Build a bigger home, build a bigger tank!
- Thread starter milonedp
- Start date
betamed
New member
I'd separate the rock piles with some empty space to avoid the rock wall look. You got some nice caves and coves so I think just removing a few pieces would make a big difference. I like pegging my rock to make it really tall and to give me some areas of higher light considering the t5 are not over powering.
Thanks betamed, its funny you say that I went back in later that night and separated the one on the left from the one in the middle and I think it opened it up nicely. The middle and right are still connected but I needed that rock there as the one just to the right of it kept sliding so that wedges it in.
After a day looking at it I still think I'd like things a little taller in a couple spots and there isn't much space to get behind the rock on the right and that is right under the vortechs which I've found in other tanks tends to accumulate detritus so I need to think about that some more.
There is a lot of negative space, its just hard to see in the pictures, that front most rock is about 7" off the glass but in some places the rock is 18" or more off the front glass.
Thanks again for the input.
After a day looking at it I still think I'd like things a little taller in a couple spots and there isn't much space to get behind the rock on the right and that is right under the vortechs which I've found in other tanks tends to accumulate detritus so I need to think about that some more.
There is a lot of negative space, its just hard to see in the pictures, that front most rock is about 7" off the glass but in some places the rock is 18" or more off the front glass.
Thanks again for the input.
dave.m
Active member
Remember to leave some room for the corals to grow. I keep seeing people build up their rock work so that the rock takes up the visual space where the corals are supposed to be. The result (besides instant gratification) is that they never have room for more than an inch of coral growth and in less than a year they're forced to start fragging. Their colonies never do get a chance to look full.milonedp said:
Dave.M
Thanks dave.m I agree and I'm trying to make sure I don't do exactly that (as I've tended too in the past), I got 300 lbs of rock figuring that it wouldn't be enough. I can always add, but I knew if I had it I'd be trying to put it in the tank.
I'm also trying to decide if I'm going to bring over some of the rock I have in the 70g (post move) or if I'm just going to frag those corals down. That said there are a couple rocks that I've had in one tank or another for almost 20 years so those will probably go in, came out of my uncle's tank before I got them from him back in 93.
I think there is a lot of open space, tallest peak is about 8" below the waterline and lots of "sand" area. I'm also not going to be going heavy on SPS so the corals won't fill in quite the same way.
Keep the thoughts coming folks its helpful!
I'm also trying to decide if I'm going to bring over some of the rock I have in the 70g (post move) or if I'm just going to frag those corals down. That said there are a couple rocks that I've had in one tank or another for almost 20 years so those will probably go in, came out of my uncle's tank before I got them from him back in 93.
I think there is a lot of open space, tallest peak is about 8" below the waterline and lots of "sand" area. I'm also not going to be going heavy on SPS so the corals won't fill in quite the same way.
Keep the thoughts coming folks its helpful!
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
Nice progress. If anyone already said this, I would leave some space on the back wall. Looks like the rock is up on that and sometimes that could lead to a detritus trap. Just what I observed.
Thanks Wayne, its hard to tell in those shots but to the left of the overflow I can get behind most except the very corner, infront of the overflow I can get behind most but to the right of the overflow on the back an on the side I can get to very little. I was thinking of taking a power-head and plumbing it back there like an internal closed loop, but I was hoping to avoid any wires going into the tank and I can't aim a vortech which would probably be too strong anyway, so I'm still working that out.
Love the rock you picked up! I need to get caught up on your thread but I did see that rock, just been spending so much time on the tank.
Love the rock you picked up! I need to get caught up on your thread but I did see that rock, just been spending so much time on the tank.
Osteoclast
New member
Rock looks good. You may want to connect via mortar, putty, or fiberglass rods/ties. I used Marco mortar with my set up. It is solid and safely in place. Best of luck.
Steve talk about ironic I was just catching up on your thread last night! Thanks for checking in! Wish you all the best with where you are heading, I'm sure things will work out.
Sorry I've been away from RC for a while, getting settled into the house, getting the tank up and running and then the slowness of RC I just wasn't keeping up.
Anyway, I finally started filling the tank late December and put the first of the corals from the old tank in on the 30th, I've been dipping everything and moving it over, I fragged most pieces off of the rocks but there were a few rocks I wanted to bring over so I dipped them (rock and all). Some were just to hard to frag the corals off of and one I got from my uncle in '93? and its been "live" the whole time so I didn't want to break that.
With each "move" from house to house, location to location (laundry room to tank room) and tank (frag) to tank (DT) I've been dipping with CoralRX, I'm pretty sure I don't have any asternia stars left and the planaria are gone (I think) and have been trying to be really careful with everything going into the big tank. I think I've gotten rid of everything in my frag tank (currently holding what I kept from the 180) that I didn't want except for bubble algae, I never had bad outbreaks in my old set up but it was always there, its worse in the FT than it ever was because the nitrates there are higher than I'd like, hard keeping up with two tanks. Trying to be supper careful with that too before things go into the big tank but it only takes a spore so I decided to get a fist full of emerald crabs to stay ahead of it just in case, I'm not sure I've ever had a tank that didn't have some bubble algae in it, it'd be nice but maybe not realistic at least not for me, I've just always kept it pretty much so low that only I knew it was there.
I don't have too much coral left in the FT tank after this weekend so I blocked light to half of it that just has some rock, see if I can kill off all the algae but maybe keep that rock live, put it in the sump or main tank later, who knows, on the flip side I'd like to get that tank closed out, don't have the time for dual maintenance.
So I'm just over a month and finally have the cabinetry mostly done, I put in about 4,000 pods last week and will be adding a clean up crew this week. I lost about 6 fish in total due to the move, it was complicated because I didn't get some things done by the builder in time (in the tank room) and that delayed me moving from the laundry room to the tank room and I pushed it too long. I still have a scopas tang and flame angel. They are now in a hospital tank ( I have 2 40 breeders but I'm only filling them partially, I forget the total but its a little over 30g (basically I matched the water volume to three doses of cupramine). I plan on getting a few more fish in with these two and then setting up the other 40 with some fish and giving a paraguard dip then cupramine treatment. I mentioned before that I wanted to let my rock run fallow and I'm just over a month into that so I'm going to 3/31 before any fish go back with the rock. Waiting is killing me, even my two year old said "daddy there are no fish in the tank" in the end I know it'll be worth it but I really just want something moving in the tank.
I've been having the hardest time with the MP60s, just won't stay on the side and is really loud, I've been through 3 of them so far, I'm getting a wavebox tomorrow and if that solves my problem the 60 goes back. I still have so much to do, I feel like its all "partially" done (more than the normal always wanting to tinker), the returns for example I want something different just havent figured it out so its just patchworked and doesn't look nice, I want to build a stand for the skimmer (just sitting on some milkcrates in teh sump), etc.. I think I'm probably further along than it feels like, not having fish in the tank I think is what is making it seem that way.
So it'll be another couple slow months till I get some exciting stuff in there but hopefully I'll have time to start getting back to documenting some things.
Here's a VERY barren looking FTS but hopefully I'll start getting some of that coraline to spread now that I added some of the bigger rocks from the old tank this weekend.
Sorry I've been away from RC for a while, getting settled into the house, getting the tank up and running and then the slowness of RC I just wasn't keeping up.
Anyway, I finally started filling the tank late December and put the first of the corals from the old tank in on the 30th, I've been dipping everything and moving it over, I fragged most pieces off of the rocks but there were a few rocks I wanted to bring over so I dipped them (rock and all). Some were just to hard to frag the corals off of and one I got from my uncle in '93? and its been "live" the whole time so I didn't want to break that.
With each "move" from house to house, location to location (laundry room to tank room) and tank (frag) to tank (DT) I've been dipping with CoralRX, I'm pretty sure I don't have any asternia stars left and the planaria are gone (I think) and have been trying to be really careful with everything going into the big tank. I think I've gotten rid of everything in my frag tank (currently holding what I kept from the 180) that I didn't want except for bubble algae, I never had bad outbreaks in my old set up but it was always there, its worse in the FT than it ever was because the nitrates there are higher than I'd like, hard keeping up with two tanks. Trying to be supper careful with that too before things go into the big tank but it only takes a spore so I decided to get a fist full of emerald crabs to stay ahead of it just in case, I'm not sure I've ever had a tank that didn't have some bubble algae in it, it'd be nice but maybe not realistic at least not for me, I've just always kept it pretty much so low that only I knew it was there.
I don't have too much coral left in the FT tank after this weekend so I blocked light to half of it that just has some rock, see if I can kill off all the algae but maybe keep that rock live, put it in the sump or main tank later, who knows, on the flip side I'd like to get that tank closed out, don't have the time for dual maintenance.
So I'm just over a month and finally have the cabinetry mostly done, I put in about 4,000 pods last week and will be adding a clean up crew this week. I lost about 6 fish in total due to the move, it was complicated because I didn't get some things done by the builder in time (in the tank room) and that delayed me moving from the laundry room to the tank room and I pushed it too long. I still have a scopas tang and flame angel. They are now in a hospital tank ( I have 2 40 breeders but I'm only filling them partially, I forget the total but its a little over 30g (basically I matched the water volume to three doses of cupramine). I plan on getting a few more fish in with these two and then setting up the other 40 with some fish and giving a paraguard dip then cupramine treatment. I mentioned before that I wanted to let my rock run fallow and I'm just over a month into that so I'm going to 3/31 before any fish go back with the rock. Waiting is killing me, even my two year old said "daddy there are no fish in the tank" in the end I know it'll be worth it but I really just want something moving in the tank.
I've been having the hardest time with the MP60s, just won't stay on the side and is really loud, I've been through 3 of them so far, I'm getting a wavebox tomorrow and if that solves my problem the 60 goes back. I still have so much to do, I feel like its all "partially" done (more than the normal always wanting to tinker), the returns for example I want something different just havent figured it out so its just patchworked and doesn't look nice, I want to build a stand for the skimmer (just sitting on some milkcrates in teh sump), etc.. I think I'm probably further along than it feels like, not having fish in the tank I think is what is making it seem that way.
So it'll be another couple slow months till I get some exciting stuff in there but hopefully I'll have time to start getting back to documenting some things.
Here's a VERY barren looking FTS but hopefully I'll start getting some of that coraline to spread now that I added some of the bigger rocks from the old tank this weekend.
SPotter
Active member
Doug....it looks awesome!!!! Slow and steady wins the race and the one thing that I have learned is you cant go too slow in this hobby. I am paying dearly for mistakes I made a year ago. As far as the return line goes....have you looked at the Vertex Moceans? I put two on my tank to move two tunze powerheads and I am thinking about switching those to the return lines. They create a really nice motion in the tank.
Thanks Steve, I've been trying to figure out if I was going to go with an MP60 or a Wavebox (plus the 3 MP40s I already have (one needs repair)). Got the wavebox today and have been playing with it. Once I've settled on that I'll finalize the returns but I want that to be pretty simple so it may just be a coat of paint and adding a check valve or it may be something like the Vertex Moceans. I don't plan on going super heavy into SPS and I really like the wave like back and forth flow of softies and LPS so I think I'm going to use the return mostly to push water down and around (circular in pattern with the wavebox) so there is a wave but also flowing clockwise.
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
Have you thought about the Sea Swirls?
Stocking List
Stocking List
So I'm finally ready to start QTing some fish. Here is a tentative stocking list (that will be built out over a long time) but I'd like some comments / suggestions, these really aren't in any particular order other than the couple I already have and then what I was thinking about getting first. This is a very early draft wish list, I haven't really looked at compatibility or quantity for the size tank, just needed a list to start from... I like to get everything really small and grow them...
Please comment, about compatibility, order, suggestions or whatever else comes to mind!...
Already have and will go through QT
- Flame Angel
- Scopas Tang
Thinking about for the first round: (I have 2 40 breeders that I'll use to QT)
- small lyertail anthais (6)
- royal gramma
- pair of true percula clowns
Future
- Some sand sifter
- Algae Blenny
- Pair of Red Mandarins
- Kole Tang
- Desjardini Tang
- Blond Naso Tang
- Atlantic Blue Tang
- Purple Tang
- Hippo Tang
- Powder Blue Tang
- Powder Brown Tang
- Achilles Tang
- Yellow Tang
- Bellus Angel
- Black Cap Basslet
- Banggi Cardinals (small school)
- BiColor Blenny
- some sort of butterfly (Tahitian maybe?)
- fill in Anthais (resplendent / square)
- gobbies
- jawfish
Possible: I haven't decided on Wrasses yet, what wouldn't I be able to get with these guys, shrimp?
- Mystery Wrasse
- McCoskers Fairy Wrasse
- Whipfin Fairy Wrasse
- 6 line Wrasse
Thanks!
Stocking List
So I'm finally ready to start QTing some fish. Here is a tentative stocking list (that will be built out over a long time) but I'd like some comments / suggestions, these really aren't in any particular order other than the couple I already have and then what I was thinking about getting first. This is a very early draft wish list, I haven't really looked at compatibility or quantity for the size tank, just needed a list to start from... I like to get everything really small and grow them...
Please comment, about compatibility, order, suggestions or whatever else comes to mind!...
Already have and will go through QT
- Flame Angel
- Scopas Tang
Thinking about for the first round: (I have 2 40 breeders that I'll use to QT)
- small lyertail anthais (6)
- royal gramma
- pair of true percula clowns
Future
- Some sand sifter
- Algae Blenny
- Pair of Red Mandarins
- Kole Tang
- Desjardini Tang
- Blond Naso Tang
- Atlantic Blue Tang
- Purple Tang
- Hippo Tang
- Powder Blue Tang
- Powder Brown Tang
- Achilles Tang
- Yellow Tang
- Bellus Angel
- Black Cap Basslet
- Banggi Cardinals (small school)
- BiColor Blenny
- some sort of butterfly (Tahitian maybe?)
- fill in Anthais (resplendent / square)
- gobbies
- jawfish
Possible: I haven't decided on Wrasses yet, what wouldn't I be able to get with these guys, shrimp?
- Mystery Wrasse
- McCoskers Fairy Wrasse
- Whipfin Fairy Wrasse
- 6 line Wrasse
Thanks!
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
Unless you get a lucky one, dont do the Mystery Wrasse. The are the twin of the 6 line.
crvz
Team RC
I've tried probably 4-5 combinations of powder blue/powder brown/whitecheek tangs, and none of them have ever tolerated each other. This was in the 300 gallon display tank, also, so it wasnt necessarily a function of space. I can't imagine an achilles would do better, but maybe. Most of these were attempted by purchasing the fish at the same time. I'm not necessarily saying dont try it, but be prepared for aggression and going in a different direction. Get them small and at the same time if you can.
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
Both. They are cute in the beginning but as soon as they mature they become a PITA. Whether you add them in last or not.
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