- Joined
- Dec 14, 2018
- Messages
- 19
- Reaction score
- 11
I've had a 4x2x2 running since the start of 2012; it's moved house 4 times, so it's been through some things.
It was left with minimal maintenance for most of a year when my life changed (mostly travelling to see my now wife), I went through 2 years of trying to recover from the algae disaster this created, and we'd moved house, but never quite got it under control.
We moved into our own home finally, and the tank was empty for months, with the fish and rock in a spare tank in the garage somehow surviving woeful conditions while I searched for motivation to set this tank up, and do try to make a fresh start using nothing but the tank and my fish.
From memory, I started this tank up again in late 2018. I had a new sump built; a simple 3 section, with one section dedicated as the ATO reservoir. I bought mostly base rock, with only minimal live rock, and initially I put on a Mars Aqua 300w to get it going.
Essentially, I'd started from scratch.
Fast forward a few months, and the uglies had started, and hadn't improved. I eventually replaced the Mars Aqua with a pair of Kessil A360s. I had grabbed a few new corals from around the place; nothing dramatic - some zoas here, some morphs there. Basic stuff.
Alas, the uglies continued.
Fast forward to 2020, and the uglies are still a thing; a lot of hair algae, the periodic cyano outbreak, and general drain on my motivation. I could manually remove the bulk of the algae and run a filter sock to capture anything that's floating in the water.
I ran a Triton ICP test; alas, everything looks pretty good. No detected phosphates. Hmmm.. I've been around long enough to know that just means that they're being absorbed by this algae.
I decided it's time to move to the Triton method. It's got a lot going for it; I was once an NSW user, but sourcing it here is more challenging; the nearest source is over 100km away, so I've been using ASW. I don't have a lot of time, so I make it 600L~ at a time. I'm also frequently struggling to get a good window of time for doing a water change (one kid at the age where them helping is usually disastrous), so getting away from regular water changes sounds like a plus.
I rebuilt my original sump; I added a dedicated section for the ATO res, then built a fuge at the start much like the Triton method recommends, complete with overflow into the skimmer section. While I was at it, I fixed the rubber grommet thing on the bottom of my prehistoric Avast Black Pearl CS-1 that the pump was feeding into - it was loose, and the pump was never sitting right (which turned out to dramatically improve my skimmer performance).
Once the silicone had cured for a week, I installed it and got it running.
The challenging part being in Australia was getting hold of some macro. I'm not a big social creature, so I didn't have a lot of contacts to steal any from; alas, buying from the couple of places that had chaeto in stock, I spent $100~ just to start off my macro. It turns out that there aren't a lot of places selling much else here at the moment.
I put an old Comboray over the fuge; it was from an old frag tank and was handy.
I've just ordered a Mars Hydro light to put over the fuge. I'd have preferred a Kessil; but I can't justify the cost. The Mars light is cheap enough, and see to be reasonably popular as fuge lights. I need to push the growth a lot harder than what the old Comboray is going to do. I'm sick of the DT algae, sick of the motivational rollercoaster that comes with it, and I'm going after it with extreme prejudice while the motivation is high.
The next trick will be getting some Triton Core 7. There are plenty of shops here selling the test kits; not so many selling the actual supplements. Hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll have them and get started on them.
In the mean time:
- Move the Jebao CP-40 gyre rip off down a little and between the bommies a bit more; figure it's time to see how changing the flow helps. Also added an old WP-20 wavemaker I had laying around into the back corner where a lot of algae was growing. Figure a little flow in a dead spot won't help (I had tried an old 60. but it blew the hammer in the opposite corner halfway across the tank).
- Work out how I'm going to mount the new fuge light so it's ready to go.
- Maybe even take a picture seeing as how I've started a tank journal again.
Gear list:
DT:
4x2x2 custom with crown/custom stand
Tunze 6033 (I think, had it nearly 10 years)
Jebao CP-40 gyre clone
Jebao WP-20 wavemaker
Sump:
Frankensteined 3x1.5x1.5 - 50~L ATO res, fuge, and tight spaces for skimmer and return
Avast Black Pearl CS-1 DIY skimmer
Media Sources Red Devil DC3000 skimmer pump
Waveline DC6000 return
ATO
I will be adding a Jebao 4 pump doser when the Triton core stuff arrives (yeah yeah I know.. it's Jebao. I do have a Kamoer, but it needs love, and its only 3).
Eheim 300w heater connected via Inkbird temp controller
Lit by a crappy USB powered strip light
Soon to be replaced Comboray on sump
Way too much electrical for my liking...
Pics when I get there. Just trying to brain dump everything while I can!
It was left with minimal maintenance for most of a year when my life changed (mostly travelling to see my now wife), I went through 2 years of trying to recover from the algae disaster this created, and we'd moved house, but never quite got it under control.
We moved into our own home finally, and the tank was empty for months, with the fish and rock in a spare tank in the garage somehow surviving woeful conditions while I searched for motivation to set this tank up, and do try to make a fresh start using nothing but the tank and my fish.
From memory, I started this tank up again in late 2018. I had a new sump built; a simple 3 section, with one section dedicated as the ATO reservoir. I bought mostly base rock, with only minimal live rock, and initially I put on a Mars Aqua 300w to get it going.
Essentially, I'd started from scratch.
Fast forward a few months, and the uglies had started, and hadn't improved. I eventually replaced the Mars Aqua with a pair of Kessil A360s. I had grabbed a few new corals from around the place; nothing dramatic - some zoas here, some morphs there. Basic stuff.
Alas, the uglies continued.
Fast forward to 2020, and the uglies are still a thing; a lot of hair algae, the periodic cyano outbreak, and general drain on my motivation. I could manually remove the bulk of the algae and run a filter sock to capture anything that's floating in the water.
I ran a Triton ICP test; alas, everything looks pretty good. No detected phosphates. Hmmm.. I've been around long enough to know that just means that they're being absorbed by this algae.
I decided it's time to move to the Triton method. It's got a lot going for it; I was once an NSW user, but sourcing it here is more challenging; the nearest source is over 100km away, so I've been using ASW. I don't have a lot of time, so I make it 600L~ at a time. I'm also frequently struggling to get a good window of time for doing a water change (one kid at the age where them helping is usually disastrous), so getting away from regular water changes sounds like a plus.
I rebuilt my original sump; I added a dedicated section for the ATO res, then built a fuge at the start much like the Triton method recommends, complete with overflow into the skimmer section. While I was at it, I fixed the rubber grommet thing on the bottom of my prehistoric Avast Black Pearl CS-1 that the pump was feeding into - it was loose, and the pump was never sitting right (which turned out to dramatically improve my skimmer performance).
Once the silicone had cured for a week, I installed it and got it running.
The challenging part being in Australia was getting hold of some macro. I'm not a big social creature, so I didn't have a lot of contacts to steal any from; alas, buying from the couple of places that had chaeto in stock, I spent $100~ just to start off my macro. It turns out that there aren't a lot of places selling much else here at the moment.
I put an old Comboray over the fuge; it was from an old frag tank and was handy.
I've just ordered a Mars Hydro light to put over the fuge. I'd have preferred a Kessil; but I can't justify the cost. The Mars light is cheap enough, and see to be reasonably popular as fuge lights. I need to push the growth a lot harder than what the old Comboray is going to do. I'm sick of the DT algae, sick of the motivational rollercoaster that comes with it, and I'm going after it with extreme prejudice while the motivation is high.
The next trick will be getting some Triton Core 7. There are plenty of shops here selling the test kits; not so many selling the actual supplements. Hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll have them and get started on them.
In the mean time:
- Move the Jebao CP-40 gyre rip off down a little and between the bommies a bit more; figure it's time to see how changing the flow helps. Also added an old WP-20 wavemaker I had laying around into the back corner where a lot of algae was growing. Figure a little flow in a dead spot won't help (I had tried an old 60. but it blew the hammer in the opposite corner halfway across the tank).
- Work out how I'm going to mount the new fuge light so it's ready to go.
- Maybe even take a picture seeing as how I've started a tank journal again.
Gear list:
DT:
4x2x2 custom with crown/custom stand
Tunze 6033 (I think, had it nearly 10 years)
Jebao CP-40 gyre clone
Jebao WP-20 wavemaker
Sump:
Frankensteined 3x1.5x1.5 - 50~L ATO res, fuge, and tight spaces for skimmer and return
Avast Black Pearl CS-1 DIY skimmer
Media Sources Red Devil DC3000 skimmer pump
Waveline DC6000 return
ATO
I will be adding a Jebao 4 pump doser when the Triton core stuff arrives (yeah yeah I know.. it's Jebao. I do have a Kamoer, but it needs love, and its only 3).
Eheim 300w heater connected via Inkbird temp controller
Lit by a crappy USB powered strip light
Soon to be replaced Comboray on sump
Way too much electrical for my liking...
Pics when I get there. Just trying to brain dump everything while I can!