265 Gallon Salt

JasonsPlecosCichlids

Goliath Tigerfish
MFK Member
Jan 23, 2010
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3 weeks ago I converted my freshwater 265 into a saltwater 265, sold the fish I didnt want and moved them into the 150.

I filled the tank with 150lb of cured live rock, live sand from a fish store, waited 3 days and added my first 15" Stars and Stripes puffer, 2 days later got a huge Zebra Eel, then 2 days later a Lionfish and porcupine puffer, then a week later or so a tomato clown, 4 large domino damsels, 1 velvet damsel, blue tang, drugen trigger, 1 yellow tang, large yellow sided angel at 12" and a HUGE Batfish, not ever sure how big he is. During the time I was adding fish I was testing the water hourly, watched the ammonia rise, and all the others rise and fall. As I added more fish it started to rise again but not as bad and now everything has leveled off but still checking the parameters twice a day and feeding every 3 days or so of light feedings. I run 3 Emperor 400s, what is the smallest sump I can put on this tank? I was thinking about an FX5 because I cant really move the tank and this stand has 3 doors on it so I'm limited with space. So far I havent lost any fish, did a few water changes to help with the ammonia levels, etc. This is my first saltwater tank so I asked hundreds of questions it seemed like, I asked 15 people and got 30 different answers so I just combined them all and did what I thought I could get away with. Since Im off the whole month of Dec till Jan 3 I have a lot of time to devote to this tank to make sure everything goes well. Im also looking for a good protein skimmer but not something outrageous in price. I will post a video tonight of the tank.

Thanks
 

nonstophoops

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 4, 2009
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MasterB;4708001; said:
3 weeks ago I converted my freshwater 265 into a saltwater 265, sold the fish I didnt want and moved them into the 150.

I filled the tank with 150lb of cured live rock, live sand from a fish store, waited 3 days and added my first 15" Stars and Stripes puffer, 2 days later got a huge Zebra Eel, then 2 days later a Lionfish and porcupine puffer, then a week later or so a tomato clown, 4 large domino damsels, 1 velvet damsel, blue tang, drugen trigger, 1 yellow tang, large yellow sided angel at 12" and a HUGE Batfish, not ever sure how big he is. During the time I was adding fish I was testing the water hourly, watched the ammonia rise, and all the others rise and fall. As I added more fish it started to rise again but not as bad and now everything has leveled off but still checking the parameters twice a day and feeding every 3 days or so of light feedings. I run 3 Emperor 400s, what is the smallest sump I can put on this tank? I was thinking about an FX5 because I cant really move the tank and this stand has 3 doors on it so I'm limited with space. So far I havent lost any fish, did a few water changes to help with the ammonia levels, etc. This is my first saltwater tank so I asked hundreds of questions it seemed like, I asked 15 people and got 30 different answers so I just combined them all and did what I thought I could get away with. Since Im off the whole month of Dec till Jan 3 I have a lot of time to devote to this tank to make sure everything goes well. Im also looking for a good protein skimmer but not something outrageous in price. I will post a video tonight of the tank.

Thanks

First off, you went about this all wrong. I am amazed you have not killed all your fish with inadequate filtration, water movement, and most importantly not letting the tank cycle!!!!! Ammonia is toxic in even the smallest amounts. You ideally would have let you tank cycle for at least a month before even putting in small fish, let alone putting in more fish than the tank can handle long term. You have to wait between adding fish too, for at least a couple weeks because your system's bacteria can't handle the load and lead to ammonia spikes like what you have. Your have some very large fish that create a lot of waste. The damsels will become dinner in time if your lionfish grows as it should. The eel may eat them too if he can catch them. The batfish should be in a much larger system. Batfish are really not something that should be in the hobby and are reserved for people with gigantic tanks. Think a 1000 plus gallons of water. They are very tall fish and need lots of space to swim.

Canister filters will not cut it on a system this size unless you buy at least 4 FX5's and clean them out every couple days at most. Your tank will turn into a nitrate factory otherwise. Also, they do not oxygenate the water and will leave the tank at low levels, very unhealthy for the fish.

A top of the line skimmer is the most important thing you will need for this tank, so yes you will have to shell out a lot of money. Something like an Aqua C EV-400 with Mag Drive 18 pump or equivalent is necessary, if not another different skimmer in addition.

In total, you should have a flow of at least 2650 gallons per hour. So adding up filters, pumps, and powerheads, you need to come to that number or better yet much more.

With the time you have available off of work, you should make at least one sump. The sump can hold you heater, skimmer, filter pads, etc. You can construct this out of another tank(think 125 gallon) or an industrial rubbermaid (100, 150 gallons). Larger than this would be great if you have enough room. If your tank does not have built in overflows, you will need a very large hang on back overflow box to circulate water into the sump. In the sump you should build an area that holds water with baffles and put in a deep sand bed of aragonite sand. It should be 5 inches at least. You can grow cheatomorpha or another macroalgae to harvest nutrients. Plans for all of these things can easily be found online.

I may sound harsh on how you have gone about starting your saltwater tank. It is a very rewarding thing of beauty if you do it right. Losing livestock ends up being much more expensive than the money you sink into building proper filtration and housing for your fish. A little hard work in DIY projects can save money and go a long way in this regard. I wish you good luck, and please continue to ask questions.
 

robandhooch

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 15, 2010
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wow, i take it somebody that sold you the fish told you it was a good idea to go at it like that? canister filters are for people who like to work on their tanks instead of enjoying them. drill it and sump it out. you get what you pay for with a skimmer for the most part, crucial piece of equiptment, octopus makes some great skimmers as does asm. just assume they are all over rated and go bigger than needed not smaller. by the way if you're if you're adopting children let me know, i want first in line
 

Heathd

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Mar 9, 2010
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I would say that you certainly took some risk by adding that many fish to such a young tank, and created more work for yourself in the process. In any event, whats done is done, and so long as you stay up to par on the water qaulity and do the water changes, you will probably make it out fine... maybe a couple of fish lost.

Cannisters are great for trapping ditritus, but that also seems to be their downfall. They really need to be cleaned on a very regular basis to keep nitrates down. I wont tell you its not an option, but I would say to consider something else.

HOB filters work, but dont really excel in saltwater, and can cause the same nitrate issues without regular cleaning of the mechanical filtration.

I like sumps. Its certainly what I would go with. If you throw out the dimensions of your stand and the door opening, I can try to get you an estimate on size. Either way, one option is to run two managable sumps in parrallel, that way you can get everything you need. I highly reccomend you consider a good skimmer, and if space/budget allows, a fuge.

I also didnt see what you had goign for flow inside your tank. Regardless of what option you pick, you should place some powerheads in the tank. You can only catch what gets blown to the pick up lines.
 

Pazzoman

Piranha
MFK Member
Apr 5, 2009
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Here www.superskimmer.com they have sumps and skimmer combinations. I will be getting a sump from here in the near future. I have an fx5 and it is a nitrate factory...never have any time to enjoy my fish tank. A sump is low maintenance and great to hide heaters, skimmers and other stuff.
 

FLESHY

Polypterus
MFK Member
Jan 7, 2006
5,542
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As I was reading that stocking, a couple things were going through my mind:

1. Hmm okay.
2. Wow. Thats a lot of fish early.
3. Holy crap. This is a lot of fish.
4. Man...really? This is almost overstocked.
5. Okay...where does this thing end.
6. ...

Ha ha just kidding. It is a huge stocking list though, and you did it all in a couple days.

Good advice from the guys above, Im not going to kick the horse while its down. Lets just keep the info coming in, and hope that we can keep the fish alive!
 

thisissimple

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 8, 2010
160
0
0
Los Angeles
FLESHY;4708758; said:
As I was reading that stocking, a couple things were going through my mind:

1. Hmm okay.
2. Wow. Thats a lot of fish early.
3. Holy crap. This is a lot of fish.
4. Man...really? This is almost overstocked.
5. Okay...where does this thing end.
6. ...

Ha ha just kidding. It is a huge stocking list though, and you did it all in a couple days.

Good advice from the guys above, Im not going to kick the horse while its down. Lets just keep the info coming in, and hope that we can keep the fish alive!
I threw up once and had two separate grand mal seizures. 3 days?

To your credit, your water changes are probably keeping those fish alive. Keep them up. Get a sweet oversized skimmer asap, and post some pics, I bet this looks crazy. Also, never listen to the person who told you this was ok ever, ever again.
 

JasonsPlecosCichlids

Goliath Tigerfish
MFK Member
Jan 23, 2010
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jasonsplecoscichlids.com
I figured I'd get these types on comments which is why I posted it to begin with.

I did two 20% water changes to help with the ammonia which did help, along with using Prime which after 2 days the Ammonia went to 0PPM and still is 0PPM as of right now during the morning check.

As stated before I have 3 Emperor 400 filters but what I forget to mention where the 2 Coralina 4's in have in there as well. Below the 2 Coralinas I have a bubble disk, the bubbles go in the Coralina which then releases micro-fine bubbles throughout the tank providing plenty of oxygen in the tank.

Last night I got a protein skimmer rated for a 300 gallon tank which will be going up tonight sometime.

Also had the Golden Diatom Alagea appear over night and took about a week to disappear.

I know a lot of people that use canister filters on their salt tanks and they have no issues. The range from 55 gallons to 300 gallon tanks, big and small fish, no issues. Some even have sumps and skimmers but not all.

All my fish are doing excellent, swim all day, have great color and eat well.

I am however taking the lionfish back, some of the fish I want he will eat which I knew of before I got him but I first had these guys in a 150 gallon and only had a few big fish he could never eat. Now wilth all the liverock I have, I want to get some smaller fish as well. My smallest fish are 4 rather larger Domino Damsel that he isnt no where close to being able to eat yet but will some day.

I will post a video on Sunday, getting another Zebra Eel and more rock and also have a Damsel that is being a prick to the other fish so he is going back as well. I did pick up a Kole Tang and a Butterfly last night as well.
 
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