Nick's 345G Build

[revhtree]

Everything has been transferred from the frag/temporary tank and more fish added. Lots of fish. I don't advise anyone doing what I did.
Next step is to cover up the stand and the side of the tank. I need to let my credit card cools off bit. Lol
Working from home is very dangerous to the wallet.

Bro this is looking killer!! Nice attention to details!

 

[Janci]

Everything has been transferred from the frag/temporary tank and more fish added. Lots of fish. I don't advise anyone doing what I did.
Next step is to cover up the stand and the side of the tank. I need to let my credit card cools off bit. Lol
Working from home is very dangerous to the wallet.

Night and day difference. Stunning set up!

What do you mean with "cover up the side of the tank"?
I love this peninsula style.

 

[this is me]

The external overflow side with PVC coming out and into the wall. The metal stand will have to be skinned/paneled as well. I'm thinking using acrylic sheet with magnets and just stick them on. I'm not using the space under the stand for anything.

 

[sdreef]

It's too early to tell but from the 10 weeks I ran them over the temporary tank, I was content with the result.
I do think LEDs came a long way. You see many tanks that are thriving with them so why not yours.

So think about this right. My last tank of 72"x48"x24 running 3x250 Radiums with 4x80W T5s. That's over 1000W blasting away for 8 hours. I did not test PAR on it since I didn't have a par meter. Was very happy with colors and growth. Arguably, I needed more light to light up the side.
The 5 Radions(with diffusors) on this 84"x34"x28" running at 35% which according to the Profilux amp reader and calculation, that's about 60W each. That's 300W total. Less than what I ran with the T5 alone in the previous tank. My par is 300-320 at the top most frag on the rocks. 250 mid tank, and 200 on the sand and it's very evenly lit.
I need to make this work lol.

LOL, I think everyone was happy with your colors and growth. Looking great

 

[Foothill Corals]

Tank looks awesome!

Working from home... I would never get anything done with that in the house.

 

[this is me]

Dual channel head for master flex arrived. Tested my water and it’s pretty much what I want to run the tank at.
Alk- 9dkh
CA- 430ppm
MG- 1480ppm
PO4- 0.07ppm
NO3- 5ppm
So CWC is on!
The setting of 9 with LS16 tubing gives me about 8ml/min which equates to about 3gallons a day.
I have the drain where the drain is and the fresh mixed water in the return chamber. The waste water is being collected in another water drum so I can see how much it’s drawing out and how much water is taken from the fresh mixed drum. Will monitor conductivity(salinity) for any imbalance.

The master flex is a beast and the only thing I’ll rely on for peristaltic pump in continuous operation. Yes, they’re loud, but it never fails. And can take multiple heads without any struggle.
A single motor and dual channel head eliminate the difference in water being replaced. There’s not calibration needed and no factory tolerance on the motor speed to worry about. All you have to do is match the tubing size.

Check back in a week. The two barrels water line should add up.

 

[Gablami]

Dual channel head for master flex arrived. Tested my water and it’s pretty much what I want to run the tank at.
Alk- 9dkh
CA- 430ppm
MG- 1480ppm
PO4- 0.07ppm
NO3- 5ppm
So CWC is on!
The setting of 9 with LS16 tubing gives me about 8ml/min which equates to about 3gallons a day.
I have the drain where the drain is and the fresh mixed water in the return chamber. The waste water is being collected in another water drum so I can see how much it’s drawing out and how much water is taken from the fresh mixed drum. Will monitor conductivity(salinity) for any imbalance.

The master flex is a beast and the only thing I’ll rely on for peristaltic pump in continuous operation. Yes, they’re loud, but it never fails. And can take multiple heads without any struggle.
A single motor and dual channel head eliminate the difference in water being replaced. There’s not calibration needed and no factory tolerance on the motor speed to worry about. All you have to do is match the tubing size.

Check back in a week. The two barrels water line should add up.

I have that same head unit that I bought new for the same purpose a few years ago. Wish I knew you were going to get one. Woulda given you it to for a steal! It worked well. I just got a little paranoid after awhile.

 

[this is me]

I have that same head unit that I bought new for the same purpose a few years ago. Wish I knew you were going to get one. Woulda given you it to for a steal! It worked well. I just got a little paranoid after awhile.

What was your concern? It’s 3 gallons a day. If the drawing of water is too much, the ATO can easily fill that so your sump will never dries out. Use a float sensor to stop the pump if the waterline is too high. This same float sensor can be used to shut off your skimmer so that it won’t overflow. Water level sensors are your friend in this hobby.
Watch the conductivity. If it’s rising or falling, you know the CWC needs attention.

 

[Gablami]

What was your concern? It’s 3 gallons a day. If the drawing of water is too much, the ATO can easily fill that so your sump will never dries out. Use a float sensor to stop the pump if the waterline is too high. This same float sensor can be used to shut off your skimmer so that it won’t overflow. Water level sensors are your friend in this hobby.
Watch the conductivity. If it’s rising or falling, you know the CWC needs attention.

Like I said, it worked well. Nothing bad happened, and I had safeguards too. Nothing bad to say about it. I did it for a couple years and then stopped.

The one thing I would say is, at the least regarding the Neptune conductivity probe/system, is that it’s not reliable enough to track these sorts of things. If you’re running GHL, maybe that’s a different story.

 

[YankeeTankee]

The water exiting the tank via CWC is being put in a barrel? Is this temporary to confirm matching levels then you'll just drain it or are you planning to use that as a visual and manually drain the used water tank during maintenance going forward? I love that you're giving CWC but totally can relate to @Gablami regarding concerns, even with the water sensors and conductivity probe. Perhaps if I had the MF flow sensor/controller (like 8k lol) and the ghl sensor/probe together. That said with what you have in place I'd not be worried unless I were away for more than a week. No doubt it's a sweet setup and it'll likely work great.

 

[this is me]

The waste barrel Is for confirmation of what CWC is doing. I may or may not use the barrel. I’m on a septic tank. 3 gals is very unlikely to cause any damage to the septic system but I have to see how the tank like the CWC. Even if I have to use the waste barrel, it’s not bad. It’s 60gal tank so that roughly 3 weeks that I have to pump it out. In 3 weeks time, I would have to clean the skimmer at least twice anyways. I used to do water change and skimmer cleaning on a weekly basis. The CWC is more for the tank not I don’t want to do the maintenance.

 

[this is me]

Feeding time fish counting.
Taken with phone camera because it’s easy duhhhhh.

It’s amazing how quickly they learn that it’s time for food.

Pintail Fairy Wrasse.

Diamond Tail Flasher Wrasse.

Trio of Diamond Tail Flasher. All females. Let see which one turns male.

Harem of Blue Reef Chromis

Trio of Yellow Tang

 

[this is me]

Okay. Screw the fish and corals. These guys are more interesting.

 

[this is me]

It’s about 24hrs. And it seems like my calculation and the Masterflex is working as planned at 3gal a day. Will have to see how this pans out for the next couple weeks.

 

[TexAgReefer]

Love your fish selections, especially al of the tangs. Any tips on keeping aggression down? Just feed them plenty?

 

[this is me]

Love your fish selections, especially al of the tangs. Any tips on keeping aggression down? Just feed them plenty?

It depends on these factors and maybe more.

Tank size
Obviously, larger tank=more room for the fish to be more social distancing. :D And to make the below factors work.

Aquascape
Often overlooked but rockwork is everything. Too much and the fish will have no where to swim without hitting each other. Remember, fish have these sensories that detect objects so that they don't hit it. Ever wonder why your fish don't just bang into the glass? The more obstructions they have to avoid, the more prone they are to sensory overload. This increases stress and anger issues.
Too little rocks and the fish will have no place to go tuck themselves overnight. This will create a lot of torn up fins and injuries. Ever watch your fish when the light starts to dim? They all try to find themselves a nice crevice to go into. And any intruder of your space will be aggressively attacked.

Introduction of Fish
My method has been plan out your fish species and add them all the same species together at once.

Fish size
This is more important for Tangs. Find out what is the most agressive and least agressive. IME. Yellow tangs or Zebrasoma species are the least troublesome. The Acanthurus is what you have to worry about. Get them small but keep in mind that a Powder Blue is very agressive and will beat down a larger Powder Brown.
Have a tang to rule them all.

Use an acclimation box
If you must add in a new fish that is the same species as an existing fish, use an acclimation box. Get the fish to eat comfortably and other fish acquainted. Nothing worst than adding a new fish and it's being chased down and pecked on while it's trying to be accustomed to the new environment.

Feed, feed, feed.
I don't need to elaborate this. Just watch the Snickers commercials.

Again, make sure you know what you have in terms of water volume, filtration capability, and the fish you want to keep. And prepare to remove dead fish. There's no method that will be 100% successful. Just try your best.

 

[TexAgReefer]

It depends on these factors and maybe more.

Tank size
Obviously, larger tank=more room for the fish to be more social distancing. :D And to make the below factors work.

Aquascape
Often overlooked but rockwork is everything. Too much and the fish will have no where to swim without hitting each other. Remember, fish have these sensories that detect objects so that they don't hit it. Ever wonder why your fish don't just bang into the glass? The more obstructions they have to avoid, the more prone they are to sensory overload. This increases stress and anger issues.
Too little rocks and the fish will have no place to go tuck themselves overnight. This will create a lot of torn up fins and injuries. Ever watch your fish when the light starts to dim? They all try to find themselves a nice crevice to go into. And any intruder of your space will be aggressively attacked.

Introduction of Fish
My method has been plan out your fish species and add them all the same species together at once.

Fish size
This is more important for Tangs. Find out what is the most agressive and least agressive. IME. Yellow tangs or Zebrasoma species are the least troublesome. The Acanthurus is what you have to worry about. Get them small but keep in mind that a Powder Blue is very agressive and will beat down a larger Powder Brown.
Have a tang to rule them all.

Use an acclimation box
If you must add in a new fish that is the same species as an existing fish, use an acclimation box. Get the fish to eat comfortably and other fish acquainted. Nothing worst than adding a new fish and it's being chased down and pecked on while it's trying to be accustomed to the new environment.

Feed, feed, feed.
I don't need to elaborate this. Just watch the Snickers commercials.

Again, make sure you know what you have in terms of water volume, filtration capability, and the fish you want to keep. And prepare to remove dead fish. There's no method that will be 100% successful. Just try your best.

Thank you for the detailed response!

Today is day 5 of my 235gal build and I have 6 tangs I want to add. I will definitely take all of this and put it to use!

 

[MtlReef25]

Hey Nick, nice to see you are back! But I knew you couldn't be away that long! So no more angels and MH? :( Anyway you have another super reef tank! Congrats! My Emperor is now a big boy, around 6-7 inches, and he has never ever touched the clam. Well he's a bad boy also, not very patient with other fellows but not much trouble either.

 

[this is me]

Hi Eric,
I wanted to go back to more LPS diversity on the bottom and SPS at the top. I also want to get back on keeping clams. With the angels, the only LPS I was able to keep with the angels was Euphyllias.
From my past experience, I’m NOT going to allow any type of angelfish in the tank. I’m working on filling up the sandbed with brains, acans, acanthophyllias, and other LPS that I couldn’t have in the previous tank with angels. The angelfish are beautiful. But I’m not forgetting why I started the hobby in the first place and that is a diversity of corals(except for softies).

 

[this is me]

Went to visit a friend today who has kept my two gigs for about 13months since I broke down the last tank.
These are monster. The green, when fully stretched, is about 30” wide. The purple is not far behind. You can see their history in my previous tank build.
The green one is not mine anymore since I sold it to him. But even if I take it back, it will take some serious rearrangement to fit two in the tank.

Monsters!!

Going home.