280G+ Starphire In-Wall Build by ReefArtist

Wow - very nice Chris! They are cute little things - lol. I do have a Red Skunk Cleaner Shrimp but he's in the Infinity right now - do you think he would clean them before this gets to the breakout stage? It's really strange because the male clown (Conway) has had it for about a week now and so haven't the green clown gobies. Today I noticed a few white specks on the Rabbitfish and a couple on the anthias - it actually looks different on the clown then on the goby. Clown has lots of little bumps and the gobies have actual white raised bumps - like around 6 - 8 of them. On the clown if I wasn't using a magnifier I don't think I'd even notice, but the gobies they are larger and I can see them without aid.

It's strange as I had these fish for over a year, but they are the ones that were very confortable in their tank. Now the clowns can't find a place to call home and the gobies lost the Acropora to the Chromis so they are looking for a new home. Well the clowns last night did finally find a home - the Duncans again! I guess I'll have to put a fence around them again - LOL.
 
I guess everyone will find their spot in the tank. Maybe it would be beneficial for you to add a couple neon gobies and a skunk cleaner to your tank. At worst they won't clean anything and a different species to look at and on the flip side they can add something to look at and perform a task.
 
To keep my fingers crossed, I have never had a problem with ich while having cleaner shrimp and cleaner gobies in my tanks. Maybe it is just dumb luck, the use of QT or the benefit of those species, but it has worked for me so maybe it will work for you too! Plus the gobies are cheap.
 
Hello everyone,
I just finished moving a few rocks into my Engineers Tank (Ex. Grasses tank). Note this is no longer the grasses tank as it's now the home of an Engineer Goby we call Digger. I must say this is all he does all day long - dig, dig and more digging. Not sure how anyone could keep this guy in their display and have sand. I also think he's making up for lost digging time as he came from a tank that was BB. I'm very glad I have him :D!

EngineerGoby_Digger2.JPG

Digger is around 8 to 12" long!!!! More like "SnakeMan".

EngineerGoby_Digger4.JPG

First thing he did was dig out all the sand under the one rock he had in his tank. He was mad after I cleaned everything up this AM.

EngineerGoby_Digger5.JPG

Now he had twice the rocks and I removed all microalgae from his tank - he would just cover it up :(. That's OK, he now has a tank of his own and with his name attached to it.

Very cool fish and this is the first one I'd every seem. He came as a package deal along with some other items - I'm very glad I got him.
 
I thought I might update my thread a little but not much going on.

1. Again had a MH go out and at first I thought it was the DC8 but after debugging the problem found to be a loose wire - that is good. So now all lights are up and running and looks like the DC8 after updating the firmware software is working properly.

2. Worked on some little things - cleaning up wires and adding lights to other tanks. I still need to add reflectors to the T5's - yes Roger I know it's not lighting efficiently without them but this is a build in process :). Things will get done when I get to them or when I purchase the remaining parts.

3. The tank seems to have settled down as far as algae growth and the entire typical new tank cycling problems. So, I think that is over.

4. I've transferred all larger corals from my QT to the main display after treating for all pests. Before transferring I used a magnifier to ensure pest free corals â€"œ all looked good. I've adjusted the lighting to ease them into their new home. That was one of the biggest mistakes I made when transferring my corals from my other tanks. They had been under 250w MH and I thought it would be fine to run the lights as before. The light was a DE 250 and now I have SE â€"œ very big difference in lighting IMO. I ended up losing a few small frags - of course only the more expensive nice ones :(.

5. I've been working on the ATO system but had completely forgotten about what would happen if the ATO water was above the sump. So, now I need to figure out how I'll make an anti-siphon for the system. It's a good thing I tested everything before walking away. When I started my ATO I could see the pump started and it was filling the sump. When the pump stopped the water didn't :(.

6. I'll start the wood working part later this week â€"œ Should be Thursday and hope to have at least the bookcases roughed in by the end of the weekend.
 
A build process to say the least. I still havent finished my reflectors hahhaha. We can only do what we can do. I think your progress has been incredible over the last few months.

Good heads up on the top off. I will have to check on this too.
 
Carol, great thread! Your attention to detail is wonderful. I've finished reading from beginning finally and Wow is only description ;). Looking forward to updates.
 
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Hey there.. how about a few pics of those Birthday Presents!!!:celeb1: :celeb2:


HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
 
Wow reefartist beautiful tanks, great diy skills, very educational thread, helping to lay the framework for my eventual 280 gallon build in like 5yrs lol, but how many tanks do you have in total? great thread!!
 
Thank you PaPa_Johnny, kidako and nick063. I was hoping some of my ideas would help others in their builds or at least give someone a different view point.

I have 7 tanks in total :).
Infinity (30g or so, living room - flows over top),
Bowfront (living room 30g - seahorses, clowns),
280g (living room),
40g (fishroom - Diggers home and starfish),
75g (fishroom - split with 1/2 RDSB, 1/2 refuge),
90g (Fishroom Sump),
50g Long (Fishroom frag tank - 48x18x13)
All of these tanks are connected, gravity draining into the sump and being pumped back from the sump using only two pumps. I have only one other pump which is a Dart - for my reeflo skimmer (not feeding off dart). I might add another small pump in my refuge area. I don't like how it drains and if I would have build my stand just another inch or so higher it would be fine. At this point I just can't get the flow I like using only gravity.

Oh - and I still have my freshwater fish which are in a 29g on my sun porch.

Thank you Joe for the birthday wish :D. I'll post a few pics later.
 
I'm originally from st.pete and as i remember there isn't really a great place to get corals and good livestock, do you order your stuff online? I know there are some great places in tampa, the marine warehouse i think is whats its called has a good selection
 
There is a great store in Oldsmar called Fish and Other Icthy Stuff (FAOIS). IMO it has a great selection of livestock and the owners are some of the most knowledgeable people you would ever hope to find.
 
Yep - I must say they are the best store in the TB area. I've purchased all my fish from them and about half my corals. If I mail order it's with Atlantis for those "Special" corals :D.
 
Hey Reefartist, I tried to email and pm you but those options are disabled. I was trying to reply to the pm you sent me but can't. I don't wish to post my email on the boards so please make contact either through here or DRC. Thanks Al
 
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