Marc's Quest for Marine Bliss ...

[Marc]

Well as some know I've kept mostly tanganyikan cichlids in large tanks for a couple of years, while the whole time in the back of my mind, Marine has been calling :) With a little help from Vanessa encouraging me to go marine (every girl wants a Nemo!).

We moved house in March and bought a house on stumps, which delegate the 8ft and 5ft tank to the garage. The project of ripping the floorboards up and adding in extra footings for a fish tank took a lot longer than first anticipated.

The original tank:
http://www.thefishtank.com.au/gallery/files/2/p7082271__large.jpg

Thread for Floorboard / Tank weight discussion: http://www.thefishtank.com.au/forums/showthread.php?t=604

So the day finally arrived to tackle the mission. It became obvious that our chosen location (family room) for the original 8x2x2 (large cabinet) was simply going to be overbearing with a tank that size, so the decision was made to step down to a new 6x2x2 - and at the same time, build it into the house - AND go marine!

A couple of pics:

http://www.thefishtank.com.au/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=413&d=1218364256

http://www.thefishtank.com.au/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=414&d=1218364286

http://www.thefishtank.com.au/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=415&d=1218364321

http://www.thefishtank.com.au/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=416&d=1218364347

Ripping up the floor boards it became obvious that the wall the tank was to run along was a load bearing wall and as a result already had footings along it. That made our job easier of simply adding three additional stumps along the front edge of the tank. We used treated pine and simply attached them to the bearers and concreted them in ~ 600 mm.

As you can see, it was easy to simply knock up a quick stand (attached to the walls studs also. It's dead solid. I'm yet to still trim this up and make some doors.

I've since bought a Aquamedia Turboflotor MSL1000 Protein Skimmer, 2 x Aquamedic OceanRunner OR6500 pumps, and a 4x18x18 for a sump tank.

I've also attached a 6ft metal halide light to the roof.

To drill the tank I simply used the glass hole saws from eBay, with a cordless drill and a pool of water around each hole contained with blutack. Worked a treat!

There's a 25mm (suction) and a 32mm outlet in the weir. An additional 2 x 32mm holes (1 suction and 1 outlet) the other end of the tank for circulation.

Some more pics:

http://www.thefishtank.com.au/gallery/files/2/tank.jpg



http://www.thefishtank.com.au/gallery/files/2/b.jpg


So now all I am waiting for is my extra pump and protein skimmer to turn up (ordered from www.thereefshop.com.au (http://www.thereefshop.com.au/)). Tomorrow I will be ordering the glass for the weir and the sump.

I hope to get the glass work all completed this week, and then the plumbing on the weekend. Then we are ready for our water tight test and cycle the whole system just to check for circulation and leaks.

Then time to put in the salt water, base rock, sand and live rock and let the cycling process begin.

[Woodsy]

Looking great mate. With that much space underneath, you could stick mangrove filtration under there :D

[joz]

Taps Marc taps! make sure you put taps on each hole underneath.
In case you have to remove any hosing/piping...

You've proably thought of them already but just making sure..

[GoGuppy]

G'day Marc

She's looking great mate. Hey, that's a good tip from joz, something I could easily overlook :eek:.

Good luck with it and keep those piccies coming.
Cheers

[Marc]

Yep I have a tap on each one (and a few more in the system) to isolate each and every part :)

Pick up the glass for the weir and the sump tomorrow.

[medwards86]

hey guys im new to big tamks and hope to get to that stage sooner than later, but just a quick one marc y did u need to moderate ur floor to accomidate for the tank.

[Marc]

Simply put mate, too much weight for floorboards.

If you walked across the room in front of the tank it would most likely get the wobbles up, and worst case scenario ...... well I didn't want to think about that.

If I believe what I have read from all my net researching anything above a 4ft tank needs reinforcing of the floor.

[wombat1100]

Hehe a mate of mine put a 4 footer in his bedroom at his dads house one time , old house in Reservoir, came home from work one day and the floor was 6 inches lower than it should have been, the tank was still upright luckily!

[Marc]

I'm sorta glad to hear that one wombat (not for your mate though!), as it means the trouble I went to was worth it :)

BTW - some updated shots of the tank attached:

[wombat1100]

Thats looking great Marc, and yes the trouble you went to was more than worth it, imagine the damage and cost if that beautiful setup was to fall ,not to mention the damage to the house!

[Woodsy]

She's come up a treat mate, you must be pretty happy with it?
Are you sure those Goni's are going to do alright so high up though? From what I've seen, those guys prefer to be down a bit lower where the light is a little less intense and the blue spectrum is higher. Then again, if they're looking happy...
What suppliments are you giving them?

[Marc]

Thanks for the comments guys. Am certainly a newbie at marine so open to all and any advice.

Everything seems relatively happy where it is at present but I'm constantly watching and taking photos to see if things can be improved (not to mention reading more about what is what and where things should be).

Pretty happy with it, have a small collection of fish and corals etc now. The water conditions could not be more perfect, I've been very lucky. Full cycling really only took 3 weeks.

Good equipment, and good live rock really has made the difference I think.

Supplement wise, I'm using the new range of Seachem.

[Marc]

Currently investigating calcium reactors, and that will be the next addition. I'll add some more photos shortly with the sump etc.

[Woodsy]

The Aquavitro stuff contains a gluconated form of calcium as well as ionic calcium, so if you do decide to switch over to a reactor mate, it would still make a noticable difference to continue using Calcification.
How good is Fuel - It works like nothing else hey? :)

[AuS MaDDoG]

Hey Marc,

Tank is coming along great!! I have to agree with the other guys though on the Goni's they probably would do a bit better down in your substrate, just keep an eye on them and see how they go.
If you are looking for a fairly decent calcium reactor check out mine in my TJ its a dual chamber custom made by Turbo on the Masa forums, send him a pm good quality and a good price.

Good luck with the setup!!
Cheers
Tony.

[Marc]

I'll move the goni's ASAP.

But ... they were an uninformed purchase, and thanks to the MASA forums I'm a little bit more educated about them. Knowing what I now know I question whether I would buy any more in the future.

Having been in marine long enough to vouch for the Aquavitro stuff yet. I just keep adding as it tells me to and hope for the best for the moment :)

[Woodsy]

When I met a couple of the guys from Seachem a couple of months back, one of them was telling me that he hooked up a dosing pump on his marine tank at home so that it would deliver suppliments in small amounts but more often, and that's how he got the best results out of thier products. I've taken a similar approach to the tanks I look after, and have found similar results. I've found that Calcification also has a noticeable effect, even when used in a tank with an existing calcium reactor.
Glad to hear it's all doing well mate :)

[Marc]

Yeah I'm looking at the Profilux controller, which you can get a dosing pump for so I'll probably go down that track once that's up and running.

[wombat1100]

Hey Marc are you keeping a running tally on what this is all costing you? I would be interested to know if you don't mind, or are you hiding it from ya Mrs!!!!!lol

[joz]

Somethings are best not documented..haha!

[Marc]

To this point, with a HEAP more corals, a calcium reactor, and a controller system (not essential), yet to buy, easily around $2500.00 - and that's with a lot of DIY.

But it's not so bad as it's staggered spending :)