400 Gallon Starfire Build - Mixed Reef

[thenissantech]

Sorry to hear about your pumps. Its pretty crappy that they don't stand behind their product. I hope you find some better pumps that will hold up. The holder dor your apex stuff loofs great. So does the sump. They did a great job.

 

[AJsTank]

Very exciting day for me today... I'm getting my water. Wish me luck! Hopefully I won't have any leaks with these 18 Bulkheads :dance:


In the meantime, here is my fish list I will be getting over the next 12 months.

Anthias - I will be collecting about 30 of these and will try to find as many different kinds as possible
Gold Flake Angel
Conspicuous Angel
Gem Tang
2 different pairs of designer clowns
2-3 Pygmy Angels
Blonde Naso with Streamers
Male Cross Hatch Trigger
Some Gobies (not sure which ones yet)
3-4 Wrasses (not sure which ones yet)
3 - Yellow Tangs
Possibly 1 more big Angel - This one I will play by ear

 

[monkiboy]

there are some beautiful looking fish on that list! definitely interested to see on what species and genus you settle on for your multiple anthias to avoid issues between them as that is what i am doing right now. and awesome to see angels on that list. will you be conditioning them as juvies in QT to avoid coral nipping or are the angels the priority over some LPS/SPS petering in the tank? eager to see how this plays out!

 

[AJsTank]

there are some beautiful looking fish on that list! definitely interested to see on what species and genus you settle on for your multiple anthias to avoid issues between them as that is what i am doing right now. and awesome to see angels on that list. will you be conditioning them as juvies in QT to avoid coral nipping or are the angels the priority over some LPS/SPS petering in the tank? eager to see how this plays out!

I feed 4-5 times a day. In the past it's helped my Angels not nip as much on my corals. I've had lots of Anthias and have had success keeping them a long time, but the one I'm staying away from is Bartlett. I've found over the years those are very aggressive towards other Anthias, so for now, I'm going to keep them out.

 

[monkiboy]

I feed 4-5 times a day. In the past it's helped my Angels not nip as much on my corals. I've had lots of Anthias and have had success keeping them a long time, but the one I'm staying away from is Bartlett. I've found over the years those are very aggressive towards other Anthias, so for now, I'm going to keep them out.

what angels have you kept in the past with the frequent feedings successfully (i.e. not nipping on corals as much)? your information on the bartletts matches my experience and research on them as well. have you settled on any genus in particular? i think they'll look great in your space with a couple harems; the bold coloration and active swimming brings a lot of life to a tank. those are some of the fish i'm most excited to add to my tank anyway and with your size you can have a couple if not a few large harems over time.

 

[AJsTank]

what angels have you kept in the past with the frequent feedings successfully (i.e. not nipping on corals as much)? your information on the bartletts matches my experience and research on them as well. have you settled on any genus in particular? i think they'll look great in your space with a couple harems; the bold coloration and active swimming brings a lot of life to a tank. those are some of the fish i'm most excited to add to my tank anyway and with your size you can have a couple if not a few large harems over time.

Lots of Pygmy, Blue Face and Queen. I know quite a few people who keep Gold Flakes in their reefs and are okay. Never had any experience with a Conspicuous, so I'm rolling the dice. I know they will all most likely nip, but I'm going to attempt to do what Syphus and Copps and a few others do. I've spent a lot of time visiting tanks and speaking with people who do it this way, so I'm going to give it a shot.

And I guess I need to re-phrase what I said. My Angels would always nip here and there. I just fed them enough that it was minimal.

 

[monkiboy]

Lots of Pygmy, Blue Face and Queen. I know quite a few people who keep Gold Flakes in their reefs and are okay. Never had any experience with a Conspicuous, so I'm rolling the dice. I know they will all most likely nip, but I'm going to attempt to do what Syphus and Copps and a few others do. I've spent a lot of time visiting tanks and speaking with people who do it this way, so I'm going to give it a shot.

And I guess I need to re-phrase what I said. My Angels would always nip here and there. I just fed them enough that it was minimal.

thankfully john/copps is from my local forum and actually will be speaking at our next meeting this weekend on "sps success" and i'm sure the typical angel compatibility questions will come up so i'll be all ears and will pass on any info if interested. but getting anywhere near his success would be awesome with the amount of growth/coloration and quantity of angels he has - awesome goal. i guess the biggest thing is just keeping the SPS as healthy as possible, right? in the tanks i've seen it seems angels are more prone to pick on unhealthy corals. a blue face or queen would be a spectacular addition.

anything on the specific anthias you're thinking of at the moment? i have my eye out for some resplendents (p. pulcherrimus) and still trying to figure out a second choice.

 

[AJsTank]

thankfully john/copps is from my local forum and actually will be speaking at our next meeting this weekend on "sps success" and i'm sure the typical angel compatibility questions will come up so i'll be all ears and will pass on any info if interested. but getting anywhere near his success would be awesome with the amount of growth/coloration and quantity of angels he has - awesome goal. i guess the biggest thing is just keeping the SPS as healthy as possible, right? in the tanks i've seen it seems angels are more prone to pick on unhealthy corals. a blue face or queen would be a spectacular addition.

anything on the specific anthias you're thinking of at the moment? i have my eye out for some resplendents (p. pulcherrimus) and still trying to figure out a second choice.

Blue Face and Queen is what I've had in my other reefs and I was okay with them. I think he has experience with Conspicuous.

 

[ReefPiracy]

Nice tank and equipment.

 

[Swine]

Stay away from the bimaculatus anthias too! Mine is really aggressive and turning my small lyre tails into aggressive fish too

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[AJsTank]

Stay away from the bimaculatus anthias too! Mine is really aggressive and turning my small lyre tails into aggressive fish too

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I will look into that. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[AJsTank]

If you've ever worked with Spaflex, it's kind of a pain. I used a hairdryer to get it warm and then zip tied it to a straight edge and it worked like a charm after it cooled down.


It took about about 30 min to fill up the display. I will be putting some type of a cage over those 90's that are in the sump for the returns. I did run into quite a few problems as we were filling up the tank and it took about 3 hours re-adjusting and re-doing some of the plumbing.

 

[AJsTank]

I wanted to show you guys a close up of this stand and Dosser I had Elite Aquatics custom build for me. I was very tight on room, so this was a must.



As you can see, the 1/4 inch tubing goes directly from the box to the Vertex and then over to the sump where I had the same connections installed.


I have not zip tied all the cords yet because I have more Vortech's and all my Radion Pros that I have to add over the next couple weeks. But you can see how it fits nicely under the cabinet.

 

[SunCorals]

Wowzers I love this tank!

 

[AJsTank]

At least I got my 4 gallon Nano in my kitchen to get me by while I'm cycling.

 

[revhtree]

Great tank! Can't wait to see it progress!

 

[AJsTank]

My 120 Vs the 400

PS, I hate cycling

 

[melev]

Seems bigger. :smile:

 

[revhtree]

Bigger is better! HA!

 

[AJsTank]

My last 2 Radion Pros I ordered will be in next week and then I can mount the lights. I ended up buying a gallon of the BRS bio-pellets for my reactor as well. Day 14 of my cycle - Getting closer...