210 SPS build

[JamieP]

Hello everyone! New member here. I finally stopped traveling for work and relocating every few years, so after 10 years of no fish I am jumping back in.
I purchased a 210 brick from Scream311 (thanks for selling it and helping me move it!), a stand from The Butcher (thanks) and a nice sump from bstreep. It will eventually be an sps reef focused mostly on Hawaiian species and Hawaiian fish. Of course there will have to be substitutions due to the lack of availability or suitability.
I have had the tank and stand for a little over a week, but I have been busy getting it ready to come inside. Since nothing can be done without the blessing of my wife, she got a new car, and I got this tank. The stand was in pretty good shape, but we will be redecorating the TV room, so the stand had to be redone.
Pics will follow of my progress.

[Big_Pun]

good luck welcome to MAAST. that's a big project in itself and even bigger since you want SPS. when your ready down the road I can give you some SPS tester frags.
Colored Stick Lovers Unite !! lol

[JamieP]

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So here is the tank and stand. Yes there is a 72" x 24" x 28" tank sitting on 1x8 boards on top of tires in the living room. My wife immediately realized she had made a poor decision.

[JamieP]

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Tools needed: scraper, screw driver, hammer, 1' of chain, paint sprayer hooked to compressor, sander

[JamieP]

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removed all the hardware and sanded everything down with 100 grit sand paper. I used 100 grit mostly because I wanted to knock off as much poly as quickly as possibly without leaving tracks that paint wouldn't hide. I did not sand all the way down or go over with a finer grit since I was painting it.

[JamieP]

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No pics of next step, but I beat the heck out of it with the chain, hit it with the hammer, used a 1/32 center punch and hammered it in randomly, swung the blade ends of the scraper all over the stand. Nothing like paying good money for something and then treating it badly. Focus a lot of the hammer swings at the corners and bottom.

Followed all that with a coat of primer. I like the Bullseye 123 because it will really stick to anything.

[JamieP]

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Chose a couple colors a greenish grey for the under coat and an ivoryish color for the top coat. Painted one coat of the green/grey, waited a couple of hours. Added the Johnsons paste wax to various spots. Its the shiny stuff in the third pic. I mostly added it to the dents, nicks and all the corners. It prevents the next coat from bonding well.

[JamieP]

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Two coats of the ivory top coat

[hobogato]

very interesting, looking forward to the finished stand pics!

[JamieP]

Beat it a little bit more with the chain and hammer. Put it all together and sand some more. This time I used a 220 grit sand paper. Focus sanding on corners and areas that would be touched a lot, such as where you grab a cabinet door to open it. Most spots I sanded only a little, but in some I sanded all the way back to the wood.
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Sanding complete, drug into the house. I now have one rustic looking stand.
By the way, one IMPORTANT note, I have no idea what I am doing. If you decide to do something similar please check multiple sources. Do not rely on me to have the best way. I manage to feed myself semi regularly, but other than that I struggle through life.

[FireWater]

Sounds fun already and you should not have any frustration left. I am interested to see what it looks like when you are done.


Yes there is a 72" x 24" x 28" tank sitting on 1x8 boards on top of tires in the living room. My wife immediately realized she had made a poor decision.
You did better than me. At least you put trash bags on the floor first. My wife gave up years ago.

[JamieP]

The last few pics were with my iphone, both of my cameras have died in the last month. You can't really see all the detail, looks a lot better in person....humility is my greatest virtue

[FireWater]

Stand looks good. Obviously you are not that new to this.
What are your plans for equipment?

[JamieP]

Still working out exactly what components to add. I have never had a sump before, so I still have a lot of figuring to do. I am thinking about a mag 16 for the sump return, reef octopus xp 3000 e for a skimmer, a closed loop running around 2000 gph (haven't picked a pump yet). I haven't looked at the circulation pumps for the display tank yet. I still have to build a canopy for 3 250 watt metal halides and some other lights ( again haven't decided on vho or t5's). I have a 30 gallon top off tank. I haven't looked at chillers yet, but I am sure I will need one. Of course if anyone has any suggestions, I am all ears. My last tank was quite a few years ago, no sump and only 55 gallons. I am a little out of my element and very open to suggestions and experiences.

[FireWater]

You have somewhat of a plan in place. I can give you all kinds of opinions, but it will be just that - opinions. All the stuff you listed will work fine.

I bought an octopus sss1000 to run on my new tank. I have always been pleased with their products.
If you run the closed loop do you think you will still need circulation pumps?
There are way too many choices for lighting now a days. I am going to run all led this go around.

[cbianco]

I like the way that stand came out. My wife loves the distressed look so I don't allow her her paint and our furniture at the same time. She calls it, "Shabby Chic," whatever that means.

Looks like you have a good start there. Looking forward to seeing more pictures and progress.

Christopher :)

[JamieP]

thanks everyone for the kind words. I think I will still add some circulation pumps since it will mostly be sps, we will see as it gets closer. I just ordered the skimmer, mag 5, mag 12 and mag 24. Once it all comes in I will start getting all the plumbing measured out and ordered. It is taking forever!

[cbianco]

thanks everyone for the kind words. I think I will still add some circulation pumps since it will mostly be sps, we will see as it gets closer. I just ordered the skimmer, mag 5, mag 12 and mag 24. Once it all comes in I will start getting all the plumbing measured out and ordered. It is taking forever!

One word, VORTECH!

Christopher :)

[Big_Pun]

One word, VORTECH!

Christopher :)

I agree better hurry prices are going up on these very soon. I have the new model and love it!

[JamieP]

wow, those Vortech pumps look pretty awesome. I hadn't come across them before. I will probably add 2 or 3 of the 40's. Dang 3/4 inch glass limits my choices.

[kkiel02]

wow, those Vortech pumps look pretty awesome. I hadn't come across them before. I will probably add 2 or 3 of the 40's. Dang 3/4 inch glass limits my choices.
You would be suprised. Im still using koralia 4s that work well with my glass. You will need to get a Tiger Shark or comparable cleaning magnet though. The MagFloats wont cut it.

[Kristy]

Hi Jamie,
Really liking your stand and also your strategy for keeping the wife happy.... sound philosophy! :D We also have a 210g reef (Oceanic, 7' x 2' x 2'), although only a few SPS in it, but you are welcome to come by and look at it and discuss equipment choices, etc. if that appeals to you. We are using Vortech MP40s on it and the 3/4" glass has not been an issue. Just send Mike (my husband) a PM if you would like to arrange a time to come by.

[Scream311]

Hey Jamie. Glad to see that stand getting some work ! I'm glad you took my advice and began a build thread ! I knew the wife wouldn't like the idea of tires sitting in her din lol the things we do for this hobby ;-) as for the 3/4" glass I as well as Kevin have used Koralias just be sure not to nuge the magnet in anyway as they will surely fall with the slightest bump BUT I've seen Vortecs in Action and Boyy are they Nice. If your Budget can accommodate them then I say. DO IT !

[JamieP]

Kristy - I will take you up on that offer! I just wish I had days off in my near future. I will pm you as soon as I life slows down a little.
It looks like I will be taking the LED plunge rather than go with the metal halides. The wife was not thrilled about our future electric bills from the mh and constantly running a chiller. I am thinking about going with : http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-57/48-Ultra-Premium-LED/Detail getting two kits to start with and possibly tweaking it from there.... That mix should produce 14k color. It will be mounted around 10 - 14" from the water. Either going with 40 or 60 degree lenses.

[JamieP]

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Took way longer than expected to get the plumbing done. The main thing that got in my way was my own incompetence. I also work a lot so that didn't help either. Seven Home Depot trips spread over a couple of weeks and I am close to done. Every time I thought I had it figured out, a few days would pass and I would forget what my bright idea was. I would also return things to Home Depot and then discover that I purchased the exact same thing again because I figured out a "new" way to do it. Its all dry fitted right now. I will be placing the tank in the next couple days and making sure it all lines up before I cement it.
Basic layout is 3 1.5" drains and two 1.5" returns. One drain splits between the skimmer and the refugium. Skimmer feeds into refugium. Refugium drains into main sump. One drain goes directly to main sump. Mag 14 pushes water from sump to tank. Last drain and return are on a closed loop fed by mag 24. Mag 5 feeds skimmer.
At first I thought I was good, but the more I look at it, I think I may have to down size the pumps.
Once it's all cemented I will run tap water for a couple of days to see how it does. Hopefully there aren't any leaks and hopefully the drains keep up with the mags.

[ErikH]

The drains will keep up with a 24, I ran one for a bit on my 200. If you get a snail in the drain, you're toast. I run a MP60 and 40 on my 200. I have a mag 9.5 for sump recirc. I would rather have the powerheads create my in tank flow, and let the water move slowly through my sump.

[JamieP]

It took way longer than I thought to get me and three friends over to move this beast. It is finally on its stand! I'm painting the canopy right now. The LED's are all soldered and glue to the heat sink. I have water in the tank. The plumbing is all glued. So here are my problems, maybe someone has an idea
I have two small leaks in the plumbing. One from under the bulkhead from one return. I thinks its in a joint not the bulkhead (I tied a paper towel around the threads, and its still dry.) This leak is over the sump so a couple drops a minute isn't a big deal, I don't think. The other leak is under the other return. There is an elbow that screws into the bulkhead and it keeps having water swell over the top of it. I have retaped and reseated it a few times and nothing is working. I bought some flexible gutter to catch the drops and drain them to the sump.
I over tightened the male connection into my mag 24 and cracked it. I super glued it back together, but I am afraid to try it. Lots of water spraying all over the walls. Anyone ever fix this situation?
Now the big problem, I have a SRO-XP3000e protein skimmer, aka super reef octopus xp3000 external. The instructions are junk, but the skimmer looks pretty cool and from what I hear its awesome. I can't get the return line to return anything. The only drainage right now is from the overflow cup!
I will break down the plumbing for it the best I can. The drain is 1.25 spa flex pvc. There is a T by sump. One end goes to the sump with a ball valve at the end. I ran this in case the drain fed the skimmer too much water. The other end of the T goes to a Mag 5 (and is reduced to 3/4" pvc). The mag 5 feeds the skimmer, a bunch of other plumbing happens inside the skimmer and there is a bubble master pump at the other end. Coming out of the skimmer is an outlet pipe. It goes horizontal for about one foot. It goes up about 8" then makes a U to drain into the sump, or should I say supposed to drain into the sump. There is also a gate valve on the outlet line. I have tried the gate valve in numerous positions, I have tried the ball valve at the sump end of the drain line in multiple positions and I have tried the ball valve by the mag 5 in multiple positions. There are only two out comes, the mag 5 doesn't get water so the skimmer stays at the same level and makes a few bubbles, or the skimmer over flows and I have to drain buckets quickly or end up with water on the floor. The collection cup fills with water and the drain on its bottom is fed into a few containers I have handy. The water fills very quickly so I don't have a lot of time to think while its operating. Most of my attention is focused on getting the containers dumped before they over flow. I have to have a set plan for valves then spring into operation and action. I have left it running for around 10 minutes once. I have to give up because my back hurt from hunching over the containers to grab and dump them.

[JamieP]

I finally got a hold of Coralvue for the reef octopus. I messed up the plumbing. I didn't realize the return line had to run parallel or downward, I had it going up. I wish I had known that before I got everything crammed into the stand. I just ordered a bulkhead so I can drill into the side of the sump for the return. I hope I can get everything out and back in without too many problems, but that will be a job for another day, I have to go fishing for the weekend! I hope some redfish keep my mind off all my mistakes!

[FireWater]

I am sure any type of fishing will keep your mind off of it for a while.

I kept reading your post about the issues and could not wrap my mind around the exact problems. Did you find anything out about your drip issues?

[Gseclipse02]

most drips i see from people installing bulk heads is over tightening them, not lining them up correctly or where the gasket is theres a piece of sand or something there

[Smiller_00]

wat up, have a 210 rr tank running for about a year, started the adventure with Evolution L.E.Dx3, wasnt enough, so i dropped 4 glo t5 setups, wasnt enough, so i put 2 250w metal halide, there we go! getting insane growth on my sps, but fighting the heating issue without a chiller. the house a/c sucks and have to keep the house around 72, an that keeps my tank around 78-80. Debating on bigger led systems, 2 watt systems or the insane "cannon" but im curious whos running what in their 200+ tanks to get insane growth an also keeping the tank temp stable. Also not having the electric bill jumping up crazy. Have pics up soon
thanks

[JamieP]

As far as the LED's go I went with 48 Cool White Cree and 48 Royal Blue Cree, no corals in the tank yet so no growth, but from what I read it should be plenty.
The leaks have stopped for no reason of my doing. I left the rain gutter in place to catch any drops just in case. I was able to replumb the external skimmer and its working now. I had to drill out the hole for the bulk head in the sump and of course the only way it would work was 3/4 of an inch from the bottom. I am very lucky it didn't crack. Milwaukee hole saw was very sharp and as always they make great tools. Now I just need to finish painting the canopy and replace the tap water in the tank with salt water.

[Scream311]

Waiting on updates, and PICS !!!

[JamieP]

Dang James, you must have known I was getting my tank pic ready! I have everything installed "correctly" now. The mp40s are awesome. The Apex is in, but I haven't had a chance to program the plugs yet. My lawn is way over grown so that is where most of my day will be.
The LED's are up, but there are a few issues:
It is freaking bright! The den glows. When I am on the deck a strange blue light comes out of the window by the tank. The neighbors must be wondering what's going on in there.
The kitchen is next to the den and the lights in there look an ugly yellow when the LED's are on. Even the sun outside looks real yellow after staring at the tank.
I didn't read enough about galvanic corrosion until after it was all built, so I will be replacing stainless screws and L brackets with aluminum when I get a chance.
I didn't plan the canopy build well. I used 2 10" wide boards for the main part of the top where the heat sinks anchor and an 8" board for the access. I was only thinking about feeding and small tasks so I figured 6" of access would be enough. To add rock or corals I have to take the entire top off. I may add eye bolts to the ceiling to hoist it up when needed.
I added 92 pounds of live rock on the 13th (two days ago) and I will need 100 more soon. Too bad they don't give it away.
The ball valve from the return pump to the tank failed. I left the pump off and closed the valve thinking I was ok while I went to work. The return line sits about 4 inches below the water line so it slowly drained into the sump and over flowed it. I had two fans blowing for 4 days to dry everything and most of the mildew smell is gone.
The auto top off is working well. I just have to build a surround for it so I don't just have a 40 gallon container sitting next to the tank.
Lots of work coming on the wires. They are everywhere, and I need to route them better and hide them. I was just eager to get it all running so I threw it all up.
Pics in next post

[JamieP]

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[JamieP]

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[Smiller_00]

sorry, been awhile to update, i uploaded some current pics in my albulm so please stop by an give some input.
My Vortec mp60s showed up but im outta town so i wont be able to play with those yet. The wife informed me i had a rock fall with my scoly corals on it an only one is found an she isnt able to reach it or find the other, so keep your fingers crossed i dont lose any corals....

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[CoryDude]

Smiller_00, in order to keep from hikacking JamieP's thread, I would suggest you start your own thread. That way this thread doesn't start getting too confusing. BTW, that is a nice setup you have.

JamieP, I can't wait to see some full tank and progression shots.

[Smiller_00]

Sorry about that im still new to the site, i will make a new thread right now... sorry jamiep didnt mean to step on any toes

[JamieP]

No sweat Smiller. I was hoping to get some people's opinion on fish. As stated earlier the tank is Hawaiian themed so the corals and fish will be endemic to Hawaii or reasonably close. I did this to reduce the temptation factor that has cost me lots of money in the past. The fish I have been thinking about are:
small school of yellow tangs
small school of heniochus banner fish
pair of flame wrasses
Small school = 3 maybe one or two more if I could get away with it.
No other fish would be added if I could get them to work. Am I being overly optimistic about the bioload I can carry in a 210 while having good conditions for SPS? I flip sides every day when I think about it, from no way that would work to I'm sure I can handle it.
If I were to proceed what is the best stocking order? I was thinking banner fish, wrasses then tangs last.
I won't be adding any fish for a few months, so there isn't any urgency to deciding. I still need more live rock, then a few corals once everything settles down.
I am taking the tortoise approach to set up. It's killing me, but the hare approach I used in the past killed a lot of innocent critters!

[JamieP]

oh and I forgot to add one caveat... although I would love a bigger tank one day, I am not operating under the premise that any fish would be relocated to a larger tank down the road. It rarely works out that way.

[Smiller_00]

I hear ya. I kinda jumped head first into this tank without doing a bit of planning. I was curious how the led systems are working out in big tanks. The Hawaii theme tank would be neat, mine is kinda all over the place but oh well. I agree on the tangs, I love em. I wish I had better luck with powder blues, hippos,clown, but so far I can't keep them alive, no ideaof why...Banner fish I haven't had good luck with either... neat fish though. Those two schools would be awesome..

[Smiller_00]

What about a red sea theme? School of purple tangs? $$$$$

[jrnannery]

Hawaaiian themed...gotta be a school of black tangs. Who wouldn't want to see that?

[justahobby]

Less fish will certainly give you more time to focus on the SPS, but you will be far from the balancing act of bio-overload.

Heniochus - not a great first addition since they aren't known for being hardy. At the same time, I agree w/ the order given the choices. side note: not all heniochus are from hawaii.

Flame wrasses - Nooiice!

Tangs - Maybe a calico?

[Gseclipse02]

Tangs - Maybe a calico?

i looked this up looks coool i want one now

[JamieP]

I had to look up the calico too, very nice! I think my wife would veto that fish bill. Our hearts are set on the Hawaiian them since that is where I proposed and where we go married. I had seen the black tangs, but I drive a 12 year old car. I couldn't have a school of fish nicer than my car. We are not as concerned where the schooling banner fish is collected as long as it is the real schooling banner fish, not the long fin banner fish. We saw it snorkeling so it is ok in our tank. Does anyone have any suggestion on a couple of fish to be added first instead of the banner fish who would then be second? I have looked hi and low on all sorts of web sites for Hawaiian fish that would work in our tank with not a lot of luck. Most of what we saw were the large fish which I think I have covered. The one small fish that I am vetoing is the dotty back. They are from Hawaii, but they get to be a pain.

[Big_Pun]

dwarf angels! I love my potters, got it from mr cob. just make sure you get one eating, I guess since mine came straight from Hawaii to my tank it hasn't taken to frozen yet, but my tank is mature enough for it to graze.

[Kristy]

One of my favorite fish in our tank is our long-nosed butterfly and I saw them all over the place in Hawaii, even as i was walking down the sidewalk and looking down to the inlets that are basically just a ditch! So... if that fish is in your stocking list, it would do best on the early side of your stocking list.

And be aware that there are actually two species of long-nosed butterflies and one is considered less risky than the other, reef-safe wise. They look almost identical (like the long-nose butterfly and the longER-nose butterfly!) so that you can tell them apart and get the right one.

[JamieP]

I hadn't noticed that the potters angel is from Hawaii, I may try one. I like the long-nosed butterfly ( a lot ) but my concern with them is the similar body structure and color to the yellow tangs. Do you think they would get along well enough?

I just finished adding another 100 pounds of live rock, so I think I am done with the display tank. I still need to add 50 pounds or so to the refugium. Maybe next pay check.
I am trying not to add too much. I have at least 6" perimeter of open water all the way around and a few cut throughs front to back.

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[justahobby]

I was just erring to the side of caution with the heniochus. You seem to be going about your setup very diligently. A school of cardinals could be a nice addition.

[JamieP]

I have been very busy pulling lots of hair algae! Its funny because in years past I would just throw a tank together and start adding stuff once the ammonia and nitrites were low enough. I used tap water for everything. I never battled hair algae.
This time, I took every (or almost every) precaution and I am staring at a green tank! Some of the live rock does look interesting though. There are a couple of pieces about as big as a small head that have grown very nice green hair. Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and phosphate measure 0, so I added some snails and a few crabs, but I may have waited a bit too long. There are only a few corals in there, two types of zoas or palys that were part of the live rock (nothing special), a set of other palys and another stoney coral (not sure what it is at all) that were thrown in free with my clean up order. Hopefully they don't get crowded out.

I added 5 silver lyre tail mollies and 5 dalmation mollies. It took them a day to get the hang of eating the hair, but they do enjoy the slide to the sump. I had to remove the screen from one overflow that dumps straight into the fuge since it was a pain to get them out of the over flow. I have a few types of macro in the fuge.

I am leaving the lights off in the dt every other day and running the fuge light 24/7. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

[JamieP]

Forgot to mention that there are two phosban reactors arriving on the 10th.
Does anyone know where to get Hawaiian turbos? I saw IPSF has one free with a clean up order, but not available separately. Aloha Corals web site is being renovated. Google hasn't given me any other leads. Turbo Sandwicenses.

[JamieP]

Still battling the algae. The mollies haven't worked as well as I hoped. They work hard, but there is too much flow so most of their time is spent in the sump. Its requires a bit of time to get them out and back in the DT. I have been using Marine SAT. It seems to help curb the growth and most of the algae is white except the base. It makes it easier to pull it out by hand. I just dropped the third dose, so hopefully it will really start to kick in. The GFO reactors are online and working well ( I guess, I couldn't measure phosphates before, so hopefully they are getting some before the algae does).

[JamieP]

Finally time for another update. I over came all the algae. I thought there was no way I would beat it back, but it is all gone. It took around 2 months of hand pulling, 20 hawaiian turbos, 12 nerites, 12 strombus and 3 trocus snails. The strombus are almost running over the tank. There are egg sacks everywhere, and babies covering everything. I added 3 peppermint shrimp a while back to eat the glass nems. I didn't feed them at all, hoping to encourage them to do their job. I have a new one pop up every now and then, but they took care of most of them. One pep died, and I only see one every now and then so I am assuming that there is only one left in the tank. Before the pair split they had LOTS of babies. There are tons of baby shrimp everywhere, mostly in the corners and around a few of the rocks. Some of them have gotten big (around a month old) so a couple might make it. I added 4 cleaner shrimp and they are doing well. They are also contributing to the abundance of shrimp babies, but I doubt any of their offspring will survive to adulthood. Over the past few weeks some corals have made their way into the aquarium, mostly montis, a pocillopora, a porites, a leptastrea and one plate. I ordered three heniochus diphreutes two weeks ago. I got 2 diphreutes and one acuminatus (he's in the for sale forum). Ich popped up, so I treated with hyposalinity, but one of the diphreutes didn't make it. He was the best eater out of the bag, but after about a week he took a bad turn. Stopped eating one day and started breathing really hard. He was a goner in the morning. So one fish does not a school make, I am in search of a few more. Pics to follow.

[JamieP]

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these guys came with the live rock. I didn't even notice them when I was placing it. There are around 60 of the blue/orange ones and around 40 of the all orange ones.

13641

no idea what these are, they were a bonus item from IPSF. I don't think I will keep it if I can't find out whether it is possibly Hawaiian. It looks kinda like a Duncan with longer stalks and smaller heads.

[JamieP]

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[JamieP]

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[JamieP]

I had to find a way to "fix" my protein skimmer. Every now and then ( 3 times so far ) it has gone crazy and over flowed the 5 gallon bucket the skimmate drains into overnight. With the idea from the guys at Aquarium Designs I plumbed the bucket back into the sump at the top, so no more water on the floor. Two of the times no idea why it happened and the last time it was caused by the drain getting clogged with algae. It is now on my weekly check list, and luckily I had the work done so it did not spill too much water. It is near impossible to get a perfect seal with a flat bulkhead and a round bucket so I lost some water on the floor, but not too much.

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[JamieP]

13651Here's a quick photo of the fish. I can't believe this tank has been running since October ( had it since August ) and there still isn't a fish in it. The acuminatus is the one on top and the diphreutes is the one on bottom.

[rockmp]

You can use a uniseal for the bucket.

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/products/pumps-and-plumbing/plumbing-sumps-drill-bits-overflows-uniseals/bulkhead-tank-adapters/uniseal-bulkhead-alternative



Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

[JamieP]

Great idea, not sure why I didn't think of it! Ordering one soon. Thanks

[JamieP]

Got some new pieces, montipora danea, m verrucosa, porites with Christmas tree worms. Also added 3 pom pom crabs. I wanted a few more but thats all they had. I know I will never see them again, but today I saw one eating a 3" bristle worm. I'm not against bristle worms, but it was pretty neat seeing him eating it. I wonder if the little nems he carries killed the bristle worm... My camera skills are lacking but you can kind of see it and a FTS
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[JamieP]

Finally have some fish in the tank! The heniochus did not make it through qt. I got a school (15) of Bartlett's anthias. I would post a pic, but the tank looks the same before fish and after. They did come out to eat last night. Thanks Louis and Elegant Reef for getting them for me. Hopefully they will be swimming about within the next few days and I will post a pic.

[JamieP]

Most of the Bartletts settled in fine, I lost a couple within a few days of adding them. I could sort of tell that they were ill or otherwise doomed since none of the other fish would laugh and play with them. The remaining thirteen are all getting along well and seem healthy. They are eating very well. I also added a Naso Tang. He was shy at first, but now he schools with the anthias. I have noticed pyramid snails since adding a few clams. Lots of scrubbing, but I seem to find more pyramid snails on my Turbos than on the clams.1538115382

[CoryDude]

How many shrimp do you have in that tank?

[JamieP]

There are 4 cleaners and one pepermint. The pep stays hidden most of the time (except feeding time) and the cleaners all spend most of their time out and about. They fight a little for space but don't chase each other. There is always at least one of them carrying eggs. I know smaller tanks have a hard time keeping more than a pair, but I haven't had any issues since I added them six or so months ago.

[sharkboy]

Will you be running a calcium reactor?

[JamieP]

I have a buble magus dosing pump for two part. It is keeping everything in check so far. I still test atleast once a week to make sure my dosing is adequate. Been very happy with it. It's very low maintenance.