Lightspeed
Active Member
Have decided i will start my build thread.
Rather than bore everyone with a prologue to provide context, i will keep it brief and suffice to say that after my Wolf Cichlid passed away back in April("Agro" was cared for by me for 15yrs and approx 17-18yrs old on expiry @44cm length and 1.7kg) i had decided to convert his home and switch back to Marine using the existing Juwel 450 Vision, Canister filter and other running gear.
I have run 2 previous marine systems prior so do not regard myself as a total newb, each system was more complex than the previous, the first of which was FO, the next was probably regarded as FOWLR by Reef standards but did house Tubastrea and many Mushrooms, nems and was built from scratch by myself from the stand to the lighting hood with all glass cut to my dimensions and assembled by me in a 5 sided Corner style and approx 380 litres and i never not once lost a single fish.
Well the more i talked to people about my prospective conversion build, the more people fell silent at my idea of converting the Juwel. Canister filter was now a dirty word, nitrate factory they said, which made no sense to me at all, i ran my last marine system with zero issues for nearly 5 years until i had to move house, i used real LR and fed live foods almost exclusively. My opinion and proven through experience is a Canister filter is no different from any mechanical filter, socks or whatever, anyway i digress.
So a sump and all these fandangled things such as wave makers, what the heck is an Apex i asked myself, PAR what's that? apparently not something you call your grandfather lol, temperature controllers, dosers OMG like seriously what happened to this hobby?? the more i researched i discovered the marine aquarium world had made massive changes since i last ran a marine system and is now a well established commercial machine of enterprise, even protein skimmers had gone from something costing $100 with a lime-wood block to something worth potentially thousands of dollars, just wow.
Well a sump simply wont fit in a Juwel cabinet with all this new gear so i found myself and at crossroads.
So i chose a Waterbox 230.6, well they don't make them anymore, uugghhh, did not like the Red sea after reading reviews and seeing the asking price.
So right there and then my financial commitment turned from a minimal outlay to omg how do i hide this from the wife, how do i sell this as a great asset to justify the cost. Well i am not known for doing things by halves, if i commit, i am all in, oh dear my Aspiness is taking over again, lol i hate it when i do that, the more i research the more i spend.
So now its a custom build at Waterbox spec with dimension changes to suit rather than a commercial usual size. Final dimensions settled on are 1850mmL x 750mmW x 630mmH, full Starphire 19mm glass, black glass overflow, black painted rear glass panel, sump as per Waterbox 230.6 with manifold and separate ATO, full Marine ply stand sealed with black polyurethane ordered from Aquarium Gallery Perth on 12thMay. The build is made by FireAqua who also are the manufacturers of other top brand names i will not mention here.
The display arrived in my state Capital port last Thursday and the install date has been scheduled for the 25th of Aug so i have been a very patient customer and have been left with far too much time on my hands to devote myself to waay too much research and the spending of large sums, not going to detail the cost of my build, i need no reminder.
So along the way have selected and progressively been acquiring my running gear but to this point are not really entertaining a full aquarium controlled system.
Internal wave makers: 2 x R/O OP4
Return Pump: R/E RD3 DC 100W
Temp Controller: Aqualogic
Heaters: Schego x 2 300W
UV: Lifegard pro max 90W H/O 3"
Skimmer: R/E Supermarin 200 + R/E RD3
Lighting: 2 x Vipars 165W
Livestock: LPS and 2 Regal Angelfish with possible Majestics at later date.
The RD3 DC 100W return, breakdown and pics for those who may be interested.
[The R/E RD3 100W DC is a very substantially built pump and looks like it could outlast my lifetime, the motor block is very solid looking, as is from inspection every other facet of the pumps design, the impeller housing is either cast or machined from a solid block with the outlet solvent welded in place, the impeller shaft is impressive also at nearly 12mm thick. While they are not for everyone due to economics i do hope the outward indications of build quality overall are indicative of its service life capacity. The controller box is also solidly built with housing screws sealed in place as well, all electrical fittings and cables are soft and flexible indicating high quality multiple core wiring inside, not stiff and un-pliable. The owners manual is also well formatted with clear instruction for operation and maintenance.
Temp Controller and Schego Titanium Heaters:
Not much to tell here but by reviews on Schego heaters and Aqualogic controllers i can keep the display running within 1.0 degree F or 0.17 degree C, i think this is more than good enough temp variance control. I have selected the 300W x 2 setup for redundancy, you may be thinking that 2 x 300w heaters are insufficient for my display. I live in Western Australia in a fairly temperate area, with reverse cycle aircon ducted throughout my home so the heaters will easily cope with the winter temp while in summer i expect the heaters to work at a minimum of activity.
Lifegard H/O Amalgam pro max 90w 3"
For a UV sterilizer i can't really recommend the Lifegard Aquatics more strongly.
The reasons for the selection of this brand was due to 2 key factors being price vs Pentair and the fact that the Lifegard unit utilizes a replaceable and removable interior protective liner, making the unit completely serviceable. other factors are the rotating unions for positioning, High output amalgam globe and are available in both 3" and 5" casing diameters. The ballast also has a countdown day timer and alarm for when service is due. In the pics below of the globe and quartz sleeve you can see one of the two amalgam dots inside the globe.
This was a heavily researched topic for me before i purchased the unit, there are many factors to consider before you go and shell out for a UV system.
Against what BRS have done on their builds i chose the 3" model as dwell time for me was not as important as exposure, by that i mean the effective penetration and proximity of the bulb to water contact inside the case of which all water must pass, dwell time is simply adjusted by a ball valve on the outlet from my manifold.
Looking back now i am for sure glad i went with the 3" for the additional reason it is simply huge and there is no way this unit can be mounted correctly inside my cabinet both for function and or yearly maintenance, as such i will have to have this vertically mounted on the exterior of the cabinet. I can push over 3000 litres per hour with this unit and easily attain stage 3 sterilization, being on the manifold i can adjust as per my requirements for whatever dwell time and what it is i want to zap.
Scape:
Going to try to achieve as close as i can to this above, while i understand the perspective of man made reef rock etc, i will be using real live rock and NSW for water changes.
This may be a bit of a challenge as the advantages and flexibility creating forms in man made rock may be a bit of an ask using RLR.
Anyway sample pics from my supplier were sent through today of what is on offer.
The middle pic of the rock above is offshore rock and is less commonly available, fingers crossed i can get a really good cross section of material to use but by my scape looks like i am going to need a heap of shelf flat pieces.
Lighting:
Well we all know what Vipars look like, have 2 x 165w on hand but may purchase a third, i am undecided as to needing 3, will only be running LPS and Regal angels do not like bright light and are prone to hiding out due to it, or so i have read, only time will tell.
I do not like any of the options for hanging kits or aquarium glass mounts and want to be able to clear my lights when doing maintenance. In the end after much indecision i purchased two of these below, Neewer photography and studio wall mount booms and will be making a sliding frame so i can position the Vipars anywhere i want on the mount and also enable me to add a third unit in future. As to mounting height that is still unsettled, will check the Vipars vs height for light spill and go from there.
Neewer wall mount boom:
Some small modification may be necessary, primarily in possibly shortening the primary boom length, but these are more than sufficient to hold the Vipars weight, and hopefully won't look tacky.
I don't really have more than this to include, as my LFS is in possession of the R/E Supermarin 200 i cant upload pics or give any sort of comment, so i have to wait till the 25th of Aug to see if it was worth the considerable financial outlay, i am still borderline on whether this skimmer is too large for the bioload and may have to be feeding phyto and food heavily, we will see.
End Goal:
All of what you see above, the planning and components has by no means been easy to achieve with the current climate of the world but i have made it this far, there will be many of you already saying i am mad running Regals, Majestics and LPS, many of you reading this being entertained by my aspiring craziness, eating popcorn only to watch and say i told you so.
Not really caring as i have my plan and it has been thoroughly researched by myself over the last 3 months and since the very beginning i was committed to these two species. Only time will tell.
My end goal is to have my Regals breeding for home aquaculture. Impossible lol, well maybe but i just loooove a challenge. I have never taken the easy way out in my life and my life experience can by no means be assessed as ordinary and have decided to add this to my bucket list, i am more than aware of the needs of the environment the Regals prefer to breed in, so depth of the display may be a huge factor in any successful spawning, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. I will not write further as to the intricacies of pelagic spawning, its far too complex, suffice to say this is what i would like to achieve and am going to give it a solid crack, at worst i will successfully find ways that will not work and be able to add to the information available to aspiring home aquaculture of ornamental marine species.
Till next time then, will update pics on the day of Install.
Stay safe and may the odds be ever in your favor.
Regards
B.
Rather than bore everyone with a prologue to provide context, i will keep it brief and suffice to say that after my Wolf Cichlid passed away back in April("Agro" was cared for by me for 15yrs and approx 17-18yrs old on expiry @44cm length and 1.7kg) i had decided to convert his home and switch back to Marine using the existing Juwel 450 Vision, Canister filter and other running gear.
I have run 2 previous marine systems prior so do not regard myself as a total newb, each system was more complex than the previous, the first of which was FO, the next was probably regarded as FOWLR by Reef standards but did house Tubastrea and many Mushrooms, nems and was built from scratch by myself from the stand to the lighting hood with all glass cut to my dimensions and assembled by me in a 5 sided Corner style and approx 380 litres and i never not once lost a single fish.
Well the more i talked to people about my prospective conversion build, the more people fell silent at my idea of converting the Juwel. Canister filter was now a dirty word, nitrate factory they said, which made no sense to me at all, i ran my last marine system with zero issues for nearly 5 years until i had to move house, i used real LR and fed live foods almost exclusively. My opinion and proven through experience is a Canister filter is no different from any mechanical filter, socks or whatever, anyway i digress.
So a sump and all these fandangled things such as wave makers, what the heck is an Apex i asked myself, PAR what's that? apparently not something you call your grandfather lol, temperature controllers, dosers OMG like seriously what happened to this hobby?? the more i researched i discovered the marine aquarium world had made massive changes since i last ran a marine system and is now a well established commercial machine of enterprise, even protein skimmers had gone from something costing $100 with a lime-wood block to something worth potentially thousands of dollars, just wow.
Well a sump simply wont fit in a Juwel cabinet with all this new gear so i found myself and at crossroads.
So i chose a Waterbox 230.6, well they don't make them anymore, uugghhh, did not like the Red sea after reading reviews and seeing the asking price.
So right there and then my financial commitment turned from a minimal outlay to omg how do i hide this from the wife, how do i sell this as a great asset to justify the cost. Well i am not known for doing things by halves, if i commit, i am all in, oh dear my Aspiness is taking over again, lol i hate it when i do that, the more i research the more i spend.
So now its a custom build at Waterbox spec with dimension changes to suit rather than a commercial usual size. Final dimensions settled on are 1850mmL x 750mmW x 630mmH, full Starphire 19mm glass, black glass overflow, black painted rear glass panel, sump as per Waterbox 230.6 with manifold and separate ATO, full Marine ply stand sealed with black polyurethane ordered from Aquarium Gallery Perth on 12thMay. The build is made by FireAqua who also are the manufacturers of other top brand names i will not mention here.
The display arrived in my state Capital port last Thursday and the install date has been scheduled for the 25th of Aug so i have been a very patient customer and have been left with far too much time on my hands to devote myself to waay too much research and the spending of large sums, not going to detail the cost of my build, i need no reminder.
So along the way have selected and progressively been acquiring my running gear but to this point are not really entertaining a full aquarium controlled system.
Internal wave makers: 2 x R/O OP4
Return Pump: R/E RD3 DC 100W
Temp Controller: Aqualogic
Heaters: Schego x 2 300W
UV: Lifegard pro max 90W H/O 3"
Skimmer: R/E Supermarin 200 + R/E RD3
Lighting: 2 x Vipars 165W
Livestock: LPS and 2 Regal Angelfish with possible Majestics at later date.
The RD3 DC 100W return, breakdown and pics for those who may be interested.
[The R/E RD3 100W DC is a very substantially built pump and looks like it could outlast my lifetime, the motor block is very solid looking, as is from inspection every other facet of the pumps design, the impeller housing is either cast or machined from a solid block with the outlet solvent welded in place, the impeller shaft is impressive also at nearly 12mm thick. While they are not for everyone due to economics i do hope the outward indications of build quality overall are indicative of its service life capacity. The controller box is also solidly built with housing screws sealed in place as well, all electrical fittings and cables are soft and flexible indicating high quality multiple core wiring inside, not stiff and un-pliable. The owners manual is also well formatted with clear instruction for operation and maintenance.
Temp Controller and Schego Titanium Heaters:
Not much to tell here but by reviews on Schego heaters and Aqualogic controllers i can keep the display running within 1.0 degree F or 0.17 degree C, i think this is more than good enough temp variance control. I have selected the 300W x 2 setup for redundancy, you may be thinking that 2 x 300w heaters are insufficient for my display. I live in Western Australia in a fairly temperate area, with reverse cycle aircon ducted throughout my home so the heaters will easily cope with the winter temp while in summer i expect the heaters to work at a minimum of activity.
Lifegard H/O Amalgam pro max 90w 3"
For a UV sterilizer i can't really recommend the Lifegard Aquatics more strongly.
The reasons for the selection of this brand was due to 2 key factors being price vs Pentair and the fact that the Lifegard unit utilizes a replaceable and removable interior protective liner, making the unit completely serviceable. other factors are the rotating unions for positioning, High output amalgam globe and are available in both 3" and 5" casing diameters. The ballast also has a countdown day timer and alarm for when service is due. In the pics below of the globe and quartz sleeve you can see one of the two amalgam dots inside the globe.
This was a heavily researched topic for me before i purchased the unit, there are many factors to consider before you go and shell out for a UV system.
Against what BRS have done on their builds i chose the 3" model as dwell time for me was not as important as exposure, by that i mean the effective penetration and proximity of the bulb to water contact inside the case of which all water must pass, dwell time is simply adjusted by a ball valve on the outlet from my manifold.
Looking back now i am for sure glad i went with the 3" for the additional reason it is simply huge and there is no way this unit can be mounted correctly inside my cabinet both for function and or yearly maintenance, as such i will have to have this vertically mounted on the exterior of the cabinet. I can push over 3000 litres per hour with this unit and easily attain stage 3 sterilization, being on the manifold i can adjust as per my requirements for whatever dwell time and what it is i want to zap.
Scape:
Going to try to achieve as close as i can to this above, while i understand the perspective of man made reef rock etc, i will be using real live rock and NSW for water changes.
This may be a bit of a challenge as the advantages and flexibility creating forms in man made rock may be a bit of an ask using RLR.
Anyway sample pics from my supplier were sent through today of what is on offer.
The middle pic of the rock above is offshore rock and is less commonly available, fingers crossed i can get a really good cross section of material to use but by my scape looks like i am going to need a heap of shelf flat pieces.
Lighting:
Well we all know what Vipars look like, have 2 x 165w on hand but may purchase a third, i am undecided as to needing 3, will only be running LPS and Regal angels do not like bright light and are prone to hiding out due to it, or so i have read, only time will tell.
I do not like any of the options for hanging kits or aquarium glass mounts and want to be able to clear my lights when doing maintenance. In the end after much indecision i purchased two of these below, Neewer photography and studio wall mount booms and will be making a sliding frame so i can position the Vipars anywhere i want on the mount and also enable me to add a third unit in future. As to mounting height that is still unsettled, will check the Vipars vs height for light spill and go from there.
Neewer wall mount boom:
Some small modification may be necessary, primarily in possibly shortening the primary boom length, but these are more than sufficient to hold the Vipars weight, and hopefully won't look tacky.
I don't really have more than this to include, as my LFS is in possession of the R/E Supermarin 200 i cant upload pics or give any sort of comment, so i have to wait till the 25th of Aug to see if it was worth the considerable financial outlay, i am still borderline on whether this skimmer is too large for the bioload and may have to be feeding phyto and food heavily, we will see.
End Goal:
All of what you see above, the planning and components has by no means been easy to achieve with the current climate of the world but i have made it this far, there will be many of you already saying i am mad running Regals, Majestics and LPS, many of you reading this being entertained by my aspiring craziness, eating popcorn only to watch and say i told you so.
Not really caring as i have my plan and it has been thoroughly researched by myself over the last 3 months and since the very beginning i was committed to these two species. Only time will tell.
My end goal is to have my Regals breeding for home aquaculture. Impossible lol, well maybe but i just loooove a challenge. I have never taken the easy way out in my life and my life experience can by no means be assessed as ordinary and have decided to add this to my bucket list, i am more than aware of the needs of the environment the Regals prefer to breed in, so depth of the display may be a huge factor in any successful spawning, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. I will not write further as to the intricacies of pelagic spawning, its far too complex, suffice to say this is what i would like to achieve and am going to give it a solid crack, at worst i will successfully find ways that will not work and be able to add to the information available to aspiring home aquaculture of ornamental marine species.
Till next time then, will update pics on the day of Install.
Stay safe and may the odds be ever in your favor.
Regards
B.
Last edited:
. Very ambitious! When I read “livestock, LPS and regals and later a majestic” I was like 
