Well over a year now since the tank was started. Had a few deaths and incidents, but over all hopefully everything has settled down now. Just uploaded a HD You Tube video of the tank I record in the week.
Saturday, 16 July 2011
Aqua Medic Percula 120 (440ltr)
25-04-2010
Everything seems to be going ok, have done a water change today, Nitrate's are beginning to creep up a bit. Two new tank inhabitants:
This is "Custard" a Yellow Tang. Obvious name really.
Everything seems to be going ok, have done a water change today, Nitrate's are beginning to creep up a bit. Two new tank inhabitants:
This is "Custard" a Yellow Tang. Obvious name really.
After the unfortunately short life of my sea anemone, thought I'd try something similar looking but completely different. This is a torch coral, not sure if the Clown Fish will go anywhere near it, but it took them about 3 months before suddenly discovering the sea anemone.
Aqua Medic Percula 120 (440ltr)
19-04-2010
Noticed a Red Legged hermit crab eyeing up the former home of a Blue Legged crab today. Old bluey moved out when it found a turbo snail stupid enough to fall off a rock and get itself stuck upside down. Bluey had already eaten most if it when I noticed, so left it to it. Few days later I saw him sporting his new home. Put the shell in when I swapped over from the Nano tank, looks like someone will be moving in again soon.
Noticed a Red Legged hermit crab eyeing up the former home of a Blue Legged crab today. Old bluey moved out when it found a turbo snail stupid enough to fall off a rock and get itself stuck upside down. Bluey had already eaten most if it when I noticed, so left it to it. Few days later I saw him sporting his new home. Put the shell in when I swapped over from the Nano tank, looks like someone will be moving in again soon.
Aqua Medic Percula 120 (440ltr)
05-04-2010
More water tests and things are looking good. A couple of red legged crabs have been put in a few days before, time to transfer last of the rock and the first fishy, Yellow Tailed Damsel. Whilst I know this can be a bit territorial, the tank is so big compared to the old one, I'm sure it will take a while for it to claim a spot!
Possibly moving a bit too fast, but I'm worried about leaving corals and fish in the old tank with no live rock. Once it's been in the tank a while, leather seems to be opening up.
Peak-a-Boo was next to go in. After floating around in the plastic bag for 30 odd minutes, he was straight out and in to a hole.
More water tests and things are looking good. A couple of red legged crabs have been put in a few days before, time to transfer last of the rock and the first fishy, Yellow Tailed Damsel. Whilst I know this can be a bit territorial, the tank is so big compared to the old one, I'm sure it will take a while for it to claim a spot!
Possibly moving a bit too fast, but I'm worried about leaving corals and fish in the old tank with no live rock. Once it's been in the tank a while, leather seems to be opening up.
Transfered Shimpy in the afternoon too. He was surprisingly fast when he wanted to be, having several sets of legs probably helped.
Peak-a-Boo was next to go in. After floating around in the plastic bag for 30 odd minutes, he was straight out and in to a hole.
Finally at the end of the day, it was the turn of Nemo and Titan to be transfered. Straight away they swam to the same right hand corner of the tank and kept swimming around each other, just like they did in the Nano tank.
Aqua Medic Percula 120 (440ltr)
30-03-2010
Things are moving a bit quicker now, had several attempts at re-arranging the rock and had "design assistance" from a friend who obviously thought he was creating some master peice from the way he kept saying "move that bit to the left, no the other left, up a bit, make it balance on that bit" (gravity kept spoiling his efforts though!). Cleaned up some of the rock from the nano tank (looks very empty now and the fish are trying to swim around one small piece that's been left).
Things are moving a bit quicker now, had several attempts at re-arranging the rock and had "design assistance" from a friend who obviously thought he was creating some master peice from the way he kept saying "move that bit to the left, no the other left, up a bit, make it balance on that bit" (gravity kept spoiling his efforts though!). Cleaned up some of the rock from the nano tank (looks very empty now and the fish are trying to swim around one small piece that's been left).
The water is so cloudy as the sand, even though washed, has just been added and it's going to take 24 hours for that to settle a bit. You can also see rather a lot of putty on one of the pieces of rock, this was to assisist with the gravity defying rock arrangement requested by friend who had obviously been watching way too many home improvement programs and thought he was creating an episode of "Changing Rooms" for fish. Look it's even purple, Laurence Llewelyn Bowen would be so proud.
Water tests show that Nitite and Ammonia levels are dropping rapidly to zero, so looks like tank has nearly cycled. Been adding a tiny amount of food too, just to float around and sink to the bottom. I've been told this helps with building up the bacteria too. Also been adding in extra Nutrafin "Cycle".
Aqua Medic Percula 120 (440ltr)
28-03-2010
Wide view of the tank, I'm going to have a main "pile" of rock at the left hand end, some kind of connecting structure in the middle then another small pile on the right hand side. I've also added a little bit of sand/gravel because I wanted to get a feel of how it would look.
Wide view of the tank, I'm going to have a main "pile" of rock at the left hand end, some kind of connecting structure in the middle then another small pile on the right hand side. I've also added a little bit of sand/gravel because I wanted to get a feel of how it would look.
Aqua Medic Percula 120 (440ltr)
20-03-2010
Making the platform for the cave and where the return water will come out from the filter at the back. I've put a T piece on so half comes out here and the other half at the other end of the tank behind some more rock. Just normal waste pipe with lots of holes drilled through it and some plastic cable ties to hold the legs on to the egg crate.
Making the platform for the cave and where the return water will come out from the filter at the back. I've put a T piece on so half comes out here and the other half at the other end of the tank behind some more rock. Just normal waste pipe with lots of holes drilled through it and some plastic cable ties to hold the legs on to the egg crate.
First attempt at arranging the rock. You can see the little plastic stand at the moment, still not happy with the rock, I hate doing this bit as water gets everywhere as I put my arms in, then have to step back to look. Loads of water dribbles down the front too which have dried and left streaks. Also added a load of "Cycle" liquid to help boast the bacteria in the tank.
Aqua Medic Percula 120 (440ltr)
19-03-2010
Live rock day. Over night I put the pumps on and switched on the heater to get the temperature of the water up to around 25c. I add the salt. and then some more. and some more. 20kg of rock arrives in the afternoon and I unwrap each bit and put it in the tank whilst I start to plan how to aqua scape it. 20kg doesn't look as much as it sounds.
Live rock day. Over night I put the pumps on and switched on the heater to get the temperature of the water up to around 25c. I add the salt. and then some more. and some more. 20kg of rock arrives in the afternoon and I unwrap each bit and put it in the tank whilst I start to plan how to aqua scape it. 20kg doesn't look as much as it sounds.
Aqua Medic Percula 120 (440ltr)
17-03-2010
Luckily the next door neighbour has a RO unit for his massive tank and supplies 3 more 25ltr containers full of water.
Luckily the next door neighbour has a RO unit for his massive tank and supplies 3 more 25ltr containers full of water.
Aqua Medic Percula 120 (440ltr)
14-03-2010
Right, second attempt, position good, walls decorated. Egg create from ebay has been put in the bottom of the tank to support the rock. Time to start filling it up with RO water. Shouldn't take too many trips to the local fish shop to get my container filled....
...8 trips later. This might take longer than I thought:
Right, second attempt, position good, walls decorated. Egg create from ebay has been put in the bottom of the tank to support the rock. Time to start filling it up with RO water. Shouldn't take too many trips to the local fish shop to get my container filled....
...8 trips later. This might take longer than I thought:
Aqua Medic Percula 120 (440ltr)
24-02-2010
I don't like the fish tank in the front room. It can't be right in to the corner as the curtains would be too close to the lights when they are mounted and could pose a fire risk. Time to get back to the decorating again...
I don't like the fish tank in the front room. It can't be right in to the corner as the curtains would be too close to the lights when they are mounted and could pose a fire risk. Time to get back to the decorating again...
Aqua Medic Percula 120 (440ltr)
21-02-2010
Time to give the tank a bit of a clean. Whilst it had been drained and cleared of sand, there was still quite a bit of "gunk" in the back chambers where the heater, pumps and filter media all go. A few warm buckets of water and some washing up liquid soon started to help clear out the stinky stuff, although might have been a good idea to have done this outside!!
Time to give the tank a bit of a clean. Whilst it had been drained and cleared of sand, there was still quite a bit of "gunk" in the back chambers where the heater, pumps and filter media all go. A few warm buckets of water and some washing up liquid soon started to help clear out the stinky stuff, although might have been a good idea to have done this outside!!
Aqua Medic Percula 120 (440ltr)
20-02-2010
Nearly 3 months later and a lot of wallpapering, painting and breaking radiators, it was time to go and collect the tank (luckily I had to wait for the livestock to be sold before I could collect the tank so this worked to my advantage). Hiring a van that was probably twice the size I really needed, it was time to enlist the help of two friends and attempt to drive across the Dartford Bridge. After a lot of hard work the tank was loaded in to the van on a thick blanket and then transported to Essex. With more huffing and puffing it was then unloaded and carried it to position in the front room.
Nearly 3 months later and a lot of wallpapering, painting and breaking radiators, it was time to go and collect the tank (luckily I had to wait for the livestock to be sold before I could collect the tank so this worked to my advantage). Hiring a van that was probably twice the size I really needed, it was time to enlist the help of two friends and attempt to drive across the Dartford Bridge. After a lot of hard work the tank was loaded in to the van on a thick blanket and then transported to Essex. With more huffing and puffing it was then unloaded and carried it to position in the front room.
Aqua Medic Percula 120 (440ltr)
01/01/2010
As most people do, once I'd finally got my nano tank sorted, I got a serious case of "I want a bigger tank" syndrome. Over Christmas I started looking at upgrading my tank and on the 1st January 2010 with nothing to do and no real hangover, I headed over to Bexleyheath to look at a tank I'd seen advertised on Ultimate Reef. 4ft x 2ft x 2ft doesn't sound too big on screen, but once there I realised it was over 4 times the size of my current tank and looked massive. I had to have it, I left the deposit and headed home thinking about where I was going to be able to put this new tank.
Having measured up a space, I thought it would probably be a good idea to decorate behind where the tank was going to go as once it was in, it wasn’t going to be going anywhere for a while. Having decided to take of a dado rail that ran around the room (and in to another one, and up the stairs and around the landing), it was time to start stripping the wallpaper.
As most people do, once I'd finally got my nano tank sorted, I got a serious case of "I want a bigger tank" syndrome. Over Christmas I started looking at upgrading my tank and on the 1st January 2010 with nothing to do and no real hangover, I headed over to Bexleyheath to look at a tank I'd seen advertised on Ultimate Reef. 4ft x 2ft x 2ft doesn't sound too big on screen, but once there I realised it was over 4 times the size of my current tank and looked massive. I had to have it, I left the deposit and headed home thinking about where I was going to be able to put this new tank.
Having measured up a space, I thought it would probably be a good idea to decorate behind where the tank was going to go as once it was in, it wasn’t going to be going anywhere for a while. Having decided to take of a dado rail that ran around the room (and in to another one, and up the stairs and around the landing), it was time to start stripping the wallpaper.
New (Oldish) Tank
Had completely forgotten I'd created this blog until I signed in to Google+ and found it had linked to the pictures of the River Reef !
That went ages ago, I've had a 440L Aqua medic now for the last year and a bit. The next few posts will be how it progressed over the last year, so you'll have to ignore the posting dates :)
That went ages ago, I've had a 440L Aqua medic now for the last year and a bit. The next few posts will be how it progressed over the last year, so you'll have to ignore the posting dates :)
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