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270g Starphire build thread (pic intensive) (1 Viewer)

(Redwinger I wrote the below before I saw your post. Actually is is too late to do a mod, well, not too late, but a lot of work at this point to re-do everything :). The CL comes in from the top at the four tank corners, but it seems to do a decent job stirring things up.)

The rockwork is done, a million thanks to Li for helping out and offering valuable advice! I still have to put the sand in around the rock. I'll post pics of it when it's done. The tank will probably be really cloudy after I pour in the sand, and I think what I will do is take a 'before' picture when the water is cloudy, and then attempt to clear it up with the Ocean Clear filter/diatom powder and post an 'after' pic. Hope it works out as planned!
 
Here is a better view of the siphon-break spray bar
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The hole in the tee (highest hole) was drilled after I wasn't satisfied with the siphon break occuring early enough after stopping the return pump. Right now, this single hole is enough to stop the back siphon. So, if this hole was to become clogged due to lime deposit buildup etc., I would think the other ten holes should serve as enough of a supplemental siphon break, even if they become partially clogged.
 
aquascaping pt. 1

The rockwork was added a couple of days ago, and then a day later I added the sand. I used CaribSea special grade sand, which is made up of particles mainly between 0.5 and 2mm. I rinsed 1-1/2 bags of the sand (~60 lb., enough to fill a 5 gal bucket) twice by stirring it in a bucket and pouring off the water, and then let it drain overnight in a 5 gal bucket that had a bunch of holes drilled in the bottom which were covered with screen. I poured in the sand by repeatedly filling a rectangular quart-sized juice container with the sand and then carefully submersed the container before pouring the sand onto the bottom. I think this helped minimize cloudiness. I ended up using about one 40lb bag of sand to cover the exposed parts of the tank bottom, to a depth of 3/4" to 1". (Not needing more sand surprised me.) After adding the sand I started the Ocean Clear filter, added some diatom powder, and took a sequence of photos. I wanted to see how quickly the Ocean Clear filter could clear up the tank.

This shows the filter in operation. Note that the water level is lowest between the sump inlet chamber (skimmer), and the sump's right side, where the filter outlet connects. This pic is taken while the return pump is running, and it shows that all the water draining to the sump and being pumped back to the display, and more, is first passing thru the Ocean Clear filter. Because the filter pump is moving more water than the return pump, some water spills back into the sump's middle chamber. (So IOW more than 100% of the water going thru the sump is passing thru the filter.)
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This pic was taken right after starting the filter:
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This was an hour later (I seriously have to dust off the canopy doors! :)):
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Another hour later:
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And another hour later:
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And one more hour later (metal halides turned off):
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It's late. A little more detail on the aquascaping to follow tomorrow. :)
 
dude, that tank is seriously killer, you coul dnot have chosen a better location for. it...... hats off you you my friend.
 
Morty, the tank looks simply amazing! You couldn't have picked a better spot for the tank.


I can't wait to see it in person...
 
Thanks guys! Yup, I thought it would make a nice place to sit and enjoy a beer.:beerchug:
 
Wow that rock looks nice and porous. Lots of holes for coral placement and fish movement! Looking forward to those additional pictures!

The 100% flow-through on the OC filter concept is something I will certainly have to 'borrow' when I get the chance. It would be interesting to expand the idea to protein skimming...

Let us know when you need some test corals Mike, we've a few dozen green yumas that would be more than willing to leave our tank! :biggrin:

MK/CK
 
Fish'InMN said:
Wow that rock looks nice and porous. Lots of holes for coral placement and fish movement! Looking forward to those additional pictures!

The 100% flow-through on the OC filter concept is something I will certainly have to 'borrow' when I get the chance. It would be interesting to expand the idea to protein skimming...

Let us know when you need some test corals Mike, we've a few dozen green yumas that would be more than willing to leave our tank! :biggrin:

MK/CK
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Very nice offer! :) And it's not like they would have to survive a long drive in a plastic bag! :laugh: That's very generous, I'll keep you posted when it looks like the water's ready.
 
aquascaping continued

(I'm not this fast of a typer. Ya gotta love being able to cut and paste pre-prepared text.)

These are some more views of how the rock was placed in the tank. I think it's around 275 lbs total (in the display). Most of the rock was purchased from Reefer Madness about a year ago, and I had it sitting in a large Rubbermaid stock tank in salt water with several powerheads and the ASM skimmer. Every couple of weeks I would add a couple ml of concentrated NH4Cl solution to keep the nitrifying bacteria population happy. There's about 85 lbs of Fiji show-size rock, and 120 lbs of Tonga Kaelini. There's also about 75 lbs rock left over from a tank I took down 7 or 8 years ago, which I've kept in SW the entire time (can you say 'cooked'?), and more or less tried to keep the water conditions right, but there were times that it was sitting in my garage and it wasn't heated, etc. It's the extra white pieces in the photos. :) Amazingly, there were still living sponges on this rock.

This is a straight on view. I took the photos when the water was still a little cloudy, because I thought this might help show front to back placement of the rocks etc.
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View from left.
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Another left angle view.
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View from above-right. The rock that's sitting alone, kind of like an island, is probably a location where I'll instead place a clam, when I find a nice one :)
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This shows about 75 lbs of mostly Buna branch rock from Reefer Madness that I placed in the sump. It's cool looking stuff, and I was originally going to use it in the display, but Li (clownnut), who was helping me aquascape, discouraged me from placing it in the display because if something fast-growing gets established in it and starts to become a nuisance, it's impossible to get it out of all the fissures. This made a lot of sense to me. It's perfectly suited for a sump, where it's dark, and a zillion small tube worms can colonize it and help polish the water. Also great for biological filtration because of the large surface area. And it keeps microbubbles out of the display.
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I thought of a neat trick for helping me aim my CL nozzles. (I'm sure it's not a new discovery but it really came in handy.) I took an air pump and connected a rigid air tube, and placed it so the bubbles were sucked into the CL inlet. The bubbles were finely chopped up by the pump and blasted out with the water from the nozzles. This allowed me to see the water currents and aim the nozzles so they didn't stir up the sand too much, and optimize the flow for corals (when they finally start to go in the tank :))
 
You should be :) I'll be interested in seeing how it progresses... esp. when you have livestock
 
Ly said:
That tank is just incredible. What kind of fish are you going to put in it?
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Well a flame hawkfish is one of my absolute favorites. They crack me up. But I'm very choosy about them. I like them when they're a little smaller, because they seem less shy, and they have to be a nice bright solid red. I've also liked keeping pairs of firefish. And I am thinking about building a tube-type home to hold sand for a yellowhead jawfish, using Great Stuff and LR rubble. I would like a nice juvenille chevron tang, and probably a couple other tangs as well. Some sort of rare dwarf angel would be cool (after the corals get established). A mated pair of mandarin gobies would also be nice. A small group of anthias might be one the the first additions. And I like butterfly fish, but the problem there is that I also like featherduster worms. So there's going to be a few trade-offs for what I end up putting in the tank. And I'm open to suggestions/opinions! :)
 
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