CT 265 Build

Hah, I've had more than my fair share of those too. In my case, this time, 265 was an upgrade from an already mature 90; so perhaps claims exaggerated ...... I know, reef keeping, exaggerations .... Perish the thought!
 
I think, as much as anything, I created this thread for myself as a 'journal' of this particular tank. It's amazing how quickly these mini reefs of ours can mature. Photos don't lie .... well, not usually ....

Day 1 .....
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After 19 months .....
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It is interesting to see what's grown well, and what hasn't. Crowding and shading have been my biggest issue, and changing lighting along the way led to some issues with STN. It's also taken just a little over 14 months for the green slimer frag I got from a local reefer to grow 16 inches to almost touch the water's surface ...... while throwing off a dozen or so frags of its own.

That's some serious growth. What ever you are doing, you appear to be doing it right. That tank is beautiful!
 
I think, as much as anything, I created this thread for myself as a 'journal' of this particular tank. It's amazing how quickly these mini reefs of ours can mature. Photos don't lie .... well, not usually ....

Day 1 .....
IMG_0240_zps5fa35cd4.jpg


After 19 months .....
IMG_9678_zpschshouwk.jpg


It is interesting to see what's grown well, and what hasn't. Crowding and shading have been my biggest issue, and changing lighting along the way led to some issues with STN. It's also taken just a little over 14 months for the green slimer frag I got from a local reefer to grow 16 inches to almost touch the water's surface ...... while throwing off a dozen or so frags of its own.

Can you bring your thank in my thank ;) Thats very nice
 
Side Lighting

Side Lighting

My plating montis are shading my tri-color acro and its going a pale brown ..... what to do .... Figured I'd try setting up one of my Kessil spots to shine in from the side.

 
Bigger Sump

Bigger Sump

My current sump, a stock 75, simply isn't big enough to easily handle the total volume of my system. Local reefer was selling his oceanic 120 .....



Ripped out the dual overflows (not an easy task) with the intention of something like this .....



I use an external skimmer, so no compartment required, and I'd like to have more refugium space. black lines are 1/4" glass baffles; dotted white lines are eggcrate. How best to utilize the four holes in the bottom though. Any clever suggestions?
 
Thought the holes were on the sides toward the bottom then looked again and saw they were actually on the bottom. This should be fun :)
 
Yeah, on the bottom. Current sump is on a 'stand' in the basement fishroom already, so elevating is not a problem. Just cannot figure out the best use of all the other holes. One I'll use to easily drain the settling chamber section.
 
You could even just use a couple of them to drain the tank for water changes if you don't have a AWC set up.
 
A Few Updates ....

A Few Updates ....

1. Sump replacement is on track for next weekend.
2. All the majano anemones in my tank have up and vanished. Not a bad thing, obviously, but a curious one for which I have no good explanation.
3. Large pink birdsnest went RTN on me over the weekend. Have unaffected frags of it in the frag tank, but worrying nonetheless.
4. Going to London for business for a few days, hopefully I'm not in for major tank issues - water parameters are good, though I did have an alk dip last week (dropped from 10 down to 6)
5. Doing a water change, putting in new carbon and new polyfilters.
 
Finally got around the replacing the sump. Haven't reconnected everything completely, but it's up and running.

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Wife's got the good camera, so this iPad pic will have to suffice.

Probably a good time to do it. Been having some issues with the tank of late so a good shake up probably in order. Over the course of a couple of months many of the shrooms in this tank have died, also 'lost' all my majanos .... Even lost a couple of SPS colonies. I suspect some kind of bacterial issue that came in with a ricordia bought locally.
 
Some better pictures of the new sump ....

Some better pictures of the new sump ....






Still some piping to clean up.

This was a reef ready 150. Needs to be elevated due to holes being on the bottom. I like it that way anyhow so I can light the chaeto both from above aunt below. Chaeto actually tumbles :) decide to replace my two submersible manifold pumps with a single external PW40 using two of the four holes. Trying for an uncluttered sump this time. We'll see how long that lasts.
 
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Amazing tank. On a side note, do you find 30" to deep? Looking at a new tank. Leaning towards a 180, but love the extra foot in length the 265 gives. But reaching bottom at 30" seems like it might be a PIA.
 
Amazing tank. On a side note, do you find 30" to deep? Looking at a new tank. Leaning towards a 180, but love the extra foot in length the 265 gives. But reaching bottom at 30" seems like it might be a PIA.

I had always steered clear of 30" tall tanks because of inability to reach the bottom (even at 6' 2"), but I really liked the idea of a 7' tank (had a 180 previously) and didn't want to pay $$ for custom. I won't lie to you, there are times when I swear a blue steak trying to reach to the bottom (get a set of tongs), but the advantages most definitely outweigh the disadvantages. I keep a lot of anthias, and the extra 6" of water column is significant.
 
December 2015

December 2015

Been a while since I posted any kind of update. Partly a function of Summer, and partly because not all that much has changed (though some has).







As some of you may recall, this tank has ich; yet as you can also see from the pictures, the parasite is essentially asymptomatic. All fish have done well, and I've not lost one since my 2 year old manadarin passed a number of months ago.

Corals have done OK, though my tank has far fewer species than it did last year at this time. Some kind of bacterial problem that affected my ricordia mushrooms also caused the loss of a number of small SPS colonies (either directly or indirectly). Some of them have been repopulated from cuttings from the frag tank; but as many of the surviving colonies have now grow quite large, space constraints (and consequential shading) have become a problem.

The only new piece of equipment is a ETM Vectra pump for my closed loop. Otherwise, all remains as it was.
 
Recently decided to shut down my 90 gallon office tank. Sold most of the fish, but five went into the display - three leopards, a chevron tang and a lemonpeel angel. Now at 45 fish.



 
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