Mark's Triton Drop in the Ocean

[Phantomwinger]

Love everything about this tank. What type of tang is that and how is the puffer in the tank with the corals and other inhabitants ?

Thanks Doc!
The Tang is a Kole Tang. Was a toss up between that or a Yellow, but the colours of the Kole are gorgeous. As always photos don't do it justice. It's also doing its thing with algae. It just eats the lot!

Unfortunately the Puffer had to go back to the shop. It was a purchase based on the wife and myself just falling for it.
I thought it was worth the risk, but it wasn't. It's personality was by far the best I've ever known in my 6 salty years. However, the minute I dropped in a CUC, boom. Snails were flipped and chipped at. I'm guessing he ate the hermit crabs too
There was no way I could start stocking coral or any more critters so he had to go.
Maybe one day of I have the luxury of separate Reef and FOWL tanks, I'll get another.
[emoji24][emoji24]

 

[Phantomwinger]

I do hold my hand up and say I should never have made a purchase like the Puffer. I knew better.
But it was soooo nice!

 

[Phantomwinger]

I Popped in to Aquarium Connections today to drop off my Triton water samples and ended up getting the full tour off Vincent.
For those who don't know, Aquarium Connections are the UK distributor for Triton. They also make arguably the nicest bespoke tanks in the U.K.

If you haven't been down, do so. The new unit is looking nice and they have some amazing tanks and awesome ideas in the pipeline for water flow.
Anyway, I ended up going home with a few frags which looked nice on the coral table.
Nothing spectacular, but really nice.

Dropped them into my aquarium which only got Triton running at the weekend and the difference in those frags to everything else i have is outstanding.
The quality and the colours just blow everything else away. You could easily pick out the ones that came out of Vince's system.
Just wish i had a decent camera to prove the point!

I'll do my best to get some decent photos....

 

[MCooper]

Thanks Doc!
The Tang is a Kole Tang. Was a toss up between that or a Yellow, but the colours of the Kole are gorgeous. As always photos don't do it justice. It's also doing its thing with algae. It just eats the lot!

Unfortunately the Puffer had to go back to the shop. It was a purchase based on the wife and myself just falling for it.
I thought it was worth the risk, but it wasn't. It's personality was by far the best I've ever known in my 6 salty years. However, the minute I dropped in a CUC, boom. Snails were flipped and chipped at. I'm guessing he ate the hermit crabs too
There was no way I could start stocking coral or any more critters so he had to go.
Maybe one day of I have the luxury of separate Reef and FOWL tanks, I'll get another.
[emoji24][emoji24]

So I am glad I read this because I know I have asked many people about the puffer, and I was all set to get one. I am going to pass on the puffer hahah.
I had a gorgeous yellow eye kole that didn't make in QT and def. going to get another! Keep up the posts, love this tank!

 

[najer]

My return section from the tank and the pumps return to section to the tank have coraline on, no detritus, ... not sure about the refugium as I can't really see in!
I added 1 big indo. turbo, 6 cowries (I think) and 6 mexican red tip hermits after the refugium had been running for about 3 weeks.
Be interesting to see the difference in yours.

 

[Phantomwinger]

My return section from the tank and the pumps return to section to the tank have coraline on, no detritus, ... not sure about the refugium as I can't really see in!
I added 1 big indo. turbo, 6 cowries (I think) and 6 mexican red tip hermits after the refugium had been running for about 3 weeks.
Be interesting to see the difference in yours.

I'll pick up everything my LFS in stock and see how they get on.
Do you have any shots of your sump?

 

[Phantomwinger]

Tried to get some decent photos...but I'm garbage!

So here's a video [emoji16]

 

[Phantomwinger]

You might notice that the coarse crushed coral substrate on the ledge is green. It's an absolute algae magnet.
Speaking to Vince at Aquarium Connections and he suggested that it's because coarse substrate traps detritus whereas fine let's it sit on the surface. The water flow then shifts it nice and easy.

Time to get it out of there. Might leave it bare bottom. Just a thought....open to suggestion.

 

[Phantomwinger]

I've struggled with setting up a decent schedule for the Hydra HDs, so downloaded one from another forum.
The guy has put an amazing amount of effort into this, but it was certainly worth it!

 

[najer]

I'll try and get some sump pics later.

 

[najer]

So, 2 sets of feed pipes as both ends of the tank have their own weirs, corner weir for each pair to slow the flows, probably at 8 - 10 K lph through the sump.



2 trays of mineral mud and the big oxydator.



Eheim 2000 return to cube end, M1 return to the display end.



Skanky fuge!

 

[revhtree]

Looks good!

 

[mushroomrob]

That lighting looks like a movie scene.

 

[Phantomwinger]

So, 2 sets of feed pipes as both ends of the tank have their own weirs, corner weir for each pair to slow the flows, probably at 8 - 10 K lph through the sump.



2 trays of mineral mud and the big oxydator.



Eheim 2000 return to cube end, M1 return to the display end.



Skanky fuge!

Looking nice Najer!
A Razor for the fuge? That's impressive. I have a raisin in the loft. So might give that a bash.

The Oxydator. Source of many discussions on the old nano site. I've only got the smaller 2 versions and not used them for ages. Like the Mangroves. Would love to T of the over flow and have a mangrove only shallow tank....maybe I'll do that!

 

[Phantomwinger]

That lighting looks like a movie scene.

What lightening dude? Maybe that's just my awful camera work [emoji16][emoji16]

 

[Phantomwinger]

Just ordered a bunch of new Zoa and Paly polyps for the branch rock work. Not one for funky names, but here's what i ordered:
Blow Pops
Black Lotus
Fire & Ice
Green Bay Packers
Green Implosion Paly
Purple Puddle
Green People Eater
Reverse Space Monster
Pink & Gold
Purple Death
ZH High Viz
ZH Dark Water
ZH Gremlin

Should add a tonne of colour

 

[Phantomwinger]

Just want to put this on record regarding the guy who built my tank:

I would never recommend him to anyone. Despite some good reviews over the years, i'm afraid that Ocean Displays (Jay) should be avoided.
Why?
When you are spending a lot of cash on tank you expect the basic things:
- Good quality
- Good communications & updates
- Good service
- Realistic time expectations and meeting those expectations
- Meeting the build brief

Unfortunately, i got none of those things.

I ordered a 4x2x2 tank in January, 3-4 weeks later my wife realised how big it would be so i asked if he'd built anything (as i'd had no update). He said he'd done the glass, but could easily move that on. So we agreed on a new build, based on a tank he had built previously.

This tank was delivered 6 months later with literally not a single call or photo from Jay. I asked on a weekly basis and the only photo i got was a piece of glass cut wrong.
The week of delivery (at the 4th time lucky following all sorts of excuses) i thought best to make sure he had got it built right. He hadn't so had to make last minute changes.

On delivery he discovered the Sump was too wide so he couldn't hang the side panels. Shouldn't tanks be assembled and water tested before delivery? This build had obviously never been assembled to test.
No plumbing was left apart from 2 ****** lengths of PVC and an elbow joint. Considering i had paid for plumbing, i was ticked! Ended up spending over £100 buying it and doing it myself. Jay lied about having posted the bits i needed.
He promised to send me suitable fittings for the cabinet frames - never arrived, had to buyt my own strong magnets and fit myself.
I specified the dimensions for the sump, specifically for Triton. The baffles were in the wrong place, so had to redo them myself.
Theres black sealant on glass edges too, so not even the tank build is tidy.
The front panels are too small. Jay said he had got some more cut and would ship. Surprise, surprise, nothing!
Have been on to him about all these things and only ever getting the same lies over and again.


DO NOT USE JAY & OCEAN DESIGNS, Stranraer in Scotland.

 

[tj w]

Wow, sorry to hear about your tank builder troubles. Unfortunately there are quite a few people that do business like that. Good luck with future endeavors. You definitely made the best out of what you had.

 

[najer]

Re the builder, had an interesting talk with someone about him a couple of weeks ago!
Such a shame, his early stuff was great.

 

[Phantomwinger]

Re the builder, had an interesting talk with someone about him a couple of weeks ago!
Such a shame, his early stuff was great.

Really? When I placed my order I had a few folk PM me about their troubles.

Both you and I were on the nano forum and there were loads of happy customers on there. It was pretty much the go to for a custom build. That's why I didn't do my due diligence.
Fancy pinging me a PM about your chat?