Build log: My 360G Mixed Reef [56k beware]

[tkeracer619]

hey tkeracer, would you sell and ship one of those rbta lol???

If elite reef in Denver is willing to ship then I will take one in to them for you. Otherwise I am not sure I am comfortable shipping one. Never done it and typically they are not good shippers. If you call and ask just let them know who I am. Talk to mike. He knows me and my nems.

 

[tkeracer619]

Hey just decided to check your build out. Tank looks great. Very impressive build.

Would love to check it out some time. Love the new QT tank as well. I have a 20 long as my QT. I keep trying to talk my wife into letting me get more and bigger tanks. She isn't going for it yet.

Your welcome to stop by sometime. Send me a pm when you are going to be around the golden area.

Thanks for the compliments

 

[JRChristiansen]

i want to see more pics!!!

 

[tkeracer619]

So... here is the deal. I think this is my 3rd time apologizing on this thread for lack of updates but sorry for the lack of updates...

I had good reason. Simply a lack of time. For 2 years I have been working out of state and was only home a total of 8 days a month. This left me with barely enough time to keep my reef happy much less documenting things the way I like. This all changes in a few days as I will once again be home full time. Lots of changes to come in the next few weeks including me being home every day for a change. Hopefully all for the better.

This is the reason you have not really gotten much from me in terms of updates. Because I have been living in a hotel.

Things I will be doing and plan on complete DIY... some are already complete but I will still try to do some step by step.

Building a frag tank from acrylic.
Complete revamp of lighting system.
Proper wire management.
Canopy and Stand finishing.
Installing a controller.
Calcium Reactor setup and tuning.
90% rock swap to rid myself of softies and anemones once and for all. (nems have their own tank)
Plumbing a manifold.
Setting up a proper ATO
Converting your standard RO into a self flushing monster.
ect ect


If there is something in particular you would like to see let me know. I am up for suggestions.

 

[NikeLV]

can i see a FTS with Radium 20k's and Super Actinic VHO only? I am deciding whether to supplement my reef with Blue Plus T5's or Super Actinic VHO's.

Thanks!

 

[tkeracer619]

I have been curing the BRS Pukani for the last few months and its finally ready to use!! I plumbed the vat into the display tonight after giving the rock and vat a final rinse. It added around 80 gallons to the system volume (600g total).

Check out the thread on how I cured the rock.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2145395



I need to build a large frag tank (or two) to house the corals I want to keep and get a place ready for all the frags I will accidentally make.

can i see a FTS with Radium 20k's and Super Actinic VHO only? I am deciding whether to supplement my reef with Blue Plus T5's or Super Actinic VHO's.

Thanks!

I will try to get them but I have my doubts that my camera will give you an accurate color.

 

[tkeracer619]

I decided on a 50g Rubbermaid stock tank instead of building a frag tank. It has a large dimension, is durable, and only costs $70 locally. I will save the acrylic for when I have the time and space to build a larger system.

I have the flu but as soon as I feel better I am going to start the transfer. The system is ready. This should be cake .

My plan is to transfer all coral I want into the 50g Rubbermaid. Take the corals I am trying to remove to the lfs. Once the coral is all sorted I will remove and replace the rock with the Pukani. I will be keeping several pieces of my current rock to spread the good stuff to the Pukani faster. It will all remain in the system unless it has coral on it in which case it will go to the LFS.

 

[tkeracer619]

I get the divers den update email daily and have been waiting for a few things which happened to be on the list today. I was too slow on the Anthias yesterday but luckily they had another trio today.

An X-Large (3 5/8") Potters Angelfish and a Trio of Red Saddled Anthias

A few weeks ago I added a bonded pair of Fancy Gumbdrop Coral Crouchers. They host a large tabling SPS. I also added a few more female Bartletts Anthias.

good job my friend, nice tank

Thank you!

 

[tkeracer619]

Well all of those fish have survived and are eating but still pretty shy. I removed a lot of the rock and have started isolating corals.

The new frag system is a 50g Rubbermaid with 2x 250w Radiums, Galaxy Select-a-Watt ballasts, and Lumenmax elite reflectors. I went with the electronic over an m80 ballast because I won't have actinics so I wanted a bluer look. I still haven't started transferring stuff as I would like the first algae stage to pass before I do that. This is taking a long time but I really don't care. I am not pressed for time and nothing good happens fast in a reef tank.

I took a video with my gopro. Anyone have any tips on fixing the white balance of the gopro hd hero2?

Here is the tank as it sits now. About half the rock gone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1cg8gkR_1w

 

[Newbie Aquarist]

Beautiful tank. That vlamingi is huge.

 

[tkeracer619]

Thanks

The Vlamingi is getting pretty big. He will need a new tank before too long. I am hoping that I will be able to provide that, he is a lot of fun (and a bit annoying). He will splash water over the side of the tank at you if you don't feed him enough :lol:

 

[derek.reef]

A few weeks ago I added a bonded pair of Fancy Gumbdrop Coral Crouchers. They host a large tabling SPS.

anything to report on these guys? behaving well?

 

[tkeracer619]

Absolutely! They are incredible fish. Unfortunately I do not feel that they are well suited for the majority of systems. You really need a dedicated system or a system with very large corals. I spot feed them daily but if they hadn't taken residency in a large tabling sps I doubt they would have survived. The coral is about 14" across and doesn't seem to mind.

 

[dallasg]

Very cool tank, updates?

 

[reefsafe]

Updates have been delayed as TKERACER has been living it up in hawaii:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47WM_1nB6Tc&feature=youtu.be

 

[tkeracer619]

Updates have been delayed as TKERACER has been living it up in hawaii:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47WM_1nB6Tc&feature=youtu.be

Thanks for giving them the heads up . I did in fact take some time out of the busy life to lay on black sand beaches, eat fruit off of roadside trees, and do a bit of scuba. That video was on a shore dive right in Hilo. I also spent time in Maui. I have tons of footage like that linked above but have to get it together into an edited video.

I have been back from HI for a bit but have been afk for a month or so. Some of the stuff leading up to this point in this thread suggests I was planning on a move or a total redo of the tank. In the last 2 month I purchased a home that has a 30'x20' concrete floor room. It also has a large room on a below grade for filtration and I am currently in the initial planning stages for a 8'x8'x3'H 3 sided tank. This is quite a ways off but I went ahead and setup the water system to support it.

This water mixing station consists of two ACE RotoMold 200G vertical storage tanks and a Reeflo Dart. The system incorporates an auto flushing 300GPD RO/DI and a closed loop DI on the vertical tank. It can supply either fresh or salt water via a hose but will eventually be plumbed into a hard line that will take the water to the fish room. I put these in the laundry room to free up space in the fishroom. I haven't mounted the RO yet as I am not exactly sure where I want it permanently. It was way too big of a laundry room anyways...

I have to give props to Reeflo. This was the Dart that I put on my tank back in '96 and I must admit... I hadn't cleaned it a single time since then including when I put it into a box as a backup a year ago. Started up, sounds smooth, no leaks. High five for great equipment!

 

[tkeracer619]

The first step in the move is to take my second 360 to the new house. Its only resident is a friendly Panama Red Cardinalfish.

This process started last night at roughly 5pm.

I wanted to save as much water as I could so I snagged a bunch of Rubbermaid Brute Trashcans from HD.

In an effort to make this as simple as possible I backed the trailer up strait to the door and rested the lift gate on the first step. Did I mention it started snowing around 1pm? :headwally:

I had a few friends help me load up and we were on our way! Here it is at the destination. Its snowing but not too hard on this side of town.

 

[tkeracer619]

Its temporary location in the room keeps it out of the way of any new construction with easy access all of the way around it. Once it was in place my roommate was kind enough to wipe down the tank for me while I went to get the water.

At this point its about midnight. I backed into the yard to get the trailer in range of the transfer hose. Its snowing pretty hard now and you can see its deeper then my tires are tall. The roads were really bad at this point so I took it easy. I finished up for the night at about 2:30am. The Cardinal seems content at the new house...

 

[tkeracer619]

The move was unsuccessful and this tank has been lost. I was able to save about half of my fish. I will go into more detail at a later date but for now I am going to go mostly afk as I figure out what to do and how to deal with this loss.

I lost 100% of the coral, 50% of the Anemones, and 50% of the fish. RIP friends. I am really mad at myself right now and am considering leaving the hobby. For now though I feel it is best for me to enjoy what I have left, remember what I have lost, and look towards the future to let me know what I should do.

Thanks for all of your support RC.

 

[natbox]

i was reading through your build and wham.. your post was a shocker.. sorry for the loss. Great effort looking at how you worked on that tank.