aussiemcgee

Spring Update !!!

Gave everything a good clean out - the gravel took ages to clean - would be nice to have a swirl separator to get rid of the larger particulates before it goes into the grow bed but prob not worth it for such a small bed. Thinking about at least adding a second grow bed though, maybe over the hols.

During the clean up and replant I lost one of my chilli's and the cherry tomato, so I was really careful with the other one not to loose it and just bought a new tomato plant only to have about 6 or more seedlings shoot up from random spots all over the grow bed. Will be plenty of salsa and bruschetta this year !

Still have about 15 or so silvers and a thumper koi feeding the grow beds, and as for plants - a shit load of cherry tomatoes !, chili, basil, sage, parsley, coriander and silverbeet.

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Marines are heaps of fun and a big learning curve from fresh.
Check the journals here and online - the local aussie forum is MASA (masa.asn.au), heaps of journal and advice so I suggest you register and do a heap of reading asking questions and looking at the pics.
The WA division is MASWA and meets once a month at different places for behind the scenes etc and you get discounts at a range of lfs.


filtration; is done by the live rock and sand in the display tank and in the sump. Flow pumps in the display move solids around where they are removed manually during water changes and the dissolved nutrients (NO2/3, PO4), are removed by the protein skimmer (and reactors if you go down that path)

Flow pumps; Typically for softies and LPS you want 15 - 30x the system vol turnover per hour, more for SPS

protein skimmer; get one over rated - 2 to 3 x your system vol. Aqua 1s are ok, haven't had much to do with them but I believe they are an entry level unit.

water changes; As you would normally do for fresh. Most people find it easier to buy or collect your own water and store bulk amounts in IBCs or the blue drums. Regularity depends on your system but most commonly it is 10 - 50% a week or so... Ie in my system I have a length of hose connected to a standard gravel siphon, I siphon ~50% per fortnight and then a return pump transfers the new water from my storage into the tank - easy as !

light; LEDs are all the go at the moment, and there is a big range of them - prob just steer clear of the real cheap ones. But you can run high output T5s but you need to change the globes every 12 - 18 mths, or metal halides - mega bucks in power costs

Sump; definitely recommend one - they increase volume so help with parameter stability, and allow you a hidden area to run your skimmer, heater, reactors, dosing pumps, refugiums, dsb's etc You don't want to start spending all this cash and you have all your equipment hanging around the display !

I've had a caterpillar plague too and think it's time to give the tomatoes a rest and break their life cycle. What was the advice you received?

Back yard AP suggested derpil, denpil ? something like that... sorry had a few beers over the weekend ! Both they and bunnings stock it - fish and human safe. Trim it back a bit and give it a spray (bout 5ml into a litre) and repeat after 5 days.

HI All,

Quick update as I haven't posted here for a while;

Had a great growing season over the summer and had bucket loads of cherry tomatoes, basil, sage and chilli. The coriander went gang busters early on but went to seed while I was away - at least now I have a heap of coriander seeds to plant out !

I had to remove the spinach as it was getting shaded over by the basil and tomatoes so in a darker environment it was more susceptible to attack from pests.
I lost about 8 nice sized silver perch (150 - 200mm), after the return pump failed over night. At the moment I am getting a bit of a caterpillar outbreak which I am hoping will be pretty straight forward to deal with after speaking with BYAP.
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Am doing the rounds updating all my journals ! have done my marine tank, now time for the aquaponics system;

 

The system was originally set up as above, but I ended up putting a second overflow in between the two tanks just to get the water sitting at the right level and not overflowing, so now there are 2 x 32mm overflow pipes which work great. I have also put another circ pump in the limestone pond and a shade up to keep the algae under control as it gets a fair whack of sun.

 

Originally I got a hold of some vermiculite as media which I mixed in with the expanded clay (long story), it worked really well over summer and I was getting great plant growth and harvesting regularly, but I guess the vermiculite was just too fine and the grow bed became waterlogged and that led to water pooling on the top and string algae growing in that and through some of the media. It also started to give the chilli and basil collar rot around the base.

So, I took the whole lot out, collected as much of the expanded clay as I could and then filled the rest with new expanded clay - (big shout out to Hydro Hill in Jandakot). I also changed the plumbing from surface spray bars to twin outlets buried in the clay.

 

I trimmed back the plants - in particular the majorum and thyme which were just going nuts and replanted everything in a bit more of an orderly fashion! As far as fish go, I have 25 ~100mm long silver perch, ~6 goldfish about the same size  and a couple of larger koi ~150mm. I am looking at heading out for another 20 or so silvers when I am back in town.

 

water logged media and overgrown plants

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new plumbing, media and twin buried inlets

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shade up

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G'day all,

 

Been a while since I have updated my journal and thought I would share a trials, tribulations and most importantly... a few pics.

 

Things, by and large, have been ticking along nicely for the tank, livestock and maintenance schedule - was doing 50% fortnightly water changes using nsw, no dosing, no testing, just lots of good regular water flushing through the system. Fish are fat and corals and coralline algae are crankin.

 

Mid way through this year was a bit tough as I have been away with work a fair bit, which led to a drop in maintenance and the missus and eldest kid not being quite so vigilant led to a couple of fish deaths and then the algae set in !!!

I brought the algae under control by a couple of massive ~80% water changes which were separated by a few days of lights out, super skimming and a refugium cut back and clean up. Once the lights were back on, I started doing 50% water changes every week.

 

The next problem was that I wasn't able to collect water though my usual work avenues anymore, so now instead of collecting from offshore, I go to a remote boat ramp and collect myself. Still not the happiest about the situation but better than nothing I spose.

 

Water collection;

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Full tank shot;

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right hand side (inc wier)

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middle

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left hand side

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Have a heap more fish, but they all seem to be hiding in these quick pics I took - have a small school of 4 chromis, lime and banana wrasse, lemon damsel, coral gobies, a huge shrimp and an awesome oblique dottyback. Will try grab a few more pics when I am back in town

 

Next items on the wish list is a new skimmer - the old one works well but just isn't pulling the crap out that I need it to... and then a few more fish and corals, Christmas and a birthday is only round the corner!!!!

If you guys say it's ok and good to do 50-70% water changes of new water.. Then what's the difference between a 3 month old tank and a 3 year old tank if at any given time only 25% of the water is new?
As far as I understand marine aquariums are more about biological filtration, so once the tank has cycled then shouldn't it be 'ready' ?

I am baffled at what the difference to 3 months and 12 months is IF people are changing 50% of the water on a regular basis.

 

 

Marine systems are all about stability of core parameters;

for example;

Heaters/ chillers to maintain temp

Fresh water auto top off systems to replace evaporation and maintain salinity

Dosing pumps to maintain trace elements

Refugiums and Deep sand beds to mitigate NO2/ NO3 and PO4

 

The difference between a 3 month old tank and 3 years is the maturity of the bacteria for biological filtration - same as in fresh, if you have a canister filter that is used to handling the bioload of 3 goldfish and then you throw 3 big Oscars in and a bunch of bristlenose in, the bacteria in the filter wouldn't be able to cope with the extra feed and fish waste and there will be an ammonia spike which will affect fish health and could even cause deaths. But if you add stock slowly, bacteria numbers have time to adjust accordingly.

 

Many people have different maintenance schedules depending on tank size, bioload etc. Some do it weekly, fortnightly, monthly even yearly - challenge is to do what works for you and your system.

 

The other difference with between the 2, is that the longer the NH4 and NO3 stays high, the more will be absorbed by the rock and leach back into the system no matter how many water changes you do - that is why you want undetectable parameters before any stock is added.

It is a particularly big problem with second hand systems having nutrients locked into the rock, many people go to great lengths to 'cycle' second hand rock in RO water before it even goes into the new home in order to draw out as much NO3/ PO4 as possible.

 

Another thing is any deviation from the norm will spark a mini- cycle ie disturbing the sand bed, moving rock around. If you are moving house then you will definitely experience a second cycle.

 

Don't think I am being all narky or anything but after being in the hobby for 5 - 6 years now, I have done things the hard way and blown a bit of cash and lost a few fish and corals. It is a steep learning curve going fresh - marine and am just chuckin in my 2 cents worth to help the newbies.

The old saying for marine tanks is that nothing good ever happens fast  !

hope it helps.

 

Ryan

Have the sump as big as you can, put the baffles where you need em for media, pumps, reactors etc make sure you have enough room to take any drainage from the main tank during a power outage.

 

On my marine tank I have a corner weir running 1 x 32mm main siphon, 1 x 32mm emergency draining to sump,  4000L eheim return pump but has ~25% diverted back through refugium for flow around the bottom of macro.

 

Only thing I would do different is to add another bafflre before the return pump - sometimes I get microbubbles in the main tank from the water splashing over the top of the last high baffle, not a biggy but I guess its always the small things that can irritate you;

 

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white spray paint......

 

 

tried boiling in a big pot? its how i clean my plastic plants

 

Would definitely avoid boiling rock !!!!!

 

I have heard a horror story of a bloke over east who did this with marine live rock, ended up poisoning his whole family and very nearly killed them. (he did boil it inside tho)

When I first set my marine up I had thoughts of setting up a 'swan river tank' nice round column of drift wood so it looks like a jetty pylon - get some mussels cranking on there and have some gobblies/ cardinals, small blowies, flatties, bream etc all swimmings around it...

 

However the missus and kids had other ideas... (still want to do it one day tho!)

All done !!!

 

Plumbing sorted, took a bit of time drawing it up to be able to isolate and rinse/ run different areas independently and happy with the end result. Have a Eden 1150 and 2000 running in each pond which works well for a single small grow bed AND... I can still run the original water wall when needed for parties (which keeps the minister for war and finance happy... enough)

 

Media went in and took ages to flush all the fines out), flows adjusted over a few hours of trial and error. 

Couple of herbs that I had laying around are in to start with and some tomato seeds are planted ready to be transplanted when they get big enough.

 

Have about 20 goldies divided between the two ponds and hope to have another heap o silver pearch fingerlings from a mates project in shortly.

 

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Loving it ! aquaponics and my marine system are both crankin !

Hi all,

Loving the renewed interest in marines - this section went quiet for a while there so I am keen to contribute some more to keep it flowing.

 

Have had marines for the past 4 + years which was running sweet, I recently had to renovate my system after a return pump upgrade led to a copper contamination from the impellor - I tried everything to fix it but just could not get on top of the problem. So finally decided on a full restart.

I replaced everything except the skimmer (for now) and unfortunately after I cracked the tank fitting the overflow bulkheads, I had to replace the tank also; (even after I had removed the silicone and resealed the whole thing !!)

 

Strike up date   - june 1st 2013 using Ningaloo dry base rock

                           - first stage cycle 4 weeks, 50% water change and addition of half a dozen pieces of live rock to each bommy

                           - second stage cycle until 4 weeks, 50% water change and corals, cuc and fish added

                           - third stage cycle 2 weeks, fuge light and macro added

tank - 6x14x20

stand - custom 4 door

hood - standard but modified inbuilt LEDs

Sump - custom aquaotix built 850x330x400. 3 chamber (overflow, skimmer, heater --> refugium with shallow sand bed --> return, auto top off, dosing (eventually)

overflow - internal corner weir

 

Water - Natural salt water

topoff - lab grade DI water

lighting - vertex illumilux

skimmer - macro aqua (with modified larger air inlet)

flow - 2 x sharkman greatwhite pumps 8000lph each (new to market tunze knock offs)

refugium - naqua fuge flare LED

return - ehiem 4000lph

top off - guppies 2 float

Livestock;

2 x ocellaris clowns

med hammer

2 x small morph colonies

Now for the pics!!!

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Gday all,

 

Been meaning to have a crack at this after seeing a mate's huge success with his system, so here is a basic run down on my plans and progress to date;

 

* Have an existing 360L pond

* plus extra ~400L from IBC base

* ~200L grow bed (IBC top inverted)

* Not planning to have any stock that grows too big due to volume space limitations and not going the seasonal Trout/ barra switch (maybe some silver perch?)

* Probably sticking with the existing koi/ goldies/ rainbows/ guppies for now... but just a S*&Tload of em !

* Will be a constant flow through system with a ~ 30mm 'water table' set by standpipe

* Media will be a mix of peagravel and vermiculite particles (can't remember what its actually called but is good stuff - will find out details)

 

Plants;

* herbs - parsley, corriander etc

* Chillis

* Spinach/ silverbeet

* Roma/ cherry tomatoes

* lettuce

 

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Existing pond/ waterfeature

 

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growbed area/ bar

 

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growbed are with top frame in place (excuse the mess !!)

 

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cut IBC - will be cutting the base tub a bit lower for access/ plumbing (water level will be the same as the old pond) and taking the middle horizontal brace out for front access.

 

 

Will be putting in place this week(end) and starting the plumbing