265 corner tank

[StevenSeas]

About a year and half after getting this baby setup I figure it is time to get a thread started for it. So even though this tank has been setup for 1.5 years already not much has been done with it and just about 2 months ago did I start to get reengrgized with reefkeeping and got the tank back in shape.


Tank Info
A ~265 gallon Diamond shaped corner tank with starfire glass, PVC bottom, and Acrylic Eurobrace. The back left wall is 5 feet long and the back right wall is 4 feet long. at the end of these walls there is a 90 degree angle to 18" panels, and the the front panel is roughly 51" across, and is 27" tall.

Currently it is being run and a diy sump, that I am not happy with and will be switched out at some point in the future when I hammer down what I want design wise.
Skimmer - is a Skimz extermal 252 I believe.
Reactors - 1 biopellet reactor and 1 carbon reactor
Lighting - currently 2x Ecotech Radion Gen 1 (planning on getting 1 or 2 more when the gen 4 comes available whenever that may be)
Flow - currently a Reeflo dart through a 4 output closed loop on the bottom, and 1 dart running a manifold and the return,.

Tank Inhabitants
1 purple tank `5"
1 Queen angel ` 4.5"
1 Foxface 6"
1 Yellow tang 3"
1 Flame angel 3/4'
1 Orchid dottyback
1 Black and white ocellaris (about 6 years old)
1 Misbar ocellaris (also about 6 years old)
~ 20 turbo snails

Coral
misc softies
blue/purple mushrooms
Brown w/ green tip birdsnest
Green staghorn from seaworld
GSP
Green with purple tipped frogspawn

I hope to make this tank and SPS dominated mixed reef, and with that being known I will probably end up getting rid of the queen or using that as an excuse to setup a new tank

[StevenSeas]

Since we all know that a tank thread is nothing without pictures here ya go.

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[StevenSeas]

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[Zack]

Dude that stand and canopy are awesome! DIY?

[StevenSeas]

Ya the skin is DIY but the actually structual support is a 36" high steel stand, which I love, for the openness and not having a center brace so the whole front is open so I can pull out the entire sump if ever need be (which has already been 2x). But the stand has 5 doors that open individually or there are 3 panels, front and each side, that can come compeletely off so that it is just the steel, which helps a lot for maintance. There is also a roughly 5" outcrop on the base and is tiled so that you can set drinks or maintance supplies or now my son likes to stand on it and watch the fishes.

The canopy is a PITA to work around, it was definitly not as well thought out and will definitely either be modified or redone sometime in the future. There are 3 panels, front and sides, that are flip style which would be nice but they dont stay up and out of the way, and they dont even open up 90 degrees. So I ususally end up taking off the front flap with a screwdriver anytime I need to get into the tank, so my first mod will definitly be getting some nice euro hinges so that it can just pop on and off easily.

The doors were the biggest pain to make. The criss cross pattern is actually a seperate peice of plywood that was cut and routed out into that design and then placed ontop of another piece of plywood to give it a 3D effect. So it was definitely a lot of labor but all in all I like the end result, but I would probably do it slightly different in the future.

Sorry the pics suck and there arent many, I had trouble uploading and those were the only 2 that I could get up, and it was right after a waterchange.

[Zack]

I usually use photo bucket and the image tags, I'm not a huge fan of the uploader.

That's insanely awesome man. Did you take down those wave tanks?

[Mike]

Cool dog and the tank is nice too. :)

[Mike]

Does your queen angel eat any of your corals? My emperor angel is the king of my tank, but ate some of my corals. Wondering if your queen was the same way.

[StevenSeas]

No when I moved to my new how I took do the 60 gallon and set it up as a cichlid tank.

Mke., I have yet to notice the Queen actually picking on any corals yet. That being said though on my new Staghorn I noticed that day 1 it had really good polyp extension, but recently hasnt had quite as much. So I tried moving and notice what looked like white bite marks in a couple of spots but all in all have yet to see her actually nip at any coral. And I moved my Stag and it has started get some better polyp extension so maybe it was just placement. Though I forgot to put on my fish list that I do have a flame angel that is 3/4 of an inch that I have noticed picks at the devils hand, maybe 2 or 3 pecks at most and then swims away, so I am hoping that it is more of he is just picking something off of it as he swims and keeps pecking at the other rocks.

[alton]

Great looking tank, good luck with the Queen beautiful fish but I never found one that was reef safe other than with mushrooms and Kenyan trees. My first one actually ate GSP. But that is a great foot print for a large angel like a queen so enjoy. I started with a canopy on my 300 but removed it after a year because it became a pain to work around. My female Flame Angel picks on SPS but doesn't kill it, as long as you have fast growing SPS like birdsnest and a couple others you may be fine.

[Dean]

I love the look of a corner tank. It gives you so many additional options for aquascaping. And a 265 gallon??? :hypnotyized:
Very nice set up Steven. The wood work took some serious craftsmanship and patience. Very nicely done.

[StevenSeas]

Thanks guys. Ya the queen was put in there to subside the wife's complaining that there were no corals or fish... Luckily she knew going into it that we might have to get rid of Oliver....now catching him well that will be a different story. As for the no canopy, I wish that were an option, but between the light glare (its right next to our TV) and mounting the lights otherwise, and making the whole thing athsteticly pleasing to the wife just doesnt seem possible to ditch it... plus after how much of a pain and time suck it was to make, I dont want to ditch it, except when I am doing maintance.

How do you or did you sex your flame angelfish?

Dean, I love the way that I can aquascape this tank, but unfortunately being a corner I cant even touch the back corner so any major aquascaping calls for swim trunks (literally, I have a pic of this somewhere). But luckily I have it set where I like it for now, after about 3 or 4 major renditions, which is why I am really hoping that the queen and flame angel mind their P's and Q's.

[StevenSeas]

Also this weekend I plan on setting up 1 of my 2 quarantine tanks that I have planned for this tank. Nothing fancy just a 27 cubish style tank that will go in my garage on my water mixing station. Pics to come when that gets setup.

[Zack]

Nice!!

[alton]

I picked up a large one from Rob on a Hawaiian order, and then a very small one from TT. The smaller one used my several colonies of birdsnest to hide in. She would come out and steal food from the male and then retreat back into the birdsnest where he could not go. And then one day it was like a total change they swam together. It is funny sometimes to watch the smaller female chase the larger male. Sometimes pairs are available online? One word of caution the male flame is second in command in this tank, and can be very aggressive, especially during breeding time.

[alton]

The following is a couple of pictures of mine from years ago before live rock was actually alive and was very expensive. Oh yea Compact Fluorescents ruled the lighting market

[StevenSeas]

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[StevenSeas]

So I got my quarantine tank up and running yesterday, a little faster than I expected since I ended up not being able to pass on a potters angel, and a moorish idol. Unfortunately this is my 2nd moorish idol. The first I had for about 5 or 6 months but lost during the week that my son was born and I was either at the hospital or otherwise preoccupied. He and a few other fish developed ich and passed. Hopefully I can get this one to eat as well as the previous specimen.

But on the quarantine setup it's a unit that I built to hold 2 X 27 cube tanks and 2 X 65 gallon polyethylene tanks for ro and saltwater mixing. Currently I only have 1 of each but as the budget allows and the need arises I will add on. I also would either get a booster pump for this ro/di or go with a 1000gpd unit.

The 27 gallon quarantine tanks have a heater, pvc fittings for shelter, and an air driven sponge filter. I currently have 2 that I have been running in my sump for a few weeks to get seeded with bacteria. that way when I get new fish I take existing water from my display tank, a seeded bio sponge and bam instant cycled quarantine tank. I don't plan on running medications prophylacticly but if need be I will and then just toss the bio sponge and get a new one, they are cheap considering the other potential downfalls that could arise.

[StevenSeas]

So I was wondering and am looking for input on this.

Since I already go through a lot of salt with my system being ~300 gallons. On my quarantine tank can I do 50% water changes (roughly 10-13 gallons depending on how high I decide to run it) and put this waste water with uneaten food in my main tank and simultaneously take replacement water ro the display and put it into the quarantine?

This would net me no additional loss of salt water, or making more ro etc.


Also this won't be done with quarantine b which will be the one which mess will be used if they are needed. My main goal of quarantining is to get the new additions fat and healthy to give them an easy acclimation to the main tank and ease their transition.

[Dkray944]

I wouldn't put water from any quarantine tank into the display. You have a chance of introducing unwanted pest into the system. I use the water from my display tank to put in the quarantine tank and haven't had any issues. Hopefully this helps.

[alton]

I use my display water for my QT tank, but when I do a water change in the QT that water goes on my grass. After using my foam filter in the QT tank I dump it in the washing machine without out soap and then back home in my sump for future. QT is the way to go

[StevenSeas]

So one week update on the quarantine tank is that the Moorish Idol is eating pretty well, picking at frozen even when it rests on the bottom, some pellets and he loves the grazing rings that Iput in there and found that my previous Moorish did really well on and took to quickly as well. His dorsal banner was damaged either in shipping, or was nipped or something but there is a thread of growth of it that I can literally see almost a 1/2 inch or so of growth a day since about day 4. Unfortunately the same cant be said of the potters angel. I cant get him to come out into the open or eat in front of me,

But here is a video I took of the moorish eating his grazing ring.

http://i1379.photobucket.com/albums/ah126/sdvaughan12/Mobile%20Uploads/20150313_203828_zpsrm1c1iyp.mp4][IMG]http://i1379.photobucket.com/a

[StevenSeas]

So after 6 weeks of quarantine and good health I added my Moorish Idol and Potters angel to the tank on Thursday night. The moorish had grown his streamer to over 4 inches while in quarantine, unfortunately after the initial hazing that was given by the tangs it was quite a bit smaller the next morning... altho I swear that the streamer has already shown some growth since yesterday am. Unfortunately the potters didnt fare so well. My only guess is that he was killed by one of the other fish, but who I havent a clue.

I also picked up a nice green flower anemone yesterday, and so far looks to be doing well.

[StevenSeas]

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04/18/9ea5cfe59988099d556808940d4d4dbe.jpg

[alton]

Adding new fish is always a gamble, my small Redsea imperator was accepted by all, but the addition of a third regal angelfish was not, so I removed her.

[StevenSeas]

So it looks like the biopellets on my system finally got cycled and have helped calmed down an algae outbreak I had due to not replenishing them soon enough. I got my new sump installed relatively easily and am loving it.

I have a couple more items on my wishlist that I am waiting to get;
A booster pump for my RO system or maybe just a new larger capacity system all together, I am thinking like 1000gpd
Apex controller
Apex Flow pumps
An Auto top off (probably incorporated into my apex)
1 more radion maybe 2
More test kits, for Ca, Alk, Mg, etc

But in the meantime I have added a few more corals but am wanting to wait to add the majority of my corals untill i get my ATO and apex. Since I will be out of town 4-5 nights a month and want to do this as an SPS dominated mixed reef.

So now I am looking at what fish I want to add. I pretty much know which larger fish, specifically tangs I want, but am looing for input on some great reef safe fish. Probably on the smaller side with a lot of activity and color. I have been thinking about some mixed fairy wrasses (any recommendations/favorites) maybe a shoal of anthias, and possibly even some chromis or less agressive damsels like the azure.

Anybody out here with any input?

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[StevenSeas]

Alright so after 2 or 3 hours of fighting, removing 90% of the rock I finally caught and removed my flame angel and queen angel. Which forced me to redo all my rock work. Here it is 4 days later. Thoughts?

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/18/c100ceb965831a8a402c8a0e7906dcda.jpg
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/18/7d9b7df02787049644ff9a05c14c3b17.jpg

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[Reefnub]

I think it looks great! Lots of room for corals and growth.


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[Dkray944]

It's hard to tell but as long as there is enough space behind the rock for good flow and fish to swim in and out of, I think you're good

[StevenSeas]

Ya from the front of the glass to the back corner is something like 4' or so.

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[rocketeer]

What do you use for Ca and Alk? Do you like it?

Jack