Adam's 310 gallon build thread

Lividfanatica · Mar 8, 2022

xionggotstyle said:
Removing the Locline won't improve the flow. If your fine with that turnover than it shouldn't be an issue. I'll rather have more flow than too little. I can always tune/turn it down. If you have enough powerheads in the main display then it should be fine. A tank that big needs gyres or mp60s. Don't use the mp40s. It won't reach from side to side.

Yup - already put some icecap 4k's in to start with. I was planning on putting 4-6 MP40s along the back wall of the tank.

danny_corals · Mar 8, 2022

Looks great!

Lividfanatica · Mar 14, 2022

Well... good news and bad news...

Good news - 3x XR30 G5 Pro lights are installed as well as a quanta pro meso blue 6-foot bar (i have a second but need to hang it) and some fish are in! I moved in my clowns from my existing tank and added some yellow tangs from my LFS.

Bad news - Tangs are showing signs of crypto. I have never had to deal with any marine illness before but I am shocked that I got it. My LFS has always been VERY reliable and QT's everything with copper. Almost all of my fish have come from there without issue. It is also possible that it has been living in my tank for years and the current fish do not show any signs of illness. Either way.. this will delay fish moving in. I think my plan is as follows:

1. Wait to see if this is crypto (see if the spots fall off and reappear in a week or two)
2. If so - pull out fish and place them in QT with copper.
3. Transfer all coral and inverts into my new tank.
4. Fallow for 78 days (someone on Reddit mentioned that this may be excessive... if anybody has newer advice/research please let me know!)
5. QT all of my existing fish with copper prior to entry into the new tank
6. QT all fish/inverts going forward

I probably would just "live with ich" if I wasn't planning on getting some of the more susceptible tangs... open to any advice!

JumboShrimp · Mar 14, 2022

Bummer. Sorry to see your tank’s progress impeded.

xionggotstyle · Mar 14, 2022

Lividfanatica said:
Well... good news and bad news...

Good news - 3x XR30 G5 Pro lights are installed as well as a quanta pro meso blue 6-foot bar (i have a second but need to hang it) and some fish are in! I moved in my clowns from my existing tank and added some yellow tangs from my LFS.

Bad news - Tangs are showing signs of crypto. I have never had to deal with any marine illness before but I am shocked that I got it. My LFS has always been VERY reliable and QT's everything with copper. Almost all of my fish have come from there without issue. It is also possible that it has been living in my tank for years and the current fish do not show any signs of illness. Either way.. this will delay fish moving in. I think my plan is as follows:

1. Wait to see if this is crypto (see if the spots fall off and reappear in a week or two)
2. If so - pull out fish and place them in QT with copper.
3. Transfer all coral and inverts into my new tank.
4. Fallow for 78 days (someone on Reddit mentioned that this may be excessive... if anybody has newer advice/research please let me know!)
5. QT all of my existing fish with copper prior to entry into the new tank
6. QT all fish/inverts going forward

I probably would just "live with ich" if I wasn't planning on getting some of the more susceptible tangs... open to any advice!

I would just capture and qt the individual fish that have ich. Not all fish will have it. A UV sterilizer is also an option for you because since its in the basement you won't have the same issues with the temp being too high. Get a higher wattage uv sterilizer like 80 watts or higher.

Fallow is usually 90 days. That's long and I've never done it because I don't want to wait 3 months for something to clear. Plus adding a fish to the system may very well reintroduce ich to the system.

Fyi I do not think you have to qt invert for ich management. Usually its carried by fishes not inverts like corals or inverts.

Lividfanatica · Mar 15, 2022

xionggotstyle said:
I would just capture and qt the individual fish that have ich. Not all fish will have it. A UV sterilizer is also an option for you because since its in the basement you won't have the same issues with the temp being too high. Get a higher wattage uv sterilizer like 80 watts or higher.

Fallow is usually 90 days. That's long and I've never done it because I don't want to wait 3 months for something to clear. Plus adding a fish to the system may very well reintroduce ich to the system.

Fyi I do not think you have to qt invert for ich management. Usually its carried by fishes not inverts like corals or inverts.

I appreciate your perspective and reply!

I have heard it can piggyback in on anything - coral/shrimp/crabs/snails or just in the water that they get transported in.

This, along with your comment about future fish potentially introducing it, is the part of my internal debate that pushes me to "live with ich". The only downside is I am hoping to have an Achilles tang, Moorish idol, and several other sensitive fish that might get taken out by this parasite. So, I am at a fork at the beginning of a very long road... QT everything, or live with it being in my system and try to mitigate it by keeping my fish healthy and happy.

UV is not an option for me... I'm going ZeoVit, and am very much a believer that the microbiome is one of the most important aspects of a healthy reef tank. I'm not a fan of nuking many of my bacteria to manage some protozoans. There are a ton of people that run UV and are successful, it's just my personal belief and reefing strategy at this point in my life.

For now, I have ordered some copper and copper test kits, filter/air pump, and have a tank ready for QT. Before I pull the fish out though, I am still waiting to see if their condition worsens or changes in any way. The spots are raised off of the fish's bodies and seem to move/grow in number. While I am not quite sure what that means, (once again.. this is my first bout with fish disease) I am keeping a vigilant eye and contingency planning.

Thanks again!

Lividfanatica · Mar 21, 2022

New video update on the 310 -
Decided to fallow (45 days) and get my fish into a hospital tank with copper power.

Lividfanatica · Apr 11, 2022

So all four fish I put in the new tank ended up dying. Disease ID/treatment thread here. I am about two weeks into my DT fallow period (May 10th is 45 days), but I might extend that a bit. I also ordered an @AquaBiomics tankDNA test yesterday. Hoping Eli can provide some insight and inform my next steps.

I ended up buying the tangs and rabbitfish from the same tank at my LFS. The rabbit went in my existing tank and the tangs went into the new 310. All the fish in my current tank are fine and happy (including a small Regal Tang, which I would expect to be the first to break out in Ich). In addition, the fish remaining in the tank at my LFS still appear to be disease-free. This leads me to believe that the caribsea live sand brought in dormant cysts of crypto and/or velvet (Fish appeared to have ich and then died from velvet after being introduced to copper).

Other than that... the only other "Build" news I have is some cable management (3 more ecotech power supply brackets are showing up tomorrow) and I have been adding about 2.2 gallons of saturated kalkwasser to the DT every night. I am not sure if it is just the pods and bacteria sucking up all my alk, but my numbers seem to remain pretty flat at this dosage.

Thanks for reading!

Lividfanatica · Apr 19, 2022

Well… fallow is going well. Under three weeks left! I guess the tank is doing well if I am able to grow aiptasia. A second one just showed up!

SaracensRugby · Apr 19, 2022

How do you like the quality of the tank? I ordered a 315 gallon (84x36x24) from them and should be receiving it within a month.

Lividfanatica · Apr 20, 2022

SaracensRugby said:
How do you like the quality of the tank? I ordered a 315 gallon (84x36x24) from them and should be receiving it within a month.

So far so good! Quality work as far as I can tell. I have had it up and running with saltwater, sand, and rock for a bit as you can see from the thread and I don't have any complaints (other than the return bulkheads being a bit small).

Lividfanatica · May 31, 2022

So, a couple of things have progressed recently.

1. 45-day fallow ended and I moved some fish from my existing tank into the 310. So far no issues!
2. I received back an aquabiomics tank DNA analysis that showed my existing (old) tank had no signs of known parasitic DNA. I will leave it up to the internet to decide on the accuracy of this test, but this supports my theory that the Ich that took out my last fish came from the live sand that was added to the tank.
3. Lighting is up and running at 50% maximum intensity (radions) and the Quanta Pro lights come on for about 4 hours a day. I also did some PAR measurements with a seneye so I have an idea of what I am working with.

Livestock currently in the tank:
Blue Tang (regal)
Sailfin Tang
Starry Blenny
Gold Lined Rabbitfish
AIptasia eating filefish
Christmas Wrass (Halichoeres Sp.??)

I also added some hermits, snails, and a couple of frags to test out the tank's ability to support coral.

Interesting observation - I am adding 7 liters of saturated kalk plus 175 ML of alk (NaOH) per day to keep up with the tank's demand. I find this VERY odd since there is barely any livestock. Any ideas on what might be going on there? Rock/sand soaking it up? Ca is dropping too and I need to start adding some CaCl2 back into the tank.

I plan to tear down my old tank this weekend and move the rest of the livestock over. Wish me luck!

Lividfanatica · May 31, 2022

xionggotstyle · Jun 3, 2022

Double check your levels (alk, ca, mag) you barely have anything in there. Shouldn't need to be dosing that much.

Lividfanatica · Jun 4, 2022

xionggotstyle said:
Double check your levels (alk, ca, mag) you barely have anything in there. Shouldn't need to be dosing that much.

That’s a good call. My trident has been very accurate, but who knows! I’ll test the water and the alk of my kalk today and see what I get. I am having to increase NaOH every day to keep up. Down to 6 dkh today and might need to make a correction (after double checking)

xionggotstyle · Jun 4, 2022

Lividfanatica said:
That’s a good call. My trident has been very accurate, but who knows! I’ll test the water and the alk of my kalk today and see what I get. I am having to increase NaOH every day to keep up. Down to 6 dkh today and might need to make a correction (after double checking)

Double check it. A tank that size that doesn't have colonies of sps acros shouldn't be dropping like that. The Trident isn't always accurate. I mainly just make sure it's consistently near the same values. Last thing you need is swings. But check it with hanna checkers regardless.

Lividfanatica · Jun 5, 2022

xionggotstyle said:
Double check it. A tank that size that doesn't have colonies of sps acros shouldn't be dropping like that. The Trident isn't always accurate. I mainly just make sure it's consistently near the same values. Last thing you need is swings. But check it with hanna checkers regardless.

The trident was off, but not by much. I did find the source of my consumption, however. My sand was calcifying. The entire top layer is rock hard. I was able to bust it up and crumble it back to “sand” by hand and have stoped dosing for the time being. Not sure how to “fix” this though…

Lividfanatica · Jun 20, 2022

Video update on the tank. Up to 15 fish and going through some minor bacterial blooms. Trying to get the tank to a place where it will support coral. I think at this point it is just a waiting game with the small amount of live rock I started with.

Video update number 7