Mr. Winters
New member
this is when you break out the bacardi 151 and some cheap wine and mix it all together in a big jug. 
hope u got a refund cuz that doesnt sound cheap.
hope u got a refund cuz that doesnt sound cheap.
Haffs09 370gal Tank Build...Finally!
- Thread starter Haffs09
- Start date
Haffs09
Member
Jason, so far I'm quite happy with my sump design. If anything, I'd probably eliminate the external protein skimmers and get a very efficient internal skimmer. Skimmer technology and efficiency has improved significantly since I purchased my skimmers 4 years ago. For a pictoral description of how the sump works, see page 3 of this thread. If you have any other questions, fire away.
Mr. Winters
New member
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Haffs09
Member
Take 2:
Take 2:
After a little thought, I would extend the height of my first baffle to be 4" above the top of the lower one. I have two positioned up and one positioned down. Right now, it is only a couple of inches above the top of the lower one, and with the turbulence in that section, the water sometimes comes close to going over it.
Take 2:
After a little thought, I would extend the height of my first baffle to be 4" above the top of the lower one. I have two positioned up and one positioned down. Right now, it is only a couple of inches above the top of the lower one, and with the turbulence in that section, the water sometimes comes close to going over it.
Haffs09
Member
Update time!
Update time!
In early April, I started developing my aquascape.
Here's a mock up of the tank foot print and ~250lbs of rock layed out:
Pondering...
Overall, I was happy with the first rock structure. It weighed 70-80lbs and was cemented together using the E-Marco-400 kit from Marcorocks. I used ~7 or 8lbs for this structure. It's big and bulky (16"H x 20"W x 30"L), but there are a number of caves for fish to hide in. Hopefully, in a couple of years it will be covered in corals and you won't even see it!
Another angle:
From a distance:
Update time!
In early April, I started developing my aquascape.
Here's a mock up of the tank foot print and ~250lbs of rock layed out:
Pondering...
Overall, I was happy with the first rock structure. It weighed 70-80lbs and was cemented together using the E-Marco-400 kit from Marcorocks. I used ~7 or 8lbs for this structure. It's big and bulky (16"H x 20"W x 30"L), but there are a number of caves for fish to hide in. Hopefully, in a couple of years it will be covered in corals and you won't even see it!
Another angle:
From a distance:
Haffs09
Member
Couple more pieces...
Couple more pieces...
Here are a few more pieces:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/49249553@N04/5659416469/" title="IMG_5872 by Haffs09, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5103/5659416469_4338632da0.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="IMG_5872"></a>
For the tall stack, I drilled the rock and then slid it over a 1/2" fiberglass rod. I then cemented the pieces together. I think it looks goofy now, but after I get some corals growing on it, it's going to look great!
I also put several large pieces of rock in the left side of the tank, so the fish have something else to graze on. Long term, I want to create a structure made out of tonga branch. I'll add that if/when I add a harem of flame angels.
Current aquascape:
I estimate I have 150lbs of rock in the picture above. I also drilled all my structures with a 1/4" masonry bit. I saw a thread or youtube video of a guy who did that with his reef, and it made mounting corals extremely easy. In total, I have about 100 1/4" holes amoung the 4 structures. My plan is to glue coral to a 1/4" piece of rigid airline tubing and then move it around until it responds favorably to a good location. I don't plan on adding coral until the fall, so my challenge may be in finding some of these holes!
Couple more pieces...
Here are a few more pieces:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/49249553@N04/5659416469/" title="IMG_5872 by Haffs09, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5103/5659416469_4338632da0.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="IMG_5872"></a>
For the tall stack, I drilled the rock and then slid it over a 1/2" fiberglass rod. I then cemented the pieces together. I think it looks goofy now, but after I get some corals growing on it, it's going to look great!
I also put several large pieces of rock in the left side of the tank, so the fish have something else to graze on. Long term, I want to create a structure made out of tonga branch. I'll add that if/when I add a harem of flame angels.
Current aquascape:
I estimate I have 150lbs of rock in the picture above. I also drilled all my structures with a 1/4" masonry bit. I saw a thread or youtube video of a guy who did that with his reef, and it made mounting corals extremely easy. In total, I have about 100 1/4" holes amoung the 4 structures. My plan is to glue coral to a 1/4" piece of rigid airline tubing and then move it around until it responds favorably to a good location. I don't plan on adding coral until the fall, so my challenge may be in finding some of these holes!
Haffs09
Member
Fish time!
Fish time!
When I sunk the first rock structure in the tank, I already had a purple tang in the tank. I figured since he was the smallest of all my tangs, it would be a good idea to give it a head start before adding the rest.
I sunk the rest of the rock on 4/22 and then proceeded to consolidate all of my fish. Here's the order I added them:
1. Hippo tang and foxface
2. Achilles tang
3. Waited a couple of hours and then added a desjardini, 2 yellows and a powder blue tang.
Initially, there was some fin flaring and a few torn fins between the purple, achilles and powder blue. That calmed down over a couple of days, and now they all get along pretty well. When one gets aggressive, the targeted fish typically just swims off and nothing really happens. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.
Here are some more pics...
Swimming into a MP60
I still have a lot to do...figure out ventilation, lighting, and get a RDSB going to name a few.
Fish time!
When I sunk the first rock structure in the tank, I already had a purple tang in the tank. I figured since he was the smallest of all my tangs, it would be a good idea to give it a head start before adding the rest.
I sunk the rest of the rock on 4/22 and then proceeded to consolidate all of my fish. Here's the order I added them:
1. Hippo tang and foxface
2. Achilles tang
3. Waited a couple of hours and then added a desjardini, 2 yellows and a powder blue tang.
Initially, there was some fin flaring and a few torn fins between the purple, achilles and powder blue. That calmed down over a couple of days, and now they all get along pretty well. When one gets aggressive, the targeted fish typically just swims off and nothing really happens. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.
Here are some more pics...
Swimming into a MP60
I still have a lot to do...figure out ventilation, lighting, and get a RDSB going to name a few.
Haffs09
Member
Ahhhhh!!!
Ahhhhh!!!
So last Friday, I had a family emergency on my wife's side that required us to go to Pittsburgh for the weekend. I put my father in law on fish feeding duty and off we went. We didn't get home until late Sunday night, and I wasn't able to view the tank until Monday after work. When I looked, my heart sank to the floor. My hippo tang had broken out with ich. I looked at the achilles and powder blue, and sure enough they had ich too. Wanting to start hypo treatment, I immediately put my RODI line into the tank's sump and let that run until Tuesday evening when I decided I needed to come up with a decent game plan. In all, I added ~ 30 gallons of RODI to the system (~500 gal total). My pH remained at 8.2 and specific gravity only dropped from 1.023 to 1.021.
Since my system is FOWLR right now, I plan to do the following:
1. Move all my live rock from my sump into my 75gal (future refugium) that's on the system. There will probably be 200-250lbs of rock in that tank. I'll keep the existing rock in the display tank.
2. Take the 75gal offline from the main system and keep it fallow for 8 weeks. By doing this, I hope some beneficial bacteria will survive.
3. Slowly start decreasing the system specific gravity to 1.009
4. Maintain #3 for 4-5 weeks.
5. Return display's specific gravity back to 1.023 and maintain for 3-4 weeks.
6. Bring the 75gal back online.
I hope to start this tomorrow evening. I've been in a holding pattern while I make RODI water. I didn't want to drop the specific gravity, and have something happen that would necessitate a water change and not have any water ready. I have 50 gal now, and hopefully I'll have 80gal tomorrow night.
So far, only the hippo, achilles and powder blue show visible signs of ich. All the fish are eating well and seem to be doing okay. The hippo occasionally scratches against the rocks. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hope they'll be okay until I can start treatment.
Where did it come from? I went through a lot of hassle quarantining my fish, but overlooked one very important aspect. A couple of years ago, the hippo tang showed a few spots of ich while it was in a 90gal with a yellow tang and foxface. After a few days, it went away and I never saw the visual spots again. I forgot about that incident and added those fish with all the rest several weeks ago. Well, the move must have stressed the hippo enough to cause ich to rear its ugly head. I guess one positive aspect is that I planned to keep the tank FOWLR until the fall. Now I can treat everything with hypo without worrying about coral.
I'll see how it goes. If anyone has suggestions for a better method, I'm all ears.
Thanks.
Ahhhhh!!!
So last Friday, I had a family emergency on my wife's side that required us to go to Pittsburgh for the weekend. I put my father in law on fish feeding duty and off we went. We didn't get home until late Sunday night, and I wasn't able to view the tank until Monday after work. When I looked, my heart sank to the floor. My hippo tang had broken out with ich. I looked at the achilles and powder blue, and sure enough they had ich too. Wanting to start hypo treatment, I immediately put my RODI line into the tank's sump and let that run until Tuesday evening when I decided I needed to come up with a decent game plan. In all, I added ~ 30 gallons of RODI to the system (~500 gal total). My pH remained at 8.2 and specific gravity only dropped from 1.023 to 1.021.
Since my system is FOWLR right now, I plan to do the following:
1. Move all my live rock from my sump into my 75gal (future refugium) that's on the system. There will probably be 200-250lbs of rock in that tank. I'll keep the existing rock in the display tank.
2. Take the 75gal offline from the main system and keep it fallow for 8 weeks. By doing this, I hope some beneficial bacteria will survive.
3. Slowly start decreasing the system specific gravity to 1.009
4. Maintain #3 for 4-5 weeks.
5. Return display's specific gravity back to 1.023 and maintain for 3-4 weeks.
6. Bring the 75gal back online.
I hope to start this tomorrow evening. I've been in a holding pattern while I make RODI water. I didn't want to drop the specific gravity, and have something happen that would necessitate a water change and not have any water ready. I have 50 gal now, and hopefully I'll have 80gal tomorrow night.
So far, only the hippo, achilles and powder blue show visible signs of ich. All the fish are eating well and seem to be doing okay. The hippo occasionally scratches against the rocks. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hope they'll be okay until I can start treatment.
Where did it come from? I went through a lot of hassle quarantining my fish, but overlooked one very important aspect. A couple of years ago, the hippo tang showed a few spots of ich while it was in a 90gal with a yellow tang and foxface. After a few days, it went away and I never saw the visual spots again. I forgot about that incident and added those fish with all the rest several weeks ago. Well, the move must have stressed the hippo enough to cause ich to rear its ugly head. I guess one positive aspect is that I planned to keep the tank FOWLR until the fall. Now I can treat everything with hypo without worrying about coral.
I'll see how it goes. If anyone has suggestions for a better method, I'm all ears.
Thanks.
Haffs09
Member
Thanks for the comments rnscross. I have a large bottle of Amquel or an equivalent product on hand, just in case.
Dropping the system's specific gravity has taken much longer than I anticipated. With the 75gal tank offline, I estimate I have 440 gallons in the system. The system is currently at 1.015. It will probably won't be at 1.009 until Thursday/Friday at my current rate. Once I get to 1.009, my plan will be to change between 40 and 50 gallons every three days. Hopefully, that will help keep ahead of any ammonia problems. I guess on a positive side, at 1.009, my 200gal box of Instant Ocean salt will now stretch to 400+ gallons!
Dropping the system's specific gravity has taken much longer than I anticipated. With the 75gal tank offline, I estimate I have 440 gallons in the system. The system is currently at 1.015. It will probably won't be at 1.009 until Thursday/Friday at my current rate. Once I get to 1.009, my plan will be to change between 40 and 50 gallons every three days. Hopefully, that will help keep ahead of any ammonia problems. I guess on a positive side, at 1.009, my 200gal box of Instant Ocean salt will now stretch to 400+ gallons!
Haffs09
Member
Update
Update
Wow, it took a long time, but my system's sg is finally at 1.009. The fish did well throughout the transition. The hippo, achilles and powder blue all had times when the ich broke out badly, but so far, they've weathered the storm well. The achilles and powder blue still show signs of ich under their skin. Hopefully, once it breaks through that will be it for the parasites on the fish and we can start the 4 week clock at the hypo conditions. Only time will tell...
Also during this time, my purple tang took it upon itself to try and eliminate my smallest yellow tang. Problem for him is that the yellow is slightly bigger and has been giving him a whooping. If this continues much longer, the smaller yellow will get fished out and find a new home.
Update
Wow, it took a long time, but my system's sg is finally at 1.009. The fish did well throughout the transition. The hippo, achilles and powder blue all had times when the ich broke out badly, but so far, they've weathered the storm well. The achilles and powder blue still show signs of ich under their skin. Hopefully, once it breaks through that will be it for the parasites on the fish and we can start the 4 week clock at the hypo conditions. Only time will tell...
Also during this time, my purple tang took it upon itself to try and eliminate my smallest yellow tang. Problem for him is that the yellow is slightly bigger and has been giving him a whooping. If this continues much longer, the smaller yellow will get fished out and find a new home.
Haffs09
Member
Dangers of a MP60!
Dangers of a MP60!
Everyday I come home from work, I go straight to the tank with my fingers crossed hoping all are doing well while in hypo conditions. So far so good, but today I came home to find my 5-6" yellow tang stuck on the intake of a MP60. He's in pretty rough shape and I'm doubtful he's going to make it. I've had him for close to 10 years so this is quite the bummer if it dies. He's currently floating in a spaghetti strainer that's floating in my sump.
How could have this happened? I can only think of a couple of things..1) I clip nori on that side of the tank, and while eating all the fish are right around the pump. Although there wasn't food in the tank at that time, maybe it was swimming close to the pump right when it ramped up and that was it! 2) Maybe he suddenly fell ill and getting sucked into the pump was the result of it being incapacitated. Although it's hard to believe, I think #1 is more likely than #2. Last night, it was actively swimming around the tank with the rest of them.
I'll rethink installing the foam cover on the MP60's intake. At the minimum, I will move were I feed the fish to get them accustomed to a new "begging" area.
You can see the strainer impressions on the poor thing
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IMG_6150 by Haffs09, on Flickr[/IMG]
Dangers of a MP60!
Everyday I come home from work, I go straight to the tank with my fingers crossed hoping all are doing well while in hypo conditions. So far so good, but today I came home to find my 5-6" yellow tang stuck on the intake of a MP60. He's in pretty rough shape and I'm doubtful he's going to make it. I've had him for close to 10 years so this is quite the bummer if it dies. He's currently floating in a spaghetti strainer that's floating in my sump.
How could have this happened? I can only think of a couple of things..1) I clip nori on that side of the tank, and while eating all the fish are right around the pump. Although there wasn't food in the tank at that time, maybe it was swimming close to the pump right when it ramped up and that was it! 2) Maybe he suddenly fell ill and getting sucked into the pump was the result of it being incapacitated. Although it's hard to believe, I think #1 is more likely than #2. Last night, it was actively swimming around the tank with the rest of them.
I'll rethink installing the foam cover on the MP60's intake. At the minimum, I will move were I feed the fish to get them accustomed to a new "begging" area.
You can see the strainer impressions on the poor thing
IMG_6150 by Haffs09, on Flickr[/IMG]
Haffs09
Member
Update...
Update...
All the fish fared well through hyposalinity. It was interesting that when lowering the salinity, the purple tang went after the yellow tang for several days. During the 6 weeks or so the tank was at hypo conditions, there was peace amongst everyone. While raising the salinity, the yellow tang beat up the purple tang. The purple was in rough shape and I moved it to my sump, where it has healed nicely. I think I may add him back to the display tank in a couple months when I move more fish out of QT. At the same time, I'll add new rock structures to give them all a decent shot at getting along.
In terms of fish, I placed an order with LiveAquaria on 7/5 for 6 flame angels and a majestic angel. The order missed its connecting flight in Memphis and spent an extra day on the road. I feared the worst when I received the order and there was only 1 DOA. Within 72 hours, I lost 3 others unexplicably and a 4th would not eat anything. Another failed attempt at the flames. My wife wants me to try once more because they are her favorite fish, but we'll see. The lone flame and Majestic are pretty good. The Majestic is a picky eater and isn't putting on much weight. I suspect it has something internal going on and I'll likely treat it with Maracyn I or II.
On 7/23 a friend was able to get me a juvenile emperor, small goldflake and 4 multicolor angels. The goldflake is in a 20 gallon and the emperor and multicolors are all in a 55 gallon. All of these guys are eager to eat mysis, frozen angel food and a homemade concoction of clams, scallops and mussels. They don't take much interest in flake, pellets or nori (brown or green), so I have to work on that. Like the majestic, the goldflake hasn't put on much weight since I received it but it is extremely active, and always eager to eat. It is easy to see they aren't putting on weight because the emperor is similar in size to the other two and he is getting fat!
With these fish, my QT regimine was 2 weeks of prazipro and then watch to see if they require any other treatments. I debated whether or not I should proactively treat for ich, but the decision has been made for the emperor/multicolor tank. Two days ago, I saw a suspect white spot on the emperor's pectoral fin. Yesterday I noticed several more on its tail, so I'm pretty sure he has ich. I think I'll start taking the tank to hypo conditions today or tomorrow, I just need to decide on the following:
1. The goldflake came from the same place as the emperor and multicolors. Should I assume it has ich too (no current signs) and treat with hypo? It will be very easy to do with the other tank going to hypo conditions and I could really put them in the same tank.
-or-
2. Put the majestic and goldflake together and treat both with maracyn?
Update...
All the fish fared well through hyposalinity. It was interesting that when lowering the salinity, the purple tang went after the yellow tang for several days. During the 6 weeks or so the tank was at hypo conditions, there was peace amongst everyone. While raising the salinity, the yellow tang beat up the purple tang. The purple was in rough shape and I moved it to my sump, where it has healed nicely. I think I may add him back to the display tank in a couple months when I move more fish out of QT. At the same time, I'll add new rock structures to give them all a decent shot at getting along.
In terms of fish, I placed an order with LiveAquaria on 7/5 for 6 flame angels and a majestic angel. The order missed its connecting flight in Memphis and spent an extra day on the road. I feared the worst when I received the order and there was only 1 DOA. Within 72 hours, I lost 3 others unexplicably and a 4th would not eat anything. Another failed attempt at the flames. My wife wants me to try once more because they are her favorite fish, but we'll see. The lone flame and Majestic are pretty good. The Majestic is a picky eater and isn't putting on much weight. I suspect it has something internal going on and I'll likely treat it with Maracyn I or II.
On 7/23 a friend was able to get me a juvenile emperor, small goldflake and 4 multicolor angels. The goldflake is in a 20 gallon and the emperor and multicolors are all in a 55 gallon. All of these guys are eager to eat mysis, frozen angel food and a homemade concoction of clams, scallops and mussels. They don't take much interest in flake, pellets or nori (brown or green), so I have to work on that. Like the majestic, the goldflake hasn't put on much weight since I received it but it is extremely active, and always eager to eat. It is easy to see they aren't putting on weight because the emperor is similar in size to the other two and he is getting fat!
With these fish, my QT regimine was 2 weeks of prazipro and then watch to see if they require any other treatments. I debated whether or not I should proactively treat for ich, but the decision has been made for the emperor/multicolor tank. Two days ago, I saw a suspect white spot on the emperor's pectoral fin. Yesterday I noticed several more on its tail, so I'm pretty sure he has ich. I think I'll start taking the tank to hypo conditions today or tomorrow, I just need to decide on the following:
1. The goldflake came from the same place as the emperor and multicolors. Should I assume it has ich too (no current signs) and treat with hypo? It will be very easy to do with the other tank going to hypo conditions and I could really put them in the same tank.
-or-
2. Put the majestic and goldflake together and treat both with maracyn?
jpsika08
New member
Haffs, just read your whole thread, impressive details on everything!
Very sorry about the Yellow Tang, it's quite impressive how he got caught up on the MP60! I wouldn't recommend the sponges for the powerheads, I tried placing them on mine and to find they ran extremely hot which will reduce the powerhead's life.
Congrats on winning so far the battle against Ich, those ninja parasites are hard to deal with. I need to remove my fish now and place them in QT, I hope I can bring up all my QT's on line this week so I can transfer the fish ASAP.
Have you set up your Ca Reactor yet?
Very sorry about the Yellow Tang, it's quite impressive how he got caught up on the MP60! I wouldn't recommend the sponges for the powerheads, I tried placing them on mine and to find they ran extremely hot which will reduce the powerhead's life.
Congrats on winning so far the battle against Ich, those ninja parasites are hard to deal with. I need to remove my fish now and place them in QT, I hope I can bring up all my QT's on line this week so I can transfer the fish ASAP.
Have you set up your Ca Reactor yet?
