240 gallon acrylic reef build

Beautiful tank! Cool build thread. My copperband finally started eating after almost two weeks. I think his hunger got the best of him. He will only eat food that lands on my rocks.
 
Hey Wayne, I've meant to do updates but it's been busy! Job is good, tank is good. I switched up my water change routine a bit. I'm doing 50 gallon water changes every week now. I found some 60 gallon barrels for sale on Craigslist that makes that size of a water change on this tank super easy. I was only doing 20 gallon water changes before and I can see a difference in coral color and growth already (Not that it was bad before, but it's even better now). I also removed my GFO and Carbon about a year ago. They seemed like a very unnecessary expense and I noticed no change in the tank or coral growth once I removed them, other than my caulerpa filled sump grew a bit faster after the removal ;)

The Moorish Idol decided to go crazy on one of my tabling acros so now I have 3 big dead coral patches in the tank. Sometimes I love to hate that fish... I'm going to try to remove what I can this weekend but some of it is super encrusted so getting it out or broken off the rocks is going to be a chore.

I've also seen a lot of fighting within my group of anthias. I'm down to 5 now. It seems like the big one is constantly fighting with the other ones and about every month one of the smaller anthias switches genders and the domainant male harasses it until it dies. I'll probably add another fish or two once the anthias population stabilizes, although it makes me kind of angry because those fish cost $30 a piece!

@Jester, copperbands are weird fish. I'm not sure I'd get another one. They don't seem to do well in captivity. Mine feeds really well, but when he's full he just sits in the corner of the tank. He's only active at night, or when he's hungry. Otherwise he's kind of boring ;)

I'll see if I can get some updated pics this weekend.
 
Thought I'd share a pic from water change day.

Jeff, you'll see your corals have exploded under the LEDs...

wc1122014.jpg
 
Quick update, this tank will be dismantled at the end of the month and everything will be moved into my basement where I'll have a new 350 gallon acylic tank setup (96Lx36wx24h). Looks like I'll have to start a new build thread!
 
Very cool any big changes planned for the 350? And on a side note are you still using your modified skimmer? or did that get replaced?
Very nice build and good luck with the next one!
 
Hey Josh,

Yes, still using the modified skimmer! Only issue was that the holes I drilled in the water jug got very brittle and cracked. I had to skim over the holes with some clear vinyl sheets to patch it up but she's still churning out black crud!

The changes for the next built will be the addition of two MP40w's, I'm going to buy a new skimmer (reef octopus 250INT), and I'm going to flip out the DIY LED setup for some Kessil A360w's. The tank is going to be installed in a wall in my new basement. So the build will definitely include the addition of a small fish room. I don't think there will be any major changes. I like to keep everything super simple to limit things that can break or blow up (so no calcium reactor) ;)
 
Boss got tired of you wheeling that water change cart around huh? I'll keep an eye out for the new build. Hope it goes as well as your last transition!
 
No, actually, the lab moved to New York and there's no space for the tank up here. I'm pretty sad I have to move it to my basement because we do research with a lot of kids and they always love looking at the tank.

The only person that got tired of the water change routine was me ;) I'm looking forward to having a fish room and a utility sink!
 
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