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My 7Gallon Reef in Antwerp


MrStoffel

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Hi everyone,

 

I Started out three weeks ago, i bought myself a 7Gallon BF tank, with a built in biological filter in the back.

I rinsed it well with some kitchen salt (NaCl) and tap water.

Then i made some fresh salt water with RO water and Aqua Medic Reef Salt. I have a salinty of 1.024 and a temperature of 24.5°C. I Poured my fresh water in the tank and the day after i got some Fresh Live Rock (+/- 10lbs). I put in the rock and mixed a bag of Crushed coral with some Crushed coral that had been in my big tank for over a year. So i had "live" sand. Here's a first pic of the empty tank:

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I put a bag of ceramic pipes from my big tank in my biological filter, to help speed up the cycling of the tank. After a week i introduced a few buttons:

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After two weeks i did a 30% water change and siphoned out all cyano that was still left, cause it was allready going away.

The buttons were doing great and i got an offer i couldnt refuse. So i went to a fellow reefer to pic up some frags.

I got a brown Montipora digitata with bright blue polyps, a pink seriatopora Hystrix, a baby fungia and a turbinaria with yellow polyps. I also picked up frags for my bigger tank, including a pink Montipora digitata with brown polyps and a rock with some white pumping xenia. I don't know about america, but here in belgium those frags would cost about 300$ in a LFS. I payed them less then 90$.:D

Here's a pic of my tank from the top down:

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The specs of this tank are:

*7gal Minibow

*10lbs live rock

*50W heater in filter

*600L/h watterflow

*11W 50/50 PC lighting combined with two 30cm

cold cathode lamps.

:D Thats it!

I forgot to mention the staghorn with baby blue tips.

Here's a pic of the tank as it is today with the new frags,

only the cold cathode lamps are on:

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Tank is looking good...are you using snails to help control algae?

 

I think over here $90 would have been a very good price for all those frags...isn't it great dealing directly with another reefer!

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hmmm, 11 watts for sps? Are you planning on installing some more lights?

 

I've got some xenia in my 7 gallon and they're increcibly streached for light w/ 13W (in comparison to frags of the same strain which are quite happy in my other tank under a 250 halide),

 

I can't imagine those making it under that low of light levels - maybe the monti's would, but definately not the hystrix - they definately need some intense lighting to survive, and then even more intense to get good coloration.

 

I'm looking at the new 13W full-spectrum halogens that are out to help grow macro (the 7-gallon is my fuge) maybe those would help you out w/ the intensity you need for sps ;)

 

-Nick

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The 11W lamps i am talking about, actually give the same amount of light as a 75W lamp. The 11W is the power consumption. Ive got 25000 Lux on the water surface so...

IF the frags would have to little light and turn brown, then i can move them to my big tank, but they are in the nano for three days now and they are slowly increasing in colors, so...:blush:

 

I think im fine with this amount of light. I have added a pic of a fellow reefers tank wich is lit by the exact same lamps.;)

 

Greets and thanks for the comments.

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Nice start, tank looks very similar to mine but with a different hood, and I dont have the bio filter either.

 

Just out of interest do you have a picture of the underside of the hood so I can have a look at the lights? Mine also came with an 11w light but I took it out and put 2 18w tubes in there, looks to me like I didn't need to!

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Dr. Saltwater
Originally posted by MrStoffel

The 11W lamps i am talking about, actually give the same amount of light as a 75W lamp. The 11W is the power consumption.

Hi Neighbour!

 

That's exactly what I use and what they use here. It should give light for 75W and uses only 11W. I keep 11W in my head and work on with that.

 

My tank is 14Gallon and soon there will be 6 x 11W PC lights in there. That's 66W of PC on 14 Gallon. If you measure the light in your calculation:

 

6 x 75W = 450W ...

 

Only one PC light can't make sure the SPS-coral in the tank will survive (in color). You got many watts per liter ... but did you take a look at the difference between the amount/power of light of a 70W HQI (MH) and 1 x 11W PC (75W light) ... ?

 

I don't believe they're as powerfull as HQI ... so I use more ... just to be sure :)

 

That doesn't say that your tank doesn't looks nice! Really nice tank (CrazyJoker ;) ).

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Dr. Saltwater

Beautifull tanks ... I'm not sure about the No-skimmer idea because I see fish in the last tank (Red circles). I guess some shrimp too? (Gobiosoma evelynae and Stonogobiops nematodes)

 

About the light ... IF it gives that much light ... there aren't the much light needing corals in the last tank, the stoney corals also (Blue circles). (Green Montipora digitata and the 'common' Caulastrea furcata).

 

Can you tell me how often you change the water?

 

Sorry used the photo ...

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Yes, this tank also runs skimmerless and there are 4 fish in it.

2 Neon gobies and 2 Stonigobiops. About the light again, the 11W bulbs arent the only lighting, i also mentioned the Cold cathode lamps. I now have three tubes of 30 cm over the tank too. My hystrix is turning very nice pinkisch color (it was white when introduced) and the tubastrea is already growing to a rock. In the other tank there isnt only the monti and the caulastrea, but there's also an anacropora right above the neon goby. He has a growth of 1cm/ month :woot:!!!

But hey, why this discussion, im not harming anyone by trying.;) IF it doesnt work out the corals go to my main tank under T5.

 

Greets

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About the water changes, i change it every week 20%. But in fact thats 10% every 4 days...

My water parameters are fine, so nothing to worry about. Im not planning on keeping more than one fish in my tank so...

Greets

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Dr. Saltwater
Originally posted by MrStoffel

About the water changes, i change it every week 20%. But in fact thats 10% every 4 days...  

My water parameters are fine, so nothing to worry about. Im not planning on keeping more than one fish in my tank so...

Greets

 

Thnx ... that sure is a lot!

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Great start!!!

 

You may find that the SPS corals you've selected will need more light or will turn brown. Your friends tank looks like its mostly a softy tank. With your lighting I would concentrate on Zoos and Mushrooms. If you must step into SPS, stay with montipora digitatas and caps.

I just upgraded my light from a 70w halide to a 150w. Hoping for a little bit better color out of my acroporas.

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Looks like you are off to a good start. Tank looks very nice.For me you may be good with your lighting if you have 25000 lux over your tank. I believe there is a missunderstanding about SPS and lighting. Not all the SPS corals need too much lighting. As far as i know Fiji acroporas are the only SPS corals coming from very shallow waters-about 1-3 meters- Because of the high sedimentation and high water curent normaly corals dont live at that depth. Very shallow water corals are rare. The biggest diversity of SPS corals occures between 10-15 meters depth and the intensity of light at 10 meters is only 1/10 of 1 meter depth. Fiji acros dont represent all the SPS corals and the other acros comming from deeper waters. If you feed your SPS and keep your water quality high i believe you will be succesfull with SPS under that lighting. But if i were you i would try to stay away from Fiji acroporas and prefer the ones coming from deeper waters such as Jakarta.

 

Which brand of bulb is that 11 Watt PC.? It is amazing if that guy provides that much light. I kept my SPS in my 35G under 3x 30 Watt PowerGlo and 3x 30 watt Philips actinic for 6 months. 5 weeks ago i switched to T5's, growth under T5's is better but unfortunately coloration isn't that good. Now i have 3x30 watt 10K,3x39 watt actinics and i am planning to add 2 of my Philips actinics to be able to get that blue light and i hope a better coloration as a result. Here are some pics of my SPS taken under NO fluorescent bulbs. Good luck to you and keep us updated

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