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  #26  
Old 12/22/2007, 08:07 PM
maxalmon maxalmon is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Las Vegas
Posts: 246
We finally have water!!!!!....Tank is about half full of water with about 75lbs of the 450lbs of LR that will be in this tank, had to tear another tank down and set this one up in the same day, man I'm just beat....
  #27  
Old 12/22/2007, 08:58 PM
TriGa22 TriGa22 is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Georgia
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Looking good maX
  #28  
Old 12/22/2007, 10:37 PM
specialkb specialkb is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Gainesville, Florida
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Looking goood, can not wait to see it all setup.
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Kyle
  #29  
Old 12/22/2007, 10:40 PM
Felix1021 Felix1021 is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Miami,FL
Posts: 153
nice nice...Awesome set up!
  #30  
Old 12/23/2007, 07:20 PM
maxalmon maxalmon is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Las Vegas
Posts: 246
Ok, normally I'm pretty aware of what I'm doing and don't make a lot of stupid mistakes, but when I do, they are usually kinda severe and bad

I was using my normal trash can on wheel to mix water for the new tank. I mix the water in the the trash can and then use the mag12 pump and hook a pipe to it and pump the water into the tank. Because I'm so frazzled with tearing down a tank and setting up a new tank, I removed the tubing from the pump and left it in the trash can and left the pump with it's ball valve sitting straight up, then filled the can with water, instead of pluggin in the heater to heat the water, I plugged in the mag12 pump that was sitting in the bottom of the trash can and within about 1 second of plugging it in, it shot a jet of water that hit the ceiling and then splashed all over the freaking place, it was like a Disney water show, me screaming and scrambling to unplug the pump, what a freaking disaster, salt water dripping from the cabinets and ceiling, took me 2 hours to clean the mess up....so freakin mad

This is the pump and tubing that I use to pump the water into the tanks


Here is where I royaly screwed up, took the tubing off to siphon water from another tank and forgot to lay the pump on it's side, so you can see how it was like a water jet aimed at the ceiling


This is right after cleaning the mess up, thing that sux is that we just waxed the cabinets, what a mess. It shot straight up and then splashed the Island, wall cabinets and then dripped all over the counters and dripped into drawers etc....snort, huff,....argh!!!
  #31  
Old 12/24/2007, 04:52 PM
jasondon jasondon is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Calgary Alberta
Posts: 26
Nice setup, I really like the stand/canopy!
  #32  
Old 12/27/2007, 08:58 AM
maxalmon maxalmon is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Las Vegas
Posts: 246
Thanks!........

We start adding the 350+lbs of fully cured LR from the 125, we start the transfer process this Fri or Sat. I have another 75g of fresh SW, we will fill up 5g buckets, then add the cured LR and transport them over to the new tank.

The 125g is in one of my retail stores about 15 minutes away, I want to transport the LR submerged so that die off is minimized. One the LR arrives It'll go into a small kiddy pool and will be gently cleaned to removed any built up detritus, then rinsed in another bucket of clean SW and then into the 215g.

Lights will also be installed on Sat, hopefully the install will be complete this Sat or Sun.
  #33  
Old 12/29/2007, 09:27 AM
maxalmon maxalmon is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Las Vegas
Posts: 246
Today is moving day.....ARGH....

This is the tank thats being torn down and all the inhabitants moved over to the new 215g. I have a massive Kenya thats 18-22" across depending on the water flow and 2 Umbrella's, one is 19" and the other 17" when fully expanded. 3 Clams and a bazillion zoa's, 24 headed frogspawn it goes on and on as to whats in this tank. I plan on moving most everything in 5g buckets.

This is the established 125 thats being moved


I love the way this Kenya sways and moves with the water flow...
I got this one as a 4" frag.
  #34  
Old 12/29/2007, 09:35 AM
maxalmon maxalmon is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Las Vegas
Posts: 246
I was originally going to go low tech on this tank to prove a point that you don't have, to have the latest and greatest pieces of equipment, I was going to go skimmerless. Just a tank, some lights good water flow and lots of LR and a sump. (the 125 hasn't had a skimmer for 9 months)

Now I've changed my mind, I have way to much money invested in livestock, couple grand just in micromussa's, toss in the Tyree's watermellons and a few more, Aussie acans and other little bits and pieces, and then there are all the SPS in my frag tanks that I want to add to the 215, so this new tank will have the following

Euroreef skimmer
auto topoff
MRC calcium reactor
  #35  
Old 12/29/2007, 12:38 PM
Chihuahua6 Chihuahua6 is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Hilton Head Island, SC
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Wow, love the huge colonies. I can't wait to see the new tank with the corals in it. How long have you had that Kenya? How long was the 125 set up?
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  #36  
Old 12/29/2007, 02:53 PM
maxalmon maxalmon is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Las Vegas
Posts: 246
I've had the Kenya for about 12-14 months and the Umbrellas for maybe 18 months... I can't belive how many corals I had in the 125 and how they had grown, found a bunch of stuff that I thought was gone but was just out of view.

OMG....What a royal pain this has been, not really complicated or anything, but just messy and lots of work....can't really hire a moving company or anything, or I would have )))

The first wave of buckets have been moved and ready for adding to the tank, this move consisted of all the major corals and LR that had no live organisms attached, as I had to create the base for the aquascaping. There were a total of 8 five gallon buckets and 2 large coolers that had the corals in zip lock bags. I also had a 80g pool setup to empty buckets as I want to sift thru all the stuff for snails, critters etc that I want to keep.

This was a major operation as I had to aquascape and move at the same time so I spent most of yesterday looking at all the LR to figure out how I wanted things arranged, for the most part it went off fairly easy as I just placed the LR where I thought I wanted it and then started placing corals

I worked from right to left and now have 1 more trip for the other LR to complete the left hand side of the tank, nice things is that the corals that were just placed have already opened , only thing that sux is my frogspawn broke into 3 pieces, it was about the size of a basketball bw

Here is the first truckload of buckets


This is the tank with a pile of LR in the L corner that I have to arrange and then place the corals


This is a pic after the aquascaping and now I have to make 1 more trip to get the other LR to finish the L side of aquascaping and pick up a few things that may be floating or roaming around the tank, I know there are tons of misc zoa's, still have to get the fish and the lights. (lighting fromthis tank is the lights for the new tank)

  #37  
Old 12/29/2007, 02:56 PM
maxalmon maxalmon is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Las Vegas
Posts: 246
I like the "wall of LR" look, not sure If I have enought room for the rest of the LR as it looks like I had a total of about 500lb, may end up using some of the huge pieces in another tank. Some of the LR is massive, won't fit in the 5g buckets...
  #38  
Old 12/29/2007, 09:35 PM
khoivo1 khoivo1 is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: minnesota usa
Posts: 387
hi,,i am in process of switching tank that i don't have to move far away,,just in same house,,
i have one question for you,,,do you reused all your water or some of it,,,or did you have new water in new tank for a while,,,
thanks
how di d you do it?/
  #39  
Old 12/29/2007, 10:59 PM
maxalmon maxalmon is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Las Vegas
Posts: 246
Quote:
Originally posted by khoivo1
hi,,i am in process of switching tank that i don't have to move far away,,just in same house,,
i have one question for you,,,do you reused all your water or some of it,,,or did you have new water in new tank for a while,,,
thanks
how di d you do it?/
The new tank had been setup for about a week using LS and and about 100lb of fully cured LR from one of my existing tanks. I tested water each day and there were no major changes, I also added some basic corals to see if there were any problems. Over the last week all corals were healthy and eating with good polyp extension. The plan was to use the other 400lbs of LR from the existing tank so that I wouldn't have a cycle, this was accomplished by transporting the other 400lbs of LR and corals in 5g buckets so that there was no or minimal die off. I don't expect a cycle in the tank as I'm using healthy LR from an existing tank. I've used this method before and it's worked perfect everytime
  #40  
Old 12/29/2007, 11:03 PM
erics3000 erics3000 is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Palm Bay FL
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Wow looks good. I love your floor I just did something a little similiar.
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(Red House for my 425 system)
  #41  
Old 12/29/2007, 11:08 PM
maxalmon maxalmon is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Las Vegas
Posts: 246
It's done.....................I need some serious BAR time,,...after this,...Oh, wait....I have a bar next to the tank,....clink clink....time to finally enjoy the recliners.......somebody wake me in the morning with a bloody freakin mary
  #42  
Old 12/30/2007, 12:03 AM
maxalmon maxalmon is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Las Vegas
Posts: 246
Had to get the lights and and canopy from the other tank in order to move the retro-fit lights over to this tank, I used the same canopy but in a larger size, here are the before and afters, only dif in the canopy was the extra 6" in depth.

old canopy, 72" long but only 18" depth


new canopy with same lights, but lots bigger t^


Tank with new canopy and lighting


Ok, there's something wrong with the cat being the only one interested in the new tank.....LOL this is "Lump" the cat that does absoultley nothing
  #43  
Old 01/11/2008, 11:59 PM
maxalmon maxalmon is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Las Vegas
Posts: 246
Figured it was time for an update, life's been really crazy so the tank was kinda on hold for a while, kinda cool to setup a new tank like this and not have a cycle....LOL

Removed about 100lbs of LR, I'll replace it with 50lbs of really nice tonga branch thats on it's way, will take a few weeks to cure. Remember that this is a LPS/Zoa/softie tank so the aquascaping is a little different. I plan on fragging all my zoa's onto the tonga branch, then LPS and softies in the rockwork.

I actually removed all the LR and started over as I realized that I forgot to place the maxijets and Koralias behind the LR. There are a total of 4 hidden powerheads that are mounted at the bottom of the tank, some aimed up, some aimed thru and 2 that are aimed sideways, this ensures that there is very little detritus buildup, plus there's tons of space behind the LR.

I thought I was going to lose one of my crocea's as his entire foot was ripped off in a freak accident, but he's now fully opened and looks like I can see a new foot creaping it's way into the LR

Ended up fragging my monster Kenya into 2 huge frags, if you can call them frags @ 14" across, they look so freakin tiny in the photos

I'm not done with the aquascaping and figure it will take a few more weeks of looking at the tank and getting ideas on how I want the final aquascaping to look like

Full tank shot, sorry it's a little cloudy, was mucking around in the fuge.




 

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