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Taj's fail tank MKI [42 Gal of pure fail]


tajaba

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Hey guys, I've been lurking on here for quite some time now, I really love the community here and gotta say you guys have given me really great info on marine tanks and corals (especially corals) so I decided to share my tank and its progress here. I really welcome any and all criticisms since I am a total noob in the marine scene.

 

anyways heres the tank spec

 

Tank:

Custom tank by Nano-Life (AIO with 3' back chamber)

1 cm glass

Dimensions: 30" X 22" X18"

Display: 30" X 19" X 18"

Back Chamber: 30" X3" X18"

Stand:

Custom teak wood stand

Dimension: 31" X 34" X 23"

Equipment:

note that alot of my choices aren't actually choice, they're more forced since the choice is very limited here in Thailand (of all countries I could have moved to).

1. Flow

- Tunze 6045

- Ecotech Marine MP10W

- Sicce syncra 1.5

- Eheim Compact 1000

- Sicce syncra 1.0

2. Filtration

- Skimz SH2 skimmer (turbo)

- Bubble magus in-sump reactor X2

- TLF Phosban reactor

3. Temperature

- some scientific temperature sensor

- Artica 1/10 HP Chiller

4. Lighting

- Zetlight ZP3600

5. Media

- Seachem Phosguard

- Seachem Purigen

- Seachem matrix

6. Misc

- Macro aqua ATO with ghetto rigged reservoir

- Tropic Marin Bio-Actif salt

Water Parameters:

+SG: 1.027 +PH: 8.0 +Temp: 26-26.5C +NH4: 0 +Nitrite/Nitrate: 0 +dKH: 11.2 +Ca: 460ppm +Mg: 1410ppm +Phosphate: 0.2 - 0 ppm (still not sure about salifert test kit)

 

Tank was set up on 5/16/13 and has been running ever since.

 

heres a pic of the set up

2jdm0wy.jpg

 

 

the tank and stand were heavy as hell and since my gf got fed up with me since the planted tank, she decided not to help so I got no picture of the pieces

 

at first there was this

ic4kle.jpg

2qtfm68.jpg

ml4c1s.jpg

2ewo50o.jpg

 

 

the rock work wasn't really nice (but hey I just took these rocks out of the ocean and paid off the security guard for 50 thai baht (2 bucks)

 

tried to change it up a bit

2rqy99x.jpg

 

Current Gear setup

2zjm4pt.jpg

v4m36g.jpg

 

 

and heres the view from my bed

micmxu.jpg

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llama roadkill

Hey guys, I've been lurking on here for quite some time now, I really love the community here and gotta say you guys have given me really great info on marine tanks and corals (especially corals) so I decided to share my tank and its progress here. I really welcome any and all criticisms since I am a total noob in the marine scene.

 

anyways heres the tank spec

 

 

Tank:

Custom tank by Nano-Life (AIO with 3' back chamber)

1 cm glass

Dimensions: 30' X 22' X18'

Display: 30' X 19' X 18'

Back Chamber: 30' X3' X18'

 

Stand:

Custom teak wood stand

Dimension: 31' X 34' X 23'

 

Equipment:

note that alot of my choices aren't actually choice, they're more forced since the choice is very limited here in Thailand (of all countries I could have moved to).

 

1. Flow

- Tunze 6045

- Ecotech Marine MP10W

- Sicce syncra 1.5

- Eheim Compact 1000

- Sicce syncra 1.0

 

2. Filtration

- Skimz SH2 skimmer (turbo)

- Bubble magus in-sump reactor X2

- TLF Phosban reactor

 

3. Temperature

- some scientific temperature sensor

- Artica 1/10 HP Chiller

 

4. Lighting

- Zetlight ZP3600

 

5. Media

- Seachem Phosguard

- Seachem Purigen

- Seachem matrix

 

6. Misc

- Macro aqua ATO with ghetto rigged reservoir

- Tropic Marin Bio-Actif salt

 

Water Parameters:

+SG: 1.027 +PH: 8.0 +Temp: 26-26.5C +NH4: 0 +Nitrite/Nitrate: 0 +dKH: 11.2 +Ca: 460ppm +Mg: 1410ppm +Phosphate: 0.2 - 0 ppm (still not sure about salifert test kit)

 

Tank was set up on 5/16/13 and has been running ever since.

 

heres a pic of the set up

2jdm0wy.jpg

 

 

the tank and stand were heavy as hell and since my gf got fed up with me since the planted tank, she decided not to help so I got no picture of the pieces

 

at first there was this

ic4kle.jpg2qtfm68.jpgml4c1s.jpg2ewo50o.jpg

 

 

the rock work wasn't really nice (but hey I just took these rocks out of the ocean and paid off the security guard for 50 thai baht (2 bucks)

 

tried to change it up a bit

2rqy99x.jpg

 

 

Current Gear setup

2zjm4pt.jpgv4m36g.jpg

 

 

and heres the view from my bed

micmxu.jpg

Did I see a Moorish Idol or a Bannerfish?

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Did I see a Moorish Idol or a Bannerfish?

Its a bannerfish, juvi, it has since been moved to my friend's 100gal tank, shame, i really loved the guy, but i got no room for him.

 

I hope its a banner.

Its a banner, please dont call the tang police lol

 

heres a better pic

vdlll0.jpg

 

he helped out alot with aiptasia majanos and especially the millions of worms that came crawling out of the rock in the beginning

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FishBrawler

Thought I would mention this... not to be OCD, but your dimensions, 30' X 22' X18'.... 30 feet by 22 feet by 18 feet!? I think you mean inches not feet so 30" X 22" X 18"!

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Thought I would mention this... not to be OCD, but your dimensions, 30' X 22' X18'.... 30 feet by 22 feet by 18 feet!? I think you mean inches not feet so 30" X 22" X 18"!

yes I meant inches, although, a 30 feet tank is not a bad idea if I wanted to bankrupt myself lol!

 

editted for OCD

 

on a side note, my 8gal is coming along nicely, but I think I'm going to transfer the corals to the 42 once I I get the rock work in place, maybe leave a few softies.

 

2n0tp2x.jpg

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llama roadkill

yes I meant inches, although, a 30 feet tank is not a bad idea if I wanted to bankrupt myself lol!

 

editted for OCD

on a side note, my 8gal is coming along nicely, but I think I'm going to transfer the corals to the 42 once I I get the rock work in place, maybe leave a few softies.

 

2n0tp2x.jpg

Nice corals and scape! I would reccomend some nassarius to clean up the sand and some Ceriths and Nerites to clean the glass.

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Nice corals and scape! I would reccomend some nassarius to clean up the sand and some Ceriths and Nerites to clean the glass.

snails? what snails?!?!

 

lol, in all honesty, I made a rather extensive list of CUC I am going to need for both my tanks when I started out. After 3 months, I kinda gave up since I knew for a fact that no one in this country sells them. Cerith snails, Nerite snails, Nassarius, anything. I got lucky and managed to get some hermit crabs (3) of different species that they got as extra from a fish catch and some abalones which I rescued from a local market, along with Trochus snails and some sort of Turbo snail which cannot right themselves when they inevitably fall from the glass. Every other CUC are just from the LR that I stole from the ocean.

 

ps: In the picture you can see the Trochus snails and Turbo (those ain't dead). Incidentally, You guys will NOT believe what they call Trochus snails here

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llama roadkill
snails? what snails?!?!

 

lol, in all honesty, I made a rather extensive list of CUC I am going to need for both my tanks when I started out. After 3 months, I kinda gave up since I knew for a fact that no one in this country sells them. Cerith snails, Nerite snails, Nassarius, anything. I got lucky and managed to get some hermit crabs (3) of different species that they got as extra from a fish catch and some abalones which I rescued from a local market, along with Trochus snails and some sort of Turbo snail which cannot right themselves when they inevitably fall from the glass. Every other CUC are just from the LR that I stole from the ocean.

 

ps: In the picture you can see the Trochus snails and Turbo (those ain't dead). Incidentally, You guys will NOT believe what they call Trochus snails here

 

Oh! I see them!

 

Is it illegal to import them?

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Oh! I see them! Is it illegal to import them?

 

Alot of animal imports are illegal in Thailand, but we do it anyways, heh, if they can smuggle 25% of a single species of endangered turtle, they can get by with some Corals. Unfortunately, nobody is willing to import the snails since not alot of money in them, nor do they ship particulary well I suppose. But I am still keeping an eye out for odd balls and what not

 

also

 

some fish

6ig1uh.jpg

 

and a messed up GBTA that I decided to rescue before it dies a horrible death at the hands of the LFS (they put it under a single T5 and said it didn't need light)

 

2jer3on.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Update: its 2 am here and I got the worse accident to date.

 

While trying to find my yellow watchman goby in the back chamber, I accidentally knocked the purigen reactor and now the stuff got everywhere in the DT before I can shut down the main pump. I tried to clean up as much as I could, but still a sizeable amount of purigen in my tank.......everywhere! :(

 

anyone got suggestion as to an alternative to run in a media reactor? I think I've had it with the puny size of the purigen beads, its been a headache to work with! sigh

 

on the flip side of things, my water is going to remain sparkling clear for the forseeable future! :(

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Update: got back from vacation and everything was remarkably still alive and well so

 

went ahead and switched out the rocks for some new look (Now with a bridge!) While I was away, I cycled the new rocks that I wanted to put in before throwing them into the main tank

 

old look:

11t03no.jpg

 

new and improved rockworks (were live rocks but dried them, then re-cycled

2aeujnt.jpg

 

1 week after set up

29spxe.jpg

 

2 weeks after set up

29xjknt.jpg

 

most current pic

jtbgc9.jpg

 

 

since I put in the rocks, I have since lost 3 shrimps (basically all my shrimps) but the hermit crabs and snails, fish, etc are all still fine and thriving.

 

Since I was beginning to become paranoid, I went out and bought some hanna HCs to see what the heck was going on with my water

 

well guess what:

 

29bh5dy.jpg

 

tainhw.jpg

 

so it appears that my seachem test kits are pretty much cr*p it seems my Alk is on the way low side, along with the phosphate of 0.07ppm

 

I'm currently not dosing anything and using seachem phosguard

 

anyone got any ideas as to how to correct these 2 things?

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  • 1 year later...

Hey guys, just wanted to give you all an update, its been roughly 2 years now since I first started this tank, Honestly, I didn't think I'd make it this far.

 

Honestly, there were actually times that I just stopped doing maintainance and hoping that everything would die. Apparently, not doing maintainance was what my reef tank wanted.......

 

also: smirnoffno21__75058__82439.1407758223.12

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Growth didn't really start off until just about new year of 2014. I recently came back from a vacation in Phuket and got a little red mangrove seedling that some kid was whacking each other around with, reading the thread here http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/332527-mangrovesaquariums-and-you/ actually made me realize that it wasn't an oddly shaped Dil.......ahem* cucumber, so I gave the kids an equivalent of 5 cents and promptly brought it back with me to Bangkok.

 

24oohmg.jpg

11c41oj.jpg

 

Here it is roughly 2 weeks later this is roughly around the time I actually started dosing Vodka to see if I can bring my nitrates down a bit more. Before that time, my nitrate was always around 0.2

 

zx45tv.jpg

 

Meanwhile, the goby has been relegated to the 9 gallon since he keeps getting bullied by the bicolor blenny

 

2upppwx.jpg

 

He's the master of this tank now and still is

 

e8v9lf.jpg

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Maybe its the vodka, maybe its this that made the difference?
2ui9nbp.jpg

 

2/14

t83t47.jpg

 

my gf bought me the frag tree on the left so I can stop "so the snails won't knock the corals over anymore"

 

also, got another mangrove from the coastal forestry department (legally)

 

mr91g3.jpg

 

PLEASE Before you lynch me for having not 1, but 2 Regal tangs: please note that didn't exactly buy them but they came free with some corals I bought since the store thought they were gonna die anyways

 

also: I bought the banana wrasses to eat Montipora nudibranchs around febuary, this was all I had left of the plating montis before they ate all the MEN

 

and the award for the worst rescue goes to: dz9eec.jpg

 

never put a cowry in a reef tank, that dude will literally eat all your corals, but he does a good job of keeping the small tank clean (of literally all the corals again, but I didn't have a better choice at the time)

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These were some of the last corals I put into the tank: different colored frags of montipora digitata

2/14

2rx9unp.jpg

 

 

5/14: roughly 3 month after vodka dosing started

qpfprn.jpg

2cndyc9.jpg

jgqder.jpg

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here is the Tank in October 2014

33ek32x.jpg

 

the green monti wasn't really touched by the MEN (which was weird cus it ate both my purple-rim and my red plate)

so it shot off first, then the others followed suite

 

t0gp6d.jpg

 

Digitatas

 

qsrqme.jpg

 

this is also the sleeping place of the 2 tangs (I'm making a new home for them which will be finished by next year, please don't kill me)

 

59vq6o.jpg

 

the red plating recovered nicely (I thought it was a goner)

 

The sliver of green birdsnest (part of the original of the tank)

 

rbch2b.jpg

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the little section of purple-rim I managed to save regrew

2mcbrir.jpg

 

also, Does anyone know what this is?

 

1zv3kif.jpg

 

now I know the right one is an encrusting montipora, but the left one? no idea, they seem to be ok-ish together

 

21c8gvd.jpg

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11/14

 

24cfm1s.jpg

 

 

and here is the recent updates

 

3/15

 

after a year of vodka dosing:

 

k9uib6.jpg

 

2coou9s.jpg

 

and here is what I mean by cowries eating everything

 

fnybgl.jpg

 

about 2 month ago, I changed my small tank into a sort of refugium because every coral I throw in there gets eaten by the cowry

 

also, I throw digitata frags that I don't want in there

 

 

About 2 month ago I started having some problems with cyano after almost 10 months of no problems at all with vodka dosing

 

anyone have any suggestions? Could it have something to do with me losing an abalone in the tank? (I took out the corpse right away though) should I just wait it out? its been 2 months and I can't figure out why there are suddenly tons of cyano in the tank

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