SLACkra
New Member
Hello all,
I've now been back in the hobby for a couple months after first filling the tank on the 9th of November 2025. My last marine tank was dismantled in late 2011 before I moved across the country to start my career.
I've kept reasonably up to date with the latest tech and methods so I setup the tank with the goal to have the primary filtration being via a refugium. I picked up a 2nd hand 4ft aquarium with a stand for a great price. I got a custom sump built by a local tank builder (thanks Paul at Morley Aquariums). I got the display tank drilled and installed an eshopps large overflow and two returns.
Current equipement is:
2 x Jebao MDP-2500 return pumps
1 x Jebao DMP-20 (on random up to 70% during day time).
1 x Protein skimmer... can't recall what brand, only turned it on last week for the first time.
2 x Popbloom RL90s to light up the display.
1 x Old dimmable viparspectra grow lamp I had laying around for the refugium light. It is pretty bright, i think it's rated at 300 watts but that could be rubbish.
I got dead rock (free from a fellow hobbyist which spent months in freshwater until everything on it had rotten away) and sand (2nd hand). I put egg crate on the bottom of the aquarium then stacked the rock how I wanted then added sand. That way it's fairly stable and any future excavation in the sand from any fish/inverts won't cause issues. I added one single glass pane to the sump to separate the return pump area from the refugium. After watching some BRStv episodes i went with plastic mesh to separate the return pipe area/skimmer area from the refugium.
This is pre filling up:
Once the cycle had completed i turned the lights on briefly, however, I had zero microfauna. The lights went right back off until I got some chaeto as well as some live rock to seed the tank. Once the lights went back on, I did have a brief ugly phase but the pod population exploded.
9th of December 2025:
13th of December 2025 now with a few additional soft corals and two ocellaris clowns:
I just did my first water change today and trimmed the chaeto a bit. So far so good except I found out my LFS has a flaw in their quarantine protocols. They don't quarantine fish that have been traded in. The black and white clownfish was traded in, and I made the mistake of assuming they would have quarantined it properly. It now has 2 or 3 white spots on it so I'm waiting to see how that pans out. If needed I'm going to setup a quarantine tank and run the tank fallow before restocking.
Other than that I've removed/killed about 4 aiptasia anemones that came with the live rock. The rock was also thankfully infested with micro brittle stars and they've spread to the dead rock.
I've now been back in the hobby for a couple months after first filling the tank on the 9th of November 2025. My last marine tank was dismantled in late 2011 before I moved across the country to start my career.
I've kept reasonably up to date with the latest tech and methods so I setup the tank with the goal to have the primary filtration being via a refugium. I picked up a 2nd hand 4ft aquarium with a stand for a great price. I got a custom sump built by a local tank builder (thanks Paul at Morley Aquariums). I got the display tank drilled and installed an eshopps large overflow and two returns.
Current equipement is:
2 x Jebao MDP-2500 return pumps
1 x Jebao DMP-20 (on random up to 70% during day time).
1 x Protein skimmer... can't recall what brand, only turned it on last week for the first time.
2 x Popbloom RL90s to light up the display.
1 x Old dimmable viparspectra grow lamp I had laying around for the refugium light. It is pretty bright, i think it's rated at 300 watts but that could be rubbish.
I got dead rock (free from a fellow hobbyist which spent months in freshwater until everything on it had rotten away) and sand (2nd hand). I put egg crate on the bottom of the aquarium then stacked the rock how I wanted then added sand. That way it's fairly stable and any future excavation in the sand from any fish/inverts won't cause issues. I added one single glass pane to the sump to separate the return pump area from the refugium. After watching some BRStv episodes i went with plastic mesh to separate the return pipe area/skimmer area from the refugium.
This is pre filling up:
Once the cycle had completed i turned the lights on briefly, however, I had zero microfauna. The lights went right back off until I got some chaeto as well as some live rock to seed the tank. Once the lights went back on, I did have a brief ugly phase but the pod population exploded.
9th of December 2025:
13th of December 2025 now with a few additional soft corals and two ocellaris clowns:
I just did my first water change today and trimmed the chaeto a bit. So far so good except I found out my LFS has a flaw in their quarantine protocols. They don't quarantine fish that have been traded in. The black and white clownfish was traded in, and I made the mistake of assuming they would have quarantined it properly. It now has 2 or 3 white spots on it so I'm waiting to see how that pans out. If needed I'm going to setup a quarantine tank and run the tank fallow before restocking.
Other than that I've removed/killed about 4 aiptasia anemones that came with the live rock. The rock was also thankfully infested with micro brittle stars and they've spread to the dead rock.
