My 700 Gallon Starfire Tank Project

[WildReef]

Okay so we got banned from Reef Central for trying to sell old skimmers I had on my old tanks, they thought I was a store. I am absolutely NOT a store, and I am a little peeved to be banned by the nazi's over there. I refuse to go back there, even if they begged me or offered me money. The guy sent me an email, "go peddle your crap elsewhere." How rude! I wouldn't be surprized if a website reefcentralsucks.com showed up somewhere... You would think they would want someone on their board who imported fish for five years and now is a lowly reefer who has seen it all???

But I wanted to share our latest insanity with people who could appreciate it, and sine I will never post on theor board again, nor can I get ahold of anyone to contest my banning, I will share my knowledge with you guys.

For ten years we have had reef tanks, and about 2 years into it we decided buying retail was ridiculous so we started importing and thought to make a business of it. After loosing ridiculous amounts of money on that enterprize, we are back to being reefers again, for the fun of the hobby. Luckily I still import occassionally for my own tank, and I buy wholesale from the stores I used to supply.

We started with two tanks, a 100 years ago, that went the way of a friend, then a 165 in wall, which then led to a 188 SPS tank, with them tied together to a common refugium. Pics of the old tanks and the new 700 are on my website www.wildreef.com.

After taking care of the two tanks we decided to build the ultimate reef tank. A 700 gallon monstrocity that has it's own room! The tank ended up being a 10'x3'x3' Starfire tank, both the front and the right side are Starfire. It was purchased from InterAmerca a Canadian company. Upon arrival, the bottom was cracked and both the shipper and the builder refused to be held culpable. So it was repaired and now rests in my fish room.

We have over 1500 lbs of live rock, and a large assortment of fish I gathered from Importing over the years.

700 Gallon tank
300 Gallon Refugium
4 Hammerheads
Ocean's Motions Wave Maker
10 Eductors
ASM G6 Skimmer
Aqua Controller Pro
Calcium Reactor
Kalk Reactor with top off controller thingy
6 400 Watt 14K Metal Halides
1HP Chiller

Inhabitants:
2 Vlamingi Tangs
2 Purple Tangs
1 Black Unicorn
2 Naso Tangs
1 Orange Sholder Tang
1 Powder Blue Tang
1 Bristle Tooth Tang
2 Engineer Gobies
1 Cleaner Wrasse
1 Fang Blenny
2 Psychadelic Mandarins
1 Target Mandarin
1 Golden Head Goby
2 Solarensis Wrasses
2 True Percula Clownfish
2 Copper Banded Butterflies
3 Neon Gobies (??? Maybe they are hard to see...)
4 Cleaner Shrimp
Rose Anemone
(we found at least 8 sea urchins when we moved the live rock LOL)

A few too many corals to list....

It has been set up exactly 4 days now, without leaks!

We initally set it up and found it leaked after a month, turns out we cracked it where the bulkheads were, so we had to fix that.

 

[WaterDogs]

Nice tank WildReef! I agree and support you 100% on ReefCentral.

 

[specsgirl]

Wow! Nice tank! Glad to see you here...kick off your boots, grab a cold one from the fridge and stay awhile...and while you're at it...more photos please!

 

[WildReef]

More photos as requested LOL

Here is the closed loop from the back, and the walkway we built so we can get into the tank and jack with stuff.

Here is all the eductors inside that live rock

Left of the middle

Right of the Middle

Lengthwise when you look down the end

 

[WildReef]

It is still a 'lil murky because these shots were taken on day two, after everything was aquascaped.

Once it leaked we moved all the corals into a 135 and a 75 that we set up to the sumps that were already completed on the system, and there everything sat for like 3 months while we worked on fixing it.

It was about 500 gallons of water with the sumps and the emergeny holding tanks, so when we added the water for the 700 we feel like we won't get any major cycling going. It would be like a 50% water change.

It is freaking awesome! We need to charge admission!

The only problem I forsee is I CAN'T REACH THE BOTTOM withough going diving!

 

[scottw]

sorry but we need more pics of this. we need more pics of the equipment.

 

[specsgirl]

OMG! That thing is horrible! You'd be better off giving it to me and getting yourself an impressive tank... j/k Your tank is something I can only dream about having! Very nice and enjoy!

P.S. I noticed you went BB..is all that rock just on the glass or do you have a thin sheet of acrylic or something under it?

 

[WildReef]

Bare Bottom

Nope, I am playing it dangerous, there is nothing on the bottom.

You have to understand, the bottom was severely cracked in shipment, so another layer of glass was glued in pieces over it, then we filled it up, and it leaked again, then we discovered our new piece of glass over the over flow had cracked, so yet another piece went over that piece.

Total glass thickness on th bottom has to be at least 3"!!!

But to stop the rock from sliding we made, what we call "slip strips" where we laid a thick strip of silicone in various places over the seams of the new glass that went into the bottom. That and the base rocks are 80lb boulders that no goby will ever move. (PS my back and my breastbone from leaning over the tank to place those is killing me still!!! I have been to the Chiropractor and Masseuse for a week straight every other day!!!)

Yall really need to look at my website all the construction photos are there and the pics of equipment and close up of the fishes...

I am a web developer by trade, so I hope yall like the site!

WildReef.com

 

[mojoreef]

Welcome aboard Wildreef, good to have ya. So you mean Mitch didnt take care of you, rofl, that was a bad j/k.

Anyway tank looks like its off to a great start once again!! Lets just forget about bad experences on other boards and have some fun here


take care


Mike

 

[jesseb]

It's folks like you and Mike that make my wife think I'm sane....



Wow.... that's awesome... if only renee would have let me go 10 feet....

 

[Flatlander]

Just so someone else speaks up. I totally disagree with the comments on RC posted here and am surprised you are allowed to call them the names you have.

 

[WildReef]

Flatlander, you have a right to disagree, just as I have the right to complain. How would you like to be banned for disagreeing?

I like this site, and if I got banned or told I could not post my thoughts here, I would go elsewhere. You see this place is actually fair, and they are letting me post my thoughts on Reef Central. Whereas Reef Central banned me for nothing, and then sent me nasty emails when I asked why and if I could get back on. I am not alone in my negative feelings about them, and have discussed at length what happened to me to a few vendors on their forum whom I have dealing with. They all agree that my email asking why I was banned did not merit the response I got. I was not a store, and I posted stuff for sale in their buy/sell area that I had laying around in my garage.

You have the right to disagree, and hopefully no one will ban you for it, or edit your posts, or you might feel as I do about that particular forum.

(PS do a whois on reefcentralsucks.com and see who owns it LOL)

 

[WildReef]

Well we got int the new ASM G6 and it ROCKS! I got it just in time to overload the tank with all these new fish.

Here is a pic of some of the anthias schooling, it is not the whole herd, as they seem a bit shy right now, but I see the others hiding out in the rocks.

Here is a pic of the Scott's Fairy Wrasse, it does not do him justice

Here is an awesome pic of the Ruby Scaled Fairy Wrasses I got too, they are so beautiful, they look hot pink and lavendar. The Solar Wrasses spent the whole day chasing them when I first added them, but they seem to have calmed down, now. These wrasses seem to hang witht he anthias alot, I wonder if they think they are anthias??? PS I got two.

Here is a couple of good shots of the tangs begging for food.

One shot down the length from the end

 

[Flatlander]

Why would they ban me. I never called anyone the name you did. Thats my only objection, not your dislike of RC.

I was looking for some info on Mike tank and seen your thread. It peaked my interest, as I have had a love of nice aquariums for a very long time and belong on more than a dozen sites. But whats the first line I see.

Anyhow you are entitled to your opinion and posts and if the site allows it, then fine. I said my piece and will leave it at that. To many good things on here and friends.

 

[WildReef]

Well I hope you like looking at my pics, no one on RC ever will.

PS they did not ban me for calling anyone a name. I did however refer to them as nazi's here, and I apologize to nazi's everywhere, I am doing them a disservice by comparing them to the moderators on RC.

 

[cheeks69]

Now back to the regularly scheduled program..lol
That is one heck of a setup...your fish selection is incredible WildReef congrats

 

[cheeks69]

I'm curious why you went with so much LR is it because you went BB ?

 

[mojoreef]

WildReef we do like to discourage folks from slamming other boards. It usually just leads to nothing positive so lets leave that RC out of what should be a great tank showcase thread.
At RF we try not to impose to many rules on folks, don't edit threads and try not to ban folks unless their is no other choice. But I would ask you to review your choice of words and do an edit if YOU feel it would better serve the thread. I would ask that we keep any further board bashing by any member nill

thanks again


Mike

 

[WildReef]

Bb

Yeah we decided to go BB so I could keep Acros, and the high flow we decided to do in the tank. My husband claims there is 30,000 GPH of flow in there with the pinductors (eductors). So sand wouldn't stick to the bottom... I personally liek sand, and all the little critters that go into it; sand sifting stars, nassarius, cerith, fighting conch, and sandsifting gobies.

Hey guys give me break, I am a female and a redhead, so I get a little heated at times... I mean no harm and I am just blowing off a little steam.

My husband is the gadgetmaster of the tanks, I am the livestock expert, as I had a business importing from overseas for a while, but had to close that down. Fish just aren't a good commodity to have a business based on. Not when you have ethics and don't want to import Butterflys that are doomed to die or sharks for morons with a 200 Gallon tank. I also got ripped off by the divers in certain areas of the world whose ethics are less than stellar.

I had one guy whom I ordered from religiously send me a whole shipment of "doomed to die" butterflys, I am talking 600 fo them. I did everything I could to keep them alive, but it was impossible. That was the shipment that made me quit the business. I didn't order the butterflys, the only butterflys I would order are the Copperbanded, yet I got all these rare butterflys like the megaprot, blue spot, etc...

I am also the plumber that sets these systems up. While James does all the electricity. I have also become a legendary aquascaper in the Dallas area, working for margeritas and kudos.

I also use my old connections to do a group buy or two for stuff for my tank, never making a profit, just charging what the wholesaler sells the stuff for. I have had group buys in Dallas go up to $3,000, and most of the wholesalers respect me so much I rarely get even 1 dead fish in an order that large.

I get phenominal deals with most wholesalers, the 4 Hammer Heads I just got I only paid $500 for, brand new. The 1HP Chiller cost me $1200. I am by trade a cheap person, but I want the best for my fishies. I have become attached, as most of these fish came to me very small, and now they are monsters! This tank was for those Vlamingii, I kid you not! They literally were getting too big for the 188, slapping the surface of the water in what I call contempt.

Anyway I am rattling on and on, please forgive me, I need my morning coffee.

 

[mojoreef]

Its all good Wildreef! You will find we do things a little different here at RF then most boards. We like to leave the drama for other boards and just try to have good conversatons and debates. This has allowed us to break down systems and methodology and have a better understanding of the way things work.


have fun


Mike