Melev's new 280g Starfire tank thread

[WILDTHING]

Marc its nice to see some night shots, you're right I don't think I remember seeing any now that you mention it.

Its weird I've seen people posting to feed candycanes at night when their feeding tentacles are out but at night mine close up really tight, as a matter of fact as soon as the lights go out they start deflating a bit and when the lights come on in the am it takes mine a little while to reinflate again. I wonder why.

Dawn, IMO I think suncorals would be a great addition to a SH tank UNLESS its a dwarf tank. I plan to do a SH tank in the future and suncorals are going in there. I think they would love being in a tank with messy eaters. They will gladly scarf up any particles that escape the SH's but still will need to be fed on a regular basis. Here's a new one Suncorals as a clean up crew! lol

colleen

[delta]

looks like a cup coral does it have a hard center like this

[melev]

Well, I can't see the base at all, but those tentacles look like a match.

[melev]

Who keeps giving my thread less than 5 stars? One day it is 5, the next day 4, then back to 5, now back to 4. I guess they are taking off points for too many colorful images. If that is the case, I'm about to lose another star tonight.

I've got the bluuuuuues.



Here is that maze coral I mentioned two days ago. It is about the size of an apricot I guess. Note the crab or cerith on the side:





The end of the tank that the Tunze Streams are on was easy to clean off, to get a rare picture from that end of the tank.





You can see the millepora frag that I've been referring to regarding nice growth.



The Royal Gramma



And my little Maxima clam.

[Awright]

Marc,
Are those little starfish on the back of your tank in the end tank shot?

[melev]

Yes, they are.

[Awright]

I have some of these critters in my tank as well. Are they bad to have in your tank? I had a guy from LFS tell me that I would not want them in the tank. I have had a hard time getting rid of them. I did get one off a leather coral, it had been snacking on it.

Do some of them have odd arms like one longer or missing arms, unusual shapes?

[melev]

Yes, that is typical Andy. They vary in size and shape. They are called Asterinas, and many are considered harmless. I have some that are SPS eaters, to my dismay. Since I'm not great and telling them apart, I do go through the tank removing a bunch at a time. I don't believe I'll ever get them all, but I do try to reduce the population.

I never had this issue before, so apparently I've had a few predatory ones sneak in on a coral or live rock.

[dhall9]

Marc I was wondering if you could tell me how much evaporation you have with your set up? I'm starting to plan for a tank of the same size and was just curious. Thanks.

[Lunchbucket]

Marc - how is the skimmer running? how are you phosphate levels coming??

Lunchbucket

[melev]

dhall9, I would say less than 5g a day. It is evaporating more with the newer sump than with the old one.

Mr Bucket'o'Lunch, the skimmer pulls out a good wet 1.5" of skimmate per day. PO4 seems stuck at 1.5ppm for some reason. My guess is that I could do a ton of water changes to bring that down.

[qwuintus]

Looking at your sump I was thinking that there is a lot of space that that could have been used to create a larger main display.

A larger sump only creates more water volume, so why not add that to the main display and incorporate a larger tank? Given of course that you have the space.

Do you think it would work to have a 350gallon tank with a 100 gallon sump vice a 250 gallon tank with a 200 gallon sump?

[ChloroPhil]

Marc,

I've read your bits on Sun Corals a couple times now but wasn't able to find the answer to a question. Do they excrete what they don't digest? I'm considering putting one in a 2.5g in lieu of a fish, but if they make a mess or contribute substantially to water quality problems I'll have to rethink it. Any thoughts?

Best,
Phil

[kwl1763]

Marc, do you think your phosphates could be from your 400 fish and the insane amount you feed

[new2u]

I'll help ya out melev, heres 5 stars for ya

[jnb]

Could I ask a favor - could I have a picture from the top of your joint to the top of the skimmer which shows the bubble detail along the path of the tube going up - I am trying to make a point on fine tuning my skimmer using yours for illustration - I believe you have larger bubbles lower in the tube which is I think more correct than having very fine bubbles further up... mu bubble are as fine as those in the body all the way up to 1.2 - 2 inches from top to get skimate (at your leisure (not that you have much)).

Originally posted by melev
dhall9, I would say less than 5g a day. It is evaporating more with the newer sump than with the old one.

Mr Bucket'o'Lunch, the skimmer pulls out a good wet 1.5" of skimmate per day. PO4 seems stuck at 1.5ppm for some reason. My guess is that I could do a ton of water changes to bring that down.

[rjwilson37]

I don't know why it would get less than 5 stars, there is a wealth of information in your thread!

[reefofart]

Hi! Just finished reading through this thread including the 107 page part 1. Suffering through much complaining from my wife who wouldn't believe me when I claimed to still be reading the same thread a couple days in a row.

All the pictures and info were wonderful. I felt, although vicariously, as if I owned this tank. I lived through:
-The horror of finding Tucker on the floor, and the relief of his full recovery.
-The sadness of losing a favorite clam & mandarin.
-The frustration of equipment failure, nibbling tangs, & unexplainable coral loses.
-The thrill of discovery with new shrimp babies, baby clownfish, & alien looking detrivore feeders.
Plus many more highs and lows! This thread helped keep me content for a few days because I'm still in the process of putting my system together. If only all "diary" type threads were this informative with so many incredible pictures.

Thanks for keeping it up! Please keep the info and pictures coming! I made sure to give you a 5 star rating!
(Although my wife would like to give you 2 stars for keeping my attention for so long. If she thinks this was bad, just wait until I have to take care of my own tank. )

[melev]

Originally posted by qwuintus
Looking at your sump I was thinking that there is a lot of space that that could have been used to create a larger main display.

A larger sump only creates more water volume, so why not add that to the main display and incorporate a larger tank? Given of course that you have the space.

Do you think it would work to have a 350gallon tank with a 100 gallon sump vice a 250 gallon tank with a 200 gallon sump?

If I had a larger tank, the fish room would have been bigger. And with more money, I could have had a larger tank. And if I was just a little more insane, I could have had a larger tank.

The fact is, this tank became available, and I was fortunate to get it. Modifying my home to incorporate this huge reef tank was challenging, and fortunately it worked out great.

The new sump is rediculously overkill, but I had to have the skimmer in sump this time. There was no way to get the skimmer under the display tank and still be able to access the collection cup easily, so I "went for broke" and made it huge. The return area has plenty of room for a frag zone, once I add a few powerheads to generate random current in that section as well as an appropriate light.

The humidity concerns me, and it never did before. Two nights ago, I noticed quite a number of surfaces were wet in the fish room. I'm probably going to install a vent fan and humidistat in the near future, although I'd like to know for a fact that it is the appropriate action to resolve this situation before I go to the added trouble and expense.

Some guys here on RC have a beautiful little reef tank with a vastly oversized sump down in the basement. The benefit of a monstrous sump is that the reef tank will have better water quality. "The solution to pollution is dilution." Now if your display is 1500g, a 200g sump would be just fine to hide the equipment. The huge tank (like the Dallas World Aquarium) maintains good water quality because there is so much water in the main display. For my 29g reef, a 14g sump & refugium was perfect. Water quality was great. For my 55g reef, my 35g sump did the job perfectly as well. So to answer your question, it depends on the size of the display and the stocking plan.

[melev]

Originally posted by ChloroPhil
Marc,

I've read your bits on Sun Corals a couple times now but wasn't able to find the answer to a question. Do they excrete what they don't digest? I'm considering putting one in a 2.5g in lieu of a fish, but if they make a mess or contribute substantially to water quality problems I'll have to rethink it. Any thoughts?

Best,
Phil

When I had the sun coral in my 55g, I was feeding it a lot (daily). I noticed that it was causing cyano bacteria all around the coral.

I've never seen the suncoral expel waste, but it must. So, can a 2.5g pico tank handle it? Does it have a 100g sump? The only way I could image it working is if you fed the coral outside of the tank, and changed water regularly (every few days). Matter of fact, keeping anything in 2.5g of water is challenging, as only a tiny bit of evaporation will increase salinity rapidly.

You'd need to maintain reef parameters (ca, alk, flow) for this LPS coral. The only easy part is that it doesn't need lighting. So if you do it, be sure to let us know how it worked out for you, how you overcame water pollution issues, and if the coral continued to grow.

[melev]

Originally posted by kwl1763
Marc, do you think your phosphates could be from your 400 fish and the insane amount you feed

I'm going to mail order a bunch of 3mm corks, and hammer those into the anus of all my fish. If that doesn't solve the PO4 issue, nothing will.

[AJP]

Um, you might try to catch a few of those rascals. I bet you could find them some nice homes.

[melev]

Originally posted by jnick
Could I ask a favor - could I have a picture from the top of your joint to the top of the skimmer which shows the bubble detail along the path of the tube going up - I am trying to make a point on fine tuning my skimmer using yours for illustration - I believe you have larger bubbles lower in the tube which is I think more correct than having very fine bubbles further up... mu bubble are as fine as those in the body all the way up to 1.2 - 2 inches from top to get skimate (at your leisure (not that you have much)).

You want pictures of the bubbles in the skimmer and neck? I'll take a few later today. Well, I'll try. Taking bubbles is tough, but I'll use faster shutter speed and hopefully get something viewable.

[grochmal]

The battle never ends, does it?
If your window a/c unit isn't running enough to lower the humidity, it might be time for a dehumidifer.
Problem with those is they generate heat, which you then need to remove...

Originally posted by melev

The humidity concerns me, and it never did before. Two nights ago, I noticed quite a number of surfaces were wet in the fish room. I'm probably going to install a vent fan and humidistat in the near future, although I'd like to know for a fact that it is the appropriate action to resolve this situation before I go to the added trouble and expense.

[melev]

new2u and rjwilson, I was just teasing about the stars. They are what they are. Most threads don't even get noted. I'm glad this one has helped others.