finally beginning my 480g 5'x5'x30" SPS Reef Tank

[Cadwalader]

Tom I checked in on your tank today as you know. I set up the aquacontroller 3 with all the probes (temp, pH, Orp, an conductivity) so now Kate can easilly moniter it. I couldnt figure out how to set it up so it emailed. We also unpacked all the stuff from Marine Depot. I also cleaned the glass, reset up the tunzes on the multi controler and added a bunch of chemicals to the tank. Let me know if you need anything else.

[thirschmann]

Thanks Henry awesome. I will try to figure out the aquacontroller 3 email setup and let you know. Looking forward to getting those pictures of my equipment. Thanks for the cleaning and tunze setup, that's going to help a lot.

I appreciate it buddy, I owe you one.



Now this is what I was thinking for access to the top of the tank.

j/k, ridiculous but pretty slick idea though.

[jnarowe]

uh, that's kind of cool!

[thirschmann]

I guess that's what you get if you really do have to much money to spend on your tank.

[loosbrew]

hey tom, i just cam across this thread and noticed youre in town. If you ever need a hand with some of that work, let me know. I have a few saturdays off here and there.

Great build!

Luis

[thirschmann]

Thanks Luis, I appreciated that. Once I get back I will need all the help I can get. Thanks for the offer.

[thirschmann]

Well I have purchased a 160L eheim hexagon tank for my parents house, so that's been keeping me busy. I have taken the crappy skimmer that came with it, even I was surprised at how ineffiecient it was, and have moded it to be gravity feed and recirculating. I will add an air pump to boast efficiency a little more. I will also be using a halide system from a friend of mine that uses 600w bulbs, that should do the job. So pictures of that soon.

And I have already seriously considered upgraded my frag tank, I think I will be purchasing a 48"x36"x18" Frag tank to replace my 40 gallon breeder frag tank. Can't wait to get back.

Trying to keep the thread alive.

[MarineGirl411]

Lets see some pictures of the new temp tank at your parents! =) How is the 120 doing?

[pcostanzo]

Good to hear from you again. I was starting to worry. Thought you might be building a raft and paddling over.

[jnarowe]

nothing wrong with coming by boat!

[thirschmann]

Thank marinegirl... I'll post some pictures soon once I get a new battery charger for my camera. My 120 is apparently doing great, I have had a few SPS casualities mentioned earlier but since then everything has been going great.

Thanks paul. Maybe I can come over as a refugee. I know that in florida there is a general rule that if your feet are dry when they find you, your set.

Jonathan, no kidding. I was talking to a chinese gentleman, who lived in LA for 16 years, he now owns a store near here and he said that half his friends and family in the US just walked over from canada and have been living in the US for years without any problems

[jnarowe]

and they probably work hard, pay taxes, and contribute to their communties. WHat I have found in the years I have been in business is that it is much better to ask forgiveness than permission.

[thirschmann]

LOL Jonathan, good, happy go lucky kinda out look. Might be adopting that.


Now and update about my "UK Nano Reef". As mentioned before it is an unimpressive 50g hexagon with a custom 15g sump I built from 1/4" acrylic.... MY FIRST DIY TANK, pretty happy with how it turned out, a steep initial learning curve but easy enough, still have a lot to practice.

I added some hermits and snails today and plan to add 2 fish on Monday. One thing that cool is that there are a few different fish that I'm not used to seeing at my LFS in Florida. Horrible LFS coral selection though, apparently almost everything is purchased online here.

Setup:
-V2 Skimmer, heavily moded already.
-Large UV sterilizer
-Carbon and phos removal via fluidized reactor
-3x seio m1100 for water movement, pretty happy with this flow. Might get the controller soon. I am trying to create a circular flow that is reversed routinely.
-Using a "costanza" standpipe , very very happy with this design, works very well.

Lighting
- 250w Coralvue 14k bulb, surprised by the very nice color actually. I was considering adding T5's to balance it out but the color is great.
- Luminarc III mini Reflector, now I know what all the hoopla is about, very nice.
- 250w Coralvue Electronic Ballast.

Not much to brag about but its keeping me busy. Everything is expensive as hell over here, the cost of products are the same in English pounds as they are in US dollars. So the US $90 bulb cost me 90 pounds or approximately US $185. Making things a little harder. I have spend almost as much setting up the 50 gallon as I spent setting up my 120 in Florida and I have some nice equipment on my 120.

[pcostanzo]

Glad to hear the standpipe works well for you. Mine are still working great. I'm also getting ready to do some acrylic fabrication.

[jnarowe]

not "happy-go-lucky" but rather under the radar if you ask me!

[jeff127]

Lovely design Tom, love those SU drawings.

Originally posted by thirschmann
Everything is expensive as hell over here, the cost of products are the same in English pounds as they are in US dollars.[/B]

Yep. Where are you staying?

SLR FTW BTW.


Jeff.

[thirschmann]

Welcome to Reef Central Jeff.
I'm staying in Leatherhead, what part of surrey are you in?
It's my father's SLR, unfortunately he keeps it under lock and key.

[jeff127]

Thanks Tom, long time observer, first time poster.

Woah you're pretty close, Im in Cheam- about 20 mins away!

How are you finding the coral variety over here?


Jeff.

[thirschmann]

Awesome, close by.

I have no idea where to go... i have only been to one store in Kingston and it was a little rough, no hard corals at all either. Do you have any advice for me? I have had no luck finding any LFS around here or in London, any ideas for me? The only thing that has worked for me is ordering online but I hate to get corals that way.

Thanks.

[jeff127]

Which shop was it in Kingston, didnt even know there was a marine shop in Kingston!


Two of the best marine shops in the South-East are quite close by;

Tropicals and marines in Mortlake:
69-71 Lower Richmond Road
Mortlake
London
SW14 7HJ

0208 876 5463

Store Opening Times:
Monday: CLOSED
Tuesday - Saturday: 10am to 6pm
Sunday: 10am to 4pm

I havn't been in here for a while but the staff are excellent. Deliveries usually come on Fridays (ring first).



The other store is Sevenoaks Tropical Marine (STM)

Sevenoaks Tropical Marine
74 London Road
Riverhead
Sevenoaks
Kent
TN13 2DN

01732-454190

Monday - Saturday 10 - 6 PM
Sundays & Bank Holidays 10 - 4 PM

Fantastic shop with fantastic stock. Get some really nice stuff in- a few weeks ago they had 3 blastos in! [to all in the US- blastos are incredibly rare in shops over here ] Again they usually get stock near the end of the week.


You can't really go wrong with either of these providing you go after a delivery, I would highly recommend STM in particular.

LMK if you need any more help/advice, or if you see any nice LPS on your travels.


Jeff.

[thirschmann]

Thank you jeff... awesome.

I went to STM this morning and was very happy to find some good quality equipment and livestock, finally. I will try to find some more stores this weekend when I have a little extra time.

Thank you very much, any local reefclubs that I can meet up with. I would really like to see some local tanks.

[jeff127]

Glad you liked it Tom.

Did you buy anything?

Did they have any nice LPS in stock?

There are quite a few other local stores that sell corals too but not many are of the standards of STM.

There is Heritage Aquatics in Wallington (pricey and the main guy is slightly dodgey. Nice tanks though)

World of Fishes in East Grinstead. Never been in here but I have a friend who goes there pretty often.

Many garden centres sell them too including one in Morden. I went there last week and the selection of corals is pretty poor and many arn't in good condition. I bought a dying lobo there after bartering with the guy for £15 (probably a little too much but I knew I could bring it back to life).

LMK if you want any other store ideas to keep you going.

In terms of local tanks/clubs;

You're welcome to come round and see my (pretty poor) 2 foot cube anytime and I know a few other local reefers with much nicer tanks who I can get in contact with for you?

There is a local club that I will see if I can PM you details of. They meet once a month round someones house and usually have a BBQ, frag swap etc (one of the members has just moved from the US. )


Jeff.

[thirschmann]

Thanks Jeff,

I just bought some more equipement, still have to wait another week before I give a coral a try. They did seem to have some nice LPS in stock actually but the owner told me that the time to go will be next Tuesday, they are getting in over 100 frags that are supposed to be exceptional, he's excited about it.

I have found a link on practicalfishkeeping.com that shows me all of the LFS in the area, its just hard seperating the crap from the good, but I'll go on a road trip tomorrow to find out. I am going to stay away from garden centers though, I went to a couple about a year back and it was seriously depressing, like going to most Petco's in the US. The people just don't know how to take care of the marine animals, especially corals, correctly.

I would definetly like to see you tank if possible, I'll bring the beer and would enjoy seeing some other tanks as well. Thank you very much for the offer.

Peace

[jeff127]

Which shops are you considering going to?

Yeah feel free to come round anytime, not much to look at in my tank ATM but would be nice to talk reefs esepcially with someone with experiance of how its done across the pond.

I'll ask a few local reefers I know if you can go round and see their (lovely) tanks.


Jeff.

[thirschmann]

Jeff - I went out to heritage aquatics today, nice store, very nice equipment available, and that long huge tank in the back is awesome. Worth the trip. Between that and STM I'm pretty happy right now but still looking.

I would like to come by and see you tank sometime Jeff, and would definetly like to chat about how things are done here compared to the US. PM me and let me know when your free sometime.



Now some bad news, I got a new RO unit today that came with a TDS meter and I found that the house water is over 500ppm! That is over 4 times higher then what I got as tap water in the Florida. So I asked my father why the tap water was so bad and he told me that he no longer uses city water and pumps well water straight into the house without any prefilteres. SO, after a short convesation, I convinced him to at least buy some filtration equipement and a UV sterilizer for the house. So another test will follow on Monday afternoon.

The tank is coming along nicely, its cycling right now which is always annoying and I am itching for a larger tank. I saw a beautiful Deltec setup for sale today and I had to remind myself that this is all temporary and that I have a nice tank waiting for me. So its on to a larger sump then, more acrylic fun for me.