310 gallon monster

[TinnysReef]

Hi R2R,

Thought I'd start a build thread for my beast. Last November I had a disaster with my Marineland 300 gallon ... it broke . Water everywhere, tried saving as much corals and fish as possible but had serious losses. It was awful. The tank was up for almost a year and the corals were JUST starting to really take off.

Decided I never wanted to go through that again and did not want to be defeated. So, I am starting a 310 gallon custom tank in its place (from customaquariums.com). Dimensions are 84" long x 30" wide x 36" high.

I have been waiting months and months to start it as I have been waiting (and waiting and waiting) for the cabinets around it to be installed. I have been biding my time starting a frag tank and planning where to put the corals. I think I've watched every possible BRS video on aquascaping possible and spent weeks constructing MarcoRocks the way I want them with superglue, then mortar. Then, I found this really cool company on Etsy that sells paint for rock (addictivereefkeeping.com). I was nervous about the paint but I have used it on some rocks that I've put in other tanks and it looks great and did not cause any harm to any critters or corals.

The lower cabinets were just installed, the canopy is next but I thought I'd share the pics of what everything is looking like so far. Can't wait to see this running!!! Hoping to get it filled with a couple of hermit crabs by Halloween. I've had a Brightwell brick in my 125 gallon for 6 months so hopefully the cycle is short.

 

[sfmacguy]

Looking good!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[Saltysecondsreefing]

Sweet setup

 

[TinnysReef]

Canopy is on!!! Time for plumbing.

 

[TheSharksDen]

Looking good! Very excited for you!

 

[Someguyfromsc]

great setup!

 

[TinnysReef]

Up and running! Let the cycling begin.

Only hooked up one light (Red Sea 160) to minimize algae during the uglies phase.

 

[TinnysReef]

Here’s a view of the plumbing. Got the heaters hooked up. Holding off on the skimmer for now (since it’s empty).

(System is from customaquariums.com, I’m not savvy enough to build that).

 

[OdinPrime]

Looks awesome! Im surprised that they didnt drill the tanks being it was custom. Was this a choice on your part? Also any chance we could get a shot of the sump area? That sump looks crazy. You're living my dream!

 

[TinnysReef]

The returns and overflows are drilled yes but there are just boxes that cover that area.

The sump is awesome! I’m just waiting for the ATO to cure to turn that on. I’ll get a pic of it maybe from the outside cabinets it’s easier to see.

 

[TinnysReef]

Hard to see everything from inside the cabinets but here are some shots of the sump!

 

[I never finish anythi]

Great looking setup.

 

[ajax969]

Cool looking tank! Looking forward to see the progress

 

[TinnysReef]

Let the cycling begin!! Started to get a little algae - 5 hermits and 2 snails wandering around now.

I had a brightwell brick in my 125g for about 8 months. That tank is 4 years old and very well stocked with softies. I put half of the brick in 2 weeks ago and the other half today.

Also put in copepods from Algaebarn.

I've never had a tank start with a well seasoned brick. Hopefully 2-3 month cycle?? How will I know when it's coral time?

 

[TinnysReef]

Waiting patiently for the cycle. I added a bunch of hermit crabs, a couple of conches, and a few different shrimp that all seem to be happy. I have added copepods 3 weeks ago. So far no "uglies" just s scant amount of brownish algae on the glass that's easy to clean off.

Tried adding frogspawns, birdsnest, cabbage coral, pipe organ. The frogspawns and birdsnests began to BLEACH! This seems weird because I put the lights (Red Sea 160s) on acclimation mode with a starting strength of only 15%. So, the frogspawns and birdsnests are back in the frag tank ... I am hoping they recover.

The pipe organ and cabbages look fine. Not sure how I know when it's safe for the hard corals???

 

[TinnysReef]

Starting to get into the "ugly phase" - brown diatoms and algae starting on the rocks and sand. I got an order of some inverts from Reef Cleaners.

The baby urchins are little monsters and cleaning the rocks so well!!

The conches seem happy and are siphoning the sand day and night.

A couple of weeks ago I added coralline from Algae Barn. I haven't had any luck growing coralline algae in my softie 125 gallon, but it's starting in my frag tank so hopefully it'll grow in the big boy too.

 

[TinnysReef]

View with orange glasses. Ugly phase = signs of life.

Changed around the flow situation - the MP40s on the back glass just blasted the rocks from behind but I don't think provided great whole tank flow.

I moved the MP40s to my 120g softie/clown harem.

I bought the AI orbits thinking OK for a 300 gallon, 7' long tank I should get the more powerful ones. Holy crap are they strong!!! I have them on random flow 10-25% and it is PLENTY. Kinda wish I got the cheaper, smaller ones.... oh well. But flow is great, and I like that I no longer have a dirty film on the top of the water anymore. The powerheads drive everything towards the overflow now.

... I have one lonely green kenya tree in there that is surviving. Candy canes aren't looking the happiest. But I figure I'll leave the cheap $10 frags in as long as they're alive. When they start growing and looking good I'll know it's time for more.

Come on cycle ....

 

[TinnysReef]

Added the first fish!! 12 Lyretail anthias, 1 yellow canary wrasse, diamond goby, molly miller blenny, yellow watchman.

Had them in quarantine for 2 months. Anthias are little piggies for their pellets . One is starting to change color becoming male.

 

[TinnysReef]

Still nothing is growing and I don't know why!!!! There doesn't even seem to be algae growing in the tank. There is the minimal brown sludgy diatom that grows on the glass but that's it.

I have 5 tanks, all of them get the same water. All of the others are doing great.

In this tank, all of the inverts and now fish are doing well. No losses. I don't understand why not even algae will grow let alone corals.

The only thing I can think of is some sort of toxicity from a magnet leak. One of my magnet feeder cups I noticed broke - there was fine magnetic material stuck to the wet side last week. I immediately took it out. I looked up what kind of toxicity could happen from magnets leaking and saw that magnets could leak copper. But I would think the inverts would have suffered if that were the case.

Just in case I put cuprisorb in the sump.

I just want to add corals!!!! But not even algae is growing