Gablami’s 260 gallon Rimless SPS Build

[SkiCatTX]

Wow, looking good!

 

[Wen]

Congratulations, fallow is over and your tank looks amazing!!!

Is your white tail a golden juvi or colored up adult? Love mine, great colors, interesting potty & snacking habits, but it is an unholy terror with newbies. Who currently rules your tank?

What are you working on next or are you taking a break from tank related projects?

 

[rds85]

FINALLY! Looks great

 

[Gablami]

Thanks guys, the positive vibes!

@Wen, I’ll probably just take it easy for a few weeks and just let the coralline grow. I’ve got a couple acro tester frags in already just because I was curious how they would do.

In terms of fish, I may get a couple working wrasses at some point. Maybe a yellow coris or radiant wrasse, depending on what I can find.

Other things I’m puzzling over is how to setup my autofeeder, when to get my calcium reactor going, and how to keep my refugium weir from plugging up with chaeto and changing the water level in that compartment... little things.

 

[esther]

My custom Clearview Pisces EXO lid arrived yesterday. I ordered it on July 26 and it was shipped 10/23. That’s 88 days. Their website says 77 days plus 10-20 addition days for custom lids. So that’s pretty accurate.

I think it’s a really nice lid. It’s my second lid from them — first one was the classic version. The Pisces exo is definitely lighter, and a bit flimsier than the classic. When I was shopping around, I would have gone with Toplids, but the reviews on the customer service were horrible even though the end product is top notch (kind of like my experience with advanced acrylics).

It is two panels that do not interconnect but sit VERY snugly together. There are three feed doors. They did a nice job cutting out the corners for the armored seams. And I have a few cord slots cut. It’s a good product but it’s surprisingly expensive. So I guess the lid meets my expectations.

Looks good. Super helpful description of the lid. Also, your setup is beautiful!

 

[this is me]

Looking good. Good diversity of fish.

 

[Gablami]

Is your white tail a golden juvi or colored up adult? Love mine, great colors, interesting potty & snacking habits, but it is an unholy terror with newbies. Who currently rules your tank?

It’s got adult coloration. Not aggressive at all. The male flame is chasing it around a bit. I think the Achilles rules, but everyone is pretty chill (except for that yellow tang I had to catch).

@this is me, I moved a tunze6255 to the back wall on the right side to give me better flow. Also added one more mp40 on the bottom right corner. Like you, wasn’t happy with the flow at the far end with all the pumps on the left side.

 

[this is me]

You won’t even realize the pumps are there when the corals all grow up and color up.

 

[Gablami]

My refugium section is before my skimmer, and as the chaeto would grow, because of the flow going through the sump, it would get pushed up against the weir. This would clog up the weir and raise the water level in the fuge, triggering the ATO. On top of that, the rising water level meant more of a drop into the skimmer section which increased the water noise. Then when I would clean the weir, the level would drop, and the extra water would evap, and the process would start all over. Not a huge problem, but an annoying one.

I decided to build a small baffle from some leftover acrylic I had lying around. Certainly not a professional job, but it works!

 

[sdreef]

My refugium section is before my skimmer, and as the chaeto would grow, because of the flow going through the sump, it would get pushed up against the weir. This would clog up the weir and raise the water level in the fuge, triggering the ATO. On top of that, the rising water level meant more of a drop into the skimmer section which increased the water noise. Then when I would clean the weir, the level would drop, and the extra water would evap, and the process would start all over. Not a huge problem, but an annoying one.

I decided to build a small baffle from some leftover acrylic I had lying around. Certainly not a professional job, but it works!

Great idea. Nice and clean solution.

 

[wonroc]

Mother of God...........Serious Build

 

[rds85]

Time to make a remote fuge plumbed into the system!

 

[Wen]

Time to make a remote fuge plumbed into the system!

Yeah, a display fuge with fancy macro!

 

[Gablami]

Dinoflagellate cameo appearance

About a week and a half ago, I noticed a lot of snotty brown mucous like strands on my back glass, rock and bare bottom. It steadily increased as each day went on until it was pretty ugly, and I began to fear that this was dinos. Since it's a relatively young tank, and I had no corals in the tank, I wasn't too worried, but I did buy a bottle of DinoX and Microbacter Clean just in case I needed to make any more drastic moves. I turned off 3 of my lights for 48 hours, leaving the 4th for the magnifica on. I used a powerhead and blew off my rocks and bare bottom 2-3x/day. I turned up my fuge light to 18 hours. I increased my return flow through to about 1500 gph, which is about all my overflow can handle, and turned on all three of my 57W aquaUV sterilizers. I dosed Microbacter 7, 15 ml twice a day. And fed my tank extra.

After 2 days, all the snotty stuff was gone, and I turned the lights back on, turned down the flow, and the dinos have not returned. Whew, I'm glad that was easy. Knock on wood.

My tank went through the classic diatoms -> cyano -> GHA -> dino cycle pretty quickly, and hopefully it's good from here on out. It's been just about 3 months from getting wet.

 

[kaifish]

Please give the tank a real good inspection when you get it. We ordered a CDA tank end of last year (a big one), it was delayed about 3 months past the initial promise due to all manner of things, then showed up and the bottom was majorly defective, they shipped it back, it showed up again with the same defect, they shipped it back, it showed up again and this time had two deep 3" long scratches in the front panel from all the shipping, they sent the owner up to fix them, and he wasn't able to. So now about 5 months late and we finally sent it back permanently, got a refund, and ordered a tank from AGE. It just arrived, right on time and perfect.

Not saying CDA can't make a great tank, I am sure that your's will be terrific, just giving fair warning to inspect it well and make sure it is up to your standards. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

The build is going to be awesome! Cant wait to follow along.

Same thing happed to me. Had to get a refund

 

[rds85]

Dinoflagellate cameo appearance

About a week and a half ago, I noticed a lot of snotty brown mucous like strands on my back glass, rock and bare bottom. It steadily increased as each day went on until it was pretty ugly, and I began to fear that this was dinos. Since it's a relatively young tank, and I had no corals in the tank, I wasn't too worried, but I did buy a bottle of DinoX and Microbacter Clean just in case I needed to make any more drastic moves. I turned off 3 of my lights for 48 hours, leaving the 4th for the magnifica on. I used a powerhead and blew off my rocks and bare bottom 2-3x/day. I turned up my fuge light to 18 hours. I increased my return flow through to about 1500 gph, which is about all my overflow can handle, and turned on all three of my 57W aquaUV sterilizers. I dosed Microbacter 7, 15 ml twice a day. And fed my tank extra.

After 2 days, all the snotty stuff was gone, and I turned the lights back on, turned down the flow, and the dinos have not returned. Whew, I'm glad that was easy. Knock on wood.

My tank went through the classic diatoms -> cyano -> GHA -> dino cycle pretty quickly, and hopefully it's good from here on out. It's been just about 3 months from getting wet.

I have a few small strands of brown snot hiding in the low flow section of by divided fuge, but hasn't made it to the DT or sump or even the high flow side of the fuge. I am using it as an excuse to keep looking for new fish to get.

 

[Gablami]

I have a few small strands of brown snot hiding in the low flow section of by divided fuge, but hasn't made it to the DT or sump or even the high flow side of the fuge. I am using it as an excuse to keep looking for new fish to get.

A few strands? In your fuge? My fuge looks like a nightmare. But better in the fuge than in the DT.

I do think your dosing of microbacter 7 and clean kept your ugly phase away. There’s something to that. I always thought that a young tank needed to go through those phases, but in your case, that hasn’t been the case. Are you getting any coralline yet?

 

[rds85]

A few strands? In your fuge? My fuge looks like a nightmare. But better in the fuge than in the DT.

I do think your dosing of microbacter 7 and clean kept your ugly phase away. There’s something to that. I always thought that a young tank needed to go through those phases, but in your case, that hasn’t been the case. Are you getting any coralline yet?

Ha yeah it is only like 4 strands so I shouldn't be complaining... Don't you have miracle mud in your fuge? I know that is not related to the ugly stage, but curious if you still do. It has a ton of minerals in it which is great but also an amazing place for ugly algae. They love fertilizer too .

I think it for sure had a positive influence on the ugly phase for sure. No way to prove it was the sole contributor, but I would do it again on the next tank.

I am getting significant coralline growth now. It is starting to explode and have to actually use my scraper on the glass.

 

[Gablami]

Got my calcium reactor setup today. Until now I’ve been dosing 2 part. The plan was always to (eventually) let the carx do the heavy listing and run 2 part for minor, even automatic, adjustment. Whenever I go on vacation, I feel like having control of 2 part remotely would make me feel better. I know that I can figure out a way to control the masterflex via fusion, but I have less interest in doing that.

I know that this still looks like a mess, but it’s really quite organized. I can get to everything easily, and it’s all labeled.

And while I was at it, figured I would take a couple shots of the front of the stand. I really like how it all worked out. I have a divided “dry side” and control panel on the right, and the sump that takes every inch of the left side.

 

[panic]

Nice and tidy! Looks great