250gal Island tank project

[bpiermat]

Awesome Tank...

 

[dragoneggs]

Okay I finally got to the aquascaping tonight. I spent alot of time orienting rock but in the end I think I could have done it just as well blindfolded. Here are a couple full tank views... the first from the kitchen and the second from the other side (living room). It is mostly Marshall Is rock with some Tonga branch.

 

[brady816]

looking very nice will look very good with some corals and everything...

 

[Krish]

Looks great Mark! You got some really nice pieces of rock!

 

[SueT]

I think the scaping looks good. Are you going to have any more rock?? What kind of corals are you planning to keep down the road?? I like it a lot.

 

[balogh03]

Hey, that looks awsome deffinently cant wait to see it with livestock.

-augustus

 

[matts125]

The aquascaping looks great! you did a great job on it, I bet it was difficult too huh?


Matt

 

[jsmkmavity]

nice to see you making some more progress. are you testing the water yet? if so how is the cycle going? are you going to add sand or stay bare? keep the pics coming! thanks.

 

[dragoneggs]

The aquascaping looks great! you did a great job on it, I bet it was difficult too huh?


Matt

It took quite awhile and it was hard to get the bloody rock where you wanted it and making sure it was stable. I am glad that's done... I appreciate the kind words as I can't say I am extremely happy with it but I am always so critical of my own work.

 

[dragoneggs]

I think the scaping looks good. Are you going to have any more rock?? What kind of corals are you planning to keep down the road?? I like it a lot.

I am at 160lbs of rock now. I probably will add some more pieces when I find ones that I like. I still need to scape around the CL returns and fill in some more around the center overflow and build a little higher too I think.

As far as corals go I am probably going to start with LPS and softies. Eventually some SPS but I will be taking the journey slow.

 

[dragoneggs]

nice to see you making some more progress. are you testing the water yet? if so how is the cycle going? are you going to add sand or stay bare? keep the pics coming! thanks.

I plan to test for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate very soon. Waiting for the kits. PH is 8.2, SG is 1.023.

Most of the rock has been curing for months so I am not too worried. I did add some rock I found at Salt Water City from a customer tank that has some nice purple on it. Some of the Tonga has a fair amount of green on it too. I really don't expect a big cycle.

I really would like to put about a 1in sand bed so the LR is not resting on it. Not sure yet when I will add that. More pics later today. I am adding a small cleanup crew.

 

[dragoneggs]

Hey, that looks awsome deffinently cant wait to see it with livestock.

-augustus

Thank you! I can use the vote of confidence right now! It is quite bare and is begging for livestock... first some clean up crew and a few Chromis.

 

[dragoneggs]

Looks great Mark! You got some really nice pieces of rock!

Some of the rocks are spectacular! The biggest is 30lbs, next a 20lb with a two entrance cave with a large interior... very cool. You can see the entrances in the two full tank shots. All of the Marshall is very porous! I am not sure I like the Tonga, or maybe I just don't know how to plant it.

 

[dragoneggs]

Okay time for an update. As reported earlier, I had a major snag with the 1in shut off valves. I had to replace all 15 of them due to a cracking problem. Quite unbelieveable really. Obviously they were part of a bad batch. I am still having a hard time believing it happened, but Jason at Clear Fabrications was great and did the dirty work of contacting the supplier and getting them swapped out so I was only out the time and labor of reinstalling. Now the new ones seem to be working beautifully! I did have to tear down part of the aquascaping to cap the CL intakes to replace the valves but in the end not too big of a deal.

Jason also fixed a screwup of mine. I somehow splattered a drop of pvc cement on my tank during install of my CL plumbing!!! He was nice enough to come over and remove the welded on drip by meticulously sanding and polishing the blem to the point that it is almost undetectable. It just needs a little bit more TLC to be as near perfect as possible. I hope he does the finishing touch the next time he comes over to check on me!

All four CL pumps are running plus the main and I have some 'bangin' flow as Jason says. I got the skimmer running, MH and actinic lights on timers, and now it is starting to feel like I can concentrate on moving forward.

I still have a couple extension cords running from my power strips until I hardwire the two new circuits and add two additional breakers to my service panel. I also still have to run and plumb my RO water line under the house from my laundry room to my tank and install an auto top off system.

Last night I did some testing and can report the following:

Salinity = 1.024
pH = 8.3
Alk = 10.4dKH
Ammonia <.25
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate =0
Ca = 320

So, I think my levels look good. I am wondering if I should be buffering with something to bump my Calc levels to promote the coraline algae growth. Most of the LR is bare but I did add a few with some pink/purple that will hopefully accelerate growth.

I am now on the hunt for some colorful but hardy animals. I have 6 small green chromis, three green ricordia and one orange ricordia on one rock, and a small colony of orange/green button polyps for now. Not to mention 80 astrea snails and 20 blue legged hermit crabs.

I think I will let the tank mature for a couple weeks for now unless of course I find something I can't resist!!! Pocketbook is pretty empty anyway:razz:

 

[dragoneggs]

Okay I just realized I need to post a few more pics. I will try to get to that in a day or two.

 

[Scooterman]

Sounds like your progress is going well, other than the valves which is weird! Yea Pics goes a long way to the lazy eyes LOL! I would let your tank mature longer & think & research long & hard before installing fish, in time fish can be problems, getting a nice colored group isn't an easy task. I shoot for a calcium level around 400 to 420 & no higher. When I use IO it tends to be low on ca & mg, so I bump a little Kent Turbo Ca, & the Kent Liquid Mg, the higher end products, I mix all this over night I had a formula for a 30g tub but fact is you have to test test until you get the amounts right, also you want to bump them up slowly.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>

 

[Krish]

I agree with Scooty...Just give it a bit of time and allow things to mature/cycle some. The fact that you are reading ammonia means the cycle has finally started for you and therefore you want to let it ride out some before adding sensitive livestock in there. You want that ammonia to drop off completely as it is very toxic to livestock and even nitrite (which the ammonia will be converted to) is quite toxic as well.

As for your troubles, sorry they had to happen, but I'm very happy you got everything ironed out. Good luck and I'll keep an eye out for pics

 

[dragoneggs]

Sounds like your progress is going well, other than the valves which is weird! Yea Pics goes a long way to the lazy eyes LOL! I would let your tank mature longer & think & research long & hard before installing fish, in time fish can be problems, getting a nice colored group isn't an easy task. I shoot for a calcium level around 400 to 420 & no higher. When I use IO it tends to be low on ca & mg, so I bump a little Kent Turbo Ca, & the Kent Liquid Mg, the higher end products, I mix all this over night I had a formula for a 30g tub but fact is you have to test test until you get the amounts right, also you want to bump them up slowly.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>

How about Purple Up? I have read a bit on the forum with generally positive comments based on anedotal results.

I agree completely. I really don't plan on adding any fish for quite some time. I am still busy trying to decide what combinations I want. Regardless, the tank will not be crammed with fish. I do want to add corals slowely to the system but I am more concerned with finding specimens that excite me rather than just get a bunch!

 

[dragoneggs]

I agree with Scooty...Just give it a bit of time and allow things to mature/cycle some. The fact that you are reading ammonia means the cycle has finally started for you and therefore you want to let it ride out some before adding sensitive livestock in there. You want that ammonia to drop off completely as it is very toxic to livestock and even nitrite (which the ammonia will be converted to) is quite toxic as well.

As for your troubles, sorry they had to happen, but I'm very happy you got everything ironed out. Good luck and I'll keep an eye out for pics

I really can't say I am reading ammonia as the Salifert scale lowest level is "<.25". The test color was clear/whiteish so it very well could be zero.

The vast majority of LR 130lb out of the 160lb total was cured for more than four months. The remaining rock came from a customer tank returned to the LFS which has some nice coraline to hopefully kick start the rest. I really don't expect much of a cycle at all but I am testing to monitor.

Don't worry... as you know I am not a speedy guy as you can tell by my April 06 start date for the project. Thanks again for your encouragement! More pics soon.

 

[Scooterman]

Purple up if used too long with wack out your balance, you have the equipment to really get all the coralline you will need, if you get too much you will be cleaning it off everything, coralline is preferred because it is crustatous & will compete with other algae & still allow the bacteria in the lr to do what is needed.

Research! Fish & more so corals, most people buy a bunch & really don't know what is required for them or if they are compatible with other corals, yea you can keep them but they won't flourish.

Damsils are agressive & in groups troublesome, get rid of them That is my preference LOL Even the green Chromis!