Smokin's Rebuild Thread..

smokin'reefer · Mar 29, 2017

Same thing only different.[emoji57]

These are my most recent fts of my tank before I had a leak start up on the bottom of tank.

smokin'reefer · Mar 29, 2017

Almost one year to the day of purchasing tank I got up one morning to find water in the bottom of my cabinet in the storage part. BTW this is a RS Reefer 450. I cleaned out cabinet and dried out but couldn't do much more because I was on my way to an allday softball tournament my granddaughter was playing in. First thoughts were maybe the sump. I recently moved some live rock in there and thought I might have chipped the glass. Although a daunting possibility, as it turned out would have been a better scenario.
Upon further examination I found water around downpipe coming from sump. This would have been best root because it could have been redone without much effort.
Again looked in closer and water was not coming from downpipe but was seeping in from in between tank and cabinet in the cutout for plumbing.

Kind of hard to see but I took these pics to try and confirm what I didn't want to accept.

smokin'reefer · Mar 29, 2017

I posted and asked about any possibilities of an underwater patch at the same time I was headed to Petco. They closed at 9 it was 8:00 on a Saturday night. It seems that nothing ever happens during normal business hours. Or is just that we notice stuff during off peak hours.
Got to Petco and read label on sealant about the same time I started getting responses from R2R. Aquarium must be dry for fix. And also you can't use it over old sealant.
Oh snap... Time for a major tank breakdown. I had seen on R2R where peeps had used plastic containers in emergencies. Checked Lowes' hours and they were open til 10. Did I mention I live about 30 minutes from the box store district in our town.
Looked at backyard koi pond type liners first to see if they would work but were to flimsy imo. Found some heavy duty 27 gallon totes that seemed to be my best option. Purchased 3 and figured if I needed more I had some old hydroponic reservoirs I could use. I knew I didn't need to contain all 90 gallons out of display, just enough to get corals and fish into a safe place.

Luckily I had enough heaters and powerheads laying around to keep things in check. Got all sand in hydro buckets and dried bottom of tank. Checked R2R and got some tips on where to go from here.
Finished up about 1 a.m. . wow what a night. And I have to go on a run for work tomorrow.
Fade to the darkness.

ReeferMaddness843 · Mar 29, 2017

Best wishes on a speedy recoup! You're close to my neck of the woods aren't you? If so and need a hand with anything just let me know. Going through a similar situation myself aside from the water.......yet. So I feel your pain. Was hoping to have new system up by this afternoon, but ran into some headaches I was able to resolve. Although it meant a setback till potentially Saturday having it all finished and transfer to begin, still see that light at the end getting closer.

smokin'reefer · Mar 29, 2017

ReeferMaddness843 said:
Best wishes on a speedy recoup! You're close to my neck of the woods aren't you? If so and need a hand with anything just let me know. Going through a similar situation myself aside from the water.......yet. So I feel your pain. Was hoping to have new system up by this afternoon, but ran into some headaches I was able to resolve. Although it meant a setback till potentially Saturday having it all finished and transfer to begin, still see that light at the end getting closer.

Thanks on the wishes. I'm right up the street outside of Columbia. Appreciate the offer for help. Will keep it in mind but going to pace myself and take opportunity to redo some things. Same offer back to you... I'm down that way quite a bit. Matter of fact probably headed to Ravenal tomorrow to drop a load and then p/u a unit in Summerville.

smokin'reefer · Mar 29, 2017

The sun comes up Sunday morning and everything looks ok. I go to work and luckily have a short day. Should be back home by 5 or so.
Lfs hours are 1:30 to 4 on sunday, but really don't think there is much they can do for me today anyway. With all The different plans of action in my spinning in my head it finally dawns on me. My lfs owner had given me his cell # when I came in and dropped a few dollars buying all the attachments for my tank. The big Apex, Vortech and Radion buy that any small shop guy would appreciate.
I send him a text explaining what happened and asking if he could help expedite the warranty with Red Sea. He responds back in short notice and said he had a 150 he could loan me to get everything stable.
I'm really impressed with the offer and quick response and then my phone rings. Its his shop manager that I know well and he asks what he can do. Offers to meet me at shop if need be. I tell him on on the road but will have one of my girls come to the shop when they're open and pick up tank. He says they also have a 75 gallon that might be a better option. I agree and set arrange ments for p/u.

smokin'reefer · Mar 29, 2017

I get the temp tank setup Sunday night and can't help but think how good the tank looks in that spot. Talk it over with the family and they finally agree. WE'RE GETTING A 350. WOOT WOO.
Like I've got enough on me right now. Working 12+ hours and coming home working til 1 a.m. getting everything stable. Why not double down. Made perfect sense to me.
I had already filled out warranty issue on Red Sea website Saturday night and got an email from support asking for pics. Struggled getting pics to send on phone but pulled over and figured it out.
Called lfs later on and asked if they started warranty on their end also if they had a 350 in stock. They didn't have one in stock but could get one by tomorrow. I figured I better order before the family changed their mind. Hehehe.

smokin'reefer · Mar 29, 2017

Warranty is quickly approved. I think with a little help from lfs talking to rep and me pushing on the other end.
Slowly get everything transferred to new tank. Pick up 350 and start working on what I'm going to need with priority on my tank.
One of the posters on my 911 thread said not to reuse sand. I recall on an OCD thread that he had changed his sand and rocks. The sand he used was not as dusty as what I had first used.
Went back and did some research and found that he had used Tropic Eden Mini flakes. I ordered 5 bags and decided to stick with the live version so as not to go thru a rinsing process.
Double checked on replacement tank and got tracking #. They said it's going to ship today. Its wednesday and fish and corals have been in temps with just flow and heaters.
Decided to hook up skimmer because it can be set up external of sump and I still had a pump that came with it

In the army we called it field expediency. But it gets oxygen in water and has got to help keep things for a few more days. New tank won't be here til Friday or even next Monday. I'm sure it will take a few days after it gets here.

smokin'reefer · Mar 29, 2017

Sad life pic.

Everything doesn't look to bad. Hopefully my education here on R2R has paid off and with the help of many of you I will come out with minimal losses.

smokin'reefer · Apr 2, 2017

Day 7:
Everything still looking good. All the fish and as far as I can tell most of my corals are still looking good in temp tank.
Red Sea' tracking # says new tank will be here Wednesday. Hoping maybe earlier but I'm fine with hump day.
I was able to get everything moved and carpet shampooed under tank. Got some carpet savers to help with dimples in that area.

smokin'reefer · Apr 4, 2017

After the leak, I was able to stick some air line tubing under the stand and use an air pump to help dry and keep any mold from taking hold. It was pretty tight but seemed to help til I was able to get everything broken down.
The pads that come on the bottom of the RS stands are pretty wimpy.

The nail part is thin like wire more than a nail. When I purchased tank, it was already assembled at my lfs and while loading it some of those pads just pulled out. I replaced them with hardier "slider" type feet that.

Because it was still tight under tank because of thick carpet, I'm gonna try these "carpet savers".

Although plastic, I am putting metal washers on top to evenly distribute weight on each. Best guess on math is there are 12 feet dividing approx 1500 lbs. That should give me around 130 lbs per foot.
Anybody ever have any experience with these feel free to chime in before I start filling tank.

smokin'reefer · Apr 5, 2017

Happy days are here again.
RS tracking said tank would co.e today. Of course I called yesterday and they said it wouldn't arrive in Charlotte til last night and would go through a couple of other carriers before it would deliver.
Aarghhh.....
Fish and corals have been in temporary housing for a week and a half. I made arrangements that I would just go to Charlotte and pick up myself.

Bad weather, calling for tornaadoes, but but I was on a mission.
Got back home, unloaded tank.

Just in time. The bottom fell out. ( the weather that is)

Time to get to work.

smokin'reefer · Apr 5, 2017

Dang it. More upside down pics.

smokin'reefer · Apr 8, 2017

I've been pretty busy past couple days getting everything set back up. Took my time with the aquascape to find tune my vision.
I know some of you purist might not dig my new direction. We have a guy at my lfs that is into artistic type scales and I have really admired some of his work.
Before I wasn't into having "things in the tank besides rock and fish but I really like this.

smokin'reefer · Apr 9, 2017

Playing with the lighting for best pics of the new scape.

This was under white and royal setting.

This was 14k.

smokin'reefer · Oct 3, 2017

Well, it's been a while but everything is starting to look good again. Had a little about with GHA and cyan Arrow algae.

Salty.Reefer · Dec 15, 2017

Just read the whole thread. Nice recovery! Have any updated photos?

smokin'reefer · Dec 15, 2017

Thanks for reading. At least it's a short thread. I'm pretty busy most of the time.

Tank is on a serious high note right now for sure. Here on some coral pics I took recently that help show off the G4s spectrum. I set them to 12k or 14k so I don't have to do any post editing to pics.

And this is one of my favorites that survived all my ups and down abuse I've put it thru. It's a Vivid Rainbow I got from BSA coral.

I will hopefully get some FTS when I'm home this w/e.

Salty.Reefer · Dec 15, 2017

smokin'reefer said:
Thanks for reading. At least it's a short thread. I'm pretty busy most of the time.

Tank is on a serious high note right now for sure. Here on some coral pics I took recently that help show off the G4s spectrum. I set them to 12k or 14k so I don't have to do any post editing to pics.

And this is one of my favorites that survived all my ups and down abuse I've put it thru. It's a Vivid Rainbow I got from BSA coral.

I will hopefully get some FTS when I'm home this w/e.

Nice! Reefing is the best when everything is going well.