240 gallon build

oceanlife83 · Aug 24, 2014

Looks great. Looks that everything is going great. I have finally got mine about setup I am filling it this weekend and will be cyclibg for the next month or so.

NeveSSL · Aug 24, 2014

Looks incredible, man! Your tangs are freaking HUGE! They also thought you were going to feed them. Haha!

Brandon

schooleyosis · Aug 24, 2014

The abyss is looking really good! Lots of critters in there don't make it seem so barren. All those fish are huge! Good job.
Where are the photos of the triggers?

bknapp · Aug 24, 2014

Lots of big beautiful fish man, I'm jealous.

Looking great.

Volitans67 · Aug 25, 2014

oceanlife83 said:
Looks great. Looks that everything is going great. I have finally got mine about setup I am filling it this weekend and will be cyclibg for the next month or so.

Awesome, can't wait to see pictures. Always a great feeling once you get it salty!

NeveSSL said:
Looks incredible, man! Your tangs are freaking HUGE! They also thought you were going to feed them. Haha!

Brandon

Thanks man, the crazy part is that I literally fed them 30 mins prior, they are insatiable!

schooleyosis said:
The abyss is looking really good! Lots of critters in there don't make it seem so barren. All those fish are huge! Good job.
Where are the photos of the triggers?

Thanks bud, the triggers are tough to catch on my phone! I'll see if I can take some snipe shots tonight.

bknapp said:
Lots of big beautiful fish man, I'm jealous.

Looking great.

Thanks man, that 180 of yours is going to full of them before you know it!

oceanlife83 · Apr 13, 2015

Just wondering how the tank was going?

Volitans67 · Apr 16, 2015

Well I am way overdue for an update, thanks for the prompting! I've survived bulkhead leaks, sump bulkhead leaks, and return pump failure, but the tank has really been auto pilot mode. I haven't added much on the coral side since I tend to appreciate more of a FOWLR+ setup haha, but I do have some really large leathers, a nice anthelia island, and currently a nice cyano carpet I'm battling.

All the fish are doing great and I've added several in the past few months, including the new boss of the tank, an 11 inch yellow fin tang going by Earnest. Here's the most recent stock list and some pics of Earnest waiting to be fed ( a lot!)

Yellow fin tang
Sailfin tang
Hippo tang
Two yellow tangs
Purple tang
Vlamingi tang
Foxface
Pair maroon clowns
Pair of percs
5 chromis
Blue jaw trigger
2 clown gobies
Firefish
Psuedochromis

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oceanlife83 · Apr 16, 2015

Wow looks nice. You know I fought a cyano outbreak for awhile. Lots of water changes and uped my biopellets and all went away. Here is a few of my fish and coral.

oceanlife83 · Apr 16, 2015

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Love my vlamingi tang even though he is like a bulldozer.

Volitans67 · Apr 17, 2015

Looks great!! Those vlamingi's are serious bulldozers!

SNAKEMANVET · Apr 17, 2015

Tank looks great,got any pics of the sump area.

oceanlife83 · Apr 17, 2015

I may have some will have to look.

Defective_Weeble · May 10, 2015

Nate! You saw the thread over on the FB group, but I figured I'd ask here.

Now that you've lived with the remote sump for a while, what would you have done differently?

Volitans67 · May 11, 2015

Defective_Weeble said:
Nate! You saw the thread over on the FB group, but I figured I'd ask here.

Now that you've lived with the remote sump for a while, what would you have done differently?

Can't say enough good things about having a remote sump aside from the basic low noise levels, lack of spillage fear, etc, but in honor of Letterman retiring, I tried to come up with the top 10 things I would have done differently setting up the remote sump:
1) Not directly sump related, but I would have waited longer to get my hands on a Synergy overflow. The GH overflow does the job, but since part of the remote sump goal was lack of interior house noise, it can't hold a candle in comparison.
2) I would have had my refugium/reactor area planned out prior. I wasn't sure what/how I wanted to run anything other than the basics and having to figure that out after was a headache.
3) I would have integrated a WC station next to it. This was part space and part spouse approval factor, but my RODI/WC setup is across the garage and pumping water is much more annoying than turning a valve.
4) This is sacrilege to say, but I probably would not have purchased the full blown apex. It's basically a really expensive heater controller and pH monitor since I have not run any aquabus cables all the way back to the tank.
5) I would have run my return pump internally from the start. Since my sump is the ole horse trough, I tried to use a few gaskets and some silicone to make the stock bulkhead hole work. Bad idea. Worked great until I moved the sump and it sprung a slow drip...which is almost more annoying than a full blown leak. But in was in the garage and not the house!
6) Speaking of moving, I put the sump on a flush deck dolly and can move it a good amount if I need to. I would have probably used two smaller ones for a bit more stability.
7) The trough can definitely be a PITA to fully siphon detritus from when doing water changes. I tend to try and stir as much as I can into the water column and that seems to help.
8) Def pros and cons to have a giant tub to put everything in. I do wish I had designed compartments to work with at times, but thats just the OCD in me. I also cut out some foam insulation for a top which has helped with temp control and evaporation. I haven't experienced any of the garage rust/moisture issues or any of the water surface/air issues I was concerned with.
9) Speaking of OCD, it is definitely not the prettiest thing to look at. But boy does she have a great personality. I had thought about putting a skin around it, but it would have really just taken up more space.
10) Last but not least, I am glad I got a return pump that had some head room left over if I want to increase the flow. I hate math, so figuring out what was going to be enough to push back across and up was a pain, but the adjustability of the DC pumps is a big plus when getting it dialed in.

I hope that helps somewhat, even though I know those aren't all directly remote sump related. Happy to take some snaps of any particulars you'd like to see or if there's anything I missed!

revhtree · May 11, 2015

Great job bro! Any new FTS? :)

Volitans67 · May 12, 2015

revhtree said:
Great job bro! Any new FTS? :)

Thanks man! Here's a few with a quick vid, forgive the bad quality. Thankfully on the back end of an algae bloom after I got my pellets dialed back in. As you can tell from my coral selection (or lack there of), I'm a bit more of a fish head.