Waking up from the nightmare build: the reboot

[grassy_noel]

This looks so good. Honestly, I was pretty skeptical as you were describing and initially constructing these panels. But man if the final product doesn't look amazing! You clearly have an eye for the rock selection and placement, and a great array of rock/coral pieces to use. Well done, can't wait to see how it looks once the tank is re-filled!

 

[Mayerlyn A]

Can't wait to see it once it's all put back together.

 

[jsker]

Looking forward to it!!

 

[norfolkgarden]

Looking forward to the pictures!

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

Looking forward to the pictures!

Ahhh, the best laid plans of mice and men go oft awry.

The rock structures on the other side have been a total pain.

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

Well....hmmmm

Finished the rocks, added the sand, and filled the tank with the water I had on hand upstairs. It’s cloudy partly because I added 100lbs of Aragon-live Bahama oolite without rinsing it (I was tired and getting lazy), and partly because presumably a bacteria bloom is starting. A fair amount of that rock was out of water for a couple of weeks, so I’m sure we’re going to have some cloudy water for a few days.

I love the panels covering the beam, and I really like how the overall structure turned out on the left hand side. You can’t really tell what’s going on because of the cloudiness and difficulty in showing depth in pics, but it’s kind of an ‘M’ shape, with some nice shelves, caves, etc, but still pretty open.

I’m not sure how I feel yet about the free standing structure in the middle. Pretty easy to move it around or add different rock pieces for the shelves. I’ll be able to tell once the tank is filled and cleared.

Most of what you see above water is not cemented together. If there is one thing I learned from my first marriage, it to be very careful about making something so permanent that you can’t change it if you have to. So, the shelving and features in the top 1/3 of both sides are easily removable.

That’s where we’re at. Once it clears up next week and is more or less finished, I’ll post some good pics.

 

[naterealbig]

Great update - looks awesome. You've gotta be glad you're close to getting things wrapped up!?

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

Great update - looks awesome. You've gotta be glad you're close to getting things wrapped up!?

Thanks!

For sure excited to be finishing. I’ll be much, much happier when things are in the tank and thriving. Hoping the bacterial bloom is short lived. It shouldn’t be bad, because everything in the filter was kept running, and a lot of the rock I finished the larger structure with was kept viable until yesterday. Just going to crank the skimmer up. We’ll see.

Still bummed that we lost all of that Sinularia. I wanted to slowly phase it out so the tank didn’t look empty...not to mention how much it stressed everything out when it went down.

Once I get things settled down and start adding some SPS, I’ll feel better.

 

[naterealbig]

Thanks!

For sure excited to be finishing. I’ll be much, much happier when things are in the tank and thriving. Hoping the bacterial bloom is short lived. It shouldn’t be bad, because everything in the filter was kept running, and a lot of the rock I finished the larger structure with was kept viable until yesterday. Just going to crank the skimmer up. We’ll see.

Still bummed that we lost all of that Sinularia. I wanted to slowly phase it out so the tank didn’t look empty...not to mention how much it stressed everything out when it went down.

Once I get things settled down and start adding some SPS, I’ll feel better.

Yes - can't wait to see it once it's all clear. UV Sterilizer to truncate the bloom (if it is one)?. And some wet skim may be helpful, especially with the particulate.... What am I saying?. You've obviously got a handle on this!

Yes, a loss like that is always impactful - not the least of which is emotionally. I know very well the goo (literal and metaphorical) you had to manage with that. The awesome news is, you've got a large space now that can be filled with some primo frags .

Excellent work, and keep us updated!

 

[Bronc]

I can’t wait to see the finished product!

 

[Be102]

So were the rocks you cemented with the quikcrete wet at all? Or were they completely dry? I’d like to do something similar but use that to recreate an AquaScape. I was just hesitant of the cement degrading overtime as some people have said it has.

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

So were the rocks you cemented with the quikcrete wet at all? Or were they completely dry? I’d like to do something similar but use that to recreate an AquaScape. I was just hesitant of the cement degrading overtime as some people have said it has.

Both.

I think I’m this last week, I became an expert on using Quikrete for reef structures.

Where I had a wet joint, I used a medium wet glob and just jammed the two rocks together and then pushed excess cement into the space between them and any crevices and holes I could find. After that, I smoothed it up onto each rock so that it also acted as a coupling. I think when the joint comes apart, it’s from one rock shifting.

Once it cured, even more precarious joints were pretty strong because the rocks couldn’t shift.

Another thing I did a lot of was mash small pieces of live rock onto the cement to hide it. That made a big difference.

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

*sigh*

Ugh....another dark day. Lost the big vlamingi tang.

After the initial Sinularia wipe-out, he never ate again. I had intervened quickly, and gotten the holding system back on track almost immediately. But...it wouldn’t eat. Looked normal otherwise (except dark), was alert, swimming, etc.

Once several days had passed, I was pretty worried. Got it back into the display ASAP, but it really wouldn’t swim around. After a couple days of hanging in the same spot and not going into any of the caves, I knew it was done. Walked in today to find it dead.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

Bummer,
Sorry to hear that!

 

[RichtheReefer21]

*sigh*

Ugh....another dark day. Lost the big vlamingi tang.

After the initial Sinularia wipe-out, he never ate again. I had intervened quickly, and gotten the holding system back on track almost immediately. But...it wouldn’t eat. Looked normal otherwise (except dark), was alert, swimming, etc.

Once several days had passed, I was pretty worried. Got it back into the display ASAP, but it really wouldn’t swim around. After a couple days of hanging in the same spot and not going into any of the caves, I knew it was done. Walked in today to find it dead.

Sucks <: [

 

[naterealbig]

*sigh*

Ugh....another dark day. Lost the big vlamingi tang.

After the initial Sinularia wipe-out, he never ate again. I had intervened quickly, and gotten the holding system back on track almost immediately. But...it wouldn’t eat. Looked normal otherwise (except dark), was alert, swimming, etc.

Once several days had passed, I was pretty worried. Got it back into the display ASAP, but it really wouldn’t swim around. After a couple days of hanging in the same spot and not going into any of the caves, I knew it was done. Walked in today to find it dead.

No!!! So sorry to hear about this....

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

As I had stated before, I’ve done this kind of stuff countless times before, and with bigger systems with more delicate animals. So I feel like I have the routine down pretty well where I have virtually no loss of life.

I was pretty floored when that part of the project went off the rails.

So, here’s what happened: The client is out of town for the winter. Part of being gone was turning down the thermostat. OK. I knew this was going to happen, so I added a 500w heater to the sump. This tank has never needed a heater before, and it seemed like overkill.

Now, the therm ended being turned down to 62! But a 500w heater in 200 gal should be able to hold the fort down. However...there is a air filtration system that they installed in the filter room years ago to help with ventilation and humidity. It pumps filter room air directly outside:

For some reason...and maybe I never noticed when the house was super warm...but there is cold air coming into that room from outside. It’s coming right out of that vent.

When the initial Sinularia die off happened, it had been extremely cold that weekend. The water felt pretty cool, and the house felt pretty cool, but when it’s that cold outside, you never really warm up. My guess is that it got down below 70.

The real fun began last week during the polar vortex. Our highs in Chicago for 3 straight days were 1, -15, and -2, with lows between -5 and -22.

That 500w heater didn’t stand a chance, esp with cold air pumping in, so I added an additional 300w heater, and that was only enough to keep that water around 73-74 max. I had stuffed a towel into that vent, but you’ve seen pics of the house...it’s all windows, especially around the tank. That cold air was just pouring in, and then just sinking into the basement.

Anyway, we lost a fair amount of stuff, but not all of it. Some of it has held on, and I’m nursing it back.

Trying to find the silver lining...I think what would have happened is, had I not taken the tank down to reboot it, everything would have stayed in the tank. The water would have gotten super cold (because the 500w heater would be trying to warm 450gal instead of 200), it would have wiped out the Sinularia, and then it would have wiped everything else out because I would not have been here. And I would be dealing with a dead tank that wasn’t redone and vastly improved upon, which would have been far more depressing.

 

[._Z_.]

Sounds like if you weren’t there doing what you were doing, it would have been way worse. I’d definitely call that a bright side and a victory. Plus the tank has all the upgrades you’ve made. Great work!

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

Sneak peek

Not sure how I feel about the free standing piece. Still moving some stuff around and still working on the light arrangement.

 

[jtl]

Ditch it, looks like a monolith.