450 gallon Upgrade to the Beast

[allenjj]

Progress

Well 100 lbs of AquaMax Dry Reef Rock arrived today, so things are slowly coming together. The move is scheduled for Thanksgiving weekend. Have the new protein skimmer finally tuned and pulling junk out. Been playing with new toy (plankton reactor), working on a installation design that will allow me to grow several different types of phytoplankton along with brine shrimp and rotifers. Will post some pics soon of progress.

 

[allenjj]

Getting all set up and ready for the Switch Over

Here are some updates of whats been done to get ready for the switch over.

Here is the new protein skimmer waiting for the bigger tank but hard at work.

New manifold all plumbing and running reactors.

Some of the salt water made waiting to be needed for filling up the new tank initially.

Trough waiting to be used to temporarily house corals while the move is in progress.

Some of the new dry rock that is going to be used to build the based of the two islands in the new tank.

Close up of the dry rock.

The big move is going to happen over Thanksgiving weekend, so things are coming together. Cant wait.

 

[cono]

cant wait to see the final setup

 

[allenjj]

The Odyssey Has Begun

Happy Thanksgiving to all. I hope that each of you and your families have a joyous and bountiful holiday. Mine is full of lots of excitement. The odyssey has begun. Have the circulating pump and heater installed in the trough which is the temporary home to the corals. Started filling the 100 gallon tank and have a heater in it now which will be the temporary home for the fishies. I bought pvc adapters for 1" pipe for the return lines, however it seems I really needed 3/4 inch. So tomorrow morning will be heading to the store so that the return water system can be finished. You would think after months of working on this and planning, that I would remember what size piping I was using. Oh well. A water test on the bulkheads in the new tank has gone well as all feed and drain lines are water tight. Have started disassembling the lighting rack and will be working on installing that on the new tank stand today. Once the holding tanks are up to temp, will start moving creatures out to their temporary homes. The plan is to have the tanks swapped out on Friday and everyone in their new home by Saturday night.

 

[allenjj]

Painful Progress

Now I remember why I so couldnt wait to automate water changes in the old tank. With the computer and pumps disconnected, am hauling buckets of water upstairs to fill temporary holding tanks. Can wait to get this done.

 

[allenjj]

Major Progress Today.

Here are some pics of todays progress. Had some great helpers and one the fit perfectly inside the tank to help arrange rocks and sand. Here is the new tank all moved into place

Assorted hardware and parts for finishing the plumbing along with all the parts to put back on tank.

Some of the sand for use in the tank.

Building the islands.

Taking a break

Dave helping with plumbing.

More island construction.

Ready for water.

 

[allenjj]

Water Flowing

Had great help today from some friends from our upstate Club, Melissa and Byron and now have the tank running water with no leaks. Melissa was great helping to fix a leak that was murder and she was able to get the one line hooked back up with ease, when it had taken me multiple tries and several days initially. Byron helped me to re-do the drain lines and get the water flow running with adjustments to the flow rate. No movement on the floor at least as evidenced by the levels on top of the tank.

 

[xxxAngeloxxx]

Nice Allen!!! So this means your officially up and running now buddy?!?!?! =D

 

[allenjj]

Question on drains

Will feel better when all my creatures are in their new home, but it is getting close. Am wondering if anyone has experience with a lot of water flow and the drains. These drains all have an air line running out of the top to help keep noise down, however the amount of water flowing is causing the air lines to suck air. Am wondering if I should drill them out and use a bigger bit of tubing?

Nice Allen!!! So this means your officially up and running now buddy?!?!?! =D

 

[xxxAngeloxxx]

Will feel better when all my creatures are in their new home, but it is getting close. Am wondering if anyone has experience with a lot of water flow and the drains. These drains all have an air line running out of the top to help keep noise down, however the amount of water flowing is causing the air lines to suck air. Am wondering if I should drill them out and use a bigger bit of tubing?

So where you have all your fish and corals and invert then?

 

[allenjj]

Staging for Move

I have a 120 gallon tank set up in living room thats housing the fish and some of the display corals. Then a 100 gallon trough set up in the basement housing the bigger corals.

So where you have all your fish and corals and invert then?

 

[ohana888]

great progress, allen! bring on the movement & colors!!!

 

[allenjj]

Disaster

Had a major disaster.....One of my leather corals (the size of a basketball) decided on Monday that he didnt like the holding tank and proceeded to not only release toxin, but to start melting. By the time I got home from work and discovered the problem, I spent till 3 am moving all the creatures that were not affected to the new tank. All but that one coral appear to have survived. But the toxin and melt (soft tissue necrosis) killed one urchin, 3 clown fish, 3 clown gobies, 1 cleaner wrasse, 1 naso tang, 1 foxface, 1 yellow tang, 1 hippo tang, 1 melanarous tang, 1 mandarin, 1 urchin, 2 pj cardinals and 2 shrimp. Needless to say I am heartbroken

Out of fish, only 2 pj cardinals survived and appear to be doing well now. I spent all night furiously moving creatures without worrying about arranging, but simply getting them out of the polluted tank. Today everyone that got moved seems to be recovering or in some cases flourishing. But am truly devastated. I should have known not to put the big leather coral in with the fish since the last tank move (when I upgraded to my 180) that I did, the mate to that leather coral which was about the same size did the same thing, but only killed itself since it was simply moved from one tank to another. I am trying to stay positive and look at how the corals are now doing, but feel really bad that I did not anticipate or protect my friends adequately. With all the family stress lately and now this, not a fun time.

 

[allenjj]

Thanks to a lot of support things are a little better. Its been a long bad week. On Thursday morning my cat had a heart attack and died, so been pretty upset. That said my god-kids were planning to come over tonight, so I aqua-scaped the one island in the tank and cleaned everything up. Even started putting out xmas decorations even though Im not really in the mood, but the kids dont need to know that. Helps having folks that are supportive. Will post some pics either later or tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who helped get the tank prepped, moved, refinished, and set up. Its starting to look like a tank now. Still have some wiring to do, and possibly plumb a vent for the drains. Cant seem to get the one drain to stop sucking air. Any suggestions?

 

[jadakiss]

Wow man sorry to hear that.

 

[allenjj]

Fixed

Just fixed the air sucking sound by removing the air hose from the top of the standpipe. I had tried it before but guess now that the flow has settled down it was enough.

 

[lnevo]

Sorry about all your fish man. That would devastate me as well. I've pretty much kept all my stock alive for the past year and a half. Good luck with the rest of the build, hope that takes your mind off things.

 

[JARRETT SHARK]

Sorry for your fish and cat lose

 

[allenjj]

Thanks, some of my fish were over 12 years old (at least I had them for 12 years).

Sorry about all your fish man. That would devastate me as well. I've pretty much kept all my stock alive for the past year and a half. Good luck with the rest of the build, hope that takes your mind off things.

 

[allenjj]

Thanks Jarrett. Seems I cant get a break right now. Just went to lower my lights down so that I could get a good pic of the new tank and one of the cables snapped dropping 2 radions into the tank. I have them apart with fan blowing on them, but who knows. The light rack for them is less then a year old, so no reason the cable should have snapped. Seems its just my time for problems, so hoping this is the last of them. Obviously I didnt get a pic of the new tank as I just spent the last 2 hours working on airing out the lights and fixing the cables. Hopefully once dried out the lights will be ok.

Sorry for your fish and cat lose