My 3 month photos Chinese Set up

[BOBG]

I am trying the recommended setup by my chinese LFS. I will keep updated photos as I progress under his guidence.

I have been adding something once a week over the last 3 weeks.

Side Shot 1

Side Shot 2nd side


Rock Stack w corals and mushrooms

Round End Shot

The purple "Feather Standing up in the rock does not show it's entire length which is about 1 foot. Now identified as a Sea Pen. I will have to adapt a in tank set up for him.

The diatom bloom is slowly fading now, what a relief. I hate that brown look.

[moonpod]

Can I get a better shot of the canopy and stand. Looks nice!

[Jeremy Blaze]

Please explain "the recommended set up my my chinese lfs"

[Chaotic Reefer4u]

looks nice...how about a whole tank shot to boot, thanx.

[BOBG]

The Chinese LFS setup is one daylight one 5000k actinic
1" coral rubble bottom
wet/ dry filtration, it is in the back corner of the tank
add 10 caps of "Cycle" per week

He said he wants to add a skimmer soon a UV light sterilizer and a Clac Reactor.

So far it is only the wet/dry running for filtration

He will change 50% of the water at 5 months after that he says 20% every 3 months

[Jeremy Blaze]

SOunds kinda old school.

[zanemoseley]

Don't bother with the cal reactor as I don't see many calcium using coral in there. A cal reactor puts out big time calcium and is a pain to dial down to a very minimal amount. I would just dose it manually.

[bugguy]

I had crushed coral bottom in the begining and had problems with waste gathering there and growing all sorts of nasties. Please be careful and don't over feed.

[tkenm377]

I like the look of the tank alot! keep it up

[jacmyoung]

Originally posted by Jeremy Blaze
Please explain "the recommended set up my my chinese lfs"

He is in China.

Bob, did you mean that new moving ball you just got is a sea pen?

[saltym3]

how'd u get the rocks to stack like that? are they tied together somehow?

[Jeremy Blaze]

I know he is in china, I meant what was the way that they recommend to set it up. As he stated, it seemed like it was a different method than normal.

And he explained it.

[moonpod]

I would venture to guess that there's a drill hole down the middle with a pipe or something keeping 'em upright.

[sean48183]

Nice tank. I like the design. How are the prices in China? DO you lhave pretty good access to alot of livestock?

[BOBG]

The rocks have holes in them and placed on a metal rod (of all things), but I am letting the LFS guy do his thing.

I just tell him what I want for inhabitants by pointing at his selections. The selections are very limited.

I hope to get into Beijing to see if there is a better selection there.

I will need the clalc reactor in the future until then manual dosing would be ok except additives are also limited.

This shape of tank is very popular here as water is part of "Feng Shui". The floor plans of most homes allows a room to be divided by this shape of tank. My tank divides the dining room and living room. Some Chinese place them at the front door or entry way.

Entry ways should be blocked by something to prevent evil spirits from entering as spirits supposedly cannot go around corners and are blocked from entering the home by placing something in front of the door.

Yes, the purple Sea Pen is what I was previuosly looking to identify. It can move about the tank using it's "foot" and stem by expanding and contracting.

After researching, it will be a challenge to provide the right substrate for it. Feeding, lighting and water flow is not a problem. They should have about 20 cm or 8" of mud/ sand to plant their foot in. They colonize by branching out in the mud and releasing eggs and sperm into the water column to reproduce.

I am not concerned about reproducing at this time. I would welcome any suggestions on how to provide a suitable substrate using my existing rubble bottom. I was thinking a box or tube with sand/ mud and cover it with rock or rubble to hide the container.

I have invited the Chinese LFS guy and a translator over today to discuss several points. We'll see how that goes.

As far as "old school" methods, that is to be expected as most Chinese do not have disposable incomes for such a luxurious hobby even if prices are much cheaper than in other countries.

Right now I have about 700-800 USD invested in everything to date including inhabitants.

[Ti]

nice

[BOBG]

The setup currently in place by the LFS is;

Wet/ dry trickle in the the flat end of the tank with the return about 4" off the bottom of the tank. I don't know the pump size or brand.

One 48" daylight, One actinic. These just lay above the water on the tank cross supports.

About 1" of coral rubble on the bottom.

I will ask him today to mount four lights in the hood
2- daylight
2-actinic on timers to bring the actinics on and off before the daylights.

I plan to ask him to install;

1- UV sterilizer
1-Clac reactor
1- Skimmer

into my stand bottom in that order.

Any suggestion on the plumbing that will be required for this setup since the wet/ dry is built into the tank and no sump in place?

The skimmer will have to be out of sump and below the tank in the stand.

Thanks in advance.

[Cutiewitbooty]

that is a awesome looking tank, i like the design. The methods are kinda "old school" though and the more popular methods really arn't that expensive, maybe even cheeper actually with a refugium ect. The lighting that most people use now is pretty expensive though.

[jacmyoung]

...

As far as "old school" methods, that is to be expected as most Chinese do not have disposable incomes for such a luxurious hobby even if prices are much cheaper than in other countries.

Right now I have about 700-800 USD invested in everything to date including inhabitants.

I met some business people from China and also heard from those who just visited China that there are many affluent Chinese there that have more disposable income than most of us here. But as China's development is a more recent event, I can see why this reef hobby has not been fully established.

[BOBG]

that there are many affluent Chinese there that have more disposable income than most of us here

I have lived in China 5 years now. Although there are "rich" Chinese, the majority (approx. 85%) of the population make less than 100 USD per month. The rich people are the one's doing business with foriegn companies or are in government positions.

Most business people that come to China tend to meet and spend time with the more wealthy people in a company or government.

Within about 200 miles of any coast line, are the richest people in China even at an income of 100 USD per month. This is the population that most people see when visiting. Even if you get about 40 minutes away from cities like Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, the income becomes even less in the "country side". Living conditions are extremely poor even in the large cities.

If you get further into mainland China wages and living conditions are even worse.

Country side people average about 60 USD per month.

So it depends on the perspective that you look at China from. Even the rich, are not rich compared to western standards. The money is all relevant to the local economy.

So with all that said, yes reef and marine hobbies are very much in the development stages just as the country is developing.

[jacmyoung]

I am certainly aware that the vast majority of the Chinese are still living substandard, but I don't think reef as a hobby has even caught on among the rich yet. I'd like to see a few good reef stores in Shanghai when I go there in a few months but have no way of getting information. None of the Chinese business men/women visiting here ever heard of reef tanks.

Don't they supposed to have their own websites?

[BOBG]

I am sure Shanghai will have some reef stores. The problem is finding someone who knows where they are.

If you ask someone where the bird and flower market is located, chances are the fish stores will be in the same area.

Once you place the "bird and flower market" into the context of the conversation, you can then ask about fish and/ or sea fish and they will better understand you.

If you just ask about sea fish, chances are it will never sink in what it is you are really looking for.

Shanghai is a little more modern than most places and you might (I stress might") find a store in the yellow pages.

Most privately owned stores do not list or get listed. Still some advances to be made in phone books to be made. I suppose it is due to the expense of getting listed that most do not list.

I don't say any of these things negatively, it's just the way things are here in a developing country. In fact I have enjoyed my time here over the last 5 years and plan to stay another 5 years.

I had a visit from my LFS guy and had a translator on hand yesterday.

He is familiar with all the "new technology" (old tech for us) and recommends Aqua medic products. He says most foriegners by this brand from him however there are cheaper brands that he has access to.

I plan to upgrade everything from filtration to lighting since it is available now that I am able to actually "talk" to him. I speak some chinese but cannot communicate at this level with him without a translator. Even with a translator it can be difficult.

I was suprised to find that the chinese names translate for some things almost exactly to english. Sea Pen for example in Chinese is Hu Bi literally water/ Sea/ Lake Pen. Foxface Lo also translates exactly.

Welcome to China, I hope you have a good trip.

[jacmyoung]

Thank you for the intro. Don't get me wrong, every Chinese knows aquarium or fish pond, after all it is part of Feng Shui as you put it, just that a reef style tank with corals is still unheard of. I will follow your leads after I get there. I am sure there are many other things to do and see that missing some reef show would not be the end of it.

[merseyman]

... several points:

-the calc reactor would be a complete waste w/ the lighting you have. Just the 2 flourescent bulbs will provide WAY too little light for any photosynthetic that might use calcium to build it's "skeleton", i.e. SPS. So it be like buying food for a new puppy, then giving him no water to drink.

-seems like you have too many fish in there to support any delicate inverts anyway.

-not sure where you are in China, but if you are able to go to Hong Kong, which is technically now part of China but a world apart, they are very advanced in the hobby. In some respects hobbyists there have it much better than the USA. There is an area called "goldfish road" that has 30+ shops w/ everything from expensive german light fixtures to much cheaper chinese or taiwanese equipment. Tons of livestock as well.

[BOBG]

I am in Tianjin which is about 2 hours south of Beijing. Hong Kong is about a three hour flight or so. You are right Hong Kong is a whole different world than mainland China.

My company has an factory in DongGuan and I might be able to get someone there to pick up some things for me and ship here when we ship products between plants. We have people going to Hong Kong on a regular basis so it should be easy to get what I want if I can get specific info to them.

As I mentioned I plan to upgrade everything since I now know that I can get good equipment here. It's funny that most everything is made here but you can't buy it here.

As far as too many fish 3 clowns, foxface, tang and Angel and cleaner shrimp shouldn't be too many for a 500 liter tank with inhabitants.

I had my LFS come in and take my hood in to be modified to accept upgraded lighting. I am also going to order the Aqua Medic lighting which includes two MH, two actinics and a moonlight fixture and bulb with the natural light timer.

This should work well.