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My 120cube teardown & rescape saga
Decided yesterday since I'm on vacation for the week to completely remove everything from one of my show tanks, the 120 cube to do some long over due cleaning and rescaping. Also wanted to cut back some of the larger colonies and redesign my flow scheme. There were a few unexpected surprises along the way
Found this guy once all the coral and rocks were out I had removed his big brother a few months back and didn't realize there was another. Just another reminder to inspect everything more carefully before it goes into a display. I believe this is the one that ate my Lineatus Wrasse..an expensive lesson. [IMG][/IMG] Here's all the corals and rock in tubs. Pretty unsettling having all this torn down......... [IMG][/IMG] [IMG][/IMG] [IMG][/IMG] And, here is a great illustration of how much detritus can settle in amongst the rocks. Keep in mind this is a BB tank with over 50X turnover, and I am fairly meticulous with my maintenance!! Needless to say I was siphoning this out for a while. Also dipped and redipped all my rock to get as much of it out as possible. [IMG][/IMG]
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"Baseball is 90% mental...The other half is physical."- Yogi Berra |
#2
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Wow -- that's lot of detritus; when you put everything back in, try your best to re-create the aquascape with as little rock as necessary.
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#3
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Do you have a before pic?
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GPH tank turn over numbers is about as accurate a method as watts per gallon. |
#4
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Yeah, that's what I did. The way it was set up before was the typical rock wall along the back and extending almost all the way to the front. I have removed about 50 lbs of rock and some very large coral colonies, trimmed down some others. Now, I have more of an island in the center with open space all the way around and under. Still more rock than I would like, but until my larger tank gets here, I don't have anywhere to put some of this stuff. I'll post some after pictures later when the lights come on.
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"Baseball is 90% mental...The other half is physical."- Yogi Berra |
#5
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I don't have any good FTS but these give you a general idea of how packed it was. This one was just taken this week. The two large encrusting Montis growing up the overflow are now gone [IMG][/IMG] This was taken a year or so ago, but you can see the scape goes side to side and almost all the way from back to front. You can see the growth on the two encrusting montis from this pic to the one above. BTW, the large Green slimer is gone now too! [IMG][/IMG] Another older shot just for reference. The corals had grown a TON since this pic. (BTW, One of those gorilla crabs also dined on the Red Sea regal in the picture. [IMG][/IMG]
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"Baseball is 90% mental...The other half is physical."- Yogi Berra |
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Wow, I really like the color on those corals. Maybe I will have to try XM 20ks next How long has the tank been set up for? Did you grow those all from frags?
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Thanks! Everything in the tank was either grown from a frag, or from ocean cultured, except for one Montipora and one Echino. The tank has been set up for 4 years. BTW, I need to update my prfile. I am no longer using the XM20K's on this tank. I switched back to 2 Phoenix 14K and am trying a 12K Reeflux in the center.
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"Baseball is 90% mental...The other half is physical."- Yogi Berra |
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Here are some "after" shots. Still not 100% happy with it, but it is better than before. Man, I need a bigger tank!
[IMG][/IMG] [IMG][/IMG] [IMG][/IMG] [IMG][/IMG] [IMG][/IMG] [IMG][/IMG]
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"Baseball is 90% mental...The other half is physical."- Yogi Berra |
#9
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you do a nice aquascape! and yes you do need a bigger tank or you can just send me some corals and i'll take the space problems off your hands!
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Keeping marine aquariums is an addiction not a hobby! And I'm addicted. |
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Lookin good Tony,
That's really thined out since the last time I saw your tank.
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Ed |
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"Baseball is 90% mental...The other half is physical."- Yogi Berra |
#12
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looks great the new scape is nice and i like the open space.
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#13
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Is the return through a seaswirl or wavysea?
Nice work, I just did my 120 as well - finished yesterday!
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SPS-Anon |
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Thanks, Pitstop and GSMguy. Return is through two stationary returns with Locline, and 1- 3/4"SeaSwirl. GSMguy- It looked much more open until I put the corals back in. They really filled it up quickly. I am seriously tempted to get rid of everything and start again from frags.......
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"Baseball is 90% mental...The other half is physical."- Yogi Berra |
#15
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very well done................why did you remove the emerald crab?
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Life is to short to buy frags ! But for FREE I'LL take them ><((((º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><((((º> ·´¯`·.¸. , . .·´¯`·.. >((((º> IT'S NOT THAT SIMPLE....... BAREBOTTOM ALL THE WAY® |
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GPH tank turn over numbers is about as accurate a method as watts per gallon. |
#17
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Jeremy is correct. That is a giant hairy gorilla crab with a taste for expensive reef fish and knocking over corals. It doesn't look quite as nasty out of water in that picture as it did in the tank.
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"Baseball is 90% mental...The other half is physical."- Yogi Berra |
#18
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Got ya thanks,
Michael
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Life is to short to buy frags ! But for FREE I'LL take them ><((((º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><((((º> ·´¯`·.¸. , . .·´¯`·.. >((((º> IT'S NOT THAT SIMPLE....... BAREBOTTOM ALL THE WAY® |
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Was there any sign of that gorilla crabs prescense while the tank was setup?
That really scares me, because I always fear that I might get a hitchiker similar to that, next time I buy rock. |
#20
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I noticed things knocked over, and of course, the fish that went missing, but both could also be explained by other things as well. I had caught a larger one a few months ago and didn't even think that there could be a second one in there.
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"Baseball is 90% mental...The other half is physical."- Yogi Berra |
#21
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We should all use interceptor when we put in new rock in to kill mantis shrimp and gorilla crabs |
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I got one when he was less than 1/2". Was not fast enough to catch him. 2 years later he was over 4". Around his den there were scatter of SPS trunks. He was cutting the branches at night and taking them to his cave. Lost several colonies before realizing it was the crab. Had to break down the tank to get him.
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#23
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I have actually treated this tank a few times over the years preventatively with interceptor and this thing lived. I used the recommended dosages.
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"Baseball is 90% mental...The other half is physical."- Yogi Berra |
#24
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#25
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Cant wait to see the new pics
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