240 gallon acrylic reef build

Yeah, just open tubes connected to external Durso's. They make a comforting swishing noise. Loud is really a relative term. They're definitely not silent. The tank is right below a large noisy air handler vent in our Genome Center's "break area" so I don't really notice much tank noise at all. The MP60's are probably the loudest single pieces. I'd never own those things if this tank was going in a quiet room in my home.
 
Added the school of Carberryi Anthias. The powder Blue tang was ****y for about an hour but finally settled down. It's the starburst anthias and royal gramma that seem to be the most upset about the new tank mates. Probably because these guys have been hiding in the rocks and only come out during feeding.

 
Brian your anthias school is tremendous; hope all the corals you got are doing well. I can't believe your new job is taking up your time; I thought you were smarter than that. The price you pay for being a top researcher at one of the best Universities in the US/world. Jeff
 
@Newbie, Thanks! How's your big build coming? I've been too busy herding cats at work to keep up with most of the forum threads.

Jeff, most of the corals look great. This miami orchid fell into that gem coral and about half of it got stung and bleached. I'm hoping it comes back! The reef ready grape juice is making a comeback after its encounter with the spotfin butterflyfish. All of the other corals have encrusted and doubled in size. These LEDs are amazing and so are your corals :) I promise I'll get some pictures soon!
 
Build is on pause because of a knee injury. But ideas are still flying in my head.


Sent from my iPhone using Siri and Tapatalk.
 
That's too bad! Hopefully you can get back on your feet quickly. I'd love to have a tank with those dimensions. I wish this tank was 36"+ deep. 24" has limited aquascaping possibilities :(
 
absolutely stunning Copperband and Moorish Idol. How long have you had those guys? They're two that i'm considering, did you get them online?
 
@Newbie, no one is ever satisfied with their aquascape. It's the reefer curse :p

@owen, Had the CBB for 8 months and the Idol for a year an a half. They are extremely hard fish to keep. I would not suggest getting involved with them unless you plan on a very long QT regimen. I had to syringe feed the CBB for 2 weeks before he'd eat. This involved knocking him out with MS222 every 3 days. And by eat I mean I found the ONE food he'd actually swallow...thinly sliced scallops.

The Idol requires almost constant feeding. It took about a month to get him to eat pellet food but he seems to be doing very well on New Life Spectrum. He's a little easier to feed now that he eats pellets. I have an autofeeder set to feed every two hours and I also feed mysis and scallop 3x a day. I would not keep either of these fish in a home aquarium. They are at my work so I can devote time to their feeding requirements.

I got the CBB from a local fish store because he was starving there and I knew he'd die. I got the idol off of LiveAquaria because no one local would touch that fish.
 
Newbie,
What thickness of acrylic are you planning on using once you start your build? I am looking into building a 270 (72" by 36" by 24") and am trying to find a good thickness but am not finding many tanks with these dimensions. I tried a few of the calculators and they say 1/2 would be fine. What do you guys think? I'm also open to euro bracing if that would help.
 
Everyone says 1/2" will work but I went with 3/4. it was maybe $200 more to do it that way on this build but the peace of mind is worth it. You can use 1/2" on the top and bottom though.
 
h2so4hurts said:
@Newbie, no one is ever satisfied with their aquascape. It's the reefer curse :p

@owen, Had the CBB for 8 months and the Idol for a year an a half. They are extremely hard fish to keep. I would not suggest getting involved with them unless you plan on a very long QT regimen. I had to syringe feed the CBB for 2 weeks before he'd eat. This involved knocking him out with MS222 every 3 days. And by eat I mean I found the ONE food he'd actually swallow...thinly sliced scallops.

The Idol requires almost constant feeding. It took about a month to get him to eat pellet food but he seems to be doing very well on New Life Spectrum. He's a little easier to feed now that he eats pellets. I have an autofeeder set to feed every two hours and I also feed mysis and scallop 3x a day. I would not keep either of these fish in a home aquarium. They are at my work so I can devote time to their feeding requirements.

I got the CBB from a local fish store because he was starving there and I knew he'd die. I got the idol off of LiveAquaria because no one local would touch that fish.
Click to expand...

thanks for the information, can't beat advice from someone with experience with them. I've been doing all the reading on both of them. How long of a quarantine would you suggest, more than the standard 4 weeks?

My LFS won't sell either of these fish to customers, which i guess says more than enough about the two fish and the quality of my local store.
 
djnelson00 said:
Newbie,
What thickness of acrylic are you planning on using once you start your build? I am looking into building a 270 (72" by 36" by 24") and am trying to find a good thickness but am not finding many tanks with these dimensions. I tried a few of the calculators and they say 1/2 would be fine. What do you guys think? I'm also open to euro bracing if that would help.
Click to expand...

Not to jack your thread but I will be using 1/2 inch on the top and bottom and 3/4 inch on the sides.
 
@Newbie, no worries, that's exactly how I built this tank :) 3/4 sides, 1/2 top and bottom.

@Owen, yeah, just know what you're getting in to. It takes a bit of extra effort to be successful. Of course, each fish is different, but I'd bank on at least 4-6 weeks of QT to get either of those fish adjusted to tank life.
 
Whitecheeck tang came today. These fish are ich magnets so he gets a little bit of extra formalin/malachite green... :)



It'll be about an hour and then he'll make it into the QT system. I'm still hoping to snag a Red Sea Purple Tang one of these days. It seems like they only come on LA every 3-4 months.
 
@newbie, they have a bad rap. They're a lot less hardy than Powder blues and Powder browns. He made it to the 30 Long QT tank and you can tell he's super stressed (White stress blotches). No visible crypto though, so that's a good start!

 
Just picked up a Red Sea Purple Tang and a 5.5" Maxima clam on the LiveAquaria Diver's Den. They should be here next Tuesday. I'll still QT the tang for at least a month though. I've gotten crypto infested fish from the DD before so I no longer trust their QT procedures.
 
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