Mike and Terry's 300g Reef

Mike&Terry · May 31, 2015

SantaMonica said:
The rubber mat inside the cabinet is a great idea; might even extend that next time to the whole under-carpet area. Nevertheless glad you were prepared more than most people.

Thank You! The 180g stock vat helped save the day...

3Twinklets said:
It's just wonderful that you have not had any losses!
Thank goodness you were home this time too.

Yes, so glad we were not out-of-town. Thankfully, the leak from the seal this time was much smaller than what we experienced with the first 300g which gave us more time to prepare and get the rock and livestock moved in a much more controlled manner.

As promised, here's a pic taken under the stand:

And we've been meaning to post this pic up for a week now:

A big Thank You to Rev for his thoughtfulness!!!

3Twinklets · Jun 3, 2015

Mike&Terry said:
Thank You! The 180g stock vat helped save the day...

Yes, so glad we were not out-of-town. Thankfully, the leak from the seal this time was much smaller than what we experienced with the first 300g which gave us more time to prepare and get the rock and livestock moved in a much more controlled manner.

As promised, here's a pic taken under the stand:

And we've been meaning to post this pic up for a week now:

A big Thank You to Rev for his thoughtfulness!!!

Wow! That is very thoughtful!!

iReef86 · Jun 5, 2015

Woohoo Rev!

I know you are very busy with your "situation," but I would like to know your thoughts, comments, and concerns with your AI Hydra 52s. Lighting is a very important aspect to our home reefs!

I apologize if it has already been mentioned!

Mike&Terry · Jun 8, 2015

iReef86 said:
Woohoo Rev!

I know you are very busy with your "situation," but I would like to know your thoughts, comments, and concerns with your AI Hydra 52s. Lighting is a very important aspect to our home reefs!

I apologize if it has already been mentioned!

We have been running (3) AI Hydra 52's and (3) Kessil A360WE's for over a year now and are quite pleased with both. We like the ability to dial in colors with the AI's and the shimmer of the Kessils. For us, blending the two light sources gives the look of MH lighting - Several local club members who attended our last Meet (and did not know we had made the switch) did not believe we were running LED's until we opened up the canopy and showed them.

Revskid · Jun 8, 2015

Beautiful!

zibba · Jun 8, 2015

Very sorry to hear about your leak. It's one of my biggest fears in this hobby and with our current system. I don't think there's a good "protocol" except to have good friends to lean on and enough spare equipment to get by while you rebuild.

Continuing to wish you both the best!

Mike&Terry · Jun 8, 2015

Revskid said:
Beautiful!

Awwe... Thank you sweetie! We met you and your Mom at MACNA a couple of years ago. You were a real trooper as the R2R clownfish mascot!

zibba said:
Very sorry to hear about your leak. It's one of my biggest fears in this hobby and with our current system. I don't think there's a good "protocol" except to have good friends to lean on and enough spare equipment to get by while you rebuild.

Continuing to wish you both the best!

Thanks so much Z... We learned a LOT after the bottom seal rupture on our first 300dd in 2010 and then again when this replacement tank had to be drained two weeks after start up in April of 2011 due to the overflow box peeling away from the back glass. That was a tough pill to swallow with it being so soon after install, not to mention on a "custom tank". I will never forget having to drive to the nearest Agri Supply on the Friday before Easter to buy the 180gal stock vat because we had nowhere to put our rock and livestock for a week for the silicone repair and curing.

After that nightmare, we stored the 180g vat under our deck in case another emergency popped up, but really never expected another seal failure. The vat was a lifesaver and we are so grateful for our friends who dropped what they were doing to come over and help us get everything moved - we can't thank them enough!

underwaterfirefighter · Jun 8, 2015

WOW! I'm sure it has been said many times but you guys are the true troopers of the reef hobby! Having been through so much and to remain so positive is amazing! A true inspiration to everyone in the hobby. Thank you guys so much for sharing all that you have been through over the years both good and bad. I hope all is going with well with the temporary accommodations and can't wait to see what's next! Have you had time to make any plans for a replacement yet?

Mike&Terry · Jun 10, 2015

underwaterfirefighter said:
WOW! I'm sure it has been said many times but you guys are the true troopers of the reef hobby! Having been through so much and to remain so positive is amazing! A true inspiration to everyone in the hobby. Thank you guys so much for sharing all that you have been through over the years both good and bad. I hope all is going with well with the temporary accommodations and can't wait to see what's next! Have you had time to make any plans for a replacement yet?

Not gonna lie, this has been a difficult journey, but we LOVE this hobby. Some of our fish (and corals) have been with us since our first reef and are part of the family - they keep us going. It also helps to try and look at the situation as an opportunity for improvements. Things could have been worse - at least we were here when it happened and there was no damage to our home.

It took a bit more work than was anticipated, but we finally made enough room to move all of the acropora corals (except some small frags) over to the 200dd. All of the corals that were sitting in the 150g sump have been moved over to the 4'x2' shallow frag tank, and the Kessil A360we that was over the sump has been moved to the 200dd. We still have quite a few seriatopora, montipora and pocillopora colonies in the stand alone 75g. Not sure at this point, but we may just leave them there.

We'll try to post up some fresh pics later tonight.

Mike&Terry · Jun 11, 2015

prsnlty · Jun 11, 2015

Love it!!!

Mike&Terry · Jun 11, 2015

prsnlty said:
Love it!!!

Thank You Jackie!

frogman_reefer · Jun 12, 2015

Looks awesome... and everything looks very happy. Well done. Hopefully i can get mine there someday.

HowUDoin · Jun 15, 2015

So sorry to surf into the (old) news of your second tank failure. Just wanted to show my support in some way. Hopefully you guys don't get too discouraged, and continue to enjoy this hobby for many more years. It just shows your abilities and experience in that your emergency reef tank would be an amazing showpiece for a vast majority of those who read your threads and enjoy your videos.

Maybe you can take this opportunity to let us all hear what options you will be weighing when you select the builder of your next tank. Reputation, customer references, proximity, price, installation fees, or maybe just how they act when you contact them, etc.

YHSublime · Jun 18, 2015

Completely unbelievable. Just looking at these last pictures, you wouldn't even have a clue of the hardships just endured. Everything looks amazing, I hope to have a reef anywhere near that nice one day.

Kris Belgium · Jun 19, 2015

looking great !!

Mike&Terry · Jun 19, 2015

frogman_reefer said:
Looks awesome... and everything looks very happy. Well done. Hopefully i can get mine there someday.

YHSublime said:
Completely unbelievable. Just looking at these last pictures, you wouldn't even have a clue of the hardships just endured. Everything looks amazing, I hope to have a reef anywhere near that nice one day.

We appreciate the compliments guys! Thankfully, we have had no losses to date. With the cramped quarters in the 200dd, we've decided to leave our oscellaris clownfish pair and neon goby in the 4'x2' frag tank and the (4) large chromis, Kaudern's carinalfish, and Linear blenny over in the 75g stand alone tank for now.

HowUDoin said:
So sorry to surf into the (old) news of your second tank failure. Just wanted to show my support in some way. Hopefully you guys don't get too discouraged, and continue to enjoy this hobby for many more years. It just shows your abilities and experience in that your emergency reef tank would be an amazing showpiece for a vast majority of those who read your threads and enjoy your videos.

Maybe you can take this opportunity to let us all hear what options you will be weighing when you select the builder of your next tank. Reputation, customer references, proximity, price, installation fees, or maybe just how they act when you contact them, etc.

Thank You for the kind words of support and compliments! In choosing the new tank builder, reputation, quality and craftsmanship are the most important priorities for us and after researching our options, we have decided to go with Reef Savvy.

Kris Belgium said:
looking great !!

Thank You Kris!

falconerr · Jun 22, 2015

Can't go wrong with getting Felix to build your next tank. Are you going with same dimensions or going to totally change things up?

Mike&Terry · Jun 22, 2015

falconerr said:
Can't go wrong with getting Felix to build your next tank. Are you going with same dimensions or going to totally change things up?

We don't really have the room to go bigger, but we are going to change things up a bit. We're going with a 270gal rimless with the same footprint, but 3" shorter. The dimensions will be 72"x36"x24" using 3/4" glass (3 sides low iron).