Mike's 360G Dream Tank, Dream Box Build

Cool, keep the updates coming.

A couple weeks ago, my wife asked if I thought the tank was ready for corals. I said possibly, not sure as nitrates were around 25-50 and po4 was .08. She went ahead and bought some corals without my knowledge and this is what showed up.

Slightyly browned out strawberry short cake. It's improved a little in the roughly two weeks it's been in the tank but not by much.




This one came in completely brown. It now has a glowing teal green color. This one has shown the most improvement thus far.




This one also came in completely brown. It now has a slight purple tint and the branches are turning a creamy white color. Looking forward to seeing what this one does.




Some of the wife's gold torches and a green hammer

They seem to have grown some. I would say that they are liking things.

Yes, I think you're right. I didn't even realize it until you mentioned it, thanks for pointing that out.

So this came in the mail today.




Very good packaging.



This reactor is big! But it looks so awesome.




I'll be setting it up tonight. Anybody have chaeto? LOL

That's one sweet reactor. Where are you located? I have some large clumps of chaeto.

We have a local guy in costa mesa, Steve Garrett. He has one of these, and has multiple strains of macro. He may be worth the trip if you are not in OC area.

Mike I got clean chaeto if you want some. Careful picking up chaeto from different sources, watch out for hitchhikers. No flat worms or aptasia etc

Thanks fellas, I already got some from Nick along with some other goodies. Your tank really took off from the last time I saw it Nick, good stuff! Hopefully, one day my tank will be as grown in as yours!!

Reactor installed, I got a bit of chaeto to start off with. Hopefully it will fill the reactor in no time. This reactor has some weight to it and it just has quality written all over it. The heat sinks works really well as it gets pretty warm when on for awhile. It's super bright also, I'm thinking I won't even need any moon lights on my tank at night anymore. It pretty much lights up the entire corner of my living room. I'll open up the reactor in a week and see how much the chaeto has grown.







I think I finally got this Dastaco running perfectly now. It's been a trend with this tank that pretty much any equipment I buy, I have to trouble shoot it as there is always something wrong with it. Majority of the stuff has not been plug and play for me, not fitting of things in such a price range. The co2 reaction chamber would completely drain causing the ehiem pump to run dry. It would eventually restart on it's own but it shouldn't run dry in the first place. Even though it was delivering alk/ca to the tank, it was also wasting a lot of co2.



Well, this KHG got packed up and shipped back to CoralVue yesterday. Loved it when it was working properly but in the less than a month it's been running, it's been throwing errors left and right. I would be able to clear the errors and get it running again but it would throw an error again a week later. This time, there was an error I couldn't clear and one of the doser motors stopped turning. Hopefully it will be an easy fix and I'll get it back soon.



Some pics my wife took of the newly acquired corals.

Healthy frags! Love when they already have good PE!

I would put the cheato reactor in a more accessible/convenient location, maybe just in front of the co2 tank would be fine. These things need to be/should be serviced bi weekly-monthly. The guy I mentioned earlier, Steve G has 2 of these, one on each of his systems. He cleans them every 2 weeks, but told me it would be ideal to do so every week.

PE right after hitting the tank! Thanks again.



Thanks for the suggestions Jose. Although it might not look like it from the picture, it's still very easy to easy and service. Ease of access and serviceability is top priority when it comes to reactors for me. I thought about putting it in front of the Co2 tank but then it would block the tank, the hoses would also get in the way. So I thought about putting it in front of the carx, the hoses once again are in the way and it would block the carx. The hose is 3/4" thick and doesn't bend so easily. I like to quickly glance at my equipment before heading off to work ensuring everything is running right.

Wow that is a awesome setup

The Dastaco has been keeping parameters rock steady since it's been set up, alk: 8, ca: 450 and mg hasn't budged (mg isn't dosed) from 1500 since the tank started up again.

Last couple weeks the rocks and sand have changed colors from green to brown. My gut is telling me it might be dinos but my mind is hoping it is not. It's slimey but not super stringy. It can grow maybe 1/8-1/4" off the rocks. It's most likely dinos so I've been skimming wet, dosing some zeobac and changing socks daily. I'm hoping the chaeto will out compete it once it grows in more.

The arid reactor has been online for about a week now. I started with a golf ball size of chaeto and this is how much it's grown in a week. Is this normal growth for a week or is it slower or faster than usual? I've never ran a fuge so I'm not really sure of it's growth rates.

Took some photos tonight with the DSLR. My camera skills are very lacking. I need to watch some videos and learn how to set the camera.


Just wanted to mention this clog free glue cap I found on Amazon several years ago. I helps keep the glue nozzle clean and clear and ready to go whenever you need to use it. I have been using this bottle of glue for a couple years now and I have never had to poke or cut the nozzle to clear a clog. It has a needle inside the cap and replaces your original superglue cap.



Whatever this bacteria/algae was on my sand and rocks seems to be clearing up.




Here is a picture of one of the first SPS in my tank. It was completely browned out. It has since colored up nicely.

8-8-17


8-19-17


9-8-17

Some pictures my wife took with her phone and a orange gel filter. Gotta say, it looks like it came out better than the pictures I took with a DSLR. hwell:

Thanks for the tip for the glue

Sps are looking good bro!!

Took some top down shots tonight along with a front shot. Looking forward to seeing these babies grow into colonies. Hopefully I'll get a few nice fishes in on Wednesday.





This is a top down of the very first sps I put into the system. It was completely browned out, I love watching browned out sps color up.