Peach02's Slice of Ocean

[Peach02]

Did some maths and I found I would save about $1 per water change if I use Red Sea salt and a RO unit but it would cost a extra $25 if I was to buy the RO water and if I buy the RO unit and a TDS meter and do a fortnightly 105L water change it would take me 11.5 years to pay off the RO unit and TDS meter. Essentially with a lot of people saying Red Sea salt is better than natural sea water ill go with it and a RO unit and since mixed salt water can't Carry parasites etc ill quarantine my fish etc so at the end of the day my tank will have no disease in the system not just everything being healthy

Plus this was cheaper without factoring in top off water but the cost of ro unit matinance will probably mean they come out at the same price

 

[Peach02]

Today I picked a cycling container up and planned the rest of the cycle container / mixing station
Container 190L plastic water container
1x aquaheat 300w heater
1x sicce silent 2.5 pump
A bunch of pvc pipe
Red Sea coral pro salt
50 ish kg of Marco rock
5 mollies (once cycled I’ll keep them in here to boost bacteria etc)
But time for the first actual “tank shot” lol

I also did some more aquascape planning I’m taking inspiration from Rico’s Aquariums C.J aquariums and Wayne Desilets photos below are in order I just named and last is my coral zone drawing (I doubt I’ll be able to draw this kind of aquascape

 

[Peach02]

Just need to amend the above post.
Refugium A is for chaeto and some rock
Refugium B is for leftover rock
Water will flow into refugium A and out of refugium B back to the main sump

 

[Peach02]

Got some cardboard and marked out the size of the tank. I’ll start getting some dry rocks, fibreglass rods and putty soon to start the aquascape but first I need to make room for the tank and move some furniture out of my room

I’ve also updated the parts list and stocking list some more


Hardware

Tank

• Red Sea Reefer 525xl Black (white is more expensive and needs cleaning more)

Flow

• 2x mp40 or gyre 350
• Vectra L2 return pump

Lighting

• 3x AI hydra 26 + AquaticLife Light 48IN T5HO G2 Hybrid

Nutrient import

• Calcium reactor or apex DOS

Nutrient export

• Skimmer
• AI prime refugium
• Refugium tank

Battery

• battery backup

Temperature

• 2x aqua one 300w heaters
• Chiller

Controller

• Apex el
• WXM
• AFS
• DOS (if no calcium reactor)
• Trident
• probe holder

Fish

Purple tang
Yellow tang
White tail bristle tooth tang
Power brown tang
Copperband butterfly
flame angel
Coral beauty
2x clownfish
Bicolour blenny
2x mandarin fish
Melanarus wrasse
Spotted wrasse
Yellow coris wrasse
Four line wrasse
flame goby
Yellow watchman goby and shrimp
Diamond watchman goby

inverts

2x blood shrimp
4x acropora crab

Rock + sand

50kg Marco rock + one small piece of live with Coraline

35kg sand for 1.5 inches deep sanded

Corals
Acropora + birds nest + Montipora
Lobophillia
Ricordia
Clams
Hammer
Torch
Frogspawn
seriatopora
Anacropora

Reef gardens

Zoanthid, Ricordia, sps, hammer + torch, seriatopora + Acropora + Montipora + anacropora

 

[Peach02]

Decided I’m going to add a vca random flow generator nozzle kit thingy not just for the random flow but so it splits the return line in two. So I’ll go with the Red Sea reefer xxl kit since the 525 is basically a xxl.

For the external refugium I’ll have to split the input to it from the return line and return water to the sump via another return pump since setting up a overflow that could return water to the sump would be very complicated

 

[count krunk]

A good rule of thumb for refugium is as big as you can fit

 

[Peach02]

A good rule of thumb for refugium is as big as you can fit

That’s what I’ve done, I cut the dry part of the cabinet in half to add a refugium and will also use the one Red Sea has by default so I’ll have the largest refugium I can fit

 

[Peach02]

Plans changed again, I figured if I'm going to save alot of money for a bigger tank I may aswell go as close to my dream tank as I can, so I changed to a waterbox 7226 removed the external refugium put a calcium reactor back in and changed some more stuff so this is what I've come up with now but knowing me it will still change.

Waterbox peninsula 7226
1836mm long
650mm wide
600mm tall

Hardware
50kg Marco rock or more
4x hydra led + 4x ati actinic 5ft 2x ati coral plus 5ft
Ai prime refugium
Vectra m2
2x MP40QDs or gyre pumps
Nyos quantum 220 or reef octopus classic 200INT
Nyos torq 2.0 carbon or biopellets or both
Calcium reactor
Chiller
2x heater
Apex

• Apex auto feeder
• Apex vectra etc controll module
• Power outage detection
• Battery backup

Fish
Copperband butterfly
Achilles tang
Daesanjania Sailfin tang
Powder brown tang
Purple tang
Yellow tang
Naso tang
White tail bristletooth tang
Diamond watchman goby
Yellow watchman goby with shrimp
Ocelarus clown pair
Snowflake clown pair
Flame angel
Coral beauty
2x mandarin fish
Melenarus wrasse
Four line wrasse
Female Leppard wrasse
Cleaner wrasse
Yellow wrasse
Spotted wrasse
8x mollie
Bicolour blenny
Starry blenny or ember blenny
5x acropora crab
2x blood shrimp
5x bangaii Cardinal

 

[Peach02]

Made a Thread for some questions about a DIY hood for the tank

 

[Peach02]

Based on what @jsker said I won’t be doing a hood so I can’t have T5 so I’ll have to go LED only but with the posibility of flourecant lights being discontinued in Australia that might not be so bad. With the help of @mfollen I realised one door on each side of the waterbox dosnt open so I’ll have to find a alternate method of filling the ato container, I’m guessing I’ll put the water in a bin and fill it using a old return pump. After seeing a huge sailfin tang in a similar tank I also won’t be getting once since it would be cruel long term imo

 

[Wrangy]

Liking the new plan and the fish list mate!

 

[Peach02]

Liking the new plan and the fish list mate!

Thanks!

 

[Peach02]

Probably going to shut this thread down for now since looking at the tank it will cost $7000 minimum to setup and being that I earn $60 a week it just isn't realistic for me right now. Hopefully in a few years I'll be able to set this tank up or a better one

 

[Wrangy]

That's a shame mate It's not cheap here is it

 

[Peach02]

That's a shame mate It's not cheap here is it

Yea and unfortunately i can't justify it while having a tank already plus since I'm 17 and will likely move out in early 20's moving such a big tank would be very hard. So I'll have to stick with my 30 gallon for now and continue to learn from it. Btw any advice for my 30g would be greatly appreciated the link is in my signature