330 GALLON Reff tank diary

mike22cha

mike22cha

Active Member
Originally Posted by shark bait
You like the Bolts right now they suck, pissed aboUt the loss tonight. FYI
YOU DON'T LOOSE ON A TURN OVER WHEN IT COULD HAVE BEEN A 10 PT GAME....
Oh, you didn't go there!
What team do you like? Not going for a winning team but a fan who sticks with the team through thick and thin. I'd love to see your team play the Patriots at home or the Chargers at home. Fact is we have a new coach, who's afraid to use are star players.
So what team have you liked for the past ten years? Let's see them play the Pats or the Chargers!
 
W

wbradenpt

Guest
i had a couple of baffles put into a breeder tank and turned it into a refugium. nitrates are zero. this simple design may or may not work for you, but it is working great for me.


 
S

shark bait

Guest
I did not want to correct the QT but just quote it as he said it.
Thanks
 
S

shark bait

Guest
Originally Posted by MIKE22cha
Oh, you didn't go there!
What team do you like? Not going for a winning team but a fan who sticks with the team through thick and thin. I'd love to see your team play the Patriots at home or the Chargers at home. Fact is we have a new coach, who's afraid to use are star players.
So what team have you liked for the past ten years? Let's see them play the Pats or the Chargers!


LT was my neighbor for a year and Drew and I were in the same Fraternity, So I am a Chargers fan, And WOW another loss to Green Bay today. OUCH. what to do???? But I am a Chargers fan, Just not happy to have a coach who has never seen what a real win is.... So looking to next sunday for an LT Break out.
 
S

shark bait

Guest
Originally Posted by wbradenpt
i had a couple of baffles put into a breeder tank and turned it into a refugium. nitrates are zero. this simple design may or may not work for you, but it is working great for me.

I am looking at doing that but I had an idea while reading all the post that I tmight not be a bad idea to put sand in my over flow where the media is right now I cant get out and pre filter B4 the bio balls as to keep out the debrits and just keep them clean, every few days. I thing that will work I need to have some kind of filter media, my sand shifter loves to make a mess of the tank but he works hard to keep the sand moved around. I am also looking to do some large maxima clams, this will also be of help if I need it. But I have 45lbs of rock comming as we speak to fill the tanks empty spots.
So do you like my new idea, this hobby is just one trial and error, and this sounds like it could work. And if not pull the bio balls and do a DSB...
 
W

wbradenpt

Guest
you aren't kidding about the trial and error part. funny about the trouble you are having with the chromis. i had a problem once where after drip acclimating one of those blue velvet nudibranches, i dropped it into the tank just to watch in horror as it got caught in a current on the way down then got sucked into a powerhead and came out the other end in quite a mess.
anyway, over the last couple of years i had trouble getting nitrates down. took out the bioballs and that helped a little bit. tried refugium and that helped a little bit. but never was able to get the nitrates to zero.
this new setup i have gets rid of the trickle filter completely, and basically just relies entirely on the live rock and the protein skimmer. i bought a euroreef and it beats the other 2 skimmers i used hands-down. when i go to clean the euroreef collection cup it reeks like all hell, but that means that the stink is no longer in the tank.
the theory is that the live rock should take care of the biological filtration and the high powered skimmer does the rest. the theory of getting rid of all the media is that any media just traps nitrates, etc inside the system. never removes it (unless you are a nut and clean the media several times daily).
anyway, just a theory. i'm just amazed that it is working for me, even though the new system has only been up and running for about a week. seems very promising though.
good luck with whatever direction you decide to go.
 
W

wbradenpt

Guest
dang, read through the thread and you aren't kidding about having a ton of media. since you have good water parameters, so much for the theory!
all goes back to the trial and error thing.
your rockwork looks great by the way.
 
S

shark bait

Guest
Originally Posted by shark bait
So I have had some major set backs and all to do with faulty and bad products. So in light of that I have, after may hours of thought with my wife, scrached the Shark tank, Srcached the Big bad fish tank and opted for the nice ohhh and awwww reef tank we have all come to love.
My prior tank https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=271929
has had some major changes, First I replaced all the lights with a single 72" HQI/PC set up with 1134 total and 750 from HQI then added a top of system, a wave maker from red sea and even went with a big bad 1/3 hp chiller. Also added 30lbs more of tonga branch rock with red mushrooms on it. All this cost me a small fortune. more than my first 100g tank. So lets hope all goes well...................For fish I have 15 large blue chromis, one XL gold head goby and one Bangi ( needed more.) From here I plan to add:
15 chalk bass
5 bangi
1 longnose hawk
1 blonde naso male
1 6 line
mated pair false percs
mated pair clarki farm raised
lots of corals
1 purple carpet, or rose bta
1 cleaner shrimp
5 sally long foots
1 sira lanka blue starfish
and maybe these
chevron tang
flame angel
potters angel
school of anthis
scotts fairy
Any thoughts ideas and or other are more than welcome
zebra eel

So I have taken out the need or want for potters or flame angel and Saw a Regal ANGEL from the red sea I had to have so no other Angels inthe tank. I thought it would be good to add him in the middle rather than the end as they are shy and tomany fish could make him have a heart attack. Also no Eel going to keep shrimps. Also looking for a black tang, last one I saw was over $400?????????
Thanks for the input
 
S

shark bait

Guest
Originally Posted by GatorWPB
I think "Pumpkin Zinia" is Pumping Xenia. lol

they are great I plan on getting the blue and green ones, but be ready to prune them they can take over a tank.
 
W

wbradenpt

Guest
sounds like you are going to put angel fish in reef. i've always wanted to do this but have been afraid to try. once again the trial and error. are there certain types that are less likely to eat the corals? what have you had luck with in the past?
 
ccampbell57

ccampbell57

Active Member
Originally Posted by wbradenpt
sounds like you are going to put angel fish in reef. i've always wanted to do this but have been afraid to try. once again the trial and error. are there certain types that are less likely to eat the corals? what have you had luck with in the past?
Here are some large angels that are more safe than others:
- Majestic
- Goldflake
- Scribbled
 
S

shark bait

Guest
The above work, the Regal Angel also has been known to work as a reef tank is the only type of tank this fish can be kept in. It is a very hard fish to keep, it's up their with morish idol. Gold flakes are awsome but can run over $300.... and IMO the regal adds an awsome amount of color. If the regal takes a turn I will replace with a gold flake. But I do not think that will happen, well hope not any way.
 
W

wbradenpt

Guest
being hard to keep, is there anything in particular that needs to be done differently? or does hard to keep just mean that it dies off randomly?
 
S

shark bait

Guest
you posted the question at the same time i did and here is the anwser to the regal angel. First off only buy the red sea and indian ocean type. second your tank must have a ton of good aged, mine is 3 years old, live rock. As this fish will take weeks to accept food and will eat off the live rock for the time being. further I am only running 500 wats of MH untill he eats from me. I do this because they hide in bright tanks mine is 1134 total watts, and will not come out to eat and can die from this. Mysid, nori, fresh broken clams are a good start for food. also a calm tank is needed or it will not come out and eat. that is why I felt now was the best time to try this very difficult fish.
as to it beeing reef safe, well its better than most but not perfect. Juvi are the best but are more likley to hide so feeding can be harder. Adults can nip at or consume xenia, soft corals eg lemnalia and pick at LPS, clams are also at risk but in a tank of my size may who have kept this fish say the above is only due to the lack of food and space to swim. And I do not lack any of that. So I am taking a risk, but a very well thought out one. I might even feel so strongly on this that I would put it up their with the fact I belive New England may loose only one game this year.... hows that for bold
 
usefulidiot213

usefulidiot213

Member
To start. The Charger game was very frustrating for me as well. I see the New England cheaters only loosing maybe a couple of games... If any...
My questing is "how do you like the deeper tank?" I am looking to get a large tank 240 - 300 gal, and still debating dimensions. Most of what is recommended is nothing deeper then 25 - 30 inches due to light penetration. But that extra room up top looks cool. Especially for school fish. I was also wondering if it's a pain in the tushy to move stuff around and get stuff in and out sense it's 3 feet deep....?
 
S

shark bait

Guest
a pain, A PAIN....!!! Yes I have many tools, to help with it. It is a real chore to move FYI 3 feet high lacks the room to move it well. I say this as I took it up my stairs, and it is 30" from wall to the trim. the trim got a little trim as did my wood railing. I also took out a huge chunk of the drywall on the elbow turn 180* up the second set. Had to replace part of the wall. Oh well it's up in the room now and I am going to order a fork lift next time and go out the window with it. Took 2 hours to get it up the stairs.
cleaning it is not fun, I would say add sand and rock to it dry as I did and fill from their IMO if I could have gone deeper lets say 36 I would have it deeper not taller, but all good show tanks are for the most part tall. Go big or go home, I live by that and my wife hates it.
 
bpaul1201

bpaul1201

Member
well i know its been awhile since i've been on but it looks like you have made it to the dark side of saltwater tank hobby the "reef tank" lmao!! well it looks nice and i know its a pain to be slow with adding everything! oh and by the way NO EEL, WILL EAT ANYTHING THAT IT CAN FIT IN ITS MOUTH!! i thought that you might have learned that putting peaceful fish (chromis) in with aggressive (grouper) is never a happy ending so no eel for you sir! anywho i'm still trying to find someone to buy my biocube so that i can get an upgrade in size! and maybe a pet bird. well talk to ya later there.
ps. any new pics and additions?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top