So it has been about 5 years since I have kept a reef, around that time we sold our house and the wife said no more tanks in the house… what do you do? Well for starters, you don’t keep a tank IN the house. Adapt and overcome!
It started with this base on our north facing (Southern Hemisphere) patch of grass next to our deck. It’s built on a 1.2° grade falling away from the house, while we decided what to do with the area.
Got all the timber and one weekend I extended the deck out, colour will eventually fade to match our existing.
All filled and beginning the cycle. The reason I built this on a 1.2° slope is that top viewing pane is completely sealed, the only access in is through that taller box at the back which hold water another cm or so higher, all bubbles rise back to the box.
I live in New Zealand, a temperate climate.
The water temperature was hitting 30-31°C in our spring days where outside temperatures were between 10-18°, I knew that both a chiller and shade cloth will be required. Never underestimate the power of the sun! The shade cloth gets it down to 28-29°C, so now I’m just waiting on a few parts to get the chiller running. Since filling, the heaters have not come on once. At night I place and insulated cover on top, there’s also insulation surrounding the entire tank/pond? Those side panels can lift up to view through sides if needed.
So the things that need work - Chiller online, a prettier way to do the shade cloth, smaller RODI barrel and tidy up & insulate the tubing/plumbing.
Equipment:
1200x800x450 custom thing.
Super Reef Octopus 2000 EXT
Tunze 6105
Tunze 6095
Teco TK1000H Chiller/Heater
Bubble Magus 2100L/H pump
Reefbreeders ATO
Inkbird Temp controller w/ eheim jagers (until teco installed)
Nice and simple, wanting a few montipora cap’s, acro’s and just let them grow out.
-Credit goes out to Vitor Pestana, for doing something similar in Portugal a while back and reaching out when I had questions.
It started with this base on our north facing (Southern Hemisphere) patch of grass next to our deck. It’s built on a 1.2° grade falling away from the house, while we decided what to do with the area.
Got all the timber and one weekend I extended the deck out, colour will eventually fade to match our existing.
I live in New Zealand, a temperate climate.
The water temperature was hitting 30-31°C in our spring days where outside temperatures were between 10-18°, I knew that both a chiller and shade cloth will be required. Never underestimate the power of the sun! The shade cloth gets it down to 28-29°C, so now I’m just waiting on a few parts to get the chiller running. Since filling, the heaters have not come on once. At night I place and insulated cover on top, there’s also insulation surrounding the entire tank/pond? Those side panels can lift up to view through sides if needed.
So the things that need work - Chiller online, a prettier way to do the shade cloth, smaller RODI barrel and tidy up & insulate the tubing/plumbing.
Equipment:
1200x800x450 custom thing.
Super Reef Octopus 2000 EXT
Tunze 6105
Tunze 6095
Teco TK1000H Chiller/Heater
Bubble Magus 2100L/H pump
Reefbreeders ATO
Inkbird Temp controller w/ eheim jagers (until teco installed)
Nice and simple, wanting a few montipora cap’s, acro’s and just let them grow out.
-Credit goes out to Vitor Pestana, for doing something similar in Portugal a while back and reaching out when I had questions.
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