What's your next BIG PLAN?

[SPLASH!]

We successfully moved our 90 cube from NY to Colorado in May. We only moved the tank, fish and live rock though...not corals. A guy back home was paid to hold the coral for us, then ship them when we were ready. That did not end well.

Why did it not end well. And did your fish survive the trip?

 

[User]

The summer weather has been great but it definitely has kept me away from the reef projects!

This winter I'm building my dream coral room! Granted the room is a lot bigger and more of a greenhouse in my dreams, but still a coral room is going to be amazing!

Texturing is still drying, a sink needs installed, final pass of the electrician and by winter I hope to be growing corals in there! Room is about 12'x12'

That’s awesome.

I have a 10x12 fishroom and I plan on plumbing in a lowboy 50 or a chop-top 40b as a frag/grow out tank. Can’t get space for a big propagation area, but also don’t see myself ever growing that much.

 

[lpsouth1978]

I will be converting my Discus tank (Waterbox 230.6) to saltwater and moving the contents of my 40b into it. Then I just need to stock the rest of the tank.

 

[TheHarold]

My plan is to start changing the electrical in my home, my knowledge based off of a few minutes of google search and materials from a trip to Home Depot.

Will this end in tragedy and burning down everything?

Most likely.

But first circuit installed!

 

[Cherie cook]

Why did it not end well. And did your fish survive the trip?

The only thing that did not end well was the guy that was supposed to be holding my coral totally ripped us off. We paid him $300 for shipping, gave him a big MH light we were not using for his shop and told him to feel free to frag anything he wanted. When the time came to send the coral he sent them 2nd day air...claiming he didn’t have the money to overnite them(almost all ended up dying). Plus he just plain kept at least half of them...claiming they had “passed away”. This from a guy who sells corals for a living.
Anyway, on a brighter note..all the fish and live rock survived the trip just fine. We used large coolers for rock and fish. For both we had heaters and power heads running in the back of my husbands pickup truck (it has a cap on the back). My husband set up something called an inverter..which uses power from the trucks battery while it’s running. At night we brought the coolers into our hotel room and just plugged the equipment in there. We brought a few 5 gallon buckets of fresh saltwater for mid trip water changes and some prime in case of ammonia spikes. We had those little ammonia badges in both coolers. The trip took us four days, three overnite stays. I did not feed the fish during the trip.
When we arrived the fish were set up in a temporary tank, the rock stayed in the cooler with a power head for a few weeks while we set up the main tank. After all that time I expected to have a cycle in the main tank once it was all back together...but it was really very minimal. I was at zero ammonia and zero nitrite within a week and was able to add the fish back in...no losses. Surprisingly I never even got a case of “the uglies” with overgrowth of nuisance algae! So with a bit of preplanning...it’s totally doable! ;Smuggrin

 

[Cherie cook]

The only thing that did not end well was the guy that was supposed to be holding my coral totally ripped us off. We paid him $300 for shipping, gave him a big MH light we were not using for his shop and told him to feel free to frag anything he wanted. When the time came to send the coral he sent them 2nd day air...claiming he didn’t have the money to overnite them(almost all ended up dying). Plus he just plain kept at least half of them...claiming they had “passed away”. This from a guy who sells corals for a living.
Anyway, on a brighter note..all the fish and live rock survived the trip just fine. We used large coolers for rock and fish. For both we had heaters and power heads running in the back of my husbands pickup truck (it has a cap on the back). My husband set up something called an inverter..which uses power from the trucks battery while it’s running. At night we brought the coolers into our hotel room and just plugged the equipment in there. We brought a few 5 gallon buckets of fresh saltwater for mid trip water changes and some prime in case of ammonia spikes. We had those little ammonia badges in both coolers. The trip took us four days, three overnite stays. I did not feed the fish during the trip.
When we arrived the fish were set up in a temporary tank, the rock stayed in the cooler with a power head for a few weeks while we set up the main tank. After all that time I expected to have a cycle in the main tank once it was all back together...but it was really very minimal. I was at zero ammonia and zero nitrite within a week and was able to add the fish back in...no losses. Surprisingly I never even got a case of “the uglies” with overgrowth of nuisance algae! So with a bit of preplanning...it’s totally doable! ;Smuggrin

 

[Cherie cook]

Here is my tank this morning...still very much a work in progress, but thriving! Big thanks to all the R2R members who gave me advice on how to proceed with the big move from NY to CO!

 

[SPLASH!]

The only thing that did not end well was the guy that was supposed to be holding my coral totally ripped us off. We paid him $300 for shipping, gave him a big MH light we were not using for his shop and told him to feel free to frag anything he wanted. When the time came to send the coral he sent them 2nd day air...claiming he didn’t have the money to overnite them(almost all ended up dying). Plus he just plain kept at least half of them...claiming they had “passed away”. This from a guy who sells corals for a living.
Anyway, on a brighter note..all the fish and live rock survived the trip just fine. We used large coolers for rock and fish. For both we had heaters and power heads running in the back of my husbands pickup truck (it has a cap on the back). My husband set up something called an inverter..which uses power from the trucks battery while it’s running. At night we brought the coolers into our hotel room and just plugged the equipment in there. We brought a few 5 gallon buckets of fresh saltwater for mid trip water changes and some prime in case of ammonia spikes. We had those little ammonia badges in both coolers. The trip took us four days, three overnite stays. I did not feed the fish during the trip.
When we arrived the fish were set up in a temporary tank, the rock stayed in the cooler with a power head for a few weeks while we set up the main tank. After all that time I expected to have a cycle in the main tank once it was all back together...but it was really very minimal. I was at zero ammonia and zero nitrite within a week and was able to add the fish back in...no losses. Surprisingly I never even got a case of “the uglies” with overgrowth of nuisance algae! So with a bit of preplanning...it’s totally doable! ;Smuggrin

I’m sorry to hear what you went through but goes around comes around that guy will get his one day. Anyway I appreciate you sharing your experience I will probably incorporate the cooler idea into my trip.

 

[c.poindexter]

I am thinking about a fish room and planning for another tank.

 

[Cherie cook]

I’m sorry to hear what you went through but goes around comes around that guy will get his one day. Anyway I appreciate you sharing your experience I will probably incorporate the cooler idea into my trip.

How long are you expecting it to take?

 

[Steve Elb]

Since Fall is coming and more inside activity....leading to MORE TIME devoted to the tank....

What's your next BIG PLAN in this hobby?

Tell us some detail, it might spark an idea for someone else.

I built a 100 gallon IM about 6 months ago and it's doing well. Trying to dial in kalkwasser on my ato. In the meantime I'll be setting up a 210 gallon for my African cichlids. I have a Frontosa colony and some Haps and they're starting to get big

 

[User]

I am thinking about a fish room and planning for another tank.

Quit stalling and do it !!

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Quit stalling and do it !!

We are enablers around here.

 

[Alex Polk]

My wife and I just bought our first home and escrow closes one month from today. I have been dreading moving my Innovative Marine AIO 25 Lagoon.

The more I have thought about it the more I have seen it as an opportunity to upgrade to a larger system. We will have a few weeks of overlap between our apartment and our house and my tentative plan is to purchase either one of the new Waterbox Frag Systems or one of the Innovative Marine EXT tanks. The plan is to get the new system set up at the new place and be able to just transfer my livestock directly over in buckets.

Fingers crossed all goes well!

 

[JPergamo]

I'm looking for suggestions on a small frag tank. Totally up in the air about plumbing to my main system of 240 gallons or keeping it stand alone. There are a lot of pros and cons of both approaches. Plans are in the total infancy stage so it's really just a brainstorm at this point.

 

[User]

I'm looking for suggestions on a small frag tank. Totally up in the air about plumbing to my main system of 240 gallons or keeping it stand alone. There are a lot of pros and cons of both approaches. Plans are in the total infancy stage so it's really just a brainstorm at this point.

I love the idea of a lowboy 50- 48x24x10” and plumbing it into the same system. I’m actually heading towards a chop-top 40b, since it won’t need as much light and the footprint won’t cramp out my fishroom. Gives DT and grow out frags the same water and lighting, maybe they’ll grow the same . But an issue can kill your entire stock, so a separate system for frags and ‘archiving’ also appeals.

I have thought about cutting down a 20long to 7” in height for a 6” water level, but it might be hard cutting the thinner glass with a wet saw

 

[ca1ore]

Planning to install a sulfur reactor and a heat exchanger. I have both, now just need to find the time to install them. Unfortunately the Fall means high school sports ..... there goes the spare time !

 

[Shooter6]

2 seperate but intertwined plans. 1st is to spend 1k give or take each month buying the highest end sps i can aquire. 2nd is set up my miracles in glass rimless 8ft 300gal. Plumb it through the wall to a greenhouse outside with an additional 800 to 1200 gallons in frag tanks, refugeum, sump, ect. So little equipment inside to make noise or mess.

 

[Miami Reefers]

I make my sumps. Regular tank and glass baffles from a glass store. Can’t justify $$$ for an acrylic custom sump. I like the fact I can design it myself.

What size sump? A 40b is awesome dimensionally for a 125.

I tend to do a close to 1:1 ratio with my DT, now that I have a fishroom. My current sump is 125 and a 29g to support my 180. I have another 29g I’m turning into a full dark cryptic sponge tank that’ll be plumbed in later.

I currently have no idea what size sump I’m going to need the tank is a 120 48x24 so i have room to play with under the tank

 

[Oliver d]

Build a new stand for my 65 g,without the mistakes I made on my current stand and to build myself a new 30 g frag tank.The sump I already have and the lights.Finnish my LEDs.