Jck3120's 240g Starphire Wide

[jck3120]

Now that the tank is finally coming together I figured I would share a few pics...Not very yet old but can't wait for the frags to grow out :)

Tank - 240g (72L x 30W x 25T with Starphire front)
Stand/Canopy - Homemade
Sump - 75g with Reeflo Snapper return pump
Skimmer - SWC 250A
Lighting - 3 x 250W Radium 20k Halides in Lumenbright Mini's on Bluewave 3 M80 Ballasts, and 3x80W ATI Blue Plus T5's on Icecap 660
Geo 624 Calcium Reactor
Korallin Nitrate Reactor
Deltec Kalkwasser Stirrer
Vortech MP40W and (4) Koralia 4 Evo's

And no I did not take the time to adjust the white balance on the pics. Doesn't look nearly as blue in person. Also, only 2 halides are running at once as all 3 trips the breaker in my basement...soon will have a separate dedicated circuit wired just for the tank. As my buddy put it... "That's how you know it's sweet" lol

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c89/jck3120/103_9486.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c89/jck3120/103_9419.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c89/jck3120/103_9425.jpg

Richmond's Wrasse, never seen another in person before. Quite the pig...as you can see!
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c89/jck3120/103_9465.jpg

11" Male Blonde Naso is still a little camera shy...but he eats great and is a good 1.5" thick no joke
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c89/jck3120/103_9477.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c89/jck3120/103_9494.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c89/jck3120/103_9427.jpg

Tyree Baby's Breath Favia next to the wellso
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c89/jck3120/103_9440.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c89/jck3120/103_9449.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c89/jck3120/103_9454.jpg

[jck3120]

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c89/jck3120/103_9461.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c89/jck3120/103_9458.jpg

Blue/Green Stag
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c89/jck3120/103_9456.jpg

ORA Blue Tort, Garf Bonsai
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c89/jck3120/103_9457.jpg

Rainbow Acro
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c89/jck3120/103_9459.jpg

ORA Red Planet
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c89/jck3120/103_9460.jpg

Blue-tip Slimer
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c89/jck3120/103_9462.jpg

Tubs Birdnest
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c89/jck3120/103_9469.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c89/jck3120/103_9463.jpg

Sump and Skimmer in the back room, skims like a beast!
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c89/jck3120/103_9489.jpg

[jck3120]

Excuse the messy ballasts, they are now tucked under the stand
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c89/jck3120/103_9417.jpg

"Mancave"...except technically the whole house is a big bachelor pad since there's no female at the moment :jester: Think a much bigger tv is in order soon...
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c89/jck3120/103_9491.jpg

[XSiVE]

wow you've got a beautiful setup!

[Rabidgoose]

Very nice indeed, love the PBT!

[jck3120]

Thanks guys! And I wouldn't say beautiful just yet...it's still a work in progress but hopefully it will get there eventually. Not too bad for only a couple months old tho :)

And BTW all but 2 of the fish are from Reef Paradise in Flint and a number of the corals as well :) Great store with great customer service...

[ReeferRob]

Killer stuff man, keep those up dates coming. did you start the planet from a frag or buy it as a mini colony?

[jck3120]

Lookin good so far James! Is your fish list complete or do you still plan on adding a few others?? :)

Ehh I think I am about at my limit of large fish, other than I'd like to add a hippo tang eventually. Can you tell I love my tangs?? :) Secret to getting all my zebrasoma tangs to coexist peacefully was to add them all at the same time and get all the yellows small. Now they all actually kinda school together, pretty neat. Other than that, was thinking about doing a small harem of Flame wrasses or a pair of Lineatus or Rhomboid wrasses as my final additions. Something a little less common.

Currently have:
Male Blonde Naso
Desjardinii Sailfin
Purple Tang
3 Yellow Tangs
Powder Blue Tang
Richmond's Wrasse
Leopard Wrasse
Yellow Coris Wrasse
2 Filamented Flasher Wrasses
Mated pair of Occy's

[jck3120]

Killer stuff man, keep those up dates coming. did you start the planet from a frag or buy it as a mini colony?

Red planet was and still is just a frag. Used to have a nice mini-colony of it before I lost most of my SPS in a tank swap. Never ran a calcium reactor before this set-up so hoping to see what kind of growth I can pull off with it now.

[ReeferRob]

Red planet was and still is just a frag. Used to have a nice mini-colony of it before I lost most of my SPS in a tank swap. Never ran a calcium reactor before this set-up so hoping to see what kind of growth I can pull off with it now.

LOL, I was thrown off by the picture and the sheer jealousy that I can't get any of my RP's to exhibit any green.
One I have down low that is a nice red with zero green, and the two up high are BLACK.??
Love the scape by the way, would love to see a video of all those cool fish swimming around all those great nooks and crannies!

[iyachtuxivm]

Wow man James thats a great tank..... no its a dream tank, sweet!

[Poseidon]

Looks AWESOME James!

(And thanks for the plug too!)

Now, I need to get over there and see it in person, maybe I'll even bring my camera too. ;)

[jck3120]

I have always loved my angels as well but have loved my brains/zoos/LPS just slightly more...once my SPS grow out a bit and I dont need my LPS to "fill in" the tank I may consider off-ing all the LPS and zoos for a couple nice large angels. Always been a sucker for a Red Sea Regal or a nice Scribbled...

Thanks for all the words of encouragement guys!

[jck3120]

Wellll pretty much feel like I got kicked in the balls. Over the past 3 days I have lost every single fish in the tank (minus the yellow coris and leopard wrasse) to a case of marine velvet...

At first I suspected ich so started soaking all food in garlic extreme as all the fish were still eating good and praying to God that the couple that showed early signs would fight it off so I would not have to rip the entire tank apart, and then by the time I realized it was velvet almost overnight the eyes of the the fish were completely clouded over and they literally were keeling over as fast as I could pull them out...

Sooo just kinda waiting to see what happens with these 2 wrasses and will have to leave the tank fishless for 6+ weeks. In my almost 7 years in the hobby this is the first time I have experienced velvet and never ever again will I add another fish to my tank without proper QT'ing...Let this be a lesson to all.

And the most frustrating part of all is that my Corals are growing better than I've ever seen them...the polyp extension on the SPS is fantastic...but yet I can't keep a single fish alive. One of the things that really makes me second guess what I'm doing in this hobby...

[ReeferRob]

Sorry to hear about the fishy problems, but Im sure things will work out in the end. Hang in there man, that's a beautiful tank you've got rockin' there!!

[iyachtuxivm]

sorry to hear hope it turns out for you.

[Sir Patrick]

Sorry to hear about the bad news! Was just getting ready to comment on that sweet Richmond's Wrasse!

Very nice reef ya got going there! Very cool clam!

[ReeferRob]

More than a month, how's this bad boy doing?

[jck3120]

Tank is doing phenominal, restocked with fish, SPS and all corals are growing like crazy, life is good. I must say the best thing I've ever done for this tank was add a calcium reactor. Never ran one and am amazed at how much faster both the SPS and coraline algae grows. Will try to get some updated pics or a video over the long weekend.

[ReeferRob]

Come on main, LOL what kinda fish did you pick up? Interesting that you went the CARx direction with so many people opting just to dose 2 part. Which one did you opt for and was it difficult to dial in and fine tune?

.....On with the pictures!

[jck3120]

Come on main, LOL what kinda fish did you pick up? Interesting that you went the CARx direction with so many people opting just to dose 2 part. Which one did you opt for and was it difficult to dial in and fine tune?

.....On with the pictures!

Yeah I picked up Deb's Geo 624 that she had on her 450 reef. I tried the 2 part dosing on previous tanks and I never was consistant enough with the dosing, maybe things would have been different had I gotten some automatic dosing pumps. But I got a heck of a deal on the Ca Rx so figured I'd give it a shot. So far with the pH controller it's been set and forget...

Only two fish that made it thru the velvet were the yellow coris and the leopard wrasse...wondering if it's something to do with them both sleeping in the sand?? Not the first time I've heard that either. But I've done a lot of smaller, colorful fish this time around rather than the large group of tangs and I really like the look. Makes the tank look a lot more active IMO. Have a friend who is getting rid of a hippo and purple tang soon so may pick those up but otherwise probably call it good on the fish other than trying to find a female for my supermale Flame.


Current fish list:

Desjardini Sailfin Tang
Yellow Tang
Clown Tang
Supermale Flame Wrasse
Cebu Pylei Wrasse
Red Margin Wrasse
Yellow-flanked Wrasse
Leopard Wrasse
Yellow Coris Wrasse
McCosker's Wrasse
Cleaner Wrasse
Potter's Angel
Flame Angel
Midas Blenny
Flame Hawk
Mated pair of Black Perc and Orange Perc


Will try to get some pics tonight or tomorrow! :)

[stunreefer]

Only two fish that made it thru the velvet were the yellow coris and the leopard wrasse...wondering if it's something to do with them both sleeping in the sand??
The sand can play a role in that it "sloughs" off some of the slime coat when they hit it (sand), but moreso has to do with the scale structure on (most) genus of wrasses.

Nice new fish list, glad to see you got a couple angels in there ;)

And yes, pics are necessary!