Sorry for the delayed responses.

My stocking plans include a couple of sand sifting gobies, but I have been hesitant to put them in the tank before it matures a little. Other than bacteria, theres probably not much in the sand bed for them to eat. I'll have to consider whether I can keep them fed with pellet food?

Turning the biopellet reactors off may or may not be a good idea, if I ever plan to start them up again. I'm not ready to give up yet. I'd really like to get things balanced and have the biopellets work for me. If I take them offline now, then I will have to go through this whole ordeal again at some point in the future. I'd rather just figure it out now. I guess I'm stubborn that way.

Thanks for the compliment :) - I tried to PM you but got an error. Anyway, I paid way to much for my stand because I didn't like the first version and sent it back to a different welder for modifications. In hind sight, this was a mistake and I should have just left well enough alone.

I do really like my stand and would recommend to anyone to build a metal stand. Just make sure the welder understands the importance of having it perfectly square, level and planar. Also, consider how you will brace the stand against sheering.

If you have the ability to transport the stand yourself, I would take it for powder coating yourself. The first go around I paid the welder $250+ to do this for me. The second go around I took it to the power coater myself and it cost me something like $100.

For a 180 DD your probably looking at around $400 - $500 all inclusive, but it could be less. I wouldn't expect it to be more.

There's a link in my post about the stand to a thread on RC. I found that to be a very useful thread.

Thanks Albert!! - That's really amazing. I will talk to a friend of mine and see if he has this for sale.

I'll have to do a little reseach to see how it interacts with biopellets. My concern is that it will interfere with the biopellet process. If it works by breaking down protien then the bacteria should not be directly affected but I want to understand that process a little better before going down that route.

In the thread, the OP wants to rid his tank of bacteria. I want the bacteria, I just want it to stay in the biopellet reactors.

If I do try this, I will let you know how it works.

Hey Tony - As always, thanks for the feedback and ideas. I'm in the camp that really doesn't like the bare bottom look. I also have all kinds of crazy looking structures under my rock, so bare bottom isn't really an option with this tank.

It's really just one more thing to learn about. Lot's of people have successful Shallow Sand Beds. I just have to figure out how to manage it.

I've been starting to think about moving some fish over. Probably not for another week or two as I want to make some new introductions before transferring my existing stock. I might send you a PM about the fish trap that you used.

- Brad

My diamond watchman goby is a model citizen for what it's worth. Doesn't even leave the sandbed while spitting it out and he also eats everything else I feed the tank. One of the best livestock choices I've made as my sand did a 180 since the addition.

Two steps forwards, one step back.
 

So I've been busy working on the tank. I think I have some interesting updates.

• I have really been struggling with the never ending bacteria bloom that has been plaguing my tank. Today I did what I promised myself I wouldn't do and took both biopellet reactors offline :sad:. New tanks are all about finding a bacterial balance and I believe that the bacteria that had colonized the biopellets were somehow preventing the tank from reaching an equilibrium. I also think that having started with Dry Rock for most of the tank was detrimental to the overall success of bringing the tank online with the biopellets running. If I had started off with a healthy and diverse bacteria colony from good live rock, it might have played out differently. I do plan to try again with the biopellets, but I will wait until the tank matures a bit.
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• I took Brett's advice and picked up a pair of Diamond Watchman Gobies. To be fair, this was not the first time I had considered these fish. I had one in my 90G before I added the screen top and he jumped out (I'm still mad at the Calgary LFS for assuring me it was a good beginner fish). This pair is doing great in the 300G.
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• I took Albert's advice and I started looking into Zeovit. I talked to Dave at Concept Aquariums about this and he had the product in stock! - Dave used it on his home tank with similar results to the thread posted by Albert. I bought a bottle of Bio-Mate from Dave and will be testing this on my tank.
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• The BIG news - Jeff and Renee at J&L Aquatics hooked me up big time! I don't know if they were doing me a personal favor or if they do this for all of their customers (my guess is the later), but they really came through on this one.
  
  I picked up a harem of 12 Bartlett's Anthias. 1 Male and 11 Females - and they are awesome! Getting that many females in a single order is basically unheard of and no one else (probably in north america) could have done this for me. All but one were eating on the first day. I've had them a little over a week now and they all love pellets.
  
  My next post will have lots of pictures of these fish.

Pictures in my next post...

sweet!......a harem!.......I wish I had a harem.............of anthias.....ya, anthias

Bartlett's Antias
 

I picked up the fish at the Air Canada Cargo depot at around 9:30am on Saturday. After a quick inspection I could see that the fish were swimming in their bags and the water was warm. J&L packed them perfectly.

http://owa.footit.ca/wwwimages/anthi...anthias001.jpg . http://owa.footit.ca/wwwimages/anthi...anthias002.jpg . http://owa.footit.ca/wwwimages/anthi...anthias003.jpg . http://owa.footit.ca/wwwimages/anthi...anthias004.jpg

Acclimating 12 fish at once is not an easy task.

I setup a containment tank for the Anthias. I would have liked to do a full QT, but logistically this would have been difficult. With the intent of getting these Anthias to eat (4 or 5 times a day), it would have been difficult to keep the water stable in an isolated system. At least in the containment tank I could observe the fish and clean up any leftover food after each feeding.

http://owa.footit.ca/wwwimages/anthi...anthias005.jpg . http://owa.footit.ca/wwwimages/anthi...anthias006.jpg

After releasing the fish into the containment tank, they schooled as a tight group in one corner. This was encouraging as no single fish went off on it's own. After about half an hour, they started exploring the tank.

http://owa.footit.ca/wwwimages/anthi...anthias007.jpg . http://owa.footit.ca/wwwimages/anthi...anthias008.jpg

For the past week, I've been feeding a variety of food including Frozen Cyclop-eeze, Reef Nutrition Arcti-Pods and New Life Spectrum Pellets. My focus has been on the pellets as that is how I plan to keep them feed in the main tank.

Today they were moved to the main tank. There were a number of considerations here, but Anthias really need more space than a 30G holding tank. In order for them to feel at home, they need the rocks and the current.

http://owa.footit.ca/wwwimages/anthi...anthias009.jpg

You can see the two gobies on the left.

There are some interesting threads on RC that talk about female Batlett's changing into males (more frequently than in some other Anthia species). In the wild, there seems to be more males than females which is unusual for an Anthia species. In captivity, many people observe some or all of their females changing into males after which they occasionally fight until there is only one left. These considerations were not lost on me when making this purchase. I am hopeful that the ratio of males to females in my tank will remain in favor of the females. Having said that, I do expect at least one or two of the now females to change into males. It is entirely possible that this process started before introducing the fish to my tank and that it is now irreversible.

I do believe that my tank is big enough to support at least 2 or 3 males. Assuming no losses, this would result in a 1 - 3 ratio of males to females.

There are reasons why I believe I can achieve long term success with this group of fish, but I can really only hope I am right. No question they are a delicate species. Time will tell.

The other concern I have right now is in regards to flukes. There is absolutely no sign of any disease or stress, but I'm not sure that I could identify flukes if I were looking right at them? - I am considering treating the tank with PraziPro as a preventative measure. This would be the one advantage of starting with Dry Rock - there is nothing to kill. I haven't made this decision yet, but once the tank starts to mature, it will become difficult if not impossible to treat for flukes. While it would be purely preventative, I do have a rare window of opportunity. My research suggests that there is no residual effects from PraziPro that would impact the reef long term.

Ohhh those look purdy! Next month when I've got time to breath I'll need to swing by again not to mention have you over. You'll love the watchmen gobies and you have a net on the tank this time as well.

Just noticed the clamp for each bag! You really do have every supply imaginable tucked away down there!

Your tank is coming along very well. WHen are you getting the rest of the fish and corals in there? That Cheato I got from you is growing like crazy! Thank you!!

Slowly but surely...

http://owa.footit.ca/wwwimages/2011-...ne2011-5-1.jpg

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http://owa.footit.ca/wwwimages/2011-...ne2011-5-2.jpg

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http://owa.footit.ca/wwwimages/2011-...ne2011-5-3.jpg << My Favorite

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http://owa.footit.ca/wwwimages/2011-...ne2011-5-4.jpg

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http://owa.footit.ca/wwwimages/2011-...ne2011-5-5.jpg

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http://owa.footit.ca/wwwimages/2011-...ne2011-5-6.jpg

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http://owa.footit.ca/wwwimages/2011-...ne2011-5-7.jpg

Anthia Update: I started with 11 female and 1 male. After a week or two, one of the females became the second male. I suspect that the transition may have begun before I even received these fish. I now have 2 males and 10 females. I have seen the males fighting, but only very rarely. For the most part, they seem to get along just fine. I will occasionally see the two males swimming side by side. The Anthias don't really school as a group anymore, but I didn't expect them to. They do school in smaller groups which is still pretty spectacular.

DAMN your tank is looking amazing i'm gonna have to hurry up and get a house so i can upgrade to a monster like yours lol

Looks fantastic Brad!

nice progress.....like the aquascape.

Thanks Victor - You live close to me. Come see the tank some time.

Thanks Tony - Any updates on your build?

Thanks Darryl - Congrats on winning TOTM. I have the same vision of a mature SPS reef. I'd say that I'm a couple of years away from realizing it. Good job with your setup.

I really do appreciate the feedback. I don't always post as much as I probably should but I am still following most of the other great builds on Canreef. Thanks again.

Any updates Brad? Colours look to be doing really well in your last round of pics (which I somehow missed).

I've been fighting my share of demons. I learned (thanks Brett) that I had Red Bugs, treated with Interceptor and believe that I have been bug free since. I didn't seem to lose anything else. My pod population didn't even really take a hit which worries me somewhat, but I'll take it.

I've recently lost a couple corals. I can't yet pinpoint what the cause may have been. The tank seems to have restabalized, so hopefully the worst is over. I did notice that my phosphate levels were high, so I brought that down. I also replaced my carbon, but other than that I haven't really changed anything. All other water parameters are in check.

The best theory that I have is that it was related to lighting. I did allow a fair bit of particulate matter to build up while I was away for a couple of weeks. Perhaps when I cleaned up the water quality the extra light penetration bleached the corals. Just a theory.

I've started to get some algae on the sand. This is really the first nuisance algae that has shown up in the display tank. There's a fair bit of algae in the sump, but it hasn't been a problem before now. I'm not exactly sure what kind of algae this is?

http://owa.footit.ca/wwwimages/2011-...aug2011_02.JPG


The rock is really starting to mature. I started off with about 250 pounds of base rock and less than 50 pounds of live rock. You can still pick out the original live rock, but the base rock blends in very nicely. Coraline growth has been excellent. You only have to go back about 8 posts to see how much the colour has changed.

http://owa.footit.ca/wwwimages/2011-...aug2011_05.JPG


I finished stocking the tank with fish. Just for fun, here's what I have.

False Perc Clown (mated pair)
Mandarin Dragonette (1 male, 1 female)
Indigo Dottyback (2)
Royal Dottyback
Firefish (2)
Orange Diamond Goby (2)
Yellow Tang, Purple Tang, Powder Blue Tang, Sailfin Tang, Hippo Tang
Solar Wrasse
Flame Wrasses (mated pair)
Rhomboid Wrasse (3 male, 1 female)
Bartlette Anthias (3 male, 9 female)
Metallic Foxface

Here's a full tank shot for August.

http://owa.footit.ca/wwwimages/2011-...aug2011_03.JPG


I suck at taking pictures, so when I get a good one it's rather exciting (for me at least). Here's one of my Mandarin Dragonetts.

http://owa.footit.ca/wwwimages/2011-...aug2011_04.JPG


.. and one of my wrasses

http://owa.footit.ca/wwwimages/2011-...aug2011_06.JPG


I really enjoy watching the fish as the sun sets. With the Vertex Illumina lighting, it's a gradual shift from left to right as opposed to a dimming of the entire lighting system. The fish really do behave differently during this time. Here's a sequence that I took this evening.

9:00pm
http://owa.footit.ca/wwwimages/2011-aug/ca_dusk_1.JPG


9:15pm
http://owa.footit.ca/wwwimages/2011-aug/ca_dusk_2.JPG


9:25pm
http://owa.footit.ca/wwwimages/2011-aug/ca_dusk_3.JPG


9:35pm
http://owa.footit.ca/wwwimages/2011-aug/ca_dusk_4.JPG


9:45pm
http://owa.footit.ca/wwwimages/2011-aug/ca_dusk_6.JPG


9:50pm
http://owa.footit.ca/wwwimages/2011-aug/ca_dusk_7.JPG


Check out the Anthias schooling in the last two pics (9:45 & 9:50). They do this every night as the lights dim. 30 seconds after the last light fades, they are completely gone - hiding in the rocks.

Most of my automated systems are working well. I don't spend a lot of time maintaining the tank any more. There are still lots of little projects, like paneling for the stand, but at the moment I am just enjoying the tank. The projects can all wait. I've been building for years now and it's nice that this isn't such a high priority any more.

- Brad

Wow the rock went purple quite fast that's impressive. It was bone white when last I saw so that's a great sign. Awesome collection of fishies you have there. We should do LED sunset beverages one evening lol.

Sorry to hear of the challenges. .. summer is a hard time for tanks I think. Things are looking good though.

2/3 of my SPS are thriving. The colours are deep and rich. The PE is good.

1/3 of my corals are either dying or dead. Some still have reasonable PE, but have completely bleached. Some are clearly dead.

I can't figure out what's going on?

Somewhat frustrating...

Sorry to hear that Brad. I can't offer any suggestions but I hope that turns around.

While your rock is looking more mature that stuff might take a long time to really catch up to where live rock would have been I imagine. Maybe not... just thinking aloud. Isn't this hobby FUN?

I've been wondering this same exact thing too Brett. Even though my dry rock looked like collected live rock by around the 2-3 month mark, at 9 months in my tank just seems to be having issues that one really would expect out of a newer tank. It's not unfair to think that dried rock needs more time to catch-up.

I'm sorry to hear of your issues Brad. FWIW, and probably for a myriad of potential causes, summers are hard on tanks. With the level of attention to detail you've put into yours, I'm sure yours will turn around in time. My own tank is suffering issues. No coral losses (well, one montipora did recede but it's not a loss at this point), but, just stuff that shouldn't be happening. Bryopsis, hair algae, sludge algae, cyanos, diatoms, dinoflaggelates. Dinos are the worst thing, it's so demoralizing because it just doesn't go away, and it's lethal to anything that samples it.

Hey your tank looks amazing, hows everything going in it now?

Hi Mustang / All

The tank has been ticking along. To that end, I am very grateful for all of the work I put into automation. Maintenance consists of little more than cleaning the skimmers (5 minutes/Week) and occasionally cleaning the glass (5 minutes).

I have to say that after several years of constant building, tweaking, upgrading, adding, fixing, tinkering and generally obsessing over the tank, it's very nice to just sit back and just look at it - without feeling compelled to change something because it isn't absolutely perfect.

I suffered a complete loss of all my corals which really left me discouraged. I can't explain what happened. My best guess is leaching from my 200G saltwater storage resevior. I plan to get rid of this in favor of a smaller resevoir, and hope that the problem goes away. I will eventually figure out what went wrong and start over, but rather than going crazy over it, I am taking my time. I finally learned how to have patience.

The good news is that my fish look spectacular. I have a great collection of fish and they are all thriving in the tank (go figure). I lost one goby and a shrimp, but other than that all of the fish are doing great.

At the end of the day, I still love my tank and I still love this hobby.

Glad to hear you're still in it Brad. I knew of your issues but once again I'm sorry ya had them. I think posting some fish pics (and then all of us telling you how rad they are) is in order...

happy to see you're still with us Brad. I would settle for some fish pics.

I love the look of your tank. Its interesting you had a complete loss of your corals. I experienced the same thing when I upgraded my 165 to 300g back in 2007. It took months of constant deteoration before they all kicked the bucket. I don't know what it is but many people (after I experienced mine) also went through the same thing when they upgrade. I thought the big change and addition of new saltwater would have been like a refreshing water change but several months into it, everything just started to die. Never really figured out why.

I saw the pics of the anthias and with my observations of my own anthias, I've come to the belief that these fishes school only for self-preservation...... hoping predators will eat "somebody else closer to me but not me". Hence the schoolings as nightime or lower lights approach. But in the daytime, its open feeding and a free for all buffet.

Hey Brad,

Just wondering if you can give us an update on this? I noticed all your pictures are gone? :cry:

I am currently in the process of trying to get my tank back on track after a year of neglect. I lost all of the coral mid 2011. Most of the fish have survived. Things are looking up, but I have a little ways to go. Most importantly, I am having fun with it again.

The pictures all seemed to have disappeared from my server? I'm searching through the backups now, but I'd say there is only a limited likelyhood of success. I will stay optimistic.

- Brad

You host your own pictures? Are you running a Windows box with IIS? or Linux with Apache?