265 Gal Build/Update 5/6/11

Its funny how everyone comes to the front of the glass when you walk in the room and follow you from side to side! here is a panorama shot that I took a few days ago... It is actually made up of three separate photos (that is why it looks like I have three of each fish lol).

 

Here's pics of everyone including our hippo. Everyone seems to be adjusting nicely.

 

Wow,the tank has come a long ways,it's looking great.I'm totally envious of your fish selections!

 

Very nice congrats on all being happy

 

Thanks 2in10 and grinder!

 

Great Set Up! Its great to see another local.

 

Hey great job!!!

I thought I was seeing double with all those pairs groups!!!!

Nice to have the space for a PAIR of Sailfins!!!

 

i am soooooo jealous. Just read through all 18 pages!
I'd love to build something like this someday. I have a 75g set up on a wall right now that i'd love to replace with a ~240g someday. Glad to hear you've been using a QT! i was a little curious that i hadn't seen one mentioned till towards the end there... I'm assuming you haven't lost anything in the DT. Has the QTs saved you any headaches yet? I've read so many builds where they don't use them or go too fast. Seems that you've gotten a good pace on your build from what i've seen. Oh, and how'd that lobster do with your corals and such?

 

Thanks Epsilon! This has definitely been a dream of ours - a large mixed reef. It took us a while to get it started because the initial costs were painful - it took a tax return and a bonus from work lol. We had the tank sitting dry in our garage for at least 6 months. We had rock curing in barrels for months. Fish being held in other tanks for months. So You could definitely say we were chomping at the bit to get this thing wet! It's amazing how quick even a 265 can feel "full."

We've had most of the tangs for over a year now, with the exception of the yellow tang that we purchased when the 265 became fish ready. They were previously held in 125 fish only systems - that way they were easy to treat in tank if any issues came up. In effect, they were in 125 gallon QT tanks. Quarantining is a must! Especially with newly acquired tangs that are stressed out from capture and relocating. Once adapted to captivity and settled in, healthy tangs can kick bouts of ick on their own quite easily. We've definitely taken our time tea getting them into the 265 because the last thing we want to do is stress everyone out and have a massive ick outbreak... That might be too much for even our well adapted tangs. So, we've moved around 2 fish at a time and waited about 2 weeks to make sure that they settled in without issue before attempting to move more. We've also moved in order of size and aggressiveness (smaller, less-aggressive fish first). That is very important.

The lobster has not bothered any fish or corals, however he does have a taste for small margarita snails. I can live with losing a snail a week or so, but I will keep my eye on him. I try to keep him ft and happy by giving him a whole silverside every other day - he takes it right out of my hand. He's beautiful and interesting so hopefully he behaves.

 

Thanks Dan! What kind of diving do you do?