250 Gallon room-divider project log

[bureau13]

Like father like clones Greg :-) They roamed around my tank a bit until they found a place they like. Mine have attached behind and underneath some rocks. They don't really move any more, but they do extend out and upward when the halides come on...were I to place any corals on the vast expanse of barren rock in that vicinity some evening, they would have a rude awakening when the lights come on the next morning!

How do the tentacles look in your tank? In Jeff's they seem to be thick and compact, often showing the bubble tips their named for. However in my tank, they get very long and thin and flowing, almost looks like a different type of anemone.


jds

jds

[Ah64av8tor]

Jds,

Funny how things evolve the parents in my tank with VHO, had large bubbles and stayed in one spot and after the split returned to the original spot.

This one has gotten a few bubbles but has mostly long and thin tentacles.

Here is the Great Great grandparent.

[ufchristyb]

Hi Guys (Greg and Jeff)

I've noticed our RBTAs will look quite bubbly in the morning for the first few hours after the lights come on, and then as the day goes on they expand more and get longer. They will have some bubbles at the end of the day, but the typical bubble tip form we only see in the morning hours.

--Christy

[ufchristyb]

After calibrating and dosing everything this weekend, here are the final numbers:

pH: 8.04
Alk: 7.6 dKH
Ca: 430ppm
Mg: 1350ppm

As always, I'm alk challenged. I mixed enough to get it to 10dKH, but the tank either used some of it up, or my mix was off. I noticed with this batch of baked baking soda, I'm not seeing as much pH rise I'm accustomed too. I'm wondering if we didn't bake it long enough to dry it out fully, so we have a mix of regular and anhydrous offsetting the pH change. That might also explain why I'm falling short, since regular baking soda is bulkier, requiring a larger amount to affect the same alkalinity change.

Pics coming up in a bit...

(Jeff)

[jeffbrig]

First up, the new mandarin. He immediately took to the tank and started exploring. Lots of pecking at things on the rocks and in the water. We took turns trying to get shots with his mouth open (pretty sure he's a he).





Next up, the RBTA split - #1, #2, and #4 are the new splits from the dinner plate sized RBTA we had on the other side of the tank. #2 appears to be the runt of the litter. #3 has not split yet this time around, but they typically split very close to one another.



One more I could resist, my favorite acro under blueplus T5 only.

[jeffbrig]

Here's a few tank shots I took yesterday. From the living room side...

Left



Right


This is the end view that I enjoy so much in our tank.




I also have to throw a plug out there for the benefits of using carbon. A few months ago I pulled our aged carbon bags, and for whatever reason, I never replaced them. Visiblity suffered when look through the end of the tank, and water I took from the tank has visibly discolored. Last weekend, I refilled a magnum carbon canister and placed it on the bubble trap in my sump where it gets good water flow. Two days later, visibility was dramatically improved, and as you can see in the above pics, it's darn near perfect.

[jeffbrig]

I am so happy to have this done finally. It was a lot of work, but I'm very satisfied with the results.


Power from all 3 tank circuits is pulled to this box. 3 GFCIs (with build in status lights ) for the main system equipment within the stand. All unused outlets throughout the stand have safety plugs.



Here's the main switch center. 3 triple outlets in a 3 gang work box, so its very space efficient. I can control every piece of equipment but the lights from this one spot, and everything is nicely labeled in case someone else needs to turn something off.



This box is at the end of the stand where the mixing container sits. Two switched outlets for the mixing pump and fill pump, plus two hot outlets for any miscellaneous future needs.



This box holds switched outlets for the skimmer and kalk stirrer pump, plus several hot outlets (I sprinkled a few of these at each location)


This box has switches for the main pump, chiller, Ca reactor, Litermeter, drain pump, etc.


Sump from the refugium side. Yes, coralline algae is everywhere in the sump. You can see a timer for the refugium light and my temp controller mounted on the left of the opening. The refugium light is a basic 18 or 19w compact flourescent floodlight from Home Depot. Nothing fancy, but it works. Running around the top, you can see some of the wiring, wrapped in split loom and attached with cable clamps to the underside of the stand.


Sump from the return side, this is where I put the switch box, since I do most of my tank maintenance here (everything but removing the skimmer cup).


Here's a few from the end of the tank, through the RO/DI reservoir. The mixing tank is below, and you can see the outlet box mounted on the left side.



In the canopy, I have another box with 2 double outlets for the lighting. Separate timers provide power to the MHs, white T5s, and blue T5s. Too many wires and chains in the way to get a good pic.

[jeffbrig]

Christmas must have come early. I wasn't expecting my Eheims till tomorrow, and the UPS guy just delivered them.

[r00onmac]

Jeff and Christy... any chance a local FMAS member could pry one of those roses out of your hands when they are all healed? id gladly take the runt because my tank is small right now... i expect a 100+ gallon upgrade when i graduate, get married, and settle into a real place... so itll have a good home...

[jeffbrig]

They will definitely go to FMAS members first. Remind me in a few weeks (I'll post in the local forum when they're ready) and it's yours.

[Fishboy1230]

Did the clowns host the RBTA yet? Or are they still sorta hosting the Cap?( I still have the picture of the clown with the hypermelinization in the cap as my desktop, such a unique picture!)

[jeffbrig]

Nope, they still show zero interest in the RBTAs. Unfortunately, they managed to irritate the cap enough that the center part of it died, so I'm about to break the remainder into a series of frags. Fortunately, I have another big piece in the tank, who shape I like even better.

[Ah64av8tor]

Hey I just found my clowns hosting in my RBTA............not the skunks but the ocellaris. The skunks were so close to hosting it, You never know what is going to happen next.

[niteshado]

Hi Jeff: I have been following this thread from the beginning. Do you have a description or pix of the electrical panels you are using for the lighting. I am in the process of building a 135 and have a dedicated hole to pass electrical cords in the overflow to the canopy. What type of timers are you using to control the duck dawn type lighting?

Thanks in advance

Larry

[jeffbrig]

Greg, that's great news, maybe mine will get the hint soon....


Larry, I don't have any pictures of the current lighting setup yet. The timers I'm using are from Intermatic, the HB31R. It's a mechanical timer in an enclosed plastic box that's rated for outdoor environments. I started using these after having all three of my electronic timers fail in less than a year of use. So far, they have been flawless.

Here's what they look like:

[jeffbrig]

I installed the Eheim pumps on my skimmer over the weekend, and they seem to be very nice. They have a deep low hum, pretty quiet. They also feel like they weigh 2-3x what the GenX pumps did, lol. That's german engineering for you, lol.

Measuring with the Dwyer airflow meter, they draw a little more air wide-open than my old pumps - 15L/m vs. 12L/m. The major difference is that the Eheim makes tiny bubbles wide open, while the GenX had to be dialed down below 10L/m to get fine bubbles. Take that with a grain of salt, since I didn't have the latest impeller design on my GenX pumps. I'm also noticing that the bubbles are filling the lower part of the chamber more than they did previously. That probably indicates a higher water flow rate through the pump, despite the increased air volume. I haven't taken any power meaurements, but I'll do that soon.

I'm going to give the pumps a few more days to break in before I comment on skimmate production. Right now it's pulling a drier skimmate than before, and I haven't adjusted the level much yet to compensate. Once I get it dialed in, we'll have a much better idea of how everything is working.

(I'm sure lunchbucket will be along shortly asking for pictures )

[Reno Reef]

I just spent around 20 hours of my time at work reading through what is around 2 years of this thread.

It has been quite a ride you all have taken me on.

And have since shown it to my lady.

The tank is great!!!

The largest we will be able to go in our current house is around 80-100G. But this thread has been more than helpful as far as setting up, stocking, lighting, plumbing and QTing a large tank, when we move in a couple years.

We too are subscribed to this thread now.

Thanks to both of you (Jeff and Christy) for taking the time to not only so well document what you have done, but for your extreme care for the animals you have gotten.

-Mark and Jaime

[ufchristyb]

Mark and Jaime,

Thanks so much for the kind words and welcome to the hobby. Glad to see another couple taking an interest and getting involved together.

--Christy

[SlowCobra]

Wow 84 pages and many many many hours of absolutely, without a doubt, useful trials and tribulations. I am new here and just starting up a tank after a roughly 10 year hiatus from the hobby.

As mentioned by others thank you for fully documenting your progress and for(short of 1 jack**) being open to others comments about what you may or may not be doing wrong.

The tank looks outstanding. How about some of those high res photos for some backgrounds that it would appear many have been anxiously awaiting!

[gkarshens]

To Reef Central

[ufchristyb]

Originally posted by Ah64av8tor
Hey I just found my clowns hosting in my RBTA............not the skunks but the ocellaris. The skunks were so close to hosting it, You never know what is going to happen next.

GREG IS A GENIUS! Its as if the clowns heard him.

We looked over just a little while ago and saw big momma clown squirming in one of the RBTAs. She only stayed a minute, but its the first time we've ever seen her anwhere near there. We're now officially on clownfish watch.




--Christy

[jeffbrig]

Photographic evidence!!



She seems tentative at times, almost like she's not quite sure what to do, then she plunges in and wiggles around in the tentacles. It took more than a year, but she's finally discovered what an anemone is. The male, on the other hand, is sitting in the monti cap by himself. He should catch on sooner or later...



Here's a picture of a goniopora that Christy bought in late January. It was a tad bit receded around the edge, and didn't like where we placed it in the tank at first. Polyps were open, but not extended. We moved it to an area with less flow where detritus tends to swirl around and settle. The goni seems to love it, and every polyp is swollen and extended. We don't target feed, yet it's sprouting tiny new polyps all over and growing back over the receded areas. Look like I owe Christy a huge apology. I gave her a lot of grief for buying a goni, because I didn't think we could keep one alive.



The Leng Sy cap we got in late November has finally started to take off. It was 3/4" frag when we got it, today it's probably 2.5" across.
11/29/06


3/9/07





Finally, that little acro from Riptide's Reef at the frag swap. We've had this for not quite 4 weeks now. Look at how dramatically the number of tips has increased (and how much deeper the blue is)!
2/12


3/9

[Reno Reef]

That RBTA looks simply amazing!

Envy seems to be my sin.

[jeffbrig]

Another trip to Coral Reef Farm, where we spent way too much (as usual)

This montipora confusa was begging to go home with me


As was the purple linkia. He acclimated well and hit the ground running. He's already been from one side of the tank to the other.


Christy picked out these blue faced zoas


and a nice pink cabbage leather for the nano


We also brought home a flame hawk (which we are QTing by tank transfer), a light blue acro colony, and a blue striped maxima. They had some gorgeous show acro colonies from fiji, but they were huge and too expensive, so we had to pass.


Several zoanthids we had in QT were finally moved to the display, including these:



And the female clown continues to enjoy decorating her new double-wide.

[FB]

Christy and I have been busy this week. We dusted off the 55g QT, and right now we have 7 small blue/green chromis (we needed a new schooling fish), 2 pink skunk clowns, a tomini tang, an african kole tang (different from your average kole), and a target mandarin with orange lipstick (she's a girl, lol). As of now, all of them (even the mandarin) are eating, and I just did the first water change to start lowering them into hypo. Most of the fish are from Coral Reef Farm, but the Kole came from Reef's Edge (who always has great fish in their african shipments).

Are these guys still in Hypo? Well except the Mandarin.

I just don't remember reading about the QT. Nice thread by the way.

FB