250 Gallon reboot

[Dapg8gt]

Awesome thanks for the info.. Pulled the trigger right after I posted here lol..It was so cheaply priced compared to others I was curious on function since your initial impression on build quality was so good..

It will be an upgrade for my larger tank.. I already have a geo 612 running with a brushless Cole parmer and dual stage regulator so I'm golden in that dept =) ..

The tank looks like it's off to a great start and congrats on getting back into the unforgiving (on the wallet) hobby we all seem to love. Look forward to updates on the progression and growth of your tank..

Thanks

 

[brainchild24]

Dapg8gt, thanks, I am looking forward to getting a few frags in a week or two. Waiting on the diotoms to die off...I have performed a water change today which makes for the second one, next week I will perform another small water change.

I think you should be happy with the aquamaxx, the choices I narrowed it down to were aquamaxx and GEO. To be honest I couldn't find faults with either and what made the difference was the price.

 

[brainchild24]

So it's been about 12yrs since I last cycled a tank and for the life of me, I can't remember diatoms making the water cloudy.

Anyone have this experience. The water parameters as within norms.

 

[brainchild24]

I have been using a 50micron sheet, changing them out daily and that has helped somewhat, but the water is still cloudy. I am waiting on my new shipment of activated carbon to see if that will polish the water a bit.

 

[brainchild24]

On a positive note, I have finished my water mix station. I will post a picture tomorrow. Still cleaning up all the various messes from assembling everything in the basement.

 

[worm5406]

You are not carbon dosing are you?

 

[brainchild24]

You are not carbon dosing are you?

Nope, well if the media reactor with active carbon counts, then yes?

 

[brainchild24]

So the diatoms happened right after adding the 5 chromis, the tank was what I thought cycled and everything was clear. Then two days later the bloom happened. I am not overfeeding either, just what they can clear in 10~15secs and the hermit crabs take care of anything that slips through the grasp of the fish.

 

[worm5406]

Well after adding the chromis the amonia they pee'd out kicked started the bacteria.

How did you cycle it?

 

[worm5406]

Update your album when you get a chance. I am curious what it looks like.

 

[brainchild24]

Update your album when you get a chance. I am curious what it looks like.

So I had some setbacks with various things in the tank, new/(old rock) tank syndrome and once everything was started to look like it was going in the right direction had rtn issues so I let the tank run as a fish mostly tank for a few months aside from a couple of LPS and zoas. Then I contacted Adam @ battle corals asked him to put a box together of millis and man did he not disappoint. I will upload some photos tomorrow. But the tank is finally in a good spot, should be getting a couple m. caps in on Friday.

 

[jrme1212]

How do you like the Radions? Are the two fixtures enough? I'm starting up a 250 and am lost on how to do the lights due to the irregular footprint.

 

[brainchild24]

How do you like the Radions? Are the two fixtures enough? I'm starting up a 250 and am lost on how to do the lights due to the irregular footprint.

Hi jrme1212,

I ended up with a total of four radions, two xr30 towards the center, and two xr15 on the edge and I tell you the light spread is great. I have a pretty even cast of light/par across my rock work, I would say your aquascape will determine the total amount of fixtures needed also coral density. The main benefits I see with this many lights are that my total intensity is all the way down to about 40% from 80% and I get about 140par on the sand, with and an average of 240~ par throughout the rockwork. Hope this helps and good luck.