InAtTheDeepEnd Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 A short while ago my 4gal crashed very unexpectedly and, due to time and financial reasons, i made the decision to dismantle it and quit marine keeping for a bit to focus on my fresh and brackish water tanks (of which I have 15!). But the truth is I'm pretty miserable without my reef, and - as I said to my parents when they saw me getting my "reef box" out again - "I know I said I wanted to save money, but life is short and corals are pretty!" So here we go again! I will be working on keeping costs as low as possible however so am trying not to buy things - except livestock, and even that will be tiny frags because my favourite thing is watching a few polyps over time grow into huge colonies 🥰 EQUIPMENT: Tank: Qubiq pro 30 a local hobbyist gave me when he himself quit Heater: Hygger 100w mini quartz internal heater I already had Pump: Allpondsolutions 600l/hr pump I pulled off a spare internal filter Sand: TMC ecosand that I already had (about 2kg). Light: Nicrew Hypperreef 50w LED that I already had I've just ordered 5kg dried reef rock from iQuatics (£32.99) and 120ml Dr Tims Ammonia (£11.29) for a current total cost of £44.28. I already have salt (Aquarium systems instant ocean which I buy in 20kg bulk refill bags), and test kits but do need to get more RO, which is £5. My LFS is pretty far away so I might look into getting my own RODI filters for my tap water at some point, but not at the moment. This brings my current running total to £49.28. I'm hoping to have a nice mix of easy sps (pavonas montis etc), and zoanthids. 2 Quote Link to comment
Fishy Guy Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 15 tanks?! That’s seriously impressive, and maybe a bit crazy ha. I agree on the corals are pretty part. Look forward to following along. Quote Link to comment
InAtTheDeepEnd Posted January 7 Author Share Posted January 7 Well, one of the 'tanks' is a koi pond but yep, with this full marine it'll be 16. 🤣 i am addicted! 1 Quote Link to comment
fenderchamp Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 What happened with your 4G? Quote Link to comment
InAtTheDeepEnd Posted January 8 Author Share Posted January 8 9 minutes ago, fenderchamp said: What happened with your 4G? It crashed but I don't know why. Ammonia went to 0.5ppm and I gave everything to my LFS. It was devastating because up to then everything was going really well 😞 Quote Link to comment
Pjanssen Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 How long did you last between crash and deciding to start up again? (err, just asking...for a friend ) 1 Quote Link to comment
Staticmoves Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 following. should pull the water post over here so we have all the details wrapped up in one package........... 🙂 Looks like it will be a great little tank. Don't know that my other half would let 16 tanks slide................... I'm just squeaking in my evo as a holding tank in the dark depths of the basement on borrowed time......... Quote Link to comment
InAtTheDeepEnd Posted January 10 Author Share Posted January 10 ahhh the water thing is kind of separate, I usually get from my LFS but we had snow forecast and when it snows I can't get out of the village haha. Then it didn't snow anyway so I went to get water today. It was £9 for 3x25 litre barrels thanks to the owner undercharging me (it should have been £15) l so my total cost up to this point is £53.28 Anyway she do now be 💥 m o i s t 💥........ there's bloody melanoides tuberculata in my sand though 😂 it's been in a bag in the cabinet under my 180gal for two months and there's living malaysian trumpets in it 😂 pmsl Snails will be removed (cuz WTF - although apparently they can survive in marine conditions just fine - but that's not the point; I just do not want them in my reef) and tank will now be cycled with ammonia (it was dry rock - something I've never tried before!). I'd say 'fishless' but am absolutely not putting fish in a tank this size. (25litres/6,6 USG); just a few corals, a few crabs, and snails. Also the light was only on for photos. 17 hours ago, Pjanssen said: How long did you last between crash and deciding to start up again? (err, just asking...for a friend ) It was Nov 24 I took everything to LFS, crash was a couple of days before that. In my defense I'm a chronic insomniac who uses coral watching to help myself get some sleep! 2 Quote Link to comment
InAtTheDeepEnd Posted January 12 Author Share Posted January 12 Oh look. What do we have here then? 🙈 If you're wondering it's a tank of back up rock I'm cycling alongside the main DT Im going to get a light for it and have it full of pulsing Xenia hehe in other news a rock fell off lol. Aquascaping ain't my forte at ALL!! two random freshwater tanks first babies of 2024. So so so cute Quote Link to comment
InAtTheDeepEnd Posted January 13 Author Share Posted January 13 I keep looking at this: pack of approx 20 live rock filter media barrels perfect for nano tank filter boxes - Jbsmarines mail order corals and wondering if it would cycle my tanks. But they've been dosed with ammonia now and afaik would it kill the beneficial organisms on the rock...? And I also want to do this on as low a budget as possible; under £100 ideally, yes for two tanks that's not much at all but it's a challenge Ithought would be worth doing seeing as one of my main reasons for dismantling the last reef was the (alleged) running costs...... (can you tell it's years since I've fishless cycled anything!?) I'm so hopelessly impatient, though. I'm not testing yet deliberately because I'll just realise it's miles away from being coral-ready and get despondent. Quote Link to comment
InAtTheDeepEnd Posted January 13 Author Share Posted January 13 Just bought a light for the 'back up' tank - £72.19 - so total cost now is £125.47 (😬) No more buying until I'm stocking now!! 1 Quote Link to comment
InAtTheDeepEnd Posted January 14 Author Share Posted January 14 nevver mind i got bored of waiting and bought some live said (£11.45) total now is therefore £136.97 help lol 1 Quote Link to comment
InAtTheDeepEnd Posted January 14 Author Share Posted January 14 WAIT both my bank balance and my ebay purchase history are adamant the last thing i bought was a 6 pack of merlot hmmmmmm 1 Quote Link to comment
InAtTheDeepEnd Posted January 16 Author Share Posted January 16 I need to test but I'm scared to test because I know my results will say "you've got a long ass wait bitch!" so .......... also i'm getting all wound up about the uglies for some reason. Wondering if I stock fast growing corals and macro algae early on and have a relatively shot photoperiod if I can outcompete troublesome algae before it gets going at all?? Also I've decided i will get a beadlet anemone at some point down the line when it's more established (but like, we're talking months/years down the line here). Nothing else to report except I had to top off for evaporation; one of the tanks was at 1.028 (the one in the warmer room!) and the one in the coldwater fish room was at 1.027. that's actually quite slow evaporation. (bearing in mind I run at 1.026 not 1.025). (I don't run ATOs because electricity is freaking expensive so at least I freaking remembered to check the salinity.) god i hate looking at lifeless rock. I loved all the micro critters in my rock work 😞 1 Quote Link to comment
geekreef_05 Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 Nice start! If possible, its great to share a full tank shot from a little further back, for perspective. For note, corals and macro algae are unlikely to outcompete bad algae's on a reef. Most of the time, bad algae will just grow over the coral. Patience is the way to go for the cycle... that said, What method are you using to cycle? Your dosing ammonia? Quote Link to comment
InAtTheDeepEnd Posted January 18 Author Share Posted January 18 TIL I need a new test kit. (Yes I use API when I'm cycling just to see where things are at because I find other brands harder to interpret and don't have great eyesight). Retested TAN again after dosing to (what should have been) 2ppm NH3Cl and got the same colour 🙃🔫 Will retest with salifert in the daylight tomorrow morning. It doesn't expire until December 2025 so no issues there I've never started w dry rock before always got mature live rock off other hobbyists so this is new Quote Link to comment
InAtTheDeepEnd Posted January 20 Author Share Posted January 20 Salifert 🤷🤷🤷🤷🤷 it's not like it's evaporating tons and I'm diluting it all out with top-offs either; this is the lid so there's not actually a lot. I tested the salinity today and it's still 1.026 tempted to do a big WC then get some sump rubble and hardy stuff (like a gorgonian and some ulva because they're non-sentient and pretty much indestructible) from my fave supplier and give up testing if I'm still getting zero readings at the end of the month. The kits I can afford are too imprecise and my eyesight is too bad. Quote Link to comment
InAtTheDeepEnd Posted January 21 Author Share Posted January 21 Sleep deprived nonsense thoughts This is the no3 reading I got w/ API The rock was dry but the sand was from a mid end brackish. It was damp and still had snails living in it. I've always worked on the (overly cautious) assumption that different genera of nitrifying bacteria are involved at roughly each 0.002sg but now I'm wondering if there was tough stuff still in that sand that's meaning my zero TAN readings aren't false caused by screwed up test kits at all but just lingering stuff in the substrate that's dealing with the ammonia I'm dosing. Hoping to reach out to a friend who works in a microbiology lab and ask if I get a chance in the next few days. In the meantime I'm gonna get out my API freshwater kit - the TAN reagent is still salicylate based as in the SW. and let's face it no one uses API for pin point accuracy anyways 🤣🤣🤣 Quote Link to comment
InAtTheDeepEnd Posted January 21 Author Share Posted January 21 Parameters TAN 0ppm No2 2ppm No3 80ppm alk 15.7 ish Lol cure Ur freaking rock people 🤣🤣 Need more water so will ask my LFS for some corraline when I go in Quote Link to comment
InAtTheDeepEnd Posted January 22 Author Share Posted January 22 Bingo Parameters TAN 0PPM NO2 0PPM (?) NO3 160PPM Quote Link to comment
InAtTheDeepEnd Posted January 22 Author Share Posted January 22 Fwiw this is yesterday's readings Quote Link to comment
InAtTheDeepEnd Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 wondering what my phosphate is. my alk is so high it could become a limiting factor in coral growth. Going to bring nitrates down to about 30. ideally i would like po4 to be nearer the upper end of the range than the lower with these alk levels tho the corals i've picked IME don't care much about much (lol) but don't want it SO high I get inundated with nuisance algae in half a day of putting the lights on. Quote Link to comment
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