My 748 Gal A.G.E. Aquaillumination SOL lit Texas Dream Tank Build!

[djd]

Hi
Well for what its worth since i only have what 10 posts = not qualifed
after 20 years in this dare i say Hobby and at least 30 grand into it adding all up

H2O is absolutely correct and wish i had his advise 10 years ago would have saved me alot of hassle and dead animals , Not sure bi would have listen to him , So i went with the guys who said they would QT in their tanks before i got them

Didnt go to plan

I invested into my own Qt systen and learned the routine and have never looked back , only to wish i had LISTENED = school of hard knocks ,

Welcome aboard .. But i know not a thing dont ya know ! Only 10 posts :lmao:

 

[AJT]

Hi
Well for what its worth since i only have what 10 posts = not qualifed
after 20 years in this dare i say Hobby and at least 30 grand into it adding all up

H2O is absolutely correct and wish i had his advise 10 years ago would have saved me alot of hassle and dead animals , Not sure bi would have listen to him , So i went with the guys who said they would QT in their tanks before i got them

Didnt go to plan

I invested into my own Qt systen and learned the routine and have never looked back , only to wish i had LISTENED = school of hard knocks ,

Welcome aboard .. But i know not a thing dont ya know ! Only 10 posts :lmao:

What a day. H2 & I have worked out our differences off board. I was probably a little touchy on the subject & he probably could have said things in a different way.

We have moved on.

My last 200 gallon had fish for 12 yrs in it. I never bought more fish because they got so big there was no more room so QT was not something I thought about or worried about.

I AGREE QT IS A GOOD THING. I just flat out have NOWHERE to put another tank. I might see if I can set another 90 gal in my office & use it for QT. My last office 90 gallon had the bottom crack on a weekend & 90 gallons of water ran thru the offices. Not a good thing.

You would think there is room under the stand, but there is not....

I said alot of things in the heat of the moment that I shouldn't have.

10 posts= I will always listen to constructive criticism.

When you have never had a disease problem in 30+ yrs, you get hard headed & think it is not necessary.

My head has gotten softer.

Thanks

 

[cameronpalte]

Interesting lighting especially with the 20 fixtures really neat!

 

[pgaudreau]

Sorry about your loss

Sorry about your loss

Hurricane wilma in Florida kept me on the side line for years. We were unfortunately without power for 20 days and even though I had a generator to run part of the house and at that time had a new born fresh out of the hospital my 225 gallon tank crashed and my fish collection and reef was a complete loss. When I say complete loss, I mean a clarion angel, two conspiculatus, three black tangs, 2 purple tangs, desjardini, pairs of wrasses, declevis butterfly you name it it all went down hard and I was in my closet sucking my thumb for a bout a month. I now only have a 265 gallon reef, but I have found a spot to set up a 40 gallon breeder and every fish I bring in spends 6 weeks in the holiday inn qt before they get moved. I have had not had a loss with the qt method and I have introduced new fish in qt that would have never made it in the main tank as they were obviously sick and needed medicating to come around that would have wiped out my main tank. I know its hard and more work, and in my case my wife asking me why we need two tanks but when you are spending all that money on fish that is the only way to protect your animals, good luck.

 

[Newbie Aquarist]

Man just keep your head up. Everyone's situation is unique and everyone should accept it. People succeed and fail with a QT and without a QT. Nothing is guaranteed. Everyone feels for you but realize its just opinions. You have a beautiful tank and when you come up it will be just as or more beautiful.

 

[alton]

I use a 100 rubbermaid tub with a power head and pond foam filter. Like you I went years without ever losing anything to disease then I made the mistake of moving a fish into my sump and I lost several fish. Today if they are small into an QT aquarium they go, or if they are large they go into the tub.

 

[wgraham]

Hello I'm starting a 300 gallon tank and was wondering, I have a 135 and a 90 gallon with fish already in it that I'm going to transfer to the 300. My question is do I qt the fish before I put in the 300. I started a 40 gallon qt tank last week for any new addition I add to the tank. Just want to know do I qt the old fish

 

[bullitr]

If you don't have anything good to say
Don't say it and attack the OP this is his thread , his tank, his money so back off.
Constructive criticism is fine but that is not a constructive criticism it's a attack.
If you can do it better that start your own thread .

Some of the very nice build losses their interest posting here because of unnecesary post.

 

[Robb in Austin]

@wgraham: I'd say, if you dont have any issues now then there is no need to QT when moving to the new tank. QT is mostly for new additions.

 

[Made2Rock]

I had been slowly stocking my tank for some time pulling each fish thru QT. I had a Powder Blue that took over 3 mths to get pass my QT routine. To me if I even think you may have rubbed up against something the clock starts over but after 3 mths the PBT had made it a full 6 wks. then like I said I was working on my last few fish one of which was a majestic angel. While around the time I place the ordered for the thes fish I notice a spot on the PBT. So I watched and it would have a spot or two and they would go away and then a different couple of spots would show up. I used Wet Wed Media and did some research and found what looked like the problem of different type of potozan and it fit. So I watch some more and then after about 3 mths I decided this wasn't ich. So I put the 3-4 fish I had in QT into the DT and within 1-2 weeks it killed everything I had except 3 fish.

That was about 6 mths ago and I bugged me to the point I didn't move forward. I'm planning a move and figured I'll wait but next time the UV will be able to clean any thing that happens. Of interest is the fact that I am planning a tank about the size of yours and was thinking about a pair of 80 watt UVs. So I am a big believer in a QT but I also believe a UV and Ozone will do wonders for keeping things in line in the DT.

Good Luck
Joe

 

[Made2Rock]

I just look at the specs on the UV and was thinking about some of the questions you asked and here is some food for thought.

The protozoa rate is 840 gallons per hour. This is the rate you want to kill ich. So if you were to run it at this rate is WILL NOT DO YOUR ENTIRE TANK. I'm was looking as a paper someone had wrote and when you figure in the fact the "treated" water comes back in and is mixed with the untreated wtaer it takes more time to get a high % of water treated (I'm thinking it will be about 12 hours in your case to reach over 99%). Now if you were to run this an hour per week. it would hold down your bacteria population but not do to much BUT if you see some sign that you might have a problem tunr it on 100% of the time. This way you have the ability to treat the water for something like ICH but you are not using it so much it kills off your pods.

My 2 cents for what it is worth.

Joe

 

[AJT]

Thanks for the posts guys.

Everything is doing GREAT! Had a freind QT a bunch of new fish for 6 weeks & now everything is back in tank. Not a spot on blue tang in 6 weeks.
I will get some shots this weekend.

Last water test
1.025
Am,no2, & no3 = 0
PO4 = 0 Hanna
ALK 8.24 hanna
ca 450

UV is running 24 / 7 right now. I do not think pods are getting to the UV as i am sure the thick sponge keeps them from circulating. Hopefully the 8,000 that I added into the tank has them reproducing in the tank as well as the sump.

I have been adding Phyto to the water & turning off skimmer & UV for 24 hrs when added.

Still love the LED sols. Corals growing fast.

 

[david00061]

Still love the LED sols. Corals growing fast.

I'll post new pics if you post new pics

 

[AJT]

Sunday is "my" day at the house so i will get some more practice with that macro lens.

I'll be on the look out for your pics David!

 

[fixmgood]

Really nice setup.I am in the process of setting up a new tank 480 gallons with a 200 gallon sump.I am also running the PM skimmer and I was curious as to how you have it plumbed.The outlet is much higher than what they recommend,from my discussions with the manufacturer they tell me that this will reduce performance,on my old system I raised it a little, but with the new system I was planning on doing what you are,as it will work better for me.Can you please show me some pics as to how you plumbed into the sump and are you having any performance issues.Are you gravity feeding or do you have a pump pushing water into it.Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[danfeig]

Thanks for the posts guys.

Everything is doing GREAT! Had a freind QT a bunch of new fish for 6 weeks & now everything is back in tank. Not a spot on blue tang in 6 weeks.
I will get some shots this weekend.

Last water test
1.025
Am,no2, & no3 = 0
PO4 = 0 Hanna
ALK 8.24 hanna
ca 450

UV is running 24 / 7 right now. I do not think pods are getting to the UV as i am sure the thick sponge keeps them from circulating. Hopefully the 8,000 that I added into the tank has them reproducing in the tank as well as the sump.

I have been adding Phyto to the water & turning off skimmer & UV for 24 hrs when added.

Still love the LED sols. Corals growing fast.

I am glad to see that everything is great again! You went through a hard battle!!! I am anxious to see the updated pics.

I have been running both my UV's 24x7 and it hasn't effected my pod population whatsoever. Every time I change my filter socks I have pods crawling up and down my arms. Both of my mandarin fish seem to be doing well and they seem to feed exclusively off my pods.

 

[AJT]

I have a pump feeding it & it dumps back into the other side of the sump at the same level as it comes out of the skimmer. I will take a pic tomorrow.

 

[fixmgood]

Any chance of seeing the pics on how your skimmer is set up.

 

[Osteoclast]

Have followed your build and enjoyed it. Went with AI sol blues on mine and no problems thus far. Keep up the good work.

 

[AJT]

I just turned it off to add some phyto.

What exactly are you looking for on set up?
This is exit gate valve. It runs to the back of the sump up to the other end & dumps near filter sock.