Redo

[gnatp2]

Well I was away for a couple weeks around xmas time and came back to find a damselfish in one of my overflows. I have been extremely busy with work so it took me a week or so to get around to getting him out of the overflow box. After I did, I noticed a week or two later that a couple pieces of sps coral has been picked at by him. He got worse and worse and had done some very serious damage to a couple pieces of my sps. I guess he didn't like being in solitary confinement for a while and decided to get back at me for my neglect. Well it took me a couple weeks to finally get him out of the tank using a fish trap and I also haven't been keeping up with maintenace as much as I should have. I'm going to have some time off for a while as well over the next month as well.... So I decided to go for a REDO on the tank. Mushrooms and zoos are really winning the battle in the tank and are over just about everthing now. There's just so much that I ideally want to change that I figure I'll just start it up from scratch.

I'm going to strip everything out of the tank and put it back together. I've gone through a couple years of learning now where I know if I started over, I'd have a much better finished product.

SO here's a list of what will go into the redo tank.
tank 120g
sump 40g
skimmer: reeflo 200
calcium reactor: korralin 1502
Topoff: Kalkwasser water run through deltec KM500S
Return pump: Eheim 1262
Flow: 2x Tunze 6100, sea swirl from return pump, 2 Koralia 4's
Filtration: 2 Filter socks, 2LF reactor with phosar, 2LF reactor with carbon
Heating: 2 250W Jager heaters
Cooling: Aqualogic 1/3 hp chiller
Lights: 2 Coralvue ballasts running 400W SE reeflux 10K bulbs. 2 t5 actinic reeftek running geissman bulbs.
Sump light: melev's cheapo sump bulb
controller: AC3 Pro with temp/ph/orp/conductivity probes

Rock will be Marco rock (hopefully i'll get the order shortly so I can start cooking it) with 2-3 pillars. Going to go for more open space structure than I previously had. Still debating how exactly to go about this so any suggestions are appreciated.

Well that's a start. We'll see how it goes. I really want to try and perfect it this time. Please provide any criticism or advice to help me along with this process.
Nate

 

[bigbris1]

I'm pretty much doing the same Nate, althought I thought your previous setup was really nice.

You just gonna throw everything out?

 

[gnatp2]

I'm pretty much doing the same Nate, althought I thought your previous setup was really nice.

You just gonna throw everything out?

It was nice overall, but I always had 3-4 problems that I just couldn't keep in control.

A lot of stuff with be sold/given away but I'm gunna keep most of what I have. I literally have hundreds (maybe thousands) of mushrooms and typical zoos in the tank. All the rock is gunna go so i can have a fresh start there.

Nate

 

[Dace]

Rock will be Marco rock (hopefully i'll get the order shortly so I can start cooking it) with 2-3 pillars. Going to go for more open space structure than I previously had. Still debating how exactly to go about this so any suggestions are appreciated.

go luck with the marco, heard it has a real back order

 

[gnatp2]

go luck with the marco, heard it has a real back order

Know of any alternatives? I want to start with dead rock as to know EXACTLY what is going to go into my system.

Nate

 

[bigbris1]

Just cook/boil the rocks you have

 

[bad coffee]

bleach and then cook your rocks. the bleach will kill just about everything that you're worried about. (like those green striped mushrooms) then you can cook your rocks to get the bio-foul out of them from all the die-off.

B

 

[Dace]

you can also try Muriatic acid

 

[cali_reef]

Nate, where are the pictures?

I'd leave the acid alone, you will end up with a big mess and a lot less rock than what you started with. :skull: I just used 1/3 gallon of it to clean my 150 gallon tank, all the coralline on the glass turned into sludge in 20 minuets, rubbles I left in there got smaller and smaller .

 

[Dace]

Nate, where are the pictures?

I'd leave the acid alone, you will end up with a big mess and a lot less rock than what you started with. :skull: I just used 1/3 gallon of it to clean my 150 gallon tank, all the coralline on the glass turned into sludge in 20 minuets, rubbles I left in there got smaller and smaller .

wow, sorry to hear that, Just one question. did you use just pure acid or did you dilute it

 

[KathyC]

Best of luck Nate, looking forward to the process & results :flower:
Sell off whatever mushrooms you can easily remove, buy yourself something shiny & new with the $ and cook your own rocks. I'd also heard that you'll be waiting a long while for Marco Rocks

 

[gnatp2]

bleach and then cook your rocks. the bleach will kill just about everything that you're worried about. (like those green striped mushrooms) then you can cook your rocks to get the bio-foul out of them from all the die-off.

B

Yeah, was thinking about that, but #1- I'd like to have a tank up an running though this entire process, #2-I figure people will want some shrooms and zoos, #3-I'd like to get more interesting rockwork with larger flat slabs for ledges.

I found another website bulkreefsupply.com . Anyone heard about these guys? Possibly a good marco rocks alternative.

 

[gnatp2]

Nate, where are the pictures?

I'd leave the acid alone, you will end up with a big mess and a lot less rock than what you started with. :skull: I just used 1/3 gallon of it to clean my 150 gallon tank, all the coralline on the glass turned into sludge in 20 minuets, rubbles I left in there got smaller and smaller .

I haven't taken any pics of the destruction since it pisses me off so much. Luckily he only took a liking to 3 pieces though.

That acid can be crazy strong. I use it clean my pumps and think it would go crazy on coraline encrusted rock.

Nate

 

[Dace]

I haven't taken any pics of the destruction since it pisses me off so much. Luckily he only took a liking to 3 pieces though.

That acid can be crazy strong. I use it clean my pumps and think it would go crazy on coraline encrusted rock.

Nate

the acid would be fine, you just can't use it with out watering it down and is most effect the vinegar or bleach

 

[lunner]

:shocked: Sorry to hear that man.

You know, redoing can be "fun" also :headache: