907 Tank & Stand Build - 55 Gallon

[Projects with Sam]

Alright side note, we'll be doing a "restoration" thread (at some point) for a 72 gal bow front drilled Oceanic tank, custom 3/4"-1" ply stand w/18 gal sump (12x12x30), and 60-70 lbs dried out live rock. Picked it up at a local moving sale hehe. Older equipment will be tossed but good bones on this girl. Not my ideal SW tank but meh, projects are fun (right Sam?!).

Got a ton of cleaning, scratches to buff, lots of equip to toss and replace, but couldn't pass it up. AK winter project

Base with casters already built to move it around the garage, $100 for 6-175 lb casters and 3 pieces of 2x4x8. 52"x20" OD.

Ew.

You bet! that looks like a really fun project! Going to keep the paint scheme?

 

[907_Reefer]

You bet! that looks like a really fun project! Going to keep the paint scheme?

We're going to need a little more black in there, definitely needs a repaint so there will be some tuning.. Will not be solid black however

Check out the retro tech. Not sure on age of most but the 18g sump has a sticker from 2013 on it..

 

[Projects with Sam]

lol; I think that is younger then my setup!

lol I'm jealous! setting up tanks is fun.

 

[907_Reefer]

Quick update for today, have mostly been trying not to fidget with the tank much and let it settle in. Plus it's summer time in AK which is a pretty short season to get outside, so we have been out of the house a lot . Seasons are ahead of schedule here so we'll be expecting first snow sometime in September potentially. We end up with about 4'-5' snow pack at the house in this area.

The tank survived a 2 day camping trip with no issues except some algea to clean! We had a small skimmer overflow the week before so I was a little nervous and routed the overflow line back into the tank just in case..

Also received an order or super glue from BRS this week! Excited to not have to fuss with Coral Crete any more and I'm still nervous with E-Marco 400 based on how it acts when used under water.. Excellent support from BRS btw, USPS had destroyed and resealed the box, glue was missing. One email to BRS and they 2-day shipped replacements up here within 3 business hours. Sweet!

We also added 2 emerald crabs a few weeks back and I'm happy to report, I can't find any bubble algea!! It has been noticably spreading, crabs did the job! I had not ended up having the LFS sex them for only females, but didn't need to apparently . Our first 2 emeralds did not last, one was DOA next morning and the other a few weeks behind, but these 2 are rocking.

Fish of Hex sent a note today that my order is in the printers finally! Put in a small order with them a few weeks back for Hanna reagent funnels, a bubble algea removal tool, a suction cup frag rack and a glass cleaner / razor blade holder. Will report back when those have arrived.

Keeping up on weekly water changes now also, no recent level measurements but all seems well.

Also planning to spice this thread up occasionally with local scenery, I'll leave you all with Knik Glacier today:

 

[Projects with Sam]

one of the channels I watch is:

https://www.youtube.com/c/SimpleLivingAlaska

its so cool up there.

 

[907_Reefer]

one of the channels I watch is:

https://www.youtube.com/c/SimpleLivingAlaska

its so cool up there.

We keep up with their channel as well! The glacier above is the same one they boated too recently, we are in the same area, just aren't as good on camera

We ATV'd in to the glacier instead, 20 mile ride each way. Love it up here.

 

[907_Reefer]

Just wanted to add a pic of our Tubastraea Sun Coral, loving this guy. Getting fed shrimp daily, going to see if the LFS will order us a black one this week

 

[907_Reefer]

Road trip to the LFS this week, just a few additions

Pagoda Cup Coral
Zoas (Purple People Eater)
GSP! (×3 frags)

I figured since nitrates have been back up for a while, its time to try some zoas again!

Been wanting to replace the original GSP we had, which fell down first night and turned into a decoration for pistol shrimp's cave....

And the Pagoda guy is just cook, nice to have a little dark green in there.

Loving this BRS extra thick super glue btw! I can finally put things where I want lol. Coral Crete sux.

Will add some closeups when the tank is awake today.

 

[907_Reefer]

My Fish of Hex order for some 3D printed stuff is in! Took 3-4 weeks but finally made it. Picked up some Hanna cuvette funnels (no more spilled reagent solids), small razor blade scraper (works awesome but I should have gotten bigger lol), bubble algea removal tool (Emerald crabs took care of that issue though!), and a small frag rack. The plug holes are a little tight if your plug is dirty but nothing a quick cleaning can't resolve.

Rack residents are super happy to be off the crowded sand bed (91 lb rock in a 55 gal tank was a little ballsy..but ok )

Otherwise been loving the BRS super glue still, getting corals settled in better locations but not too much fussing with the tank, and no dosing for a while now, with weekly 15% (5 gal) water changes @ 1.025.

Tried another frag of purple people eater zoas a few weeks ago, they're hanging on but even with nitrates up around 5, I can't seem to keep happy zoas in the tank.. :/

GSP is happy however! The LFS cut me a few nice chunks on the last visit. I've had a hard time getting these to glue on as they were not on a plug (how do yall do it?!), but super glue finally stuck and they're opening up great. Each piece that fell turned into an unrecoverable decoration for pistol shrimp's cave lol...

The Pagoda cup coral had started bleaching almost immediately, was placed in the middle of the tank and I noticed about 12 hours later. I threw it on a rock on the sand and it has been holding without further bleaching for 2 weeks.

I also bumped the XR15 light schedule down to 33% from 37%, everyone seems to like it so far.. Still running AB+ lighting exactly.

Smaller loose rock have been great for sand bed corals, pistol shrimp tries to be a collector of any frag not attached to something solid..

One morning, ricordia and blastos had been collected:

Then goniopora:

That was the last straw, you shall not have my flower pot!! All corals are safely mounted on rocks now, but I should probably throw in more toys for pistol shrimp.. He has a massive cave probably most of the length of the tank, they keep popping up in different locations, back and forth..

FTS for today:

 

[Projects with Sam]

Looks great!

 

[907_Reefer]

Been a while with no updates, life is busy and we're preparing for another Alaskan winter.

Main notes, pistol shrimp is getting big. You can hear him snap his claws extremely well in the house now when it's fairly quiet... Luckily the rocks are stable enough he hasn't caused a land slide in a few months

Have some algea, bubble, hair and otherwise but not too bad. Posted a thread here about one rock that got coated and I was able to remove and scrub, no chems. So far so good..

Otherwise we did make a boo-boo. We bought a Starry Blenny and dropped him in this tank which also hosts a good sized Lawnmower Blenny. No Bueno. Been 48 hours and I'm still fishing, the cute little guy is getting super bullied by the Lawnmower, so back to the LFS he will go. As soon as I can catch him. Bah.

(He is just behind the Duncans in this pic)

Haven't don't mush testing in a while (busy!), trying to do a full tank workup this week, I know my phosphates are still through the roof.. Will update on that!

FTS, tank running about 5 months now:

 

[907_Reefer]

Got him! Back to the LFS tomorrow for a better home. 2 traps didn't work but we were able to catch this Starry Blenny in this rock hole, net both sides and then pull the rock and nets simultaneously, dump him in the nursery box. Poor guy was getting harassed non stop by our Lawnmower.

 

[907_Reefer]

So, Starry is now enjoying life in a huge tank at the LFS, our 55 gal is back in zen mode, and the LFS just happened to get the black tubestrias we were waiting for.... They're settling in and starting to peak out.. ohhhhh

Our other NPS tubestria enjoying the night sky:

 

[907_Reefer]

Our Black Tubastrea guys are alivvee!!

 

[907_Reefer]

Been a while without an update here - been busy - as we are moving! And the tank is coming!!

This should be interesting, but I have it planned out as best as I can (I think). We're making a 300 mile move in the middle of Alaskan winter (current temp ranges today are +7 F to -5 F). Luckily, we have a little overlap with houses so I can do it in 2 trips, separate from most of our other junk. I'll be taking as many pictures and documenting here as I can.

First trip will include pre-loading the new house with 2-32 gallon brute cans on rollers, 1 full of RO and 1 for SW which will have pumps and heaters running while they wait for our return. Will have ~20 gal RO additional backup in water containers also. Also 2-30 gallon totes which will start empty, but be a temporary home for our rock and livestock, each with a heater and flow pump. And ~10 new, washed food grade buckets on hand for additional mixing or whateva.

I debated on sand, there are some folks here that like to move tanks while disrupting as little of the sand bed as possible (leave as is, lower water to just cover the sand), but with just the wife and I to do all of the lifting, I decided to bring 80 lbs fresh sand down and will dump the old here (after sifting out as many snails as I can find..). This will also reduce our bed from the current 120 lbs to 80 lbs, I decided the 120 is too much albeit the pistol shrimp lovess itttt lol. But he will be fine with 80 lbs in a 55 gal tank.

Once the new house is pre-stocked, we'll drive 300 miles back to load up phase 2. The plan here is to turn house heat up, start warming the truck, move water, rocks into buckets, chunks at a time, then livestock last, and I have 5 battery-powered bubblers for the primary buckets with livestock. Sift/discard sand, load tank accessories into bins, load tank and stand into back of truck with many blankets (will be rinsed/mostly dried), load buckets into cab of truck (4 door), make sure heat is cranked to max and sweat out a 5 hour, 300 mile drive in ~5 degrees F, while hoping I don't have to get out in shorts to put tire chains on at any point....lol. There is some debate about moving livestock first, due to the impending sand cloud in the water once I start to disturb rocks, but after taking multiple days to remove just one Starry Blenny prior, I'm not sure that's an option lol. I believe I'll just have to be slow and careful with rock removal instead, and hope for the best..

Upon arrival at new house, bring in livestock buckets first and start loading into the 2-30 gallon totes with mostly old SW + some new as needed. Immediately adding heaters and flow pumps to bring the temp up evenly. The livestock will live here for ~24-48 hours while we bring in / setup the tank, load sand, and partial (~1/4-1/3 full) new SW, with heaters and a few of the bubblers since we can't run the HOB skimmer until mostly full, and let the sand settle.

Then once the tank is ready, start adding rock (mostly will have corals attached) and keep the water level just above the rock height with a mix of old water that traveled, and fresh SW from the brute. All will be at-temp. This will be the fun part since I want to re-design the rockscape a bit. Likely will have ~10 lbs spare live rock when done, which I won't have room for but would kill me to toss. Little conundrum there.. We'll see.. But I'd like to actually be able to clean the glass on 3 sides at least, it is pretttty full currently..

One part I'm debating is securing the rock (mostly due to pistol shrimp), I do have E-Marco 400 on hand which I used once underwater, it did an AWESOME job but it leaks a white liquidy substance into the water which drives the levels like Alk up the wall. I could do this with the livestock still in the totes, but most of my corals will be attached the rock in the tank while I work... I have reef super glue on hand but not sure that will get the job done properly..

Then once rock is in place, toss in the livestock! At this time I will be ready for an adult beverage.

I'll probably leave the lights off for about 2 weeks after rebuild also. Mostly wanted to jot the plan down to make sure I have everything covered mentally . Input welcome as usual!

 

[jmatt]

Well, at least your in good spirits about it. Moving a tank must be such a pita. lol

 

[Projects with Sam]

Been a while without an update here - been busy - as we are moving! And the tank is coming!!

This should be interesting, but I have it planned out as best as I can (I think). We're making a 300 mile move in the middle of Alaskan winter (current temp ranges today are +7 F to -5 F). Luckily, we have a little overlap with houses so I can do it in 2 trips, separate from most of our other junk. I'll be taking as many pictures and documenting here as I can.

First trip will include pre-loading the new house with 2-32 gallon brute cans on rollers, 1 full of RO and 1 for SW which will have pumps and heaters running while they wait for our return. Will have ~20 gal RO additional backup in water containers also. Also 2-30 gallon totes which will start empty, but be a temporary home for our rock and livestock, each with a heater and flow pump. And ~10 new, washed food grade buckets on hand for additional mixing or whateva.

I debated on sand, there are some folks here that like to move tanks while disrupting as little of the sand bed as possible (leave as is, lower water to just cover the sand), but with just the wife and I to do all of the lifting, I decided to bring 80 lbs fresh sand down and will dump the old here (after sifting out as many snails as I can find..). This will also reduce our bed from the current 120 lbs to 80 lbs, I decided the 120 is too much albeit the pistol shrimp lovess itttt lol. But he will be fine with 80 lbs in a 55 gal tank.

Once the new house is pre-stocked, we'll drive 300 miles back to load up phase 2. The plan here is to turn house heat up, start warming the truck, move water, rocks into buckets, chunks at a time, then livestock last, and I have 5 battery-powered bubblers for the primary buckets with livestock. Sift/discard sand, load tank accessories into bins, load tank and stand into back of truck with many blankets (will be rinsed/mostly dried), load buckets into cab of truck (4 door), make sure heat is cranked to max and sweat out a 5 hour, 300 mile drive in ~5 degrees F, while hoping I don't have to get out in shorts to put tire chains on at any point....lol. There is some debate about moving livestock first, due to the impending sand cloud in the water once I start to disturb rocks, but after taking multiple days to remove just one Starry Blenny prior, I'm not sure that's an option lol. I believe I'll just have to be slow and careful with rock removal instead, and hope for the best..

Upon arrival at new house, bring in livestock buckets first and start loading into the 2-30 gallon totes with mostly old SW + some new as needed. Immediately adding heaters and flow pumps to bring the temp up evenly. The livestock will live here for ~24-48 hours while we bring in / setup the tank, load sand, and partial (~1/4-1/3 full) new SW, with heaters and a few of the bubblers since we can't run the HOB skimmer until mostly full, and let the sand settle.

Then once the tank is ready, start adding rock (mostly will have corals attached) and keep the water level just above the rock height with a mix of old water that traveled, and fresh SW from the brute. All will be at-temp. This will be the fun part since I want to re-design the rockscape a bit. Likely will have ~10 lbs spare live rock when done, which I won't have room for but would kill me to toss. Little conundrum there.. We'll see.. But I'd like to actually be able to clean the glass on 3 sides at least, it is pretttty full currently..

One part I'm debating is securing the rock (mostly due to pistol shrimp), I do have E-Marco 400 on hand which I used once underwater, it did an AWESOME job but it leaks a white liquidy substance into the water which drives the levels like Alk up the wall. I could do this with the livestock still in the totes, but most of my corals will be attached the rock in the tank while I work... I have reef super glue on hand but not sure that will get the job done properly..

Then once rock is in place, toss in the livestock! At this time I will be ready for an adult beverage.

I'll probably leave the lights off for about 2 weeks after rebuild also. Mostly wanted to jot the plan down to make sure I have everything covered mentally . Input welcome as usual!

You could mortar the rocks together in a water-change water bucket later after you're all settled-in. Dont feel like you need to tie it all in with the move!
Careful of Alk of incoming water too. Good luck! sounds like you thought of a lot!

 

[907_Reefer]

Well, at least your in good spirits about it. Moving a tank must be such a pita. lol

I'll probably be in good spirits until the morning I start dismantling this tank!

You could mortar the rocks together in a water-change water bucket later after you're all settled-in. Dont feel like you need to tie it all in with the move!
Careful of Alk of incoming water too. Good luck! sounds like you thought of a lot!

I may save some work for later yep! I'm figuring I should have a decent amount of time to get the main tank setup with the livestock settled in a few totes also, just trying to plan as much as I can even though I know there will be some winging it happening at a few points I'm sure!

 

[907_Reefer]

Getting trip #1 ready to go here, new totes, brutes + 10 extra new buckets cleaned, temporary housing equipment staged and 56 gal RO reporting for duty! More on the way. And a snowblower! Required. More work to go..

 

[Projects with Sam]

awesome! good luck!