The Journey

[Semper.Reefing]

Hey everyone! Finally saved up for my dream aquarium and made the purchase. After anxiously waiting for 3 weeks it finally shipped last Friday.

Little bit of background. I broke down my 75 gallon and sold it so I could put the 350 in its place. I set up a 20 long and cycled it before doing this so I could move my fish and the few coral frags (mostly zoas). All of my Euphyllia went into my Fluval EVO.

Fish I have:
-2 Clowns
-Dottyback
-Lawnmower Blenny (EVO)
-Pink Anthias
-Yellow Tang, being held onto by a friend with a larger tank.

Equipment I am using:
-Jebao DCT-4000 return
-Jebao RW-8 wavemaker
-Jeabao..cant remember the model but a smaller wave maker
-Sicce Xstream SDC (won in a MarineDepot giveaway on Instagram!!)
-2 Kessil A360WE's mounted on a DIY mount I made. 10 Inces above the water and spaced 15 inches apart.
-Reef Octopus 110-INT

I have made a lot of progress with the build so far, My wife took my daughter up north to see family this labor day weekend so I have 4 full days to work on it!

I will reply with each stage of the build and comment on what I did.

 

[Semper.Reefing]

I was so excited to tear this pallet apart that I forgot to take a pic! Very nice packaging by the way!

 

[Semper.Reefing]

My daughter helping me with the stand! Glad my wife was there to help me getting this tank on the stand before she left.

 

[Semper.Reefing]

I couldn't tell you how many pounds of rock I had in my 75g. I bought 30lbs more Marco dry rock from Bulk Reef Supply along with 6oz of their super glue and some mortar. I wanted to start completely new and minimize the risk of bringing pest hitch hikers into my new build. After tearing down the 75g I soaked my rock in a Brute trash can with roughly 15 gallons of water and 1 gallon of bleach. They soaked for a week and then I laid them out on the patio to sun dry for a few days. After drying, I grabbed a different storage container and filled with enough RODI water to submerge all the rocks. I poured a small bottle of Seachem Prime in an effort to remove any chlorine. After a few days in this bath I sun dried again. There was still a small chlorine smell to them so I repeated the process.

 

[Semper.Reefing]

I originally wanted to stack my rocks with a large mountain type stack on the right side and a smaller island on the left. But after seeing BRS's video on Negative Space Aquascapes I thought I'd give it a shot. I love the idea of having a lot of open space and openings for fish to swim through. Not to mention, the maintenance wont be too bad! Anyways, after getting the tank on the stand I immediately headed for the garage to start scaping. It was almost 0100am and I was getting frustrated... figured Id call it a night and start fresh tomorrow. After waking up I went to Lowes to pick up a chisel which was a must have. Worked on this for a good 5 or 6 hours in that hot South Carolina summer heat! It was a slow start, but once I got something going the rest came pretty quick.

 

[Semper.Reefing]

The final scape. This is exactly what I was going for. Some easy and simple that covers a lot of space in the display. I didnt want to have a tall tank with a low laying aqua scape.

 

[Semper.Reefing]

One of my biggest goals is wire management. I made this control board from a shelf I bought from Lowes. I cut it to the width of cabinet and its height is cut three inches from the top of the cabinet so theres a little gap. I cut a side out for my DJ powerbar and holes for the desk grommets. The rest speaks for itself. Zip ties were used to organize excess wires. Keeping my dosing containers in there for my Jebao DP-4 that I may use later on. I am super excited to have this control board! no more juggling cables! The power bar makes life so easy as well! Just flip a switch rather than finding a plug to pull!

 

[Semper.Reefing]

Ran these LEDs throughout the sump section and absolutely love them! Going to get some more strips to line on the other side. $14 at Walmart. Customizable colors!

 

[Fishnut]

Wow, you get the whole weekend to play with the tank and your wife didn’t leave you a “honey do list” Your one lucky dude. Enjoy and keep the photos coming

 

[Semper.Reefing]

Wow, you get the whole weekend to play with the tank and your wife didn’t leave you a “honey do list” Your one lucky dude. Enjoy and keep the photos coming

She only gave me one task of pulling some weeds haha, easy day!

 

[Semper.Reefing]

Finally full of water. Kind of digging the bare bottom! I added 60lbs of CaribSea Fiji Pink. Also got my salt mixed. For this set up I am using Brightwell Aquatics Neo Marine salt. Salinity is 1.025

 

[Semper.Reefing]

Really wanted to try this biobrick out. I just used the ATO container and mixed a little salt then added a 250ml bottle of Bacter7. Going to let this sit for 24 hours then add to the refugium section of the sump. Anyone else use this??

 

[Semper.Reefing]

Water is clearing up. Dr Tim’s One and Only added. Also threw a cube of brine shrimp in. Wondering if I should go ahead and add my clowns to help with the cycle? Suggestions?

 

[Snoopdog]

Word to the wise, add some live rock.

 

[Semper.Reefing]

small clip

 

[Semper.Reefing]

Word to the wise, add some live rock.

I may see if one of my buddies can hook me up with a rock.

 

[Semper.Reefing]

One week into the cycle and I have seen my ammonia spike. Going to give it another 4 to five weeks before I add my fish list.

I am buying all quarantined fish from Quarantinedfish.us. I reached out with my fish list and received a very quick response from Mike. The fish I will be buying are:
-Yellow Tang
-Tomini Tang
-Blue Hippo Tang
-Yellow Eye Kole Tang

I will buy a yellow coris wrasse and a sifter goby locally and monitor them in a separate tank until I’m ready to add them. I wanted to buy all the tangs at once so I can add them together.

 

[Semper.Reefing]

Dosed some Live Rock Enhance throughout the week. 2 weeks into the cycle and starting to see a small amount of nitrates. Lights come on today and in a few more weeks I might start by adding the tomini tang once I start hitting the ugly phase

 

[Semper.Reefing]

It seems as if my cycle is pretty much finished at the 2 week mark. Going to start adding fish next week.

 

[Zoajohn]

It seems as if my cycle is pretty much finished at the 2 week mark. Going to start adding fish next week.

Looking good. Do you happen to know what the dimensions of the "chiller cabinet" on the other side of the sump section in the cabinet are? Curious if a larger ATO container would fit. I have a 350 awaiting water in storage currently...