AK's 240gal build thread....

aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
Sorry for the late replies I never did....
acrylic, the return is a Mag 9.5. Did some further tinkering with the drain line caps, and now with the overflow box, have it where I like it.
GT, thanks, yea I've heard of Marco Rocks, definitely good prices. Thankfully for the many years I've been in the hobby, my Dad taught me the one thing to always hold onto was live rock, and now we have more rock then we know what to do with

IbanEz, we shall see. My 29gal had a modest (450gph or so) overflow, and my 125gal had a Mag18 singing away. With the refugium for the 240gal being a separate tank from the sump, I think as long as I get decent flow to the fuge, (standalone GenX pump) it should work fine. In the end, hopefully there will be enough support equipment as well to avoid algae issues.
 
aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
Added the Annularis a day or two after posting previously, and added the Blueface and Rock Beauty two days ago. So far so good. They have they cave situations worked out, and everyone is fine. I decided that the Butterflies wouldn't go into till after the move. I might add the Lei trigger in a few days.
Here's a terrible feeding video. Terrible because the quality is low for some reason, and I started late. Most of the PE is already gone.
Video Removed
 
aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
New vid. Problem was the light was too far back. That's just a little 65w x2 PC fixture that will become the refugium light. The main tank will be 2 T5 fixtures and 2 LED fixtures.
 
aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
Took thees two pics of the Blueface and Rock Beauty before they were going in. I am always impressed with their girth.


Originally Posted by kjr_trig
http:///forum/post/3280805
Fish look great...Looks like you went pretty light on substrate? So, 5 fish in there now?
Yea, substrate is only 120pounds. It's thinner on the left side and deeper on the right. The bottom braces are actually in the tank, rather on the bottom, so with the silicone, it doesn't look as deep as it is.
Yep, only 5 fish in there now. I will probably add the Lei trigger at the end of the week. I haven't mixed the Lei and Crosshatch yet, but I did have the Lei with a smaller Humu, and they did fine. And the Lei doesn't mind the Lunare in their holding tank. Other then the Butterflies, and Blue Spot Angels, thats all the fish, save for one or two "groups" of fish I am debating on doing, Campbell inspired...
 
kjr_trig

kjr_trig

Active Member
The Blueface is a fatty...How big is he? Guessing 7 or 8 inch?
If there is one thing I've learned about the Crosshatch, and it shouldn't have surprised me like it did. They are still Triggers, my male is a mean SOB. He has bit several fish so far, in fact I watched in shock as he took a chunk out of my Sargassum's Dorsal Fin yesterday.
We see all the time how "reef safe" the genus is, doesn't mean that an almost 8 inch Trigger is "community safe". Never seen any aggression from the girl though. I guess your Lei is a little bigger than than your Crosshatch, correct?
Group inspired by Chris huh? Guessing Blueline Angels?
 
aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
Wow... Feeding the tank today, noticed the Annluaris, who likes to make sure the Crosshatch doesn't come into his cave by tail slapping him out, is now streamer-less.
The Blueface is what I'd call 6" (the bucket is one of those 2gal or so bait buckets). I think my previous estimate of the Xhatch being 7" is grossly understated. Other then my Spiny Burrfish, the Xhatch is the largest fish we've owned. If I call the Lei 7", that would put the Xhatch more like at 8.5"... The Burrfish is the only fish I've ever accepted a pet name for (Spike, creative...), but the Xhatch is probably going to be the 2nd, with "Big Girl."

Nope on the Bluelines, I already have the BlueSpotted angel pair from Mark (tho they have some growing up to do first). It would be either the Potter's trio he had (ages ago, trying to find da thread) but I would do a "group." And I will be doing some anthias, inspired by his "What's all the Fuscipinnis about?" thread. Probably not a 4-figure anthias, but some of the larger anthias species.
 
kjr_trig

kjr_trig

Active Member
Originally Posted by AquaKnight
http:///forum/post/3281264
Wow... Feeding the tank today, noticed the Annluaris, who likes to make sure the Crosshatch doesn't come into his cave by tail slapping him out, is now streamer-less.
The Blueface is what I'd call 6" (the bucket is one of those 2gal or so bait buckets). I think my previous estimate of the Xhatch being 7" is grossly understated. Other then my Spiny Burrfish, the Xhatch is the largest fish we've owned. If I call the Lei 7", that would put the Xhatch more like at 8.5"... The Burrfish is the only fish I've ever accepted a pet name for (Spike, creative...), but the Xhatch is probably going to be the 2nd, with "Big Girl."

Nope on the Bluelines, I already have the BlueSpotted angel pair from Mark (tho they have some growing up to do first). It would be either the Potter's trio he had (ages ago, trying to find da thread) but I would do a "group." And I will be doing some anthias, inspired by his "What's all the Fuscipinnis about?" thread. Probably not a 4-figure anthias, but some of the larger anthias species.
Any guesses what he paided for that Fuscipinnis? Pretty rare fish I gather....He never answered my question on there, have you ever heard that deep water Anthias can lose some color under heavy lighting in captivity, seems like I heard that somewhere.

My male Hatch has bitten pretty much all five angels, and the Sargassum, he hasn't gone after the big Wrasse or the Sohal, they wouldn't be quite as likely to put up with such shananigans IMO.
 
aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
Originally Posted by kjr_trig
http:///forum/post/3281517
Any guesses what he paided for that Fuscipinnis? Pretty rare fish I gather....He never answered my question on there, have you ever heard that deep water Anthias can lose some color under heavy lighting in captivity, seems like I heard that somewhere.

My male Hatch has bitten pretty much all five angels, and the Sargassum, he hasn't gone after the big Wrasse or the Sohal, they wouldn't be quite as likely to put up with such shananigans IMO.

Yea, rare? The best guessimate is that his is 1 of 2 in the States. What did the C-Man pay? Tough to say, I know the price a pair sold for in Japan 2 years ago, and what the wholesaler price should be, but C-Man does have connections, I think he has his own personal diver now
and that would probably put it right around the retail price of a Clarion.
I have heard the same about deepwater anthias, and I don't think I agree. For example Multicolor angels, granted angels instead, are found at similar depth to other anthias (Fuscupinnis are in a class their own at 300ft+), and they sometimes will darken up. Blotchy Anthias are deepwater anthias, and I have never seen one loose color, and they are found in bright reef tanks all the time. There's a mega-thread on R¢ about them.
 
aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
Well, we are done with the move, it wasn't fun. Everything seemed to make it alright though.
Figured out lighting, bought a T5 6x54w Nova Extreme Pro w/SLR, for the 90gal reef. I really wanted to do LED for that tank, but with ever changing LED tech. I wasn't going to commit to them just yet. That means it's old fixture will salvaged for the 240gal. The 240gal will be 3 x 175w 14k Halides, with 4 x 110w VHO actnics.
I redid the theme of the aquascape. There now is a small island on the left, an extra large island in the center, and then the right side is open, where the seagrass bed will be. How does everyone like it?


And I got the refugium fixture in. 65w x 2 PCs. Slight hiccup, trying to put the fixture on the hooks, it slipped out of my hands and fell and broke the glass top brace for the fuge. The new brace will be the 3rd brace on there (I previously broke the original
).
 
aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
The sandbed has to age for a bit first, so nutrients can build up in there for the grass. I do have some in a rubbermaid container already though. I am collecting them locally.
The right side will look something like this (not my tank). They have some macroalgae in there as well that I won't have, so it will be less dense, more like the second picture. In my tank, the seagrass will grow around that big boulder, and on the boulder I will have some red macroalgae and some sargassum.

 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
AquaKnight,
I'm absolutely admiring your work you've done with the tank, that truly is a gift. With that being said, I have a similar cabinet like yours. It's 60" (W) x 15" (D) x 24" (H). 2Quills referred me to your work as it is very similar. I have two sets of doors that start about 1 1/2" from the end of the cabinet have a 27" opening, with a 3" center brace, with and end with another 1 1/2" frame. If I am not explaining properly please look at this thread to understand what I mean:
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/vb/s...h-my-lfs/page2
My aquarium is 125 Gallon, 5 1/2' x 1 1/2' x 2 1/2'
Could you tell me the sizes of the tanks you have in your cabinet? Can you also please tell me how I would need to construct this? Regarding Baffles, drilling, tubing?
I have 1 overflow with what looks like has a 1.1" tube running down to where the sump will be. I have a tube that will be returning the water through the powerheads at the top of my tank running from the bottom up that looks like is .5"-.9" 100% positive it is smaller than 1" though. I currently have a 24 gallon long tank under there as that was the only that would fit. It's 36" long which is just over half my cabinet size. I also have a PSK-150 In-Sump Skimmer which the footprint for that is 12"x8".
My whole goal is to make it so I have a safe size for my sump so it doesn't have a high risk for overflow.
2 tanks would be ideal in the cabinet as I also don't want to have to rip apart work that was done on this from the person that had this tank before me.
Also forgot to mention... my tank is completely empty... I don't have anything in the tank I will be using as a sump or anything in my aquarium. Everything is from the start and no modifications have been made on anything so it's all still available for change.
 
mooseythemoron

mooseythemoron

Member
Hi AquaKnight,
SWF site says you cannot keep two angelfishes together. I see you have a Blue face and Rock beauty in the same tank.
btw, luv your tank. FOWLR looks neat
 
aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
Originally Posted by mooseythemoron
http:///forum/post/3293231
Hi AquaKnight,
SWF site says you cannot keep two angelfishes together. I see you have a Blue face and Rock beauty in the same tank.
btw, luv your tank. FOWLR looks neat

Yea, as a vendor it makes sense for them to sell angels as such. The main problem with mixing angels, is that most people don't know what they're doing. Scott Hughes, the owner of SWF, has said that if you contact and let them know you are an experienced keeper, they don't have a problem selling you two angels for them same tank. The problem for SWF is like when some newbie order a large Queen angel, and large Emperor angel, and sticks them in like a 55gal, and they fight like cats and dogs, and one dies within their guarantee, SWF would have to pay out a credit, which costs them money.
Things like having a large tank, knowing which angels are better to mix together, etc, make it possible to keep more then one angel in a tank. In my there also is an Annularis angel in there but not pictured, a little timid due to the new fixture. I also will be adding a couple more angels as well
.
BTW, how do you like the new rock structures? Better then before? Not as good as before? Or both they were pretty good?
 
ironeagle2006

ironeagle2006

Active Member
In my 150 I have 3 Large Juvis angels. Emperor Majestic and Koran. No fights No Aggresion to each other and they even sleep toghether in the same area of the tank. Buyt then again it could be the Purple tang in the tank that runs the place that made them behave also.
 
mooseythemoron

mooseythemoron

Member
Originally Posted by AquaKnight
http:///forum/post/3293333
Yea, as a vendor it makes sense for them to sell angels as such. The main problem with mixing angels, is that most people don't know what they're doing. Scott Hughes, the owner of SWF, has said that if you contact and let them know you are an experienced keeper, they don't have a problem selling you two angels for them same tank. The problem for SWF is like when some newbie order a large Queen angel, and large Emperor angel, and sticks them in like a 55gal, and they fight like cats and dogs, and one dies within their guarantee, SWF would have to pay out a credit, which costs them money.
Things like having a large tank, knowing which angels are better to mix together, etc, make it possible to keep more then one angel in a tank. In my there also is an Annularis angel in there but not pictured, a little timid due to the new fixture. I also will be adding a couple more angels as well
.
BTW, how do you like the new rock structures? Better then before? Not as good as before? Or both they were pretty good?
Ok cool.
I like the Blue Face and Rock Beauty - definitely both will be on my fish wishlist :)
Yes, looks very good. I like the tunnels you have created for the fishes to hide.

Aquaknight, I will need your help in building my 1st saltwater aquarium. I am basically waiting for my house to be built, will take abt 6 more months. I going to get a 125GL separator tank between the living and dining area. So the tank will be visible from 3 sides. My major concern is to hide the plumbing. And LFS here are pretty dumb they have no clue abt the fishes or setting up a saltwater aquarium. Many enthusiasts like me, see the saltwater aquarium at LFS's and try to replicate it at their homes in weeks. The LFSs here are very bad and grab the opportunity to do the job and customers see the fish swimming fine for 2-3 weeks, then disaster strikes. Fishes die one after the other. The customer has already spent 1000's of $ and wont let go of the hobby and will add more fishes. Eventually they get tired of it...crib about loosing lots of money... and then switch to FW fishes. Its a vicious circle and its pretty sad. As very very few have knowledge abt Saltwater fishes... Thats the main reason I have joined this forum to read and read abt setting up the aquarium and the fishes. And there are really wonderful people out here to help with no motive of making money - I REALLY LIKE AND RESPECT THAT !!! I have asked few Qs and got prompt replies. Its just wonderful!
Its my dream to setup this aquarium with minimum fish mortality, with all your help I am sure I can do it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top