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Stylo328
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Thank you very much.
Double or Nothing... AJ's 405-Gallon Reef Savvy Upgrade
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Thank you very much.
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Stylo328
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Thankfully we went all day yesterday without any further leaks and the inside of the stand is noticeably dryer, which gives me some confidence that the leak I addressed was the only one.
Yesterday was dedicated to finishing the install of the lights in the canopy. I tried to install the fixtures on drawer tracks, but that was an epic fail. Fell back to my plan B which relies on SS wall anchors and SS s-hooks. This should work well and allow the flexibility to remove and replace bulbs in the future if needed. Here are a few pics.
I also spent some time at Faulkner Plastics yesterday (they are great people) and had 3/8" black starboard cut to cover the external portion of the ghost overflow, replacing the thin acrylic covers. I also had a piece of 3/8" cut for a platform under the calcium reactor and CO2 tank as it was marring the stand's painted finish. Finally, I had 3/4" black starboard cut to fit the bottom of the aquarium.
Hopefully we will have the transfer of rock and coral completed today!
Yesterday was dedicated to finishing the install of the lights in the canopy. I tried to install the fixtures on drawer tracks, but that was an epic fail. Fell back to my plan B which relies on SS wall anchors and SS s-hooks. This should work well and allow the flexibility to remove and replace bulbs in the future if needed. Here are a few pics.
I also spent some time at Faulkner Plastics yesterday (they are great people) and had 3/8" black starboard cut to cover the external portion of the ghost overflow, replacing the thin acrylic covers. I also had a piece of 3/8" cut for a platform under the calcium reactor and CO2 tank as it was marring the stand's painted finish. Finally, I had 3/4" black starboard cut to fit the bottom of the aquarium.
Hopefully we will have the transfer of rock and coral completed today!
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Stylo328
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Well, it finally happened. The transfer is complete!
Before you flame me about the fish, let me qualify that the mystery wrasse and sailfish blenny both wedged themselves in boulders and my only options were to move them in to the new tank or kill them in the process of getting them out of the respective holes. I tried everything, including setting the rock on a table out of water to see if they would wiggle out, to no avail. Once they had made it in the tank, the whole fallow bit went out the window. (As of last night both fish were out swimming and eating).
Yesterday morning started with the four kids performing in the church's rendition of the live nativity. It was beautiful, and I took the opportunity to pray hard for the day's events to follow.
As soon as we got home, I immediately went to work on getting the starboard in place, which was not easy given how buoyant it is. I had to coordinate getting it in place and then have my wife or son hold it down with a piece of PVC while I placed a large enough rock on it.
Once the starboard was in, I started placing the new "dead" rock, which I had cooked in muriatic acid, in the tank. The first island to the left and a few other pieces are new rock additions. They will be easy to identify as they are very white... I then started moving over established rock and corals. As you read above, two fish had made the move unexpectedly, so I caught and acclimated the rest of the fish. I also chiseled off the orange galaxia from its residency on one of the largest rocks. It was killing everything around it. I was able to get it off in one piece (sand a few Frags) and it now resides on the floor, where it can be happy without harming its neighbors. Same goes for the space invader pectina.
When all was said and done, we had made the complete move, including emptying the 187 and moving it to the garage by 11:00pm. I had several accidental frags, which I gave to a friend along with the two bubble tip anemones.
I'm happy with how the aquascape turned out and am glad to have made it to this point. I'm sure there will be quite abbot of fine tuning over the coming days/weeks, but overall the tank is as expected. I cannot say enough about how supportive my wife and kids were yesterday and leading up to this point.
Here is a closeup of how the ATI's are mounted.
This configuration allows for plenty of airflow for the ATI fans.
And a couple of shots during the move.
And the finished product:
It's hard to make out the aquascape from the photos, but I am very pleased with how it worked out. I'll upload some better photos over the coming days as the water clears up.
Before you flame me about the fish, let me qualify that the mystery wrasse and sailfish blenny both wedged themselves in boulders and my only options were to move them in to the new tank or kill them in the process of getting them out of the respective holes. I tried everything, including setting the rock on a table out of water to see if they would wiggle out, to no avail. Once they had made it in the tank, the whole fallow bit went out the window. (As of last night both fish were out swimming and eating).
Yesterday morning started with the four kids performing in the church's rendition of the live nativity. It was beautiful, and I took the opportunity to pray hard for the day's events to follow.
As soon as we got home, I immediately went to work on getting the starboard in place, which was not easy given how buoyant it is. I had to coordinate getting it in place and then have my wife or son hold it down with a piece of PVC while I placed a large enough rock on it.
Once the starboard was in, I started placing the new "dead" rock, which I had cooked in muriatic acid, in the tank. The first island to the left and a few other pieces are new rock additions. They will be easy to identify as they are very white... I then started moving over established rock and corals. As you read above, two fish had made the move unexpectedly, so I caught and acclimated the rest of the fish. I also chiseled off the orange galaxia from its residency on one of the largest rocks. It was killing everything around it. I was able to get it off in one piece (sand a few Frags) and it now resides on the floor, where it can be happy without harming its neighbors. Same goes for the space invader pectina.
When all was said and done, we had made the complete move, including emptying the 187 and moving it to the garage by 11:00pm. I had several accidental frags, which I gave to a friend along with the two bubble tip anemones.
I'm happy with how the aquascape turned out and am glad to have made it to this point. I'm sure there will be quite abbot of fine tuning over the coming days/weeks, but overall the tank is as expected. I cannot say enough about how supportive my wife and kids were yesterday and leading up to this point.
Here is a closeup of how the ATI's are mounted.
This configuration allows for plenty of airflow for the ATI fans.
And a couple of shots during the move.
And the finished product:
It's hard to make out the aquascape from the photos, but I am very pleased with how it worked out. I'll upload some better photos over the coming days as the water clears up.
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Stylo328
Active Member
Thank you both very much. Appreciate your contributions to the thread and your kind words of affirmation.
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Stylo328
Active Member
Not a bad first day. Many of the zoas are closed, but otherwise things look pretty good. I was able to connect the Reeflink today and program the schedule for the three MP40s on the rear. I am going to keep this configuration for a while and add the MP60s on the sides as the tank fills in.
Here are a few close up pictures of the aquascape from left to right.
And a panoramic... let's see how this works on Tapatalk.
Tank is running a bit warmer than expected at 81-82. I am going to open a vent into the A/C closet and likely add a 4-inch exhaust fan from the canopy up into the attic. I need to give it some thought over the next few days.
Here are a few close up pictures of the aquascape from left to right.
And a panoramic... let's see how this works on Tapatalk.
Tank is running a bit warmer than expected at 81-82. I am going to open a vent into the A/C closet and likely add a 4-inch exhaust fan from the canopy up into the attic. I need to give it some thought over the next few days.
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Stylo328
Active Member
Thank you very much for the kind words!
Mike&Terry
Wrasses, Angels, & Tangs, Oh My!
Love the 'scape and looking forward to following your progress... Your tangs have gotta be lovin' all that space!
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No need to flame you at all! Moving livestock with water and liverock from one tank to another is the best way to do it IMO!
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This is looking great!
Are you running a chiller?Not a bad first day. Many of the zoas are closed, but otherwise things look pretty good. I was able to connect the Reeflink today and program the schedule for the three MP40s on the rear. I am going to keep this configuration for a while and add the MP60s on the sides as the tank fills in.
Here are a few close up pictures of the aquascape from left to right.
And a panoramic... let's see how this works on Tapatalk.
Tank is running a bit warmer than expected at 81-82. I am going to open a vent into the A/C closet and likely add a 4-inch exhaust fan from the canopy up into the attic. I need to give it some thought over the next few days.
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Stylo328
Active Member
Thank you so much. I appreciate the compliment, especially given how impressive your setup is!
So far so good. Still tweaking a bit. I'll post an update in a little while.
Thanks for the support. So far the move has only resulted in one fatality.
Thank you very much!
No, the plan is to not run a chiller.
Diamond Jack
Active Member
Killer tank build. Well done!
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Stylo328
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Stylo328
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Time for a long overdue update.
There's been a lot of tweaking going on over the past couple of weeks. For starters I installed a pair of polished aluminum shelves to organize food in the stand. They were ordered via Amazon and are of much higher quality than I had expected for the price. They installed easily and now all the food is up off the floor and organized on the shelves.
I also added a temperature probe inside the canopy to control the fans. This has been much more efficient than relying on the water temperature to turn the fans on and off.
We cleaned out all the media in the calcium reactor, installed the starboard underneath it, had the CO2 tanks filled and plumbed it all in.
In order to help with the microbubble issue, I relocated the skimmer to the left chamber of the sump. This along with additional tuning of the drains and adding a few additional filter pads has really improve the situation.
Also added carbon and started running one of the BRS jumbo reactors. I had to remove the second one in order to relocate the skimmer and will reinstall that for GFO over the next couple of days.
I also added a magnetic Frag rack to the back wall with wrasse caves. I don't have a photo, but it looks pretty natural given the placement.
Finally, we added a few fish to the tank today. A pair of Onyx Picasso clowns, a Japanese four-line wrasse, two reinfordi gobies, and a labouti fairy wrasse.
There's been a lot of tweaking going on over the past couple of weeks. For starters I installed a pair of polished aluminum shelves to organize food in the stand. They were ordered via Amazon and are of much higher quality than I had expected for the price. They installed easily and now all the food is up off the floor and organized on the shelves.
I also added a temperature probe inside the canopy to control the fans. This has been much more efficient than relying on the water temperature to turn the fans on and off.
We cleaned out all the media in the calcium reactor, installed the starboard underneath it, had the CO2 tanks filled and plumbed it all in.
In order to help with the microbubble issue, I relocated the skimmer to the left chamber of the sump. This along with additional tuning of the drains and adding a few additional filter pads has really improve the situation.
Also added carbon and started running one of the BRS jumbo reactors. I had to remove the second one in order to relocate the skimmer and will reinstall that for GFO over the next couple of days.
I also added a magnetic Frag rack to the back wall with wrasse caves. I don't have a photo, but it looks pretty natural given the placement.
Finally, we added a few fish to the tank today. A pair of Onyx Picasso clowns, a Japanese four-line wrasse, two reinfordi gobies, and a labouti fairy wrasse.
locito277
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Time for a long overdue update.
There's been a lot of tweaking going on over the past couple of weeks. For starters I installed a pair of polished aluminum shelves to organize food in the stand. They were ordered via Amazon and are of much higher quality than I had expected for the price. They installed easily and now all the food is up off the floor and organized on the shelves.
I also added a temperature probe inside the canopy to control the fans. This has been much more efficient than relying on the water temperature to turn the fans on and off.
We cleaned out all the media in the calcium reactor, installed the starboard underneath it, had the CO2 tanks filled and plumbed it all in.
In order to help with the microbubble issue, I relocated the skimmer to the left chamber of the sump. This along with additional tuning of the drains and adding a few additional filter pads has really improve the situation.
Also added carbon and started running one of the BRS jumbo reactors. I had to remove the second one in order to relocate the skimmer and will reinstall that for GFO over the next couple of days.
I also added a magnetic Frag rack to the back wall with wrasse caves. I don't have a photo, but it looks pretty natural given the placement.
Finally, we added a few fish to the tank today. A pair of Onyx Picasso clowns, a Japanese four-line wrasse, two reinfordi gobies, and a labouti fairy wrasse.
Looking good bro! Freezing over in gatlinburg!
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