600G - 10ft Kahuna Starfire Build

[drernesto Verified Sponsor]

Amazing setup! the lights you built are nice!

 

[Scott Moote]

wow!

 

[Salty.Reefer]

Just read the whole thread. Wow, you are a brave man! Do you plan on adding corals?

 

[najer]

I just read this as well, hats off to you, great skills and nerve!

 

[Sir Chris]

Hey Guys

So we finally moved away form the city, got a house in a small seaside town with lots of space and so follows the mandatory tank build

Dimesions are 10ft x 3ft x 30" tall, starfire front and sides, all DIY style.

I had the sense to have the stand professionally welded on the mainland out of 2" steel. Being a fan of building my own stands out of wood in the past, this was quite a change but getting a 10ft surface perfectly level out of wood (on an uneven wood floor) would be too much for me. I would probably run out of talent half way though anyway and end up with a floating lounge in a couple of years.

Got the glass panels delivered straight to the moving truck, and offloaded in my new garage! No chips that I can see so far:

With the help of a couple of borrowed furniture dollies we got the stand in the house. The thing is deceptively heavy! We got it through the front door with 1/2" clearance!

Tight, like a tiger

The original position for this tank didn't end up working out. Structurally it would have been in a bad place, sitting over the finished basement suite we were hoping to rent out. It also would have made getting in the front door a bit troublesome ;p

So we went for option B! Pretty sweet.

I didn't initially want the fish too close to the living room with TV and noise, but in retrospect it's probably one of the quietest places in the house, and most importantly, over a well reinforced crawlspace. Besides, any leaks and it runs straight out to the deck! Hopefully not :/

I'll board up the window behind and maybe use it to vent out some of the humidity.

Or use it as a refugium light and cover the top. Less bill$

 

[aquapod24]

Wow! What an accomplishment! Beautiful tank!

 

[Sir Chris]

I want 2 make my own tank now with star fire glass. My lfs has 1 60g and said no I get em done but crazy $$. This hobby is now accessible with guys like my $ income but not on that scale. High props as I'd b 2 scared is scratch or drop a panel. Epic

 

[DIY-Reefer]

@Thebrinc
I was wondering where you got your LED Chips from and what model they are?

 

[Sir Chris]

@Thebrinc
I was wondering where you got your LED Chips from and what model they are?

I'd like 2 know the same as I'm lookn for a good modular led 3 or em

 

[Thebrinc]

Thanks guys!
It was a long 3 days but finally got to light the tank again today... so nice to have a pristine white sand bed and no Cyano again!

Here's a better look at the glare issue... unfortunately from double sliding doors with windows next to each so can't really get away from it. It's also the view from the living room so can't really cover it up.

I bought all the parts for the lights online and shipped for free from China, just search for Epistar 100W White & Blue Aquarium led chip. As the name suggest they consist of half blue and half white leds. It's important to get the brand name ones as the cheap 100W chips are no good... I got a set for free with the power supplies and they're nowhere near as good. The rest is just hooking it up to a power supply and then keeping it cool with a cpu heat-sink and fan, hooked up to it's own little power supply.

I'm running without reflectors which gives me a huge spread but adding lenses would focus them a lot more... probably burn holes right through the rock like a laser ;p

For the time being I totally blew my budget on the build and getting the tank stable and stocked with fish and some LPS and softies so SPS will have to wait. I'm getting married in Sept. and off to europe after so had to shift my financial focus, for a while

@ shakinghorizons: YaEah, the B&W's are a touchy subject... the cat mistook the speaker for a climbing post and demolished two of my base divers. Dented the one and ripped the other!

 

[stravo71]

RapidLED.com. that's where I buy all of my led stuff

 

[Thebrinc]

Update time...

So after being away for a month the tank had some issues when I got back, as can be expected from skipping water-changes , overfeeding and a general lack of husbandry. The Sandsifting goby was also nowhere to be seen and hair algae had taken hold.

I removed what I could by hand, turned off all the lighting and increased the flow by upgrading my Reeflo Dart Gold to a Hammerhead. At the 11 foot head I was running the Dart was almost losing 70% of it's flow so it was time to do something about it.

The tank cleaned up nicely, and just in time for it's 1 year anniversary:

Looking forward to getting rid of the remaining hair algae I put a couple Sandsifting gobies in QT along with a Scribbled Rabbitfish and a couple more turbo snails. That should do it right?

Well, wanting immediate satisfaction I dropped the snails straight into the DT, after acclimating them and giving them rinse and some toothbrush action, just to be sure.

Bad idea. Very very bad idea.

10 days later the Kole tang has some discolored patches... yup, it's flashing. Hmm, I wonder... what's that on the 12 inch Naso tang? Ooh, a lovely white spot on his caudal fin, maybe he ran into something. Hmm, another white spot above his eye? Looking closely, (now getting down on my knees and gripping the tank stand with white knuckles). As the light catches the Kole you can clearly see, she's covered in spots! I get up and stagger away from the tank in disbelief, feeling the urge to projectile vomit, run away... or both... at the same time. Twice.

For the first time since starting this "adventure" in saltwater lunacy I was thinking of getting out. This tank has really taken a toll on my mental health and state of well being. The amount of time and money to set it up and then getting the rug pulled out from under me 1 day before the tank turns one year old.

Then again, without it I'd be bored out of my mind And I love my fish.

I did a lot of reading and decided to give it a day or two, I'm off to a overnight business thing the next morning anyway so can't act anyway.

A day later I get back and the Anthias start flashing and the tangs start showing more raised spots. I guess it's probably not Velvet 'cause they're still alive. Time to act none the less... I can't even look at the tank without getting a pit in my stomach so "hoping for the best and feeding garlic infused fairy dust" ins't an option. A couple tanks back I had a 140G rimless that had a dormant strain of Velvet for about 6 months. Everyone was 100% healthy, until they weren't. I lost every fish other than my cleaner wrasse in three days as I watched them dissolve in front of my eyes. Gruesome stuff.

This was not my vision for 2016's scary Halloween house decor so it was time to do something. No way to get a large enough QT anywhere (I'm a ferry ride away from the nearest serious pet store) so I decided to break the tank down and turn the display into a hospital tank. I'd have to remove the rocks to catch all those fish anyway. I've read good things about the absorption of Chloroquine and only a little bit will get into the glass itself but after leaving my LR and corals fallow for 3 months it should be okay. Run lots of carbon etc.

The sand and corals came out... only (insert sarcasm here) took 3 hours prep work and 6 hours of hard and heart breaking labor, thanks to the help of my friend Dave who brought over a Mag12 pump and some buckets.

The two largest rocks had to stay in the tank unfortunately... no matter how hard I shook those Anthias would not leave their "hotel" rock. I even pulled the one by it's tail but it only doubled up and burrowed deeper into the rock. I'm hoping with weekly 60g water-changes to replenish the medication absorption won't mess with the efficacy of the CP too much.

We covered the front of the tank to keep UV out. Looks better than a bed-sheet or garbage bags :/

I'll keep it up for 7 weeks and in the DT and then re-introduce the rocks and sand in Feb / March 2107. Balls.

Moral of the story... quarantine e v e r y t h i n g.

After 12 months of careful quarantine and stocking to make sure I don't make a hash of something that could turn into an overwhelming problem, I dropped my guard for two darn snails and royally screwed up.

 

[Aslam Abraham]

That really sucks, hope the fish pull through.

 

[Psiber_Syn]

This was sad :-( hope your getting it worked out

 

[melypr1985]

I'm sorry for the troubles but it looks like you got it handled pretty well at this point. Best of luck!

 

[Stylo328]

I am so sorry to read of your challenges. This hobby is a heartbreaker.

 

[OGFrenchHorn]

wow man! sucks! beautiful set up though!

 

[najer]

Gutted for you, hope they recover well for you.