17 replies to this topic

[will]

"UPDATED!!!!!!!!!"

4X2X2 TANK

hey all, just tryna keep the marine thread alive, u may know me from my other tank journal, my 160L tank which went great no downs to it ,
so i bought a 4x2x2 tank from a member on here, so looking to start it as soon as possible, tank finally got moved into the right place todai after being out side for a while,
took alot to clean the dust off but well worth it, aniways, looking to finish my plumbing for the tank sooon, just gotta connect the bits and pieces and were ready to go.

this tank will be consisted of alot of live rock, not over flowing though i like nice and tidy looking tanks that look real clean and have shape to them so yer , i also plan to keep some inverts and corals aswell along with a bunch of hand picked fish.

firstly ill be adding water in, suppose im going to let that cycle for 2 weeks or so probably longer before i add sand, dont really wanna add sand and water at the same time coz algae growth will occur more im guessing, and i dont wanna have to charr the sand every like 2 weeks , aniways ill get to what ill be using and what ill be adding

PSI Filter RO and De-Ionised Water Filter
PondMax/Master Return Pump 4500L/hr
sicce voyager stream pump "3" power head 4500 L/Hr
pro aqua power head, 3000 L/Hr
jager 250w heater
(-----------------) skimmer
(-----------------) light
30/40Kg of live rock
(not sure on what substrate ill use just yet so ill fill use in on that later)

well thats it for now that i can think of, please everyone if you have any information u want to give me please do, and if u think im making any errors let me know aswell thanks all, ill update in a couple of days


i have done all my research on the fish and invertabrates i want to make sure they all are peacefull to each other and no dramas occur or anything, keep in mind every one fish list may change due to decisions



"Fish"
Longnose Butterfly
False Percula Clownfish
Golden Headed Sleeper Goby
regal blue tang

"Invertebrates"
pistol shrimp
anemone crab

"Corals"
carpet anemone
hammer coral
(more to add)


more to come.....

ennnnnjoyyyyyyyyy

[tranced]

awesome i love marine tank journals my only advice with the skimmer is go big, people often say get one that is rated to twice your tank volume.

with lights, it depends on what you wanna keep. since your tank is fairly deep if you want to keep high light things like acros and clams your lights will need alot of punch. although, if you keep your high light stuff close to the water surface you might be able to get away with a bit less. and if you keep low light corals you can have less light too.

T5, metal halide or LED would be the options, metal halide seems to be the most popular from what ive seen.

[will]

yer metal halides seem to be wat every 1 loves. ill gett sum opinions from vebas or something when i go into buy it, and yer about the skimmer tyhat sounds pretty smart, deffs gunna have to look into it, btw great tank u have tranced, coming along amazing

[Neakit]

how long was the 160L going for??? I wouldn't call anything under a year a success cause at the one year mark the tank is only just stabilizing.

[will]

had it for about 3 months, i didnt put fish in or anything, just had a hammer coral in there which stayed great and still is to this day, and by success i mean, nothing went wrong or anything

[Neakit]

what you should strive for is stability not a short term success. It took me more than a year to get my 4x2x2 to stabilize and for things to not just to live but to thrive and grow.

[tranced]

thanks for the kind words cant wait to see your tank get going and make mine look like an icecream container lol

[will]

thanks neakit, please keeep an eye on this topic,, deffinetly appreciate ur info, i had alot of ppl tell me other but yer urs sounds more accurate , and hahah thanks tranced, dw i had my lil 160litre tank b4 but then i was like damm i neeed bigger haha but yer ur tnks going great, amazing live rock u got, soo jealous,as an amazing colour to it and everything else it has on it

[Warby]

good luck with the tank will.. remember to take your time and research everything. I would suggest though that you put the sand in before you put the water in to enable that sand to start colonising with bacteria and whatnot.. I see no benefit in letting it sit with only water for 2 weeks before putting sand in.

With regards to skimmer, I have a Macro Aqua 350-P HOB skimmer I purchased from Vebas a few months ago which is going absolutely great guns - much cheaper than the big brand options and I have been very happy with it... something to consider if you can't yet afford top of the range stuff.

-Dave

[Neakit]

Just realised you needed guidance in the way of equipment. I have used aqua medic and found it a bit fiddly i then changed to reef octopus and i wouldn't go back. Octopus are on the cheaper side but for the cost they are orsom. My 4x2x2 ended up having another 4x2x2 as a sump and i ran the Hurricane 3000. Its way too big but its one hell of a skimmer. In all honesty you wont need a skimmer in the first months while your cycle is going through (provided you keep a low bio load to allow time for things to settle) but it wouldn't hurt to have one.
The best advice i was given was "Buy the best you can afford and never rush marine". I have bought cheap crap before and that was it, it was cheap crap that broke rather fast or cost me an arm and a leg to run.

For in tank circulation look into tunze wave makers or vortech wave makers. These power heads are different from the rest, they move a very large amount of water and can be controlled. They aren't cheap but i lashed out and bought 2 tunze 6101's for my old 4x2x2 and saved 100 bucks in running costs cause i removed 7 power heads from my tank.

As for your lights run what fancies you, t5 are great but you need 6-8 to grow acro and the globes need changing at the least every 9 months.
Metal halide are good cheap to initially buy but the running cost is a bit high depending on the wattage you get, you also have to change the globe once a year.
Led's are relatively new and cost a freaking fortune initially but the running cost is low and the globe replacement is virtually nill for 5 years(with no failures).
When i had my 4x2x2 going i had a combination of t5 and mh over my tank, there was over 1000w of light once i set it up the way i wanted(2x 400w mh and 6x 39w t5). It cost me a fortune each 2 months but i wasn't that fussed to be honest the growth i saw was fanominal.

Simon

[will]

just a pick of the tank a while ago, now its filled and has a sand bed

[tranced]

cant wait to see it take shape more pics please !!!

[will]

more pics will be going up today, just waiting on my camera ., quick question to every 1 about noise reduction, everything else is fine except my water intake (thing that sucks the water down into the sump), and as i dnt have a hood i just have a wood trim around the tank its really loud :| i was thinking bout getting a hood made and then sound proofen it but not sure if an 1 has any tips or ideas please let me knoo

[Warby]

jump on google and search for silent overflow standpipe .. there are a few different ways of doing it (durso, stockman, etc).. have a bit of a read of the masa and reefcentral forums too.

-Dave

[Neakit]

The tried and true way is to have 2 pipes draining to the sump. One will take 95% of the flow the other will take the remaining 5% you can use a stockman or a dorso but from my experience they need too much regulating all the time.

[aussiemcgee]

"The tried and true way is to have 2 pipes draining to the sump. One will take 95% of the flow the other will take the remaining 5% you can use a stockman or a dorso but from my experience they need too much regulating all the time."

Agreed

On my system I have 2 x 32mm pipes, the primary leading to a valve under the display tank and just before the sump which I use to regulate the flow - and more to the point the noise.

The second stand pipe comes into play with water changes and when you're shoulder deep cleaning and moving stuff around.
My secondary sits ~30mm higher than the primary stand pipe.

you tube, maswa and veebas, need i say more?

[tranced]

i would use one for a full syphon and one for a backup durso

[Riggers]

It's all looking great so far.... I agree with the skimmer topic, you can't over-skim a tank so go for the biggest you can get!! I have 2 running on my tank! One I purchased and one I built, they both work great
As for silence I'm running a u-bend system where the water is picked up from below the water line and runs into the sump below the water line so it's runs nice and quiet!! The noisiest thing in there is the needle wheel impeller pump! I'm also using a nice deep sand bed in the sump which seems to quiet down the incoming water flow
Love to see some more pics!!
Nick