RickyB’s 400 Gallon Custom Oceanic build

I end up buying a new TDS inline meter. The tank was filled 2/3 with RO-DI water and yesterday I added a full 160G bucket of Seachem Reef Salt. I'm now waiting for the water to clear.
 
Thanks, the tank is now at 1.026 SG

Does anyone has any opinions on the easiest way to rinse new sand?
 
Cool looking skimmer with nice footprint rated to 792 Gallons it says. How big is the neck/cup on that thing?
 
I'll post as soon as I receive it. It's a pre-order item from Skimz and Aquacave is expecting them in a few weeks.
 
After waiting the tank to cycle I added a 1 fish, a six line wrasse. He/she has been doing well and eating everything I put in the tank.
I have not done any water changes since getting the tank setup but I got everything ready and will start in the next few days with at least 2 40G changes.
I'm still waiting for the darn skimmer [smilie=sadsmile.gif] Aquacave has not received them yet and the new date is end of February. This thing better super-exceed my expectations once it gets here.
Regarding the lighting I have not made any decisions yet. I'm been in email conversations with Jeff at Steve's LED's, really interested in their Luxeon M 12W LED's. On the other, I just read that Reefbreeders is coming out with their Supernova model.
In the mean time I'm looking for a company or someone that can make me an Oak canopy. I'm also tempted to buy a table saw and do it myself, but will see.

I just hope I can get all this done and ready before the frag swap.
 
Reefbreeders customer service is top notch in my opinion. I have the Photon series and I have to keep them turned down. I was cooking some of my corals at 80% / 60%. My tank is 27" deep and the lights are 9-10" above the water line though and yours is 36" but you have such a deep sand bed it makes yours more like 30".
Sucks about the skimmer. I bought my RO DC skimmer on the prebuy price and was fortunate that I don't get into the bind you are in. Hope the skimmer works great for you when you finally get it.
 
I got good needs from Aquacave. The skimmer finally made it to their warehouse and was shipped to me yesterday. I end up buying a new pump from Coralvue for the temporary Reef Octopus I bought. The new pump-skimmer combo pulled some nasty stuff. (Sicca PSK-1000)

Some other updates,
The stand and doors were completed and I'm now working on building the new canopy.
LED's, I went with another vendor. Reefbreeders has not released their supernova fixture and I didn't want to be in the same spot as with the skimmer.
After many large water changes the Nitrates are finally under 5ppm. This was my own mistake by not rinsing the rocks before I added them to the tank. Another lesson learned.
I purchased a few fish at some of our local stores and order a few more online.
Current fish list: Six Line Wrasse, Pair of Black & White Ocellaris clowns, Yellow Coris Wrasse, Purple Dottyback, Gold Head Sleeper Goby, 7-Lyretail Anthias, Copperband Butterfly and 2 Purple Firefish.


Does anyone know where I can get some Oak doors made? I checked online and found a manufacturer but not sure if they are some local locations I can check.
 
I finished the canopy for the tank. This is my first ever woodwork I done. Not too bad considering..

What do you guys - gals think?
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Thanks Mike. It has been a slow process but is getting there.
Wednesday I'll receive the first order of coral frags from Reef Pets. Can't wait!

Here is a another view with the front panel up for full access.
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Looks great. Like the work you did and how this turned out. Let me know what you think of your order from Reef Pets. I have watched a lot of the stuff they sale but haven't ordered from them before.
 
Received the order on Wednesday. All was packaged nicely and to my surprise the bags were sealed not stapled or rubber-band. All corals appeared to be in good condition except for one and did not make it. As of last evening I noticed another coral not looking good and this morning appeared to be RTN. I will double check when I get back home but the white coloration is usually not a good indicator. As for the rest of the corals they all started to get their colors but not as good as in there pictures. Time will tell and hopefully they will.
I sent them an email about the first coral loss and they said they will mark it as DOA and follow their process. I also suggested they add a cross reference sheet to verify the corals received or label the bags. It took me a little while to identify each coral.

- Would I buy again from ReefPets - YES
 
Thanks Marc,

Christmas came early this year! Got a shipment of corals in, now is time to grow them.
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Unfortunately this build has not gone as planned and I'm loosing the battle against algae. As most of us, when dealing with situations like this, the thought about calling it quits ponders on.
As expected with a new setup, I've battle the usual hair algae and cyano and was able to come on top, but with this algae, I'm really struggling with, it looks like hair algae but builds tough turfs that makes it harder to remove. I tried the usual pull by hand, toothbrush and lots of doses of Algaefix, some rocks are almost completely covered while others are almost clear.
The tank parameters are stable, and prior to the algae growing, all corals were thriving.
RO-DI TDS 0
Salinity 1.026
Ca 450
dKH 8.5
Mg 1410
pH 8.1~
Temp 78
Nitrates 0
PO4 0 (Salifert)

In a last effort, I going to look for a couple of rubbermaid tanks or similar in order to pull all of the corals into one and cook the rocks on the other.

I would like to hear your suggestions.
Thanks in advance.
 
It might be time to increase your cleaner crew. I have same issue in my personal tank. I've let the numbers drop to low. If you want to drop by Glass Aquatics tomorrow (12-6), we can get you fixed up with a good healthy cleaning crew.
 
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