Stylasters 312 gallon tank build

stylaster · Dec 6, 2013

small update

TJ's Reef · Dec 6, 2013

Hey Roy, your Reef is maturing very well "Looking Good" and going to be a real 'Jaw Dropper' in another year or so when all those Acro colonies have grown nearly to the surface. I know some local peeps are heading down your way soon and sounds like a great trip. I may have to make that trip myself one day, would love to check this out in person.

Cheers, Todd

revhtree · Dec 6, 2013

Great job man!

stylaster · Dec 6, 2013

Would be happy to have you come check out the tank Todd. Thanks Rev!

cobraz · Dec 6, 2013

stylaster said:
woohoo main pump check valve came in 90% of plumbing now done.

I saw this check valve and brought back nightmares - I just want to share...
I had this exact check valve for a couple of years - cleaned it regularly then one day:
We were on vacation and there was a very bad storm and power was out on the East coast - we left and decided to drive home early that night. It was the last night of our vacation and I was worried the tank might be getting cold.
Well I walking into our raised ranch to find 110 gallons of my 125 gallon tank on the floor of den... 1" or so of water just sitting through the rug and pad.
The tank had 1" of water left in it and my tang was swimming side ways.

The valve through calcium use had stuck in an up position and the tank drained over the sump... yes part my fault - never put a break siphon on the pipe by drilling a hole.. that's another story. (It was of those crazy ideas of pushing water from the bottom of the tank up ... so all water would rise and drain over - so my intake pipes were on the bottom of the tank behind rocks... it was cool while it lasted).

Any ways back to the story - lost some coral - all fish survived.
My wallet cost me a new rug and pad - some painting and allot of "yes dear" and "it wont happen again"...LOL

Just don't trust that check valve... to be more than a cool piece of plastic until it fails.. IMO

stylaster · Dec 6, 2013

cool thanks for the heads up. The main tank thankfully would only lose about 3" of water out of it if the check valve failed. I believe in redundency and this check valve is part of it, along with siphon breaks. If both fail the water will overflow the sump which is in the garage

reewik · Dec 6, 2013

Stunning reef, very well done.

Reeflogic · Dec 6, 2013

Awesome build! Beautiful collection!!

CoralFragZ · Dec 10, 2013

Tank is looking awesome!

stylaster · Dec 16, 2013

Thank you guys, its at the stage where i can just sit back and watch it grow!

stylaster · Jan 13, 2014

Salty_Box_Reef · Jan 22, 2014

Tank looks awesome man. I was wondering since you've been running the lights a bit now and seeing growth trends, do you notice any corals growing towards or away from the kessil? I would assume the kessil only covers a small portion of the center of the tank, so Im wondering if you could see some things liking or disliking the kessil compared to the radions? Reason I ask is cause Im currently running two a350's in addition to two T5 bulbs over my 60g, and had kicked around the idea of replacing both with one of the new G3's. Mostly just for controllability though as I love the look of the kessils and the growth, color etc is fine.

trido · Jan 22, 2014

Great growth since you set this up. Looking real good

Jawbreaker · Jan 23, 2014

Definately well thought.

stylaster · Jan 29, 2014

Ssteve said:
Tank looks awesome man. I was wondering since you've been running the lights a bit now and seeing growth trends, do you notice any corals growing towards or away from the kessil? I would assume the kessil only covers a small portion of the center of the tank, so Im wondering if you could see some things liking or disliking the kessil compared to the radions? Reason I ask is cause Im currently running two a350's in addition to two T5 bulbs over my 60g, and had kicked around the idea of replacing both with one of the new G3's. Mostly just for controllability though as I love the look of the kessils and the growth, color etc is fine.

What i have directly under the kessil is an ora red planet, bali green slimer, green slimer with blue tips and a sour apple birdsnest. The two slimer acros are growing straight up to the lights. THe red planet is tabling and hasnt shown much upward growth. The birdsnest is also doing more of a horizontal growth form