400 Gallon Starfire Build - Mixed Reef

[AJsTank]

That Naso is one of my favorite fish!! I have one and my kids hand feed her. She acts like a dog wanting attention can't wait to get her in the big tank.

Yeah, he eats out of my hand every time. Very friendly fish.

 

[AJsTank]

that's awesome you found a way to set up a qt! how did you manage? what protocol will you be following for qt of your new residents to avoid parasite and disease in the display this time around? do you not prefer to allow the tank to go fallow for a few months since you had very little survive in order to completely remove the chance or introduction of parasite with all new arrivals? thanks for the share and photos as always!

These were my options on the table.

1. Pull all corals and fish out - Put fish in quarantine and hypo the tank for 8 weeks, then basically start over.

2. Let it go fallow

3. Leave the fish in the tank that survived, don't add anything for 60 days.

#1 - I just wasn't going to do it. I have lots of reasons why I could not do it this way.
#2 - Honestly, I don't have anywhere to put the fish. I have 1 40 gallon breeder at my home and none of the local stores would take the fish.
#3 - This was the best option for me. The first option is obviously the best, but it's just not doable. I'm at the 5 or 6 week mark right now. The fish that are in there survived and are healthier and more active than I have ever seen them in the last 8 months. My strategy for all the new fish will be this. Put them in my 40 gallon breeder for 6 weeks and treat them. After they are eating well, put them in the display. I will be doing this much slower this time. I have a handful of fish that friends have been keeping for me for the last 2 months that I had purchased, that will be going into the display next.

 

[AJsTank]

I don't like my temp above 79. These $8 fans I got from Target lowered the entire system temp down 1.5 degrees.

 

[AJsTank]

JF Unknown - What a fabulous piece to have in your collection.

 

[djnichols12]

Awesome build. Definitely following along. Starting my first "big" tank now, but my 125 is nothing compared to your 400. Excited to see what happens next.

 

[AJsTank]

Pinky The Bear


Red Gecko


Ice Age Granulosa and Wonderland Milli

 

[AJsTank]

Awesome build. Definitely following along. Starting my first "big" tank now, but my 125 is nothing compared to your 400. Excited to see what happens next.

Thanks man!

 

[AJsTank]

My Acro Arch is coming along nicely. I've been happy with the progression in the last 3 weeks.

 

[YHSublime]

Glad you ended up sticking around, this will be beautiful when it all comes in! LOTS of nice frags in then, gotta' say, I'm insanely jelous.

 

[AJsTank]

Glad you ended up sticking around, this will be beautiful when it all comes in! LOTS of nice frags in then, gotta' say, I'm insanely jelous.

Thanks. I don't know what I was thinking lol

 

[revhtree]

Looks great man!

 

[AJsTank]

A couple shots this morning from my phone.





This 1/4 inch out ring is the growth I've got in the last 7 days since I've increased my lighting schedule. I've been at 75% 10K for 3 hours a day, then 20k the rest of the day. I've moved to 95% @ 10k for 4 hours a day and then 20k. Corals seem to be taking off a lot faster now.

 

[FishDooD65]

Wow awesome build you have there dude! Sorry to hear about your fish issues, I myself had issues recently with fish I added. I just let the tank go for a few months and added my uv. I recently added some firefish with success and no disease. A good friend of mine told me once you have a disease in the tank, let it settle down over time and things get better. In my case it did. Best of luck and ill keep following along.

 

[AJsTank]

Wow awesome build you have there dude! Sorry to hear about your fish issues, I myself had issues recently with fish I added. I just let the tank go for a few months and added my uv. I recently added some firefish with success and no disease. A good friend of mine told me once you have a disease in the tank, let it settle down over time and things get better. In my case it did. Best of luck and ill keep following along.

Yeah, I'm taking it a lot slower with fish this time...

 

[AJsTank]

A little bit of an update. A handful of people have contacted me since Revh put this on Facebook (Thanks Revh!) and have been asking questions.

As far as corals go, I'm doing 100% SPS in this tank. Acans and Zoas are out of the question because of the Angels. I sold all my Euphylia and other LPS. I may throw in a large torch if I can find a nice one. Right now I have about 50 pieces and most of them are named corals. I plan on picking up another 20 or 30 named SPS pieces from a few more vendors, then filling in the rest with some nice cheaper SPS that I love. These "named" corals are insanely priced, but it's crazy how beautiful they are. I do like supporting these small business's and it's a lot of fun hand picking this stuff out.

As far as fish goes, I've got a Leopard Wrasse, Copper Band, Regal, Gold Flake, Male Naso, 2 Lyretails, Lemon Peel, File Fish, Shrimp Goby and a Black Swiss Clown paired with a Frost Bite. I plan on picking up an Orange Tail Emperor and a 4 inch Male Cross Hatch if I can find one. The rest of the livestock will be 20-30 more Anthia's.

Flow - I've got 2 MP60's on each side and 3 MP40's on the back wall. It's not enough and I'm not satisfied with the way the flow is working out. I tried the WP60's and they were too powerful and I hated the ugly cord and foot print that is in the tank. I'm going to add another MP40 on the back wall and see if I can get things stirred up a little bit more.

I can't tell you how pleased I am with the color and growth of all this SPS since I've ramped my Radions up to 95% @ 10k, 4 hours a day. I'm going to increase it to 4.5 hours in about 2 weeks and eventually get to 5 hours per day. I'm getting amazing growth and the colors are insane on these little frags. I've been pleasantly surprised by these lights.

 

[revhtree]

Keep up the good work!

 

[AJsTank]

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[AJsTank]

Red Gecko, Killer Bees and some Supeman Monti




Radions are now 100% @ 10k for 4.5 hours a day.

 

[revhtree]

Wow! Seen any coral issue?

 

[AJsTank]

Wow! Seen any coral issue?

I have not. I read on Sanjays page the other day that he runs his at 100% for 5 hours a day. I'm getting much faster growth, I know that. Still not as good as MH, but better than before, that's for sure. I'll know more in 6 months, I'm watching it super close.