The 300G SPS & Angel Tank

I like the tank and the plan!

My 300 sps dominant reef now has two large angels in it: blueface and annularis. Neither are picking at any corals at this point. Before adding the angels I removed all LPS as I knew they would probably be dinner. I left a bunch of zoas and they seem to be ok. The green sinularia does not get touched at all. Nor do the mushrooms. I've had leathers before with angels and those were not bothered (by French, blueface, annularis, Eibli, flame). Most of my sps colonies are pretty large so if they do get nipped once in a while it doesn't bother them. The same may be true of other corals types too.... the larger the better. They can handle a bit of stress.

I've also got 4 large tangs and a large foxface (and several small fish). Filtration seems to be doing just fine as the fish get larger. I've got a Reef Dynamics INS300 skimmer. Then I also run small amount of GFO along with a DIY chaeto reactor and 2 marine pure blocks. Keeps the algae growth pretty low. I actually don't do water changes that often, nor do I perform large water changes. I'd say perhaps 10% per month, rarely 20%. Instead, I focus on removing the dirtiest water (i.e., sump, lagoon, where settling occurs) as it seems to be much more efficient. I use a single 4" mesh sock in the sump as well which does a decent job though I should definitely have 2 at least. :0) For circulation I've got a Tunze stream 3 (6150) and 2x Tunze 6105 pumps. The latter two I control with apex. This seems to do an adequate job but is by no means overkill. I may even add another pump at some point.

Anyway, as long as your angels get along then I think your plan can certainly come to fruition. Good luck. Looking forward to the updates!
 
I like the tank and the plan!



My 300 sps dominant reef now has two large angels in it: blueface and annularis. Neither are picking at any corals at this point. Before adding the angels I removed all LPS as I knew they would probably be dinner. I left a bunch of zoas and they seem to be ok. The green sinularia does not get touched at all. Nor do the mushrooms. I've had leathers before with angels and those were not bothered (by French, blueface, annularis, Eibli, flame). Most of my sps colonies are pretty large so if they do get nipped once in a while it doesn't bother them. The same may be true of other corals types too.... the larger the better. They can handle a bit of stress.



Thanks for the input! You definitely gave me a lot of confidence in the plan. With three and half years of experience under my belt I am finally brave enough to get this build started. If everything works out as expected, I should have the tank sometime next week and have the plumbing done by the end of this month. Then take another month or so to cycle and stabilize then I will have fish in it! I can't tell you how excited I am!


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Thanks for the input! You definitely gave me a lot of confidence in the plan. With three and half years of experience under my belt I am finally brave enough to get this build started. If everything works out as expected, I should have the tank sometime next week and have the plumbing done by the end of this month. Then take another month or so to cycle and stabilize then I will have fish in it! I can't tell you how excited I am!


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Just take your time adding fish. Go through the TTM (for ich) and a proper quarantine procedure. You definitely want to start with a clean system. If you can, stock the angels as juveniles and try to add them in pairs or a few at a time. This should reduce any aggression towards one another. It took more about a year and a half to get my first angel into the tank but there were many reasons for that. It was about 6 months from the day I got the annularis to the day I stocked it into DT. Anyway, just be patient and enjoy.
 
Just take your time adding fish. Go through the TTM (for ich) and a proper quarantine procedure. You definitely want to start with a clean system. If you can, stock the angels as juveniles and try to add them in pairs or a few at a time. This should reduce any aggression towards one another. It took more about a year and a half to get my first angel into the tank but there were many reasons for that. It was about 6 months from the day I got the annularis to the day I stocked it into DT. Anyway, just be patient and enjoy.

Definitely! I actually have quite a few angels quarantined for over two months now and they are all doing really well. However I did purchase a large goldflake from my LFS the past weekend because the price was too good to pass and the fish had been in the store for over a month and was actually eating pellets like a pig. This morning I found the fish was showing white spots so I am going to treat the tank again tonight and go through another 45-day treating period. That's enough time for the 300G to cycle.

I bought an Emperor Aquatics High Output 120W UV sterilizer for the 300G but I am still going to go through all the QT procedures for extra caution.
 
who made the tank ?



Custom Aquariums
Awesome people to deal with. Although I have not received my tank yet, the communications I have had with them have been awesome. I will do a detailed review on the tank once it's here.


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The 300G SPS & Angel Tank

The 300G SPS & Angel Tank

An exhausting day putting the stand together. Not really trying to make something beautiful. As long as it is structurally stable I am fine with it since my sump will be in the garage. It is basically a cabinet.
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It's been a while since the last update. Life has been crazy especially right after your boss quit...

Anyway, I managed to get the tank setup and running while working 70 hours a week... Pretty proud of myself. I initially went with minimal rock thinking I could always add more rocks later
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Then it literally took a week to fill this tank and sump with RODI water. I used a total of two and half boxes of Instant Ocean salt and six boxes of Caribsea Slecial Grade sand.
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Finally started the cycling process. I used MB 7 because I have used it in the past and it had always worked for me. So 60ml a day here we go.
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By the 3rd day I was surprised to see I had 2ppm nitrate via Redsea test kit. Ammonia was 0.
Also decided to add some light under the stand.
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However today I found out that the LED strip doesn't really stick to wood very well. Half of the strip has already fallen. Anyone has experience with this?


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Finally after a week of ghost feeding and 0 ammonia I started stocking the tank. First residents were clean up crews. A cleaner shrimp and 20 hermit crabs. Then after a few days I started moving fish from the WT to the 300G. Today I was able to trap five fish from the 150G SCA tank and move them into their new home.
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After moving so many fish into the tank I started to worry about aggression so I spent about an hour with the kids in the garage gluing rocks. Here is our product in the tank. A huge bridge consist of five Pukani rocks.
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Also I moved some SPS rocks from the 125G into this tank. I am probably crazy but I intentionally picked a rock with 2 big aiptasia on it just to see if the copperband would eat them. Fingers crossed cause it's been 8 hours and he hasn't shown any interest yet.



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I am trying something different after no luck with SPS. Maybe I should have some LPS first?
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