And so it begins...Gopi's reef rebuild

[Gopi]

Figured out what the reducer fitting is for in my plumbing kit: it goes between the 1.25 pipe for the Durso and the bulkhead. I found a schematic from the company after some clever googling...not sure why it wouldn't just be included in the box.

Also sanded down my doors. Maybe I'll paint them tomorrow.

Fish and corals seem to be doing OK. Clowns ate, gobies are being shy, dottyback poked its head out and I think nabbed some food too.

 

[Gopi]

Ok, got the baffles cut today. I might silicone one or two in place. Also got a small can of satin black paint for the back of the tank. It was that or high gloss and I'm not such a fan of high gloss. A few days ago I ordered a Jebao DCT4000 for the return pump, can't wait for that to get in! I need to work on my stand doors still too.

Also hired a different company to fix the flooring that was put down poorly by the first people and never finished. We'll see how that goes before getting my tile in. Hubby has said I can consider alternative tank locations because it may be awhile...or I can choose to set up and tear down again. (Oh, not a chance.)

 

[Gopi]

I'm baffled

Baffles are in! I think my middle bubble trap baffle is a little crooked, but I'm ok with that. My silicone technique got better as I went too.

I found that scrap pieces of wood made great spaces. I used some pieces of 2x4 to hold the middle baffle up and then some 1x3 to space them.

Also completely finished the smaller stand, door is painted and hung. I used 2 large picture holders to mount the door.

I'm having a lot of issues with the larger doors, they are a little too short to fully cover the opening and have the bottom rest on the 'lip' of the trim so they just aren't hanging right. I put some trim pieces on the inside to fit inside the opening snugger but...not working well. I might have to hinge them instead of do magnets.

Lastly, this new flooring company is doing an amazing job fixing the 'work' that had been done previously. Yesterday, they laid down self leveling concrete in 2 rooms of the house that had uneven floors (what first company was supposed to do and didn't) The fumes didn't seem to effect fishies or corals at all. They are doing OK but I'm anxious to get my tank set up. This week is just fixing what had been done incorrectly...haven't even gotten started on the floor where my tank would go...but if I have to set it up in the dining room I have a totally level surface for it!

 

[Gopi]

whelp...maybe another 3-4 weeks before the reef gets up. ARGGHHHH! The kitchen floor will have to be totally removed and the joists planed down in order to have a level floor in there. (Yes, it really is that bad...we have a visible hump in the floor)

In the meantime, the DCT4000 arrived today. Looks awesome! I should be able to move the reef stand into the house to dry plumb everything. Hubby got me some EZ Sliders to put under it so I can set it up in one room with a level floor and move into place when the kitchen is finally done. Once that's done, I'll be able to aquascape and fill 'er up! The stand will have to be open concept for awhile because I messed up the doors and have to remake them.

However, the room where my smaller seahorse tank is going is DONE! The stand is inside and in place. The JBJ 45 should arrive from the good folks at MarineDepot in a couple days (I took advantage of the skimmer sale and figured I might as well just get the tank too) I can perhaps get one tank set up and corals out of the bathroom this weekend. Fishies will stay in the rubbermaid in the bathtub until the 90 is ready for them.

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

That bites that you are having so many troubles getting this tank up! Fingers crossed that there are no more roadblocks for you!

 

[Gopi]

That bites that you are having so many troubles getting this tank up! Fingers crossed that there are no more roadblocks for you!

Thanks! At least I know the tanks will be on completely level floors. This hobby requires patience, right?

 

[Gopi]

The kitchen floor finally started this week! We did have another small set back today. Some of the joists have sagged so much over the last 40 years that its going to be harder to fix. On the other hand, since we had to strip down to the joists, the area where the tank goes will get reinforced in the event of another future upgrade...

In the meantime, I've started a build thread for the seahorse tank which is up and running. This freed up a qt so I ordered a trio of disbar anthias today. All 3 are coming in as female and the great qt saga can begin. I should get the reef set up in another week and that will free up another small tank or two...

 

[Gopi]

Picked up a trio of Disbar Anthias today. All currently female. They were supposed to arrive Tuesday but the supplier was backed up in their shipping department. Store passed the 20% discount on to me I'll get pics later, fishies are pretty stressed out after being shipped, acclimated, bagged, and reacclimated.

In great news, my kitchen only needs the baseboards put on and reef can go up! FINALLY.

 

[Gopi]

Finally! The kitchen was finish late Friday. We got things cleaned up yesterday and I was able to get things in place. Spray painted the back of the tank, attached the light hangers, got all the plumbing parts needed and plumbed.my bulkheads are for hose so I got clear vinyl hosing. I wasn't able to find flex spa. (Pic is pre plumbing)

Hopefully I'll be able to do the rock work and get partially filled today. I don't have enough water and added fun, I have to pump the water in through the window... Brutes are in the garage, no ramp, and the kitchen sink has a nonstandard fitting...no one seems to have the adapter. I'm tempted to make several trips to LFS to buy water...

 

[Gopi]

Ignore the mess in the reflecting.

I've got one more piece of rock where I'm waiting g for the epoxy to cure...then I can slowly start to fill this baby. But I think I only have 40 gallons right now...

 

[Gopi]

Almost filled with water, almost. I need maybe another 20 gallons but I'm out of luck for a while. The only sink in the house with a standard faucet is out of commission, so I've been making water in the garage. Well, it's so cold the RODI output is drastically reduced. I ran it all night and only had about 20 gallons of water... It's icing up so I shut things off and brought the filter inside. Plus...I have a leak between a hose and barb and I need to fix that before getting everything going.

 

[Gopi]

I still haven't gotten the sump up and running. I just got too frustrated with the return plumbing and the bulkhead not sealing properly. (I have a thread about that somewhere.) Then I hurt my back so scrunching up under the stand wasn't happening. I'm going to support the PVC and soft plumb a section as advised either today or tomorrow. We'll see how productive I feel.

Fish and corals seem to be doing OK in the 90 with the 2 RW8s and the skimmer hanging off the side. (It's loud and ugly but whatever.) I did lose my pair of diamond bar gobies in the temp tanks somewhere. I miss those guys, so cute! Live Aquaria got some in but I'm not sure I want to order just yet. I've not ordered any fish online before...

My 3 disbar anthias made it through QT just great and are getting along well with the clowns and dottyback.

In sad news, the bryopsis is starting to make a comeback on the rock work. Guess I didn't kill it all while it was cooking. Phosphates are 0.03 with Hanna Checker and nitrates, trites and ammonia all at 0 with API.

 

[citros_01]

Sems the you been working so hard to get these baby going

 

[Gopi]

Sems the you been working so hard to get these baby going

I sure have! And I'm almost there now too!

I fixed all my plumbing issues (including the pipe in the garage so I can make RODI ...added support for the return pipes and ended up having to remove the drain pipe altogether and go back to the original barbed bulkhead and tubing to get rid of all the leaks. The only thing is, I was stupid and cut the vinyl tubing to length according to the full sump water level, not the running sump water level so SPLISH SPLASH. I hate the sound of splashing water! (I'm in the wrong hobby, I guess.) I cheated and put a sock on it yesterday (it already needs changing, gross!) I also added the chaeto to the fuge section and seeded with some pods, need to get my rubble out of the garage to add in still.

I thought I had a problem with the pump being too fast for the drain even on the lowest setting (DCT4000), turned out I just needed to add another gallon of water to the system. :doh:

Today, I added a reverse durso to the skimmer output which quieted things down a lot more. I wish I'd done that with my last tank.

I got my floats in place for the ATO, I'm going to run one upside down so I have a 'max level' because my total volume in case of power outage is getting too close to the sump being full for comfort. Just gotta wait for my RODI water to be made to fill the reservoir.

 

[Gopi]

Ugh. This tank is a pain. My euphyllia haven't been fully extending for a couple weeks (hammer and frogspawn), blue anthelia all melted, and my hairy mushrooms aren't expanding, I lost both hydnophora. After testing params I found calcium was a tad low (360 using API) but nothing else seemed odd. I added a bag of carbon for things I can't test and started dosing calcium to bring above 400. (Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate reading 0 with API, phosphate Hanna checker at 0.03, red sea magnesium at 1300, pH 8.3, 10dkh temp 79-80, salinity 1.026.) I did note the coral troubles started after I got the sump flowing so I was thinking due to change in water flow and have worked to redirect and move euphyllia into less direct flow. Now, two of my toadstools are closed up. But the puprle finger looks like its in a growth phase.

Yesterday I found one of the disbar anthias dead on the substrate. Hadn't seen any signs of aggression with the trio, but I've had problems getting them to eat heartily so that might be it.

I've got tomorrow off so I'm planning to make a lot of water today to do a large change tomorrow.

 

[Gopi]

Guess it's time for an update...

Seems I didn't cook my rocks quite long enough- the bryopsis is back! I've been removing the smaller rocks and treating them with peroxide. This has helped significantly. Unfortunately, I've got some rocks that I can't easily remove from the system. I have been slowly spot treating those but it's slow going and not as effective as out of tank treatment. Hanna checker reads 0.00 for phosphate- it's definitely leaching from the rocks though.

My euphyllia have recovered and have little buds on them too Raising the Ca+ really helped there and I've made sure my new water is dosed as well. But my hairy mushrooms are still not fully expanding. Coloration is improving but not the puffiness. I lost 1 toadstool, but the other two are doing great.

CUC has been refreshed and I took advantage of the 1200 pod BOGO sale GetYourPods had a couple weeks back. SO MANY PODS.

And...got a not-yellow watchman goby in QT. I got him with a tiger pistol shrimp, but the shrimp didn't make it. Not sure if I'll get another one.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Haven't followed the whole thread but Tech M got rid of my bryopsis in a couple weeks!

 

[Gopi]

Update time again?

The bryopsis has been under control for the last few weeks. Seems the peroxide dunk and scrubbing, or direct spraying if the rock couldn't come out worked. It's not 100% gone, but totally liveable with a few slowly growing strands. I'm keeping an eye out. The euphyllia are fully recovered and I even got some more a couple weeks ago!

Between ReefSmart in Raleigh and a visit to the Reef Farm, I picked up several beauties: yellow hammer, a painted frogspawn, torch, more Zs and Ps, toadstools, acans, and even a RBTA! (Pictures later.) I also got an unhappy meteor shower cyphastrea (free!) to see if it will take to a spot I want encrusted. There are a few other pieces and the seahorses got some gorgs and shrooms as well.
I also finished my fish stocking with a beautiful blue eye kole tang.

Uh, what's this? My producer is saying I haven't posted a single FTS since the reef got set up?! I'll try to remedy that!

With all the changes:

• 1 of my hairy mushrooms is still deflated and unhappy looking. Will have to move it's rock again to find it a good spot- this is going on months now! The other is slowly recovering its color, has split and is nice and puffy.
• My duncan hasn't opened for several weeks. Looks like there was damage to the skin around the skeleton, but with a move to higher flow and fewer corals around that damage is being repaired. Still no PE.
• Clowns haven't found the nem yet. The nem chose a spot (happily for me!) close to the front of the tank. The clowns like to sleep in the opposite corner near the over flow. BUT, the nem is already showing signs of splitting!
• I did my first frags!! I was so inspired after ReefSMART that I tried my first frags: blue sympodium from Gonzo. I started with this because it was over growing it's base AND I spotted what looked like a single scoly head growing on it. Now, I'm thinking it maybe acanthastrea...brown/green and tiny. It's now on it's own rubble piece and I have 3 rocks with sympodium instead of 1. I also fragged a few Zs and Ps (gloves of course.)

What's next: I have an order of pods and phyto from AlgaeBarn to try out. I was happy with the pods from GetYourPods but so many of them were quite large and I spotted several isopods in the mix- not the bad kind just wasn't expecting them. Also, will be replacing my Super Skimmer 65 with a Tunze 9012

And...maybe I'll actually finish building the door to my stand. Eventually....

 

[Gopi]

First, a pic from early May showing my lushous bryopsis fields.

Followed by a lovely cell phone shot from today.

 

[Gopi]

Look what just came!

I'm excited to get this up and running. Many many thanks to @revhtree and @tunze for the awesome skimmer!

My pod order from AlgaeBarn didn't work out- the post office kinda just let it sit around for a few days...twice. The 2 day priority took 5 or 6 days to arrive. AlgaeBarn replaced the first order within 24 hrs. I didn't file a claim for the 2nd doa because it was the post office and not them. I'd order again if I knew they would actually get here alive... Oh well. I thought AlgaeBarn did a great job packaging and it sure looked like there were a lot of pods!