New 300 build almost from scratch

[rus]

about a week and half into the new cycle and setup now , i have done what i hope to be the main aquascaping . No sand has been added yet
as i'm going to wait till the weekend to start on it . I was trying to make sure most of the debris was blasted off the rocks first.

As far as the aquascaping goes i am fairly pleased with where its at so far but would appreciate any suggestions or ideas . I am trying to achieve to different view for it , when you first walk in to the room which is looking at left to right , and then from the tv. area and couches which is where i watch it more and this is looking at it from the right to left . , so no rock work could be too even front to back or i would lose the depth look from one view or the other.


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[rastarainy]

looks good! what sand are you planning on using? also, did you use any of the water from your previous tank?

 

[rus]

i will be using around a 1" sand bed or so, i have always vacumed my sand beds with water changes weekly. it is only in there for aesthetics.Unfourtunatley i had no water or much else left from my old tank after it broke.

 

[rus]

finish equipment section

 

[NexDog]

Did you say you're using 2 Vortechs and 2 Tunze 6100s?

 

[rus]

yes, the vortecs will be down lower on either side panel. I had them both sent into upgraded , as well as there was something wrong with my battery backup. i hope to have them back shortly.

 

[rus]

i'm started working on putting together a potencial fish list for the tank and hope to get a little help and input from others. I would like to have mostly smaller fish so as to stay in scale with the tank. Going to have at least two larger groups , one of anthias ( undecided on type ) and 10-12 blue eyed cardinals. Would like to have an assortment of wrasses , gobies , possibly some smaller angels ( i will be having at least one area softies and zoos,and lps so not sure on this type yet )
Other than that i am open to any and all suggestions , i would like a couple tangs as well , even if they are a tad out of scale .

I have never kept more than 15 fish or so before , and am really looking foward to have a larger amount this time.

 

[rus]

Well.... figured it was high time for an update, so here it goes tank is just coming up to the 2 month mark now , and i am very pleased with all so far,i have had a few rocks with some hair algae to deal with but my diatom bloom was next to nothing , which i am attributing to the fact that i have been using rowas right from the start , 50% rock is from previous tank ,good cleanup crew and a little luck so far. I have added in all my old corals from my old tank that were being held for me for the past 3 months or by my local fishstore and a few new ones as well so far most seem to coloring back up to what they had been like before
I have around 17 fish in there so far and all is well on that front , i did lose one striped cardinal a week or tow ago , but other than that all are eating well , taking pellets and flake as well.

Here's a couple of pics of the tank as of today:

 

[Ed Reef]

NICE...... love the schooling cardinals !! great pictures

 

[rus]

Thanks Ed , that was number one on my fish list , i have 10 in so far and plan to add a couple more this weekend. I would also like to add another ''school'' of anthias probably disbar this time.

By the way your tank and tank build is looking awsome, usaully pop over to your thread to check it out at least once a week.

here's on more showing FTS from a angle view not a great pic though

 

[Ed Reef]

Once your school of anthias are in, this angle shot will look great!! Try to feed them at the same spot you will like them to hang out and after a while they will always be hanging around there...

Fishes are smart !!

 

[rus]

I totally agree with you on that the cards already do hang in the area i feed every time i walk near the tank, i will try to feed to other side as well once i get the anthias in , last tank i used an Ehiem auto feeder and the fish seemed to be able to tell time as well , as they seemed to be almost waiting for it thruout the day just prior to it dispensing food.

When do you start stocking your tank fish wise? Also is this your first time using Zeo, if so how do you find it so far? Do you find it simple enough to add it time wise , or is it something you must learn to schedule in your daily routine.

 

[Ed Reef]

This is my 2nd tank running zeo...I find it much easier to control params to get ULNS.

I'm kind of hoping to start stocking next week slowly, if all goes well!!

 

[jvalentine]

looks amazing

 

[Spinny]

rus,

Everything looks great!

Can you share some more information regarding,

"About 3 weeks ago i came home from work to a rather large problem , the bottom seal on my tank had gone and i was down
around 80 plus gallons"

Glass tank, any idea why the seal failed?

I will be setting up about a 500 gallon display in an upper level of my home, and the thought of "seam failure", scares the hell out of me.

 

[rus]

Spinny- I have no idea what caused the seal ( silicone ) to wear out , it was somewhere down on the bottom seam . knew there was no way even if i repaired it, that i would trust it again. I had the tank for 4 plus year and had no problems before.Sorry to alarm you, this is a very odd case, i believe with any thing there are chances. Good Luck with the new tank

 

[rus]

Time for an update i suppose tank is just over 3 months old now , and really seems to be starting to cruise right along . I have had a bit of an outbreak with with some algae on the sand bed , but that is the norm for a new tank other than that the Coraline is really starting to take off and starting to get a little better color and some growth from most corals .

I am really noticing the difference in temp swings with over 450 plus gallons. So far my fans are barely kicking in to keep tank stable at 78 - 80 ish deg. Although not complaining seems to make quite difference from the 300 gal. or so i had before. I do believe not running a closed loop has probably made a big difference as well.

I did lose two of my Glass Cardinal school for some unknown reason but the remaining 10 seem to be doing well . I have added a few more fish including a juvenile checkerboard wrasse and an unknown type of fairy wrasse. I plan still to be adding a few more over the next few months , including eventually an Achilles tang if I can find a good healthy one .

Here are a few pics of the new additions and some random shots , trying out my 50mm lens

 

[rus]

Happy New year and Holidays to everyone.

I thought it might be high time to do a small update on the tank. Heading into January the the tank is in it's 40th week now ( or almost 10 months ) . I have gone thru a few learning curves on this tank as far as getting everything dialed in correctly .

I have had some decent growth on some of my corals and a few setbacks on others. I have been trying a few new things with this setup as well. I am dosing 3 or 4 types of zeovit additives to the tank for the past few months , mostly just color enhancers though , and have seen some improvment on a few corals . As of now still keeping a watch on wether it is making a large difference or not. Fish wise I am up to 28 now with a few more additions to come yet , and have only had a few issues with lost ones so far , unfourtantley one happened to be my Achilles .:sad2:

I still am battling a low ph and mag. levels in this tank , so I am seriously considering switching over to a balling method soon. Just trying to decide on whether to purchase the stand alone Profilux , (or sell my AQ3 and Deltec Reactor ) and purchase a complete newcontroller setup and doser. I really like the direction that Profilux seems to going , and what they have to offer.

For those of you dosing in your larger tanks ( 300gal. and up ) Are you purchase premade products or making your own? Also do you find this method a lot more stable for you, in comparison to running a reactor?

Anyway a couple of newer (not so good ) pics as well, I will try to get a few more later on today .

 

[outcastjra]

Looks Awesome!!!

 

[DolphinLVR]

Happy New Year Rus!

Awesome setup!!!