start of a new adventure 265gal starphire

[ycnibrc]

Hello everyone
After 3 months of reading thread and take notes. Now it's almost time to tank day. My new LeeMar starphire tank will take delivery next week. Below will be the profile of the tank and equipment list.

TANK
265 gal Leemar starphire 84"L X 30"W X 24"T. Center over flow euro brace top

SUM
custom acrylic 48"L X 24"W X 20"T with 3 chamber :filter sock,skimmer/zeo reactor,return area

REFUGIUM
50 gal acrylic tank with 8" DSB and live rock

FRAG TANK
rimless glass 24"L X 30"D X 12"T center back overflow and return

STAND & CANOPY
Custom maple white wash stand 110"L X 30"D with left side open to access to sum and refugium. I want to put both main and frag tank on one stand that's why the dimension of the stand is 110".

Canopy 16"tall with 3/5 front open lift to access tank. 4 fans in the back for ventilation

FILTRATION
H&S 200xf2001 in sum skimmer,zeo reactor by Captive Ocean,Cal Reactor procal by MTC

CONTROLLER
AC3 with dc8,Lab grade PH probe,moon light

RETURN PUMP
Reeflo Dart split to main tank,frag,chiller,UV ect

CIRCULATION
*Hammer head close loop bottom drill 2 front and 2 back take care of bottom flow.
*2 X Vortech with wave driver take care of middle and upper flow.
*2 X 6000 Tunze with 7095 for directional flow
*2 Return from main pump for added circulation.

LIGHTING
3x400 watt with lumenarc relector 12k reeflux run by 3 pfo magnetic ballast
4x80 watt T5 2actinic,1purple,1day light run by icecap 660

CHILLER
jbj 1/3 horse

UV
don't know yet.

SUBSTRATE
undecide right now. Probably 1" carib seaflor special grade to prevent sand storm.

REEF TANK THEME
SPS dominant with 3 seperate island. I have been taking note from invincible tank. Also no pump or return hose will be visible accept for the 2 vortech.

some picture from my current tank which will be tranfer to new tank.

some picture of equipment

I want to thanks all the reefers that I have contact and ask for advice. Also I want to welcome all input through out this thread.

Happy Halloween

 

[Elliott]

very nice, good luck with your new tank!

 

[ycnibrc]

thank you I need to come up with a plan to transfer the corals and fish. I'm starting to save water as of today so I can have a 100 gal of salt water by the time of transfer.

 

[Jar*Head]

Anthony, will the H&S 200xf2001 be enough for tha size of tank?

With Zeovit, you don't need the refugium or U.V . But it is good to have just in case you change later. If you ever need help with Zeovit setup, let me know....

For Canopy, you should try to dana axle fan... It moved lots of air..

 

[ycnibrc]

Hi Steve
I will add another skimmer in the future. I have a RDSB in my current tank right now and the tank look pretty good so I don't want to change anything when I switch to the new tank. I run the ultralith system so it's not as complicate as the zeovit. I only need to dose 4 component everyday. UV just a thought to clean the water with parasite for the fish nothing more. BTW I bought the same reactor as your system

Do you have a link for the axle fan?

 

[Jar*Head]

I bought mine at OC aquatic, they get them from SLS.... It is a little large (6") but it will move much more air then most of the 9-12" fan. I only have 2 of those fans on my 240 cube and 2 home depot 9" in the sump area, my temp stable at 78-79F without the uses of chiller. As a matter of fact i sold my chiller in the summer . I will get 2 more for my future tank....

What is RDSB?

 

[ycnibrc]

remote deep sand bed. I have a 50 gal tank that have about 5" of sand just gravity feed back to my sum. I have Bare bottom in my main tank but I notice BB tank sps don't have nice rich colors so I add the rdsb for nutrient purpose for the sps colors.

A lot os study lately regarding nutrient poor reef tank and sometime that cause the sps to starve.

What is your evaporate rate with the fan?

 

[ycnibrc]

BTW anyone have a plan to move sps without stressing it.

I have 40 colonies in my current tank and they are in top condition. Finally I found my setting for the cal reactor and the corals are growing and coloring up nicely. It's excited to have a new tank but I also fear that I wil mess it up and stress out the corals.

 

[Jar*Head]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11096144#post11096144 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ycnibrc
remote deep sand bed. I have a 50 gal tank that have about 5" of sand just gravity feed back to my sum. I have Bare bottom in my main tank but I notice BB tank sps don't have nice rich colors so I add the rdsb for nutrient purpose for the sps colors.

A lot os study lately regarding nutrient poor reef tank and sometime that cause the sps to starve.

What is your evaporate rate with the fan?

I am not sure. Because i have my RODI go direct into the sump. I'd say about 5g max....

My tank used to be BB for almost a year... I like the color of my corals but sure don't like the look of the BB... Esp, the wife keep on asking when am i going to replace her leopard wrasse and you know that thing don't survive without sand... So i add 200 lbs of live sand and my tank look like butt for couple weeks. I think Remote deep sand bed work well for me before... Remember i used to have 300g fuge? It has 3" of sand in it....

 

[Jar*Head]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11096212#post11096212 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ycnibrc
BTW anyone have a plan to move sps without stressing it.

I have 40 colonies in my current tank and they are in top condition. Finally I found my setting for the cal reactor and the corals are growing and coloring up nicely. It's excited to have a new tank but I also fear that I wil mess it up and stress out the corals.

If your parameter somewhat close to your currently tank, you shouldn't have any problem... Make sure you use some of the water in your current tank... I did the swab 2yrs ago from 150g to 240g using less than 100g of my old water, my corals went without light for 3 days. I did not loss any corals... But it will go through a brown out period....

 

[jnarowe]

Looks good and I like your plan to minimize the powerheads. The ones you have will work well for your frag tank too. I have a couple of Koralias in my QT/Grow-out tank and they work great. They have a hard time on battery backup, but usually at least one will run.

If you have to take down the current tank to set the new one in its place, then setting up a good sized Rubbermaid with your skimmer, light, and a little mechanical and carbon filtration will give you the breathing room you need to do a good job on the new tank and not be rushed. You never know when something will come up, and you could get caught with your pants down.

 

[ycnibrc]

the good thing is my new tank will go to the sun room so I don't have to move my old tank out. I'm planing to keep the old water from water change this coming week. i want to save around 100gal plus all of the old water from the current tank when I make the transfer. The 2 tank only 20 feet apart.

Thank Jonathan for helping me I will need more advice when my stand and sum deliver which I hope will be today or tomorrow.

 

[ycnibrc]

question for test leak. Do I need to fill up the whole system to test leak or just enough to cover all the bulkhead?

 

[jnarowe]

Well that is indeed the best of it. Not having to move the old tank really gives you a lot of wiggle room. I am not sure how important it is to use the old water to be honest. I typically don't acclimate corals to new water. And the fish will have to be acclimated anyway.

One idea is to leave everything in the old tank and fill up the new tank. Get it cycled, and then over the course of a few days, use that water to acclimate the old tank to the new water. Sort of a reverse acclimation which is what I do with incoming livestock.

I QT new arrivals and when I am satisfied that they are ready to go into the new tank, I open a valve going from my main system to the QT through a float valve. Then I remove a pitcher of water at a time from the QT and allow it to fill with system water. After a couple of days, the livestock is fully acclimated so the only stress is social when they go into the display. And I mitigate that somewhat by releasing after lights out.

So maybe look at your old tank as a temporary QT...just a different way of looking at it but you would get excellent results that way. The least amout of risk to your animals anyway.

Make sure to post pics of the new system when you get it set up, and discuss what you are going to do with your rock. If you are introducing new rock to the new tank, that should be done quite a bit ahead of moving in the old rock and livestock.

 

[jnarowe]

Iwould completely fill the system with tap water (if you don't have enough RO/DI water) and run it for at least a full day to check for leaks.

 

[ycnibrc]

no additional rock, may be less than the current tank. I like the open look of invincible tank. 3 seperate island the rest will be open water and 1" off carib seaflor special grade sand(Learn from Sunny X tank).

I try to incoporate different idea from all of the veteran like invincible569,SunnyX,Jnarowe,Jarhead,Dudester,makoJ,pookstreet ,jbny,melev ect haha too many to list

 

[anthias_lover]

Hi Anthony, what’s the stand tall? I like your tank dimensions. My tank has same deep & high except 2’ shorter in length. For that size of your tank with SPS dominant I’d upgrade 2 X 6000 Tunze to 2 x 6200 later time. I use 2 x 6100 Tunze but no sand storm at all. Yeah, Steve is right; you can choose either Zeovit or UV with refug.

3x400 watt with lumenarc relector 12k reeflux.

Are those SE bulbs in LAIII? 12k reeflux is good choice. My LAIII is 12” from the water + 9” reflector & bar = 21” tall canopy. Not sure your 16” canopy is tall enough. For 400w of light over 24” tank tall, you may burn your corals if the bulbs are too close the water. The heat problem also rises your electric bill.

Well, that’s my 0.02. I will get back another time. Great plan so far.

 

[ycnibrc]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11104725#post11104725 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by anthias_lover
Hi Anthony, what’s the stand tall? I like your tank dimensions. My tank has same deep & high except 2’ shorter in length. For that size of your tank with SPS dominant I’d upgrade 2 X 6000 Tunze to 2 x 6200 later time. I use 2 x 6100 Tunze but no sand storm at all. Yeah, Steve is right; you can choose either Zeovit or UV with refug.
Are those SE bulbs in LAIII? 12k reeflux is good choice. My LAIII is 12” from the water + 9” reflector & bar = 21” tall canopy. Not sure your 16” canopy is tall enough. For 400w of light over 24” tank tall, you may burn your corals if the bulbs are too close the water. The heat problem also rises your electric bill.

Well, that’s my 0.02. I will get back another time. Great plan so far.

My stand is 36'' tall and right now in my current tank the canopy only 10'' tall and my corals are doing ok. I do acclimate all new coral for 3 weeks before I put them where I want. The bulbs are SE 12k reeflux these will be replacing the 20k radium that I run in my current tank right now. Acoporanut have good luck with this bulb so I want to give it a try. Electric bill, well then I have to sell more pizza to cover the bill....

 

[Jar*Head]

3x400 isn't too bad. I have 4x400 and 4x36" VHO in my 240 and my electric bill wasn't that high. But i use galaxy ballast tho... Work great for me...

 

[Jar*Head]

Anthony, i have 4 radium bulbs approx 3 months old... If you want to give it a try... stop by next weekend. You can have it for free. BTW, one of them is only a month old.