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Ratvan

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So I may as well join in the fun, I left the 365 Day Challenge tank in the office, the RSM is there and my Clowns are getting annoyed with me having my hands in the tank constantly.  I also went ahead and purchased some corals that i have been watching for a long time now and noticed that the store has a Covid19 Sale I jumped on the sale. (Who doesnt like 25% off corals?) 

So I decided to have a play around with what i have at home and set up with spares.

 

Tank: 5 Gallon L40xW20xH26 (15.75x7.75x1025)

Light: undecided

Heater: 25W Adjustable

Flow: Hydor Pico Evo-Mag 180 with RFG Nozzle

Themes: Euphylliadae Corals and Floating Reefscape

 

Rock: 5 lbs Dry Baserock

Sand: 10 lbs Samoa Pink 

IMG_20200405_121416_resized_20200405_011357051.thumb.jpg.bdd15955aef68e9e2897b93f97235cf0.jpg

 

So I painted the back black on this one, hopefully increasing the contrast with the corals that i will place in here, nice not to see any/much light spill as well

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The internal filter is in the shot to try and remove as much cloudiness from the water as possible

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2 minutes ago, SliceGolfer said:

I’m motivated to try a floating scape in the future. Did you silicone the pieces to the back or magnets?

Silicone, plus crushed coral and superglue "disguise" of the seem

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6 minutes ago, Gourami Swami said:

floating scape looks cool and euphyllia are my favorite corals, I bet this turns out really nice. good luck

Thanks, hopefully this is my chance to slow down and actually nail something. I was going to do straight Euphyllia but decided to open out to the family Euphyllidae to include Elegance, Fox and Smooth Bubble corals as well as torch, hammers and frogspawn. 

 

Plus the tank is a smaller version of my 15G FW that I will eventually convert to a reef when my immortal Betta decides to move on.. so a good chance to practise on a smaller scale

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So coral order is booked in for the 16th. Delivery company is only offering Pre 1m two days a week and I missed out on this week's slot. They've refunded me the delivery costs so now the Cataphyllia I ordered is basically free. 😁

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We have clarity, nearly. 

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Sandbed is pretty level already but will sort that out today, the Macro algae is glued into bio media rings. I am using this at the moment to test the flow in the tank. 

 

Also a little dusty with sediment at the moment

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3 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

I think this is the one. Creative scape. Awesome corals coming. Wishing you and the tank great success. Of course following.

Thanks. I got no excuses for this one do I? Lol. I have been testing as well. Ammonia had a slight spike after adding the sand, this has now dropped to 0. Nitrates are at 40+ at the moment. Will do a large water change tomorrow when the salt arrives. 

 

I plan on introducing the Corals to the tank assoon as possible and add the clowns later on once the corals have settled in some. Might have too much sand in here, but better to remove than to add

 

Lights on now and still a little cloudy but I am finally happy with my scapeIMG_20200407_132519.thumb.jpg.645a46a0beb222ed41e790441e301a76.jpgIMG_20200407_132535.thumb.jpg.4176fe54b7eba153103b0986f2d24bdb.jpgIMG_20200407_132542.thumb.jpg.5e0b453bd57f93df60130b343968bd42.jpg

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IMG_20200408_091513.thumb.jpg.36b13ffd6c64dfe8a059082d47954387.jpg

 

Still not crystal clear but getting there, salt arrived this morning so looking at mixing up my first batch at home. Will water change probably tomorrow depending on the mix. 

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Need to dust the silt/sediment off the macro algae and have a play with the flow on the Hydor pump to see what movement I can get at what levels and areas of the tank. Currently have it barely moving to allow for settlement. 

 

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3 minutes ago, GraniteReefer said:

Never seen tetra sea salt is that readily used in the U.K.? 

No idea saw the mixing parameters were close to what I currently use (Premix from LFS) and was fairly cheap so thought it was worth a punt

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EfrainChicagoDeepdish

Fox corals?!   Yes!!!   

 

Rock work looks great.  Damn floating island tanks are really messing with my multiple tank addiction.  

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So I decided that I would move the macro back to the cube for the time being, all the dust and silt was just settling and looking ugly on them. 

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Today is also the day that I do the first water change on the reef. Good thing the Mrs is out otherwise I'd be in trouble for all the wires. 

IMG_20200409_103513.thumb.jpg.bd646a4177ae96e4701b82e1dc135748.jpg

 

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Right so water change done, decided to see what the mix was

 

Salinity 1.024
PH 8
Alk 11 DKH
NH3 0
NO2 0
NO3 1
PO4 0.2
Calcium 410
Mag 1310

 

Only change I see is my Alk at 11 compared to previous salt at 8. Calcium 10 higher, Mag 10 higher. Cost about 75% less. 

 

PH up to 8 as opposed to 7.8 but not overly bothered about that. 

 

IMG_20200409_123211.thumb.jpg.a2413c95ab45d538a4078c7407758a91.jpg

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14 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Seems like a pretty good salt mix. That PH number is actually better isn't it?

It is but I tested about 4 hours later in the day then I do usually, so 🤷‍♂️

 

It does mix very fast which is nice, only took a couple of minutes to dissolve. Easy to work out how much you need as well as comes with gallons and litres charts. For 1.024 I use 34g per litre

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So seeing as I have some fuzzies on the rock I decided to move in my blue Legged hermit. 

IMG_20200410_164135.thumb.jpg.01fae31c89bb8277eff6c7c73a059d93.jpg

 

Not doing too bad a job, has even pulled some of those Spirorbid worms off and they're now free floating around the tank.

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