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This
Another Anubias added, as well as Water Lettuce for both nitrate control and also aesthetics.
It's well stocked so all helps despite having two filters running on it.
Shrimp continue to breed, 1 Lamp Eye down, all other fish remain, I've embraced the snail population begrudgingly.
12 litres of fun
PS, yes that is 'Evil Pea' lurking above water in the wood, running game with my 4 year old where he ends up on a daily basis, beats Elf on a shelf anyday.
dxbtiger said:
Is now
Another Anubias added, as well as Water Lettuce for both nitrate control and also aesthetics.
It's well stocked so all helps despite having two filters running on it.
Shrimp continue to breed, 1 Lamp Eye down, all other fish remain, I've embraced the snail population begrudgingly.
12 litres of fun
PS, yes that is 'Evil Pea' lurking above water in the wood, running game with my 4 year old where he ends up on a daily basis, beats Elf on a shelf anyday.
Reading this thread has made me realise how much I miss my reef tank. I walked past a fish shop yesterday and had to resist the urge to go in as there would be a 50/50 chance of coming out with the start of a new setup and a bank balance a few £K smaller.
I had a tank which was the same size as a std large sheet of mdf/ply (2400x1200) and 750 deep which was in the house which was connected by 100mm pipes to a 6 foot tank in the garage which had all of the filtration kit in it. I absolutely loved the corals and inverts.
The only thing I dont miss is the cost of heating and lighting it (this was prior to led lighting) and worrying about it whoever we were away for more than 24 hrs.
I dismantled it and sold everything (although I do still have a skimmer and an pump in the garage) when we were about to move house, only for it not to happen and we are still here 15 years later.
I had a tank which was the same size as a std large sheet of mdf/ply (2400x1200) and 750 deep which was in the house which was connected by 100mm pipes to a 6 foot tank in the garage which had all of the filtration kit in it. I absolutely loved the corals and inverts.
The only thing I dont miss is the cost of heating and lighting it (this was prior to led lighting) and worrying about it whoever we were away for more than 24 hrs.
I dismantled it and sold everything (although I do still have a skimmer and an pump in the garage) when we were about to move house, only for it not to happen and we are still here 15 years later.
nute said:
Reading this thread has made me realise how much I miss my reef tank. I walked past a fish shop yesterday and had to resist the urge to go in as there would be a 50/50 chance of coming out with the start of a new setup and a bank balance a few £K smaller.
I had a tank which was the same size as a std large sheet of mdf/ply (2400x1200) and 750 deep which was in the house which was connected by 100mm pipes to a 6 foot tank in the garage which had all of the filtration kit in it. I absolutely loved the corals and inverts.
The only thing I dont miss is the cost of heating and lighting it (this was prior to led lighting) and worrying about it whoever we were away for more than 24 hrs.
I dismantled it and sold everything (although I do still have a skimmer and an pump in the garage) when we were about to move house, only for it not to happen and we are still here 15 years later.
I like the idea of the tank In the garage, I often prefer geeking at the filters.I had a tank which was the same size as a std large sheet of mdf/ply (2400x1200) and 750 deep which was in the house which was connected by 100mm pipes to a 6 foot tank in the garage which had all of the filtration kit in it. I absolutely loved the corals and inverts.
The only thing I dont miss is the cost of heating and lighting it (this was prior to led lighting) and worrying about it whoever we were away for more than 24 hrs.
I dismantled it and sold everything (although I do still have a skimmer and an pump in the garage) when we were about to move house, only for it not to happen and we are still here 15 years later.
I had a tour behind the scenes of London zoo aquarium and it’s amazing what they made do with.
That must have been cool to see. Ive often wondered what goes on behind the scenes somewhere like that.
Their fish stuff is very impressive but any public aquarium ive ever been in the reef/coral bit is always rather disappointing. I assume its the same water running around a number of tanks/displays and they just can't keep the quality good enough for the inverts.
I found myself with a constant desire for a bigger and better setup and what was my main 6' tank became the garage sump when we moved house and I built the 2.4 meter one in the new place.
I was part of a group of like minded reef nerds (as my wife referred to us) and we went to see a guys huge tank in a basement flat in Kensington. He had a bunch of pipes running out to vaults under the pavement with several huge circular tanks which were his "filtration room". God alone knows how much that all set him back.
It was this guys tank -
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=402947781224398
Their fish stuff is very impressive but any public aquarium ive ever been in the reef/coral bit is always rather disappointing. I assume its the same water running around a number of tanks/displays and they just can't keep the quality good enough for the inverts.
I found myself with a constant desire for a bigger and better setup and what was my main 6' tank became the garage sump when we moved house and I built the 2.4 meter one in the new place.
I was part of a group of like minded reef nerds (as my wife referred to us) and we went to see a guys huge tank in a basement flat in Kensington. He had a bunch of pipes running out to vaults under the pavement with several huge circular tanks which were his "filtration room". God alone knows how much that all set him back.
It was this guys tank -
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=402947781224398
nute said:
That must have been cool to see. Ive often wondered what goes on behind the scenes somewhere like that.
Their fish stuff is very impressive but any public aquarium ive ever been in the reef/coral bit is always rather disappointing. I assume its the same water running around a number of tanks/displays and they just can't keep the quality good enough for the inverts.
I found myself with a constant desire for a bigger and better setup and what was my main 6' tank became the garage sump when we moved house and I built the 2.4 meter one in the new place.
I was part of a group of like minded reef nerds (as my wife referred to us) and we went to see a guys huge tank in a basement flat in Kensington. He had a bunch of pipes running out to vaults under the pavement with several huge circular tanks which were his "filtration room". God alone knows how much that all set him back.
It was this guys tank -
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=402947781224398
I was thinking "David sa by’? as soon as I started reading your post.Their fish stuff is very impressive but any public aquarium ive ever been in the reef/coral bit is always rather disappointing. I assume its the same water running around a number of tanks/displays and they just can't keep the quality good enough for the inverts.
I found myself with a constant desire for a bigger and better setup and what was my main 6' tank became the garage sump when we moved house and I built the 2.4 meter one in the new place.
I was part of a group of like minded reef nerds (as my wife referred to us) and we went to see a guys huge tank in a basement flat in Kensington. He had a bunch of pipes running out to vaults under the pavement with several huge circular tanks which were his "filtration room". God alone knows how much that all set him back.
It was this guys tank -
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=402947781224398
My current tank is 1000 litres, it houses a fresh water stingray and a very large fire eel (close to some of the largest ever recorded)
I have a big sump under the tank and then a constant drip in through heavy metal axe which overflows out to an outside drain. I really need a new tank now as they are getting cramped. Next will probably be 7 foot (max that will fit) by 4 foot or slightly more front to back and then 2ft top to bottom. I could move a wall and gain 1 extra foot in length. The current main tank might become the next sump.
I would like a nice nano reef with a big sump on the back, out of sight.
nute said:
That must have been cool to see. Ive often wondered what goes on behind the scenes somewhere like that.
Their fish stuff is very impressive but any public aquarium ive ever been in the reef/coral bit is always rather disappointing. I assume its the same water running around a number of tanks/displays and they just can't keep the quality good enough for the inverts.
I found myself with a constant desire for a bigger and better setup and what was my main 6' tank became the garage sump when we moved house and I built the 2.4 meter one in the new place.
I was part of a group of like minded reef nerds (as my wife referred to us) and we went to see a guys huge tank in a basement flat in Kensington. He had a bunch of pipes running out to vaults under the pavement with several huge circular tanks which were his "filtration room". God alone knows how much that all set him back.
It was this guys tank -
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=402947781224398
You've seen Saxby's tank? Very, very jealous...Their fish stuff is very impressive but any public aquarium ive ever been in the reef/coral bit is always rather disappointing. I assume its the same water running around a number of tanks/displays and they just can't keep the quality good enough for the inverts.
I found myself with a constant desire for a bigger and better setup and what was my main 6' tank became the garage sump when we moved house and I built the 2.4 meter one in the new place.
I was part of a group of like minded reef nerds (as my wife referred to us) and we went to see a guys huge tank in a basement flat in Kensington. He had a bunch of pipes running out to vaults under the pavement with several huge circular tanks which were his "filtration room". God alone knows how much that all set him back.
It was this guys tank -
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=402947781224398
He is massive in the hobby. A driving force behind one of the major British brands, and huge supporter of others.
The running costs of his setup are insane, £20 a day (retail, which I'm sure he's not paying!) of alkalinity solutions alone.
I've done the behind the scenes of the National Aquarium in Plymouth. Very cool, with some incredible breeding programmes. One of the few with genuinely impressive reef displays too.
I used to run a side business importing and selling Neptune Aquacontrollers and then also the IKS ones but DS bought the rights to the IKS stuff.
His tank really is awesome and he was very generous in showing us around. This was prob 15 years ago now.
Ive never seen a freshwater stingray for a fire eel for that matter. Just googled them and very cool!
Never seen the Plymouth aquarium, never even been to Plymouth for that matter but one day... Are the behind the scenes tours at Plymouth or London something you can book or were your tours one off's?
His tank really is awesome and he was very generous in showing us around. This was prob 15 years ago now.
Ive never seen a freshwater stingray for a fire eel for that matter. Just googled them and very cool!
Never seen the Plymouth aquarium, never even been to Plymouth for that matter but one day... Are the behind the scenes tours at Plymouth or London something you can book or were your tours one off's?
Edited by nute on Friday 22 December 21:15
I booked mine at Plymouth on the day. Think they did one or two groups a day. It's a superb aquarium, and the tour guide was excellent.
Balanced being engaging and exciting for the few kids in the group, but also went into a lot of geeky detail for me and another chap who were hobbiests.
Balanced being engaging and exciting for the few kids in the group, but also went into a lot of geeky detail for me and another chap who were hobbiests.
I may have gone a bit silly taking advantage of post-Christmas sales at the Ocean Project, plus a visit to the Coral farm at Prestige Reef...
I now have pretty much all the corals for the lower 2/3s of the tank!
The front six (montipora digitata (both forest fire and blue), purple Pavona, rainbow stylophora, limeberry Hystrix and montipora stellata) will fill the 'middle' layer of the rock work.
I then took a flyer on two species that are traditionally MUCH harder to keep, but am assured have come from colonies used to tank life for many years, so should be as forgiving/hardy as the others - but will need to go higher up to get more light):
Acropora tortuosa in the back, and acropora anthocercis 'red planet' in front. Both will go towards the top of the tank, and Red Planet especially is a tabling acro so it should grow up then out sideways into a stunning colony.
Then, to go with the chalice I picked up a few weeks ago, I picked up five more! These are fairly aggressive corals, that'll actively sting/kill other corals nearby. They're called chalices as they'll grow into round slightly cupped shapes - and will all be placed at the junctions of rocks with sand at the bottom of the tank. Just look at the variety of colours/patterns!
On the far left (as spaced away from the chalices as possible!) is a teal Duncan coral. Bought as a sop to the Mrs for her putting up with me being an uber geek and spending far too much money. Should look something like this once it's stopped being pissed off for being moved from it's cushty life at the farm...
This one will go fairly low, away from any chalices and in a reasonably low flow area. Where exactly that is, I've not yet figured out!
Oh, and I was a little naughty yesterday. Local store had a Christmas raffle where I won some 'coral food'. I'll never use it, so swapped for one of the chalices in the pic. I did then pick up another rock flower anemone - which after some fannying about I managed to get to stick it's foot into a hole exactly where I want it. Time will tell if it'll stay there, or go for a wander.
(Spot Ermintrude the Sea Hare doing Sea Hare type things and hunting out any traces of algae)
My other RFA is the only thing I carried over from my old nano. That one decided, after a few weeks being where I wanted it, that it didn't want to be there any more. So over the course of a few nights, moved to exactly the worst place for viewing in the entire tank!
Just about visible now through a tunnel in the rock work. Won't be as soon as some of these corals have started to grow though!
Hope everyone had a great Christmas, and here's to a successful aquarist 2024.
Plans for me involve - swapping out my awful, horrific gravelly sand that's just a s
t trap and turned fully brown. Fitting a roller filter (and redoing my return pipework to accommodate) into the sump. Reorganising the sump and trying to figure out a way of growing macro algae 'cleanly' to create a habitat for micro fauna, and installing a DD kH Manager and doser setup to automatically test and control the major elements. That'll replace the broken Pacific Sun setup I bought second hand some six months before the tank even got wet...
I now have pretty much all the corals for the lower 2/3s of the tank!
The front six (montipora digitata (both forest fire and blue), purple Pavona, rainbow stylophora, limeberry Hystrix and montipora stellata) will fill the 'middle' layer of the rock work.
I then took a flyer on two species that are traditionally MUCH harder to keep, but am assured have come from colonies used to tank life for many years, so should be as forgiving/hardy as the others - but will need to go higher up to get more light):
Acropora tortuosa in the back, and acropora anthocercis 'red planet' in front. Both will go towards the top of the tank, and Red Planet especially is a tabling acro so it should grow up then out sideways into a stunning colony.
Then, to go with the chalice I picked up a few weeks ago, I picked up five more! These are fairly aggressive corals, that'll actively sting/kill other corals nearby. They're called chalices as they'll grow into round slightly cupped shapes - and will all be placed at the junctions of rocks with sand at the bottom of the tank. Just look at the variety of colours/patterns!
On the far left (as spaced away from the chalices as possible!) is a teal Duncan coral. Bought as a sop to the Mrs for her putting up with me being an uber geek and spending far too much money. Should look something like this once it's stopped being pissed off for being moved from it's cushty life at the farm...
This one will go fairly low, away from any chalices and in a reasonably low flow area. Where exactly that is, I've not yet figured out!
Oh, and I was a little naughty yesterday. Local store had a Christmas raffle where I won some 'coral food'. I'll never use it, so swapped for one of the chalices in the pic. I did then pick up another rock flower anemone - which after some fannying about I managed to get to stick it's foot into a hole exactly where I want it. Time will tell if it'll stay there, or go for a wander.
(Spot Ermintrude the Sea Hare doing Sea Hare type things and hunting out any traces of algae)
My other RFA is the only thing I carried over from my old nano. That one decided, after a few weeks being where I wanted it, that it didn't want to be there any more. So over the course of a few nights, moved to exactly the worst place for viewing in the entire tank!
Just about visible now through a tunnel in the rock work. Won't be as soon as some of these corals have started to grow though!
Hope everyone had a great Christmas, and here's to a successful aquarist 2024.
Plans for me involve - swapping out my awful, horrific gravelly sand that's just a s
t trap and turned fully brown. Fitting a roller filter (and redoing my return pipework to accommodate) into the sump. Reorganising the sump and trying to figure out a way of growing macro algae 'cleanly' to create a habitat for micro fauna, and installing a DD kH Manager and doser setup to automatically test and control the major elements. That'll replace the broken Pacific Sun setup I bought second hand some six months before the tank even got wet... Shining a UV torch after lights off shows why I'm glad I kept the Duncan coral as far from the chalices as possible...
Tricky to see, as they're colourless jelly tentacles, so highly professional CAD image to emphasise...
Those things pack a proper punch. Similar biology to jellyfish, chalices will win in coral warfare nine times out of ten - 100/100 against something like a Duncan which isn't aggressive at all.
Tricky to see, as they're colourless jelly tentacles, so highly professional CAD image to emphasise...
Those things pack a proper punch. Similar biology to jellyfish, chalices will win in coral warfare nine times out of ten - 100/100 against something like a Duncan which isn't aggressive at all.
Caddyshack said:
Looks a nice tank. What are the dimensions?
Was it custom made?
I will need a big tank building fairly soon
CheersWas it custom made?
I will need a big tank building fairly soon
Its 108"x36"x28" with a 6'x2'2' sump. Prices have gone through the roof. A bunch of cowboys did mine but I think they have gone underground again. I wish I had gone with ND Aquatics
simonas2702 said:
Cheers
Its 108"x36"x28" with a 6'x2'2' sump. Prices have gone through the roof. A bunch of cowboys did mine but I think they have gone underground again. I wish I had gone with ND Aquatics
Not a chap called Dave W by any chance?Its 108"x36"x28" with a 6'x2'2' sump. Prices have gone through the roof. A bunch of cowboys did mine but I think they have gone underground again. I wish I had gone with ND Aquatics
He lifted a lot of reef-keepers legs in the hobby a few years back...
S11Steve said:
simonas2702 said:
Cheers
Its 108"x36"x28" with a 6'x2'2' sump. Prices have gone through the roof. A bunch of cowboys did mine but I think they have gone underground again. I wish I had gone with ND Aquatics
Not a chap called Dave W by any chance?Its 108"x36"x28" with a 6'x2'2' sump. Prices have gone through the roof. A bunch of cowboys did mine but I think they have gone underground again. I wish I had gone with ND Aquatics
He lifted a lot of reef-keepers legs in the hobby a few years back...
There's another firm who a couple of years ago were just phenomenal, and still post a lot of installs on Facebook - but a quick scan of certain threads on UR shows some serious issues...
I went to see one builder and his tanks looked really rough, he said they were just for display….wouldn’t you display your best? When I said I wouldn’t be buying he turned a bit angry so I am glad I walked away.
I think ND made my 6x3.2x2 but that was made off site. I think this next one will be on site only as it will be 7x4 on the base (4ft front to back or slightly over)
I think ND made my 6x3.2x2 but that was made off site. I think this next one will be on site only as it will be 7x4 on the base (4ft front to back or slightly over)
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