Kent Marine Bio Reef

[steve861uk]

Just started my Kent Marine Bio Reef - Added RO and D&D H2Ocean Pro+ Salt on 05.09.16 and 20lbs of Live Sand yesterday (07.09.16) :w00t:

I've ordered some Caribsea Life Rock from Complete Aquatics and that should be arriving and going in today (this afternoon). Then it's time to let the cycle begin!

My plans for this tank are first and foremost to replace the Kent Skimmer with a Tunze 9004 (in the end I had no choice as the Kent Skimmer turned out to have a burnt out pump motor, which I found last night whilst stripping it for a clean :dft005.

In the rear compartments I will have the following:

1st - Heater, 2nd - Black sponge, filter wool, 250ml of purigen, nitrax sponge (to stop the purigen from floating up), 3rd - Tunze 9004 Skimmer, 4th - Return Pump.

Stock wise I will be keeping the following CUC:

Super Nassarius Snails
Nerite Snails
Trochus Snails
Spiny Astrea Snails
Blood Fire Shrimp
True Peppermint Shrimp
Green Mythrax Crab

Fish:

2x Black/White Clowns (Wifes choice!)
1x Yellow Tail Blue Damsel
1x Midas Blenny
Tiger Pistol Shrimp with Watchman Goby

Corals will be a mix of Softies and LPS with a nice mix of assorted Zoas.

Pictures to follow

 

[steve861uk]

Tank now cycling [emoji2]

Side View

Top View

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[steve861uk]

The Caribsea Life Rock is in as you can see from the previous pics and I'm very impressed with it [emoji7]

I ordered a 40 lb box and am sure they sent extra, my last Kent marine tank had 25kgs of live rock and this stuff has filled my tank nicely with a piece to break up for some rubble in the rear compartments......ooh err missus .

Excellently packed [emoji4]

A nice selection of pieces [emoji4]

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[chippypah]

Looking good there.

 

[steve861uk]

Have just ordered a lighting upgrade :whistling:

So the plan is to rip apart the Kent Marine Hood by taking out all the lights/electrics then insert 3x Aquaray Aquabeam 600 LED's, all controlled by an Aquaray 8 way multi-controller. This will be a great improvement and allow full control of my lights and is a mod that I've read about (last night) on a different forum....his tank looked amazing with these lights and had spectacular coral growth on Softies, LPS and even SPS :w00t:.

I will use 2x Marine White Ultra 600's and a Fiji Blue Ultra 600......watch this space and may my wife forgive me for spending all this money :innocent:.

Have also ordered a temperature controller, but will need a cooling fan to go with it (as my house is just too hot at this time of year).

 

[steve861uk]

Just ordered the cooling fan upgrade for my hood Big Thumbs Up.

2x 60mmx60mmx15mm quiet but efficient PC cooling fans from ebay, which will then be plugged into a 12v Power Supply (also bought from ebay) connected via a solderless 2.5mm Dc Jack Plug Socket (you guessed it.....also bought from ebay, but inspired by Maplins!).

The 12V supply will be plugged into my Temp Controller, working in harmony with the heater to keep the tank stable between 25.3 and 26 Deg C (or so the theory goes).

So my patience continues....just need to get all the equipment, then it's off with the hood and on with the modifications (Pictures to follow ).

I managed to install the Tunze 9004 skimmer last night, so it is now filling my tank with micro bubbles (although they appeared to be reducing this morning) and foaming nicely into the collection cup.

 

[steve861uk]

Did some water tests today and reading positive for ammonia and nitrite, but zero for nitrate, so am at the start of my cycle . Looks like the 2x frozen prawns are doing the trick. Have also got all the parts for my hood upgrade Ask will get that done tomorrow.

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[steve861uk]

The hood modifications are done [emoji2]

All the electrics ripped out.

Bright lights in and working on the multi-controller [emoji2]

PC fans are in and cooling the tank inline with my inkbird temperature controller, which is awesome!

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[Hazey]

Great tank the Kent Bioreef

That's gotta be bright with 3 aquarays.
Great upgrade of skimmer. I upgraded to the doc9001
Look forward to your progress

Dave

 

[nodster]

Wow there bright and a good retro fit into the Kent hood , I loved my bio cube and wished I never sold it , good luck with it and keep us posted on how its going Big Thumbs Up

 

[steve861uk]

Wow there bright and a good retro fit into the Kent hood , I loved my bio cube and wished I never sold it , good luck with it and keep us posted on how its going Big Thumbs Up

Thanks for the post nodster and Hazey (Dave). Yes the lights are very bright and the Ultima ones now have 120 Degree lenses, so also give a great spread of light. Most of my living room is now shimmering with the water movement.

I was in awe of the Fiji Blues last night and think I upset the missus by getting her to look at them every five minutes (with me stating how amazing they look :whistling.

My first Marine Tank was a Kent Bio Reef, which I wrote extensively about on the TNR (The Nano Reef) website when it was active a few years back. I got too ambitious back then and traded up to a 5' marine tank with 4' sump (now sold).

It is because I missed the Bio Reef that I thought now would be a good time to get another one....and here I am Big Thumbs Up. However, this time it will have good lighting, a stable temp and a skimmer that does not sound like it is constantly going to explode (although the one that came with the tank....actually did :wow.

Kind regards.

Steve

 

[nodster]

Thanks for the post nodster and Hazey (Dave). Yes the lights are very bright and the Ultima ones now have 120 Degree lenses, so also give a great spread of light. Most of my living room is now shimmering with the water movement.

I was in awe of the Fiji Blues last night and think I upset the missus by getting her to look at them every five minutes (with me stating how amazing they look :whistling.

My first Marine Tank was a Kent Bio Reef, which I wrote extensively about on the TNR (The Nano Reef) website when it was active a few years back. I got too ambitious back then and traded up to a 5' marine tank with 4' sump (now sold).

It is because I missed the Bio Reef that I thought now would be a good time to get another one....and here I am Big Thumbs Up. However, this time it will have good lighting, a stable temp and a skimmer that does not sound like it is constantly going to explode (although the one that came with the tank....actually did :wow.

Kind regards.

Steve

Ha ha I remember the rubbish skimmer they gave with the Kent wasn't long after messing about with it trying all sorts of mods , then gave up the ghost and binned it and got a 9001 .

One mod I would recommend doing if you haven't already done Steve is above the baffle where your gate is get a small hacksaw and cut a piece out of the top of baffle half inch deep and 1inch in length , so it looks like a castle wall . Reason being if the gate get blocked up " it happened to me " you end up with empty tank and wet floor its an emergency overflow for that just in case moment this mod costs nothing , easy to do and can save a disaster , keep us posted mate , I was same with my wife with my new lights , women can't or never will have the same excitement as us , all I get is yeah its ok and then gets on with her stuff Hysterical

 

[steve861uk]

One mod I would recommend doing if you haven't already done Steve is above the baffle where your gate is get a small hacksaw and cut a piece out of the top of baffle half inch deep and 1inch in length , so it looks like a castle wall . Reason being if the gate get blocked up " it happened to me " you end up with empty tank and wet floor its an emergency overflow for that just in case moment this mod costs nothing , easy to do and can save a disaster , keep us posted mate , I was same with my wife with my new lights , women can't or never will have the same excitement as us , all I get is yeah its ok and then gets on with her stuff Hysterical

Thanks for the tip Re: weir gate. Looks like the tools will be coming out again in the near future :w00t:.

I need to find some good LFS's near where I live, or near to work. Have just been to Maidenhead Aquatics at the Andover Garden Centre and they should hang their heads in shame! :angry2: They only have one large (ish) coral tank and it is full of aiptasia and as if that wasn't bad enough, the Xenia has been allowed to spread like a weed throughout the entire tank (great if you like that kind of thing as you'd be getting some free with every coral). Also coral placement has been an after thought, so a lot of soft corals and lps are getting burnt by mushies, etc.. needless to say I will not be making any purchases here! The only tank without any aiptasia was the Peppermint Shrimps home, then only because they are probably starving :shock:.

 

[steve861uk]

Looks like my works is near the best LFS ever (according to some reviews).....REEFDREAMS in Winchester. It's 14 miles from my place of work and as luck would have it, is on the way home to Gosport (ish) :dance:

So will be calling in tonight for a quick recce.

 

[nodster]

Looks like my works is near the best LFS ever (according to some reviews).....REEFDREAMS in Winchester. It's 14 miles from my place of work and as luck would have it, is on the way home to Gosport (ish) :dance:

So will be calling in tonight for a quick recce.

Thats the lfs we like bad day at work call in on way home for cheer me up medication Big Thumbs Up lets hope the recomendation holds true and its a good one

What happened to me was I accidentally shut the weir gate while cleaning and went out , came home to find water everywhere tank half drained the return pump and skimmer pump were shot through for having run dry smiley-sex020 was a hard lesson well learned Hysterical

 

[saltyseadog]

or just do what i did, get rid of the filter media and replace with live rock rubble, get rid of the weir gate and buy a decent skimmer

That way you eliminate the worry with it and dont have the annoying water sound constantly!

 

[nodster]

or just do what i did, get rid of the filter media and replace with live rock rubble, get rid of the weir gate and buy a decent skimmer

That way you eliminate the worry with it and dont have the annoying water sound constantly!

That works as well , nice one [MENTION=23639]saltyseadog[/MENTION]

 

[steve861uk]

I only have the weir gate down a little with the Tunze 9004 but now I've ripped apart my hood, I bet i can raise the skimmer and bin the weir [emoji4]

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[steve861uk]

Reefdreams here I come Big Thumbs Up Can't buy anything though......as my tank is still cycling Hysterical

 

[Hazey]

Well, what did you make of ReefDreams?

Dave