The tank is custom build measuring : 600mm long, 600mm wide and 700mm high.
With rock displacement the capacity of the tank is about 220l (50+gal).
The tank is filtered by a home made canister filter (1200lph), a Eheim 2213
canister filter (440lph) and an internal prefilter filled with carbon and phosphate
sponge. Inside the tank is 1 mini jet power head for side currents, the canister
filters also provide ample water movement (one attached to a spray bar). There is also a
air driven protien skimmer inside the tank.
Lighting is provided by one trichromatic, one triton, one blue-moon and one 10000k no name light. I used foil to act as a light reflector. The lights stay on a 5 hour period. Too much algae problems if left on longer. Need the light for macro algea growth.
Sand stone, corals and rocks that my little daughter picked up for me on the Durban beach was used for decoration. The different shapes made numerous caves and tunnels. The fish seem to love it. There is also a large hermit crab shell inside the tank, which is now home for my two clarcii clowns.
The tank was running about a week before I added the first fish. It was a yellow-tail damsel together with one hermit crab. After about a month I added two more fish, the two clarcii clowns. I also added one more hermit crab. Later on the the one died. I also brought four beadled anemones back from Umshlaga Rocks which are doing great. A few months later I added a sand goby which I got for free and a snail to help with my green algae problem. I think I should have bought all the algae eaters first. I still plan on adding a yellow tang for the algae problem. On the rock pink and green coraline algae has started to grow.
Maintenance include regular water top-off, cleaning of the protien skimmer and moving the small power head for creating new water currents. I'm still new in the game and money is tight. I performed a 10%-20% water change after 5 months and I'm going to start doing it monthly. The algae in my tank also feeds the fish so I feed them but once a week. The fish don't look stressed at all and the anemones has produced siblings.
