Jason's 300 gallons of frustration and fun

[Radman73]

I finally get to create a build thread on R2R!

Back in the fall of 2015 I found a good deal on a 220 tank, stand, and canopy from a local forum member. Only problem? We had already decided to move the next summer from GA to FL.
Bless my wife, she still approved the purchase so I borrowed a buddy's AV company van, and the buddy and BIL, to get the tank and take it straight to storage.

8 months later we move it down to FL. We being my almost 11yp son and I.

A month later I was able to get it on the back deck and start leak testing it.

Then, we invited some friends over for dinner and I got the guys to get it into my office. This was probably August or September of last year.

And there it sat while we finished new home project after new home project. I was able to really get started this year. I picked up a used 75 to use as a remote fuge. And built a sump out of a 40br.

The last few months I've been able to get busy. I ran all the plumbing through the wall from office to garage, got the sump in place, and finished the rest of the plumbing over the last week. Or, at least I thought I did lol!

Tank has been filled over the last few days and I was able to run it overnight last night. When I shut it down I found out that I never glued the two fuge returns into the sump in place. Whoops! So, I've drained the sump down so I can do that this evening. It'll give me a chance to silicone in some glass shelf pieces too and let them cure for a couple of days.

The DT meanwhile has only 50lbs of Pukani in it. Rock was bleached and given an acid bath so it's clean and currently seeded with a couple pieces from my 60 cube and some matrix from same. Heater and a power head for flow as well.

Plan is to get more rock next month. Final rock will come from my 60 but only after it's been fallow for 76 days. New DT will be fallow for 76 days from today, then fish will go through TTM before going in. I haven't ever seen signs of ich but better to start this one off right.

The tank uses a ghost style overflow from modular marine. I ripped out the built in overflows and plugged the existing drains. Had a slight leak from one but a simple hand tighten and it's been fine since.

Lights will be Kessil AP700's. Two of them. One is already in hand, second will be one of my last purchases. Eventually I'll supplement with a couple T5's.

Return is a Sicce Syncra 5. It seems okay but I'd like more so will likely get a new pump and use the Sicce as the backup.

Haven't decided 100% on power heads yet. My heart says 2 MP60's but my wallet is screaming for something else. I've though about a couple Tunze Stream 3's and possibly something else. No rush to decide that quite yet.

Skimmer is an Aquamaxx ConeS CO-3 I think. Been a while since I grabbed it on Black Friday deal. Was fun to finally turn it on last night.

Control will be via existing Apex. I will need at least one more EB8 I think. Might even go with their ATO.

Water change system is in the garage. I'll use my DOS to do AWC like I had with the 60. The addition of a utility sink in the garage helps tremendously. I have a 50gal mixing tank, and a few brutes one of which will serve as the RODI reservoir.

If you've read this far, thanks for your time! Might add more later but doing this from a phone is a chore lol!

 

[Radman73]

And, just like that, the fuge returns are glued into place finally and the small glass "shelf" pieces are in place. The shelf pieces go into the sump where the DT drain overflows into a compartment. I'll cut a piece of acrylic to fit the space, drill a couple of holes in the acrylic to fit 4" socks, and then silicone that piece of acrylic into place. The glass pieces allow for the acrylic piece to be set on them for some level of stability. That'll be a sooner than later project since the sump will need to be shut down for the silicone to cure. Frustrated with myself as it's something I just plain forgot until I was cleaning out the stand and came across the glass pieces. Thankfully, I'm not in much of a rush!

 

[Tahoe61]

Boy it cleaned up beautifully.

 

[Radman73]

Boy it cleaned up beautifully.

Thanks! Lots of vinegar and a razor blade scraper. Almost left the paint off the back side and kind of wish I had. I left enough room behind the tank for me to fit, barely, to get access to plumbing and/or equipment if necessary. Maybe I'll scrape little viewing windows into the back.

So far, still so good. No further leaking, yet anyway. I have the acrylic sheet for the filter sock holder cut to size. It's a very tight fit so right now I'm leaning towards not siliconing it in place. This will help should I ever need to clean the area under the socks in the future. While some water, and therefore debris, will inevitably leek by the edges it won't be enough to really matter. I don't even plan on running socks full time anyway. Later this afternoon I'll drill the acrylic with a 4" hole saw. Very, very slowly.

I noticed a snail moving around that must have come from one of the ceramic "barnacles" I moved over. So, at least the water isn't bad enough to kill quickly though I haven't taken any readings yet as there is little point. I'm tempted to move my MP40 over to the new DT to provide a little more flow and put the Hydor on the cube. I only have one coral in the cube that somehow managed to survive on the old rock and that's a few polyps of some green paly's. They won't miss the reduced flow though I'm not sure the extra flow will be beneficial in any way to the new DT right now either.

 

[Radman73]

Well, the first hole on the acrylic sock holder went great. Second one, not so much. Went to Lowes and had 2 pieces, thicker this time, cut to size and drilled the holes in the first one successfully. New one doesn't fit as tight as I'd like but I really don't want to silicone it in place either. I'll look into other options to seal the edges of where it sits in the sump.

Also, I don't think the return is powerful enough. It's a Sicce Syncra Silent 5 which should be pushing ~900gph after head loss but I'm just not seeing it. The return goes straight into a 4-way but the straight ahead is turned off as it the feeds the fuge which isn't online yet. So it's essentially a T going to the returns via flex PVC. A couple of 90's at the top and that's it. Maybe 5 feet plus the 90's. Had trouble establishing the siphon and I think flow volume is the issue. Not a huge deal right now but it does mean that the Sicce will be the backup, not the primary.

I have the one AP700 I have over the center of the tank right now. Loving the shimmer. Just need the sand cloudiness to dissipate though it's really not too bad.

 

[Maritimer]

Looking good so far, Radman!

I'm in the middle of setting up the same sized tank, and though there've been some bumps in the road, it's looking like it might level out. Starting with a re-quarantine and fallow run is an awesome idea - gives your liverock time to bloom, pods, sponges and worms seeding without being impeded - when your fish arrive, your tank will be _ready_.

~Bruce

 

[Radman73]

Looking good so far, Radman!

I'm in the middle of setting up the same sized tank, and though there've been some bumps in the road, it's looking like it might level out. Starting with a re-quarantine and fallow run is an awesome idea - gives your liverock time to bloom, pods, sponges and worms seeding without being impeded - when your fish arrive, your tank will be _ready_.

~Bruce

Thanks, pretty sure I've read through your thread too! It'll be so much fun to fill these up.

Skimmer started really working overnight to the cup was overflowing. And, not surprisingly, the tank cleared up overnight too. So now comes the fun waiting part for 2.5 months. In the mean time, I have new pump to buy, more pukani to get and clean, another AP700(no rush until corals though), and at some point I'll need to decide on some power heads. Currently thinking about a Gyre XF250 and a couple of WAV's. We'll see. I still love me some Vortech's too but two MP60's hurts just thinking about it and they still might not be enough flow on their own lol!

 

[Radman73]

Got home from traveling today and plugged the return in. Siphon started right up. Go figure. Not going to complain!

Oh, on a side note my son in the first pic has grown 4.5 inches in the last year . My little dude is just starting 7th grade and wears size 10 shoes!!!

 

[Radman73]

Got the garage based fuge operational! And the tank temp went up 2 degrees over an hour lol! It had been hovering around 80.3 and hit 82.3. Has started to come back down slowly and is at 81.9. I am hoping to avoid a chiller so I may need to buy a fan to go over the fuge or the sump. Or heck, maybe both. That'll cool it down a little at the cost of increased evaporation. Temp rise isn't a surprise obviously as garages in central FL do tend to get hot plus we have a freezer and a fridge in there as well. Doesn't help that my office is a warm part of the house as it is. Hopefully we can avoid that particular added expense though.

Gotta love the planning/building stages of a new tank. It's like shopping for cars. You can change your mind frequently with no consequences until you pull the trigger. Looking at the Tunze Stream 3 for flow right now. 2 of them to start. Low maintenance and 5 year warranty. Hard to beat.

 

[Radman73]

Thankfully the tank temp dropped back down to just over 80 so pleasantly surprised.

Picked up a chiller yesterday off of craigslist. I live in central FL now and we have suffered a few very short power outages in our 15 months here. The big concern is hurricanes. I have a generator already, and it does indeed run, but with the fuge in the hades garage and the possibility of a long term power outage at some point in the future we felt a chiller was a wise investment. It's an oceanic 1/6th hp chiller. Normal operation will be in the garage but in the case of a long term power loss I'll move it into my office if temps approach 85, cut off the fuge, possibly the sump, and just use it to cool the DT. We're obviously talking worst case scenario here. Bonus is it should easily keep the tank at 79 during normal operations.

Tank is still cycling along. Nitrates are still less than 10. I've dosed some Seachem stability I had laying around before it expired so I'm sure that's help kick start the cycle. I ghost feed some frozen every few days, just a small amount. No further leaks have popped up. Still in the good old boring cycling mode!

And on a complete side note, I have an awesome wife. She supports this hobby completely and actively tries to find ways to free up more money for it including going without a hobby herself. I guess this is her hobby too, she just has no interest in doing anything other than looking at the tanks lol! I'll take it.

 

[Radman73]

Been thinking of the stocking list of course, and I do realize this would get more views elsewhere but I always lose track of those threads, so the build thread will let me update it as I go as well as make sure I don't lose track of advice. Favorite fish for me are wrasses. My wife loves anthias. Thankfully, they're largely compatible.

Transferring over are 2 ocellaris clowns that were my first fish. Started my biocube cycling and it was done a few weeks before we had a vacation scheduled. Wisely(IMO lol!) I waited until we returned to get fish. They day we got back only one place was open so there I was at ~8:30pm buying a couple of cute tank bred clowns. Whole family was excited! That was a great day.

Also transferring over is an orange back fairy wrasse. This was the last fish we bought before deciding to move from Atlanta to Orlando. He was entirely too pretty to give away or sell.

And, that's it for the 60 cube right now. I've held off on buying anything, fish or coral, for the better part of two years due to the move and the delay in getting the 220 set up.

For QT I have two 10gal tanks, HOB filters for each, one cover(I'll buy another), one 240gph powerhead that might be too powerful for a QT setup so I'm thinking I'll buy a couple inexpensive air pumps. On the air pumps, do I need to attach air stones to the piping or is just the line pumping in air fine? I don't mind buying the air stones but if they aren't needed, no need to waste them as I assume they don't get cleaned between tank transfers but tossed out. For mediation I have PraziPro, Formalin-MS, and Furan-2 in hand, unopened, and not expired. Still to order is Kanaplex, Metroplex, Focus, and Ruby Reef Rally. Are any of these redundant? I still don't know enough about fish meds to be sure. Anything else I need?

Still to buy is a 20gal for observational QT until the 60 cube has been cleaned out and then it will take over for long term QT. Because I only QT'd near the end, the 60 might have ich present. So, I used some LR from the 60 to seed the new display, the 220 will need to be fallow for 76 days before I transfer the 3 existing fish over. Those fish will go through TTM on their journey over to the 220. Then, the 60 will lie fallow for 76 days until I move the rest of the LR over. Once that is done I can break down the 60, clean it up, and get it set back up as long term fish and/or frag QT tank. I do realize that if I put a frag in 60 I can't put fish in for 76 days. That should help control the spending lol!

So, plan is to put new fish into the 20gal to make sure they're eating and observe for anything weird. 1-2 week period. FW dip followed by TTM so 12 days there. Then either back into the cleaned 20gal or the 60 cube when it's been emptied, cleaned, and moved to where I want it. Prazi will be dosed on the final day of the 1st and 3rd transfers. Anything else will be dosed as needed. Should I dose anything into the food prophylactically?

For sand burrowing wrasses I will keep a bag of sand on hand and some small tupperware containers for them to burrow in while in QT.

And then the stocking list. I've thrown a couple out before but it always keeps changing.
5-6 Dispar anthias
5-6 Lyretail anthias
McCosker's flasher(Paracheilinus mccosker)
Carpenter's flasher(Paracheilinus carpenteri)
Filamented flasher(Paracheilinus filamentosus)
Diamond-Tail flasher if I can source one(Paracheilinus attenuatus)
Leopard wrasse(Macropharyngodon meleagris)
Lineatus wrasse(Cirrhilabrus linneatus)
Potter's wrasse(Macropharyngodon geoffroy)
Rhomboid Fairy wrasse(Cirrhilabrus rhomboidalis)
Splendid/Pintail Fairy wrasse(I think they're the same but there's a lanceolatus out there too)(Cirrhilabrus isosceles)
Red-lined wrasse(Halichoeres biocellatus)
Chrysus(Yellow Coris) wrasse(Halichoeres chrysus)
Melanurus wrasse(Halichoeres melanurus)
Laboute's Fairy wrasse(Cirrhilabrus laboutei)
Anampses Twistii wrasse(Anampses twistii)
Engineer Goby(Pholidichthys leucotaenia)
Red Coris wrasse(Love the fish, scared of the compatibility)(Coris gaimard)
Radiant wrasse(Halichoeres iridis)
Bicolor or Tailspot blenny
Purple tang(Open to suggestions of which tang. I love the purple but have read they can be very aggressive. If it's to other tangs only, I'm fine. Other fish on my list? Not so much.)
Purple tilefish
Potter's angelfish

Maybe?
Quoyi Parrotfish
Red-Tailed or Bluethroat trigger
Yellow Eye Kole tang(Would it coexist with the purple?)

So, I don't need or expect to get every fish on this list. If I did that would put me at 35-40 fish which I suspect is a fairly heavy bio load even with 280-300gal total volume. From what I can tell, I might have to pick between the Laboute's and Lineatus in which case, first one I can find wins. But, if I can keep both, I will. Most of the flashers should be compatible right?

As far as order of entry, honestly I'd prefer cheaper ones first. My longest QT to date had been a couple of weeks with a dose of prazipro and I thought I was doing good. I know better now but would prefer to train myself on hardier, and less expensive, fish before I move on to more delicate ones.

Wide open to suggestions too but I would much prefer a bunch of small fish to a few larger ones. I don't need or really want 4 or 5 tangs. One or two will do.

 

[Radman73]

Getting a little bit of algae! PO4 is .10 so I'll start up a GFO reactor to pull it down. Or, maybe run down to the pool store and pick up some lanthanum chloride to play with. I guess maybe I've been ghost feeding a bit too much.

 

[Maritimer]

That's a fairly yummy stocklist!

I would say to add the dispars before the lyretails and the kole tang before the purple.

The Coris gamiard may preclude a goodly number of motile invertebrates - but so may the red-tail or blue-throat triggerfish. (My blue-throat is implicated in the disappearance of about eight various shrimp and possibly some small gobies.)

You'll need a social acclimation box. Maybe several of them.

Other than that ... I'm just over here hoping for some high-res video down the line!

~Bruce

 

[Radman73]

That's a fairly yummy stocklist!

I would say to add the dispars before the lyretails and the kole tang before the purple.

The Coris gamiard may preclude a goodly number of motile invertebrates - but so may the red-tail or blue-throat triggerfish. (My blue-throat is implicated in the disappearance of about eight various shrimp and possibly some small gobies.)

You'll need a social acclimation box. Maybe several of them.

Other than that ... I'm just over here hoping for some high-res video down the line!

~Bruce

Lol! It'll take a while to build up this list for sure. Although your thread is what made me put the triggers and quoyi parrot in the maybe column. I have an orange back that I love and would hate to have something happen to it.

Acclamations boxes are a definite. At least one large one and maybe 2. Most fish buying won't happen until I get the 60 cube setup as a long term QT. That should allow me to make sure smaller fish especially can grow up a little and get used to a feeding schedule before hitting the DT. But, there are some on the list, peaceful ones, that I can start with in a few months.

 

[Maritimer]

I'd heard of folks having problems trying to mix two parrotfish species (Quoy's and princess), but until my striped parrot went off on the orange-back, I'd never heard of them being unsafe around other labrids.

I know of several folks with multiple Quoy's parrots in their tanks, with no incidents. Quoy's parrotfish is still on my shortest list.

~Bruce

 

[Jim Harrison]

Following and excited to see more!

 

[Radman73]

I'd heard of folks having problems trying to mix two parrotfish species (Quoy's and princess), but until my striped parrot went off on the orange-back, I'd never heard of them being unsafe around other labrids.

I know of several folks with multiple Quoy's parrots in their tanks, with no incidents. Quoy's parrotfish is still on my shortest list.

~Bruce

Fair enough! Perhaps one of the last fish, and an extra large acclimation box.

Following and excited to see more!

Thanks!

 

[Radman73]

So, based off of some feedback for the stocking list here's the revised version. I'll be keeping all of my original list and updating with colors based off of feedback. Who knows, maybe some day it will help someone else with their stocking choices.

As I said before, subject to change. But, I'm loving the wrasse selections right now.

Green is good to go.
Orange is a maybe/with caution.
Red is definitely out with reason listed.

Existing stock(Not currently in the new DT):
2 Ocellaris clowns
1 Orange Back fairy wrasse(Cirrhilabrus aurantidorsalis)

The stocking wish list. I've thrown a couple stocking plans out before but it always keeps changing as time goes on and I get exposed to different possibilities regarding fish.

5-6 Dispar anthias
5-6 Lyretail anthias
McCosker's flasher(Paracheilinus mccosker)
Carpenter's flasher(Paracheilinus carpenteri)
Filamented flasher(Paracheilinus filamentosus)
Diamond-Tail flasher if I can source one(Paracheilinus attenuatus)
Leopard wrasse(Macropharyngodon meleagris)
Lineatus wrasse(Cirrhilabrus linneatus)
Potter's wrasse(Macropharyngodon geoffroy)
Rhomboid Fairy wrasse(Cirrhilabrus rhomboidalis)
Splendid/Pintail Fairy wrasse(I think they're the same but there's a lanceolatus(aggressive AND expensive) out there too)(Cirrhilabrus isosceles)
Red-lined wrasse(Halichoeres biocellatus)
Chrysus(Yellow Coris) wrasse(Halichoeres chrysus)
Melanurus wrasse(Halichoeres melanurus)
Laboute's Fairy wrasse(Cirrhilabrus laboutei)
Anampses Twistii wrasse(Anampses twistii)
Engineer Goby(Pholidichthys leucotaenia)
Red Coris wrasse(Will eat my shrimp)
Radiant wrasse(Halichoeres iridis)
Bicolor or Tailspot blenny
Purple tang(Open to suggestions of which tang. I love the purple but have read they can be very aggressive. If it's to other tangs only, I'm fine. Aggressiveness towards other fish on my list? Not so much.)
Purple tilefish
Potter's angelfish

Maybe?
Quoyi Parrotfish(Bruce's(Maritimer) parrotfish was implicated in several deaths. On the fence with this one.)
Red-Tailed or Bluethroat trigger(no shrimp for you!)
Yellow Eye Kole tang(Would it coexist with the purple?)
Mandarin(Can't compete with wrasses for pods)

 

[Alexander serrano]

Following

 

[Radman73]

Not much to add. PO4 has been hanging steady at .1 so I finally put a GFO reactor online to pull it down. Had to travel for work unexpectedly for the last two weeks so I wasn't able to go pick out some additional rock. Hope to have that done by the end of this month. I was scheduled to start the TTM for my existing fish October 3 but it's looking like I'll have to travel the first 3 weeks of October. Think I'll play it safe and do the TTM starting around the 21st of October so that puts the fish in their new home the first week of November.

I did pick up a 20gal from petco during their $/gal sale. Also ordered filter floss to use in the various QT tanks. Almost picked up a Gyre when they were on sale and then had to resist the Ecotech sale too lol! Trying to stick to the plan of using Tunze Stream 3's. The Gyre was tempting, but not needed right now. Hoping for some good Black Friday sales this year.