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Ratvan's Return to Reefing - TMC Signature 45 Cube (CLOSED)


Ratvan

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Right then, I have picked up another second hand tank for my return to reefing. It arrives Saturday 27th February, a small 20 Gallon Display with a Sump, pipework, lid, ATO and ATO Reservior plus some other bits and bobs that I dont know if i want immediately or what they are to tell the truth 😄

 

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Tank:                       TMC Signature 45cm Cube (450x450x450)

Heater:                   100W Adjustable

Controller:              Inkbird 306S Controller

Return:                    Eheim 1000 (240GPH)                   

Powerhead:            Jebao SW2

Light:                      165W Chinese Black Box

Stand:                     TMC Signature Stand (450x450x750)

ATO:                        Yes (cant remember what it is will look when it arrives) think it was a reefloat version 2? 

Reservoir:               5 Gallon

Powerbank:            6 Socket Surge Protected Powerhead

 

Rock:                       15KG Dry Rock & Barnacles

Sand:                        5KG Dry Sand

 

And a look at the sump with ATO Reservior

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ATO Reservoir Removed Sump Top Down

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I have some Bio Media that I will add to the sump as well as bottled bacteria and fish food to start the cycle. 

 

Will be using Natural Sea Water in this initial plans are A Clownfish Pair and BTA's 

 

First jobs will be getting everything level (in a 300 year old cottage this will be fun) as well as make some form or rudimentary hanging kit for the black box and cleaning it all out, oh and fetching my rock from the office which is still currently closed.

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  • Christopher Marks changed the title to Ratvan's Return to Reefing - TMC Signature 45 Cube

Well that took hours, but it is in. As level as it's going to get. Ignore the rock inside it I will be building a scape shortly.

 

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Came with a seneye home, which is currently on eBay. Need a small amount of tubing from the return pump to the output nozzle but other than that and a janky light mount (skip/dumpster diving time) it's ready for a leak test.

 

Sump, the return goes in behind the ato container. Not going to use the rock holder. Heater in the large chamber to the front as this looks to have the most constant water level from what i can fathom, also has space for a skimmer if i decide on one.

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Stand I have mounted the controllers onto the stand and glued shut the drawer as it's pretty crap. 

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All in all a bargain for £50.

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So typically just had the news that i'm working out of the office again full time starting Wednesday. So this is going to move slower than a snails pace. 😂

 

However it does mean i can start transporting back the lights, pumps, ato pump and sensor, dry rock and sculpting epoxy etc so will be more or less ready to fill by the end of the month.

 

Will do a bit more work on the stand this evening, attaching the Power Strip and maybe install some lights for the sump area and fish cupboard

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28 minutes ago, Murphych said:

Cannot wait to see this progress!!! 👍🏼👍🏼

Cheers mate, probably going to revisit the double pillar scape I had in the RSM and maybe flesh it out a bit with some ledges and overhangs. 

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Make some more spaces for BTA's to stick their feet, also considering a Rockwall back again, depends how much rock I have laying around. Should have more than enough 🤞

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15 minutes ago, Murphych said:

Yeah love that Scape man. I was wanting to do that but the central Weir is a bit hard to get into look good...

I liked it too, but I also love a rockwall....

 

So I thought I would check that I have enough sand and dry rock to complete my plan for a rockwall, and yes it seems that I do, probably a little too much. But at least its better to have too much than too little, plus can always sell off what i dont use. 

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Literally just balanced the rocks against the eggcrate at the moment, hides the wavemaker quite well I think. I will still get a nem guard for it, taking no chances. Some of the sand will be used to disguise the pond foam for the rock wall, this has been thoroughly washed and dried out a few times now so definitely dry, clean and dead sand.

So I still have plenty of space for swimming and display in the front so maybe a pillar and a small island as the final scape? Volcano type reef? Bommie with Rockwall? Still plenty of time to plan and play.

 

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I have also planned for a slight gap between the rear wall and the eggcrate wall to hide cables for the SW-8 (i thought it was a SW-2 apparently i was wrong) as well as the temperature probe for the Inkbird (SW version is on order) also somewhere safe for pods and such to hide out. 

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57 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Yay! Nice to see you reefing again. 🙂 

Thanks, nice to have a tank again. Going very slow and steady on this one. 

 

I plan to buy 100 Litres of Natural Sea Water and some live rock to place in my Sump to get the cycle started and then just ghost feed the tank to build up the biofilter.

 

Still undecided on the final lighting options, the easy fix would be to use one of the 24W PAR38 bulbs on some form of reptile basking lamp stand as I am unable to drill into the walls or ceiling due to the building being listed (its old) , or visit the skips/dumpsters in the area for some 2x4 or copper piping 

Edited by Ratvan
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You could go for the "WWC" look and just run a thin-sweeping arm out and towards the center from the back wall and call it done lol. I really do like the eggcrate rockwalls you keep going for, they feel so oldschool and run against that modern "clean negative space" look, plus they get rid of all the old issues by letting you and water in behind them.

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17 minutes ago, A.m.P said:

You could go for the "WWC" look and just run a thin-sweeping arm out and towards the center from the back wall and call it done lol. I really do like the eggcrate rockwalls you keep going for, they feel so oldschool and run against that modern "clean negative space" look, plus they get rid of all the old issues by letting you and water in behind them.

So something along these lines?

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Thanks, I do tend to go for what appeals to me rather than what is currently popular

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2 hours ago, A.m.P said:

I meant in terms of aquascape, they tend to just have one or two lines of rock in v-shapes.

Oh i get what you mean, sorry still on the collecting phase and figuring out how to hang the lights 

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:welcome: back to reef keeping.  Although it's been nice that you've still been around, even without a reef tank.  Looking forward to seeing it progress.  Good luck!

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17 hours ago, Murphych said:

Slow and steady? Come on mate! I'm dancing around with the winky out I'm so excited here... Get a move on!!🤣🤣😱

I did say in the 4th post it would be slower than snails pace. 😂

See!

 

But in other news, grabbed my fish bits from the office so at least i'll only be missing 40mm flexi hose, water and the rock (Friday or monday)

 

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Also will post the RFG on Saturday, the only time i can get to it as during the week its open 14:00-16:00

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4 hours ago, banasophia said:

Looks great!

 

4 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Great progress. 

Thanks to you both, getting there slowly. Still haven't spent on this build just reused what I managed to squirrel away from previous set ups (apart from the cheap 2nd hand tank) have stuck the rest of my fish bits on ebay, gumtree and facebook (🤢) I might have to reach into my pocket and get a 38mm to 25mm step down adapter piece to hook up the return pipe but that shouldnt be too expensive.

 

Also thinking about selling off the Jebao SW2/8 and just running the Tunze with my new idea of NPS tank and maybe a trio of Chalk Bass, porcelain crabs and CUC. Will mean that i need to look around for a decent sized skimmer 🤷‍♂️

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