Melev's new 280g Starfire tank thread

[Cprowler]

Originally posted by melev

I need to update the thread with some pictures of the finished product. We had our tank tour today, and I'm beat.

Today's a new day, lay them on us.

[jnarowe]

they flash could be used for a variety of things like feeding, detritus blowers, and fish training.

[melev]

Tom, the LFS has one just like that and was just muttering how he couldn't find another one like it. He has the switches under the counter to turn things on and off in his personal tank several feet away. The price is great.

I did notice those additional features that the Chauvet offered. It really was something designed for night clubs, such as the option for Fog machines and strobe lighting. Great option for that "chase" mode, right?

I'll take a few pictures now. I was gone all day because of our club's Board of Directors meeting, and afterwards I visited a couple more tanks in that area before we went out to dinner.

[melev]

Here are the pictures I promised.

Waterproof boxes


Lighting power source, with room for moonlighting later.


Main power section for the majority of the plugs.


Switching station that allows me to turn on or off almost everything individually.


Also, with this new setup if I have to resort to running the reef on the generator, I can plug in the three American DJ power cords into the generator and turn on individual items. I won't have to move any of the plugs for specific equipment like recently.

[melev]

Yesterday I picked up another new Acropora sp. at the LFS, because the one I got a week ago RTNed completely. Aggravated, I decided to give in to my ongoing desire to acquire a new coral.

The lighting this coral is under is my refugium bulb so the color isn't true. Plus the coral is in Interceptor. It has a Xmas tree worm on the back of it, as a bonus.


And after visiting those two tanks tonight, I got two more frags. Also dipping...

[purebullet417]

nice work like the waterproof boxes right over thes sump. did u ever finish that grainite stand for the slanted tank? if so how did it turn out? also do you think you could have to much flow in your tank and that is why your corals arint doing well. i know someone that tuned down there flow a little bit and corals looked dramiticly better

[melev]

It was glued together and put in place Friday night. Still have more to do, but here's a quick picture.



That is an interesting question about flow. I don't think I have too much honestly, but it would be nice if it was more random. I've seen a few tanks in recent months that have varied flow by using mechanized systems to rotate the outputs or powerheads. The reefs looked awesome but I didn't like the extra equipment that you had to look at.

[purebullet417]

yea iv seen that as well. what tunzes do you have? do you have the multicontroler? if so i think that would work well for you. my uncle has it on his tank and has it set for tides. they switch ever 6 hours. you could also you an oceans motions 4 way with the OM revolutions if you want realy random flow.

[melev]

I have a single Tunze 6100 on a multicontroller that cycles it up and down, plus a VorTech pump at each end of the tank. And the return pump of course.

Perhaps the OM 4-way on the return line could mix things up a tad. If I wanted to deal with all that plumbing in my way.

[purebullet417]

lol maby when the vortech controler comes out at the end of month or end of july i forgot anyway when it comes out you could get it and mix things up a little. also lots of people say they love there oms. 1 quick ? what are the 2 closed ball valves for in the first pic u posted on this page entitled waterproff boxes

[melev]

Those are part of how the tank was designed for a closed loop system. I refuse to use them because I believe the holes are drilled too low in the tank. If something went wrong, the tank would drain to that point, and most of my corals would be exposed to air and die.

[Hop]

Looks very good Marc! I really like how it cleaned things up!

And going back about two years to a post you gave me... It's time to clean the skimmer

And the acro colony is gorgeous. Can't wait to see it under the normal tank lights!

[melev]

Hop, that was exactly 24 hours of skimmate! Nice try though.

[Hop]

Well I tried But looking at that gives me skimmer envy... That would be two weeks of skimmate out of my ER... even with modding it, I'm not certain it's making the grade.

[Sparkss]

Originally posted by jnarowe
they flash could be used for a variety of things like feeding, detritus blowers, and fish training.

Good point. I actually turn our Vortecs on for a quick second and then off again after I have had them off for cleaning and/or other tank maintenance, to try to scare fish off before I turn them back on full. Until the controller comes out for them this would work nicely. Thanks for the tip

Originally posted by melev
I did notice those additional features that the Chauvet offered. It really was something designed for night clubs, such as the option for Fog machines and strobe lighting. Great option for that "chase" mode, right?

We used to use another Chauvet product for wavemaking some time ago. It had 4 outlets and a chase function that could be adjusted to up to a 10 min delay between outlets, although I don't plan to use the chase on any of these 8 outlets

Originally posted by melev
Plus the coral is in Interceptor. It has a Xmas tree worm on the back of it, as a bonus.

I thought that Interceptor affected inverts, like the Xmas tree worm ?

[jnarowe]

what I meant by "fish training" was shock collars.

[Sparkss]

BTW, I forgot to mention that the outlet boxes and general sump area look incredible. Very nice work Marc.. and thanks for sharing it with us

[melev]

I'm about to move that coral over to the reef. It has been in Interceptor for the past 25 hours, and the Xmas tree worm is out and looks pretty. Interceptor is for redbugs.

Thanks for the compliment.

[melev]

Three quick pictures.

The new coral from behind.




A reflection shot that shows off a very strange angle, so that you see both VorTechs somehow.


Btw, yesterday morning before the lights turned on, I saw the CBB doing backwards summersaults through the tank, battered around by flow with the Purple Tang in hot pursuit. A couple of hours later, it was dead. To add insult to injury, the Lemon Meringue Wrasse was dead as well, a few inches away.

The LMW has jumped out of my tank many times, and splashed my MH bulbs for the past couple of years. I think the last jump gave it brain damage, as it wasn't eating enough and didn't bury itself in the sand at night for the last few weeks. It was probably coincidence that both died on the same night. The CBB was eating mysis the night before, and was not thin at all. I can't explain its death unless the Longnose Hawkfish somehow damaged it internally during one of its many attacks.

[jnarowe]

wow...yeah my CBB is getting to know who's boss in our tank. But I tell you, it is really quick, so it hasn't been injured yet.

[TRITON1]

Sorry about the loss of fish. I noticed a bunch of chromis in that last picture. How many are there and do they school? I am thinking about adding 6 more to my 75g, but not sure if it will disturb the bioload too much (6 fish already).

[melev]

Last week I added 10 (well 9 as one died while acclimating) Chromis to the tank. Currently I have 7. I feel like dumping in 10 every week until I have hundreds. They school nicely and don't cost much.

[jnarowe]

they'll kill each other of until just 2 or 3 are left.

[Hop]

You'll have to keep me updated on the behavior of the chromis. After all the inconsistencies as well and beliefs about how these things shoal and how I believe that once their shoaling instinct due to predator threat subsides in a captive reef, they begin a higherarchy where the weakest members are singled out until they jump ship or starve. I would actually like to post findings after enough research so that others can make an informative decision on the addition of these little fish...

OK, that sounded stupid. But I really want to have a write up based on a control sample of reefs from people with good husbandry and different environments and tank sizes

[melev]

But I really want to have a write up based on a control sample of reefs from people with good husbandry and different environments and tank sizes

Sort of like posting on Reef Central, right?