With an under over filter. Fine filter media to catch the larger particles of dirt. Then course crushed coral, 4 bags on each side. It is duplicated for each overflow.
  
  In the middle there are 2 skimmers and two return pumps.
  
  I then put in about 60kg of salt. Waited for the salt to be right and then purchased some live rock. Well about 200kg of live rock.
  
  Waited for that to settle and then let my patience got the better of me again. I am not going to say anymore but just say it was a very expensive and sad lesson.
  
  The only survivor well other than for the 4 cleaner shrimps, 4 camel shrimps, 2 hermit crabs, polp rock, and two boxer shrimps was a blue ribbon eel. Strange I though they are super delicate.
  
  Anyway the tank was started on the 3rd of July 2007.
  
  The central division was removed and it is now one large three meter tank. The live rock is all on one side and there is about 0.5m-1m of empty swimming space on the left.
  
  After the loss of all the fish the only things left in the tank were the shrimps and eel. I was overseas for the month of October and left the tank with only them inside.
  
  About 2 months ago I slowly started to add fish again.
  
  I purchased a Yellow mimic tang and a foxface.
  
  Again my luck was not there. The yellow mimic tang just did not eat and unfortunately also passed away.
  
  Currently in the tank there is the following:
  3 camel shrimps
  4 cleaner shrimps
  1 blue ribbon eel
  1 hermit crab
  2 star fish
  A few turban snails
  1 foxface
  1 powder blue tang
  1 brown sail fin tang
  2 african clowns.
  2 blennies
  1 bicolour angel
  1 coral beauty
  3 yellow tail damsels
  1 polp rock
  1 maize brain colour (I think)
  2 clams
  
  Changes made,
  
  I have added 2 dsbs in two 75liter buckets.
  There is about 30cm of free space at the bottom. Then an under gravel filter with filter material. Than about 30cm of fine crushed coral on top.
  
  One bucket is linked to the next one and the first bucket has a lid on it, the second one will get a light fitted at a later stage.
  
  This returns to the sump directly above one of the pumps that goes back into the main display.
  
  There is a self filling ro machine attached.
  
  Pictures will follow shortly as I added a bucket of Kent Marine biosediment earlier today and the tank is rather milky.
  
  Light wise. There are 3 T5 fittings with 1X Blue acintic tube 54W and 2X normal white tubes 54W.
  
  I also have 2 T5 fitting with 2X blue acintic tube 34W and 2X normal white tubes 34W
  .
  There is also a 150w metal halide on the one side. More to follow at a later stage.
  
  Well that is that.
  
  Let me know what you guys think.
  
  While I have the time I am going to upload some pics excuse the milky water.