My First Saltwater Adventure - 120 Gallon Peninsula

mmw64 · Jun 8, 2016

dbl said:

So impressed David. My tank pales in comparison.

dbl · Jun 8, 2016

x_burt said:
Good luck bud, always a pain in the *** to do but a great chance to do those things you wish you'd done last time round

Bronc said:
Good luck!

s2nhle said:
Good luck.

mmw64 said:
So impressed David. My tank pales in comparison.

Thanks all. The funny part is I'm actually very happy with the current set up and am really not looking forward to this project. I've been extremely lucky so far and have actually gotten to the point where I don't like to change anything for fear of turning the tables on myself!

But these two RBTA's have to be evicted. My spawning clowns Grey & Goose are going to be pretty ticked also.

Just another challenge in this crazy thing we call a hobby.

Zero Nitrates · Jun 9, 2016

That's such a pain to do. Best of luck

d2mini · Jun 9, 2016

Ack! I hate going through re-builds. But totally understandable why you have to.
Good luck! And maybe treat yourself to a new toy for the tank, too.

dbl · Jun 21, 2016

So a few posts ago, I mentioned I've issued eviction notices for some out-of-control RBTA splits. Actually planning on tearing things apart this weekend if all goes as planned.

So I get home this evening and what do you know. One of them decided to move...right to the underside of a huge purple Monti cap. I've never seen anything like it. I tried to peel it's foot off and ended up just fragging the cap. So now I have the most expensive "frag" plug for an RBTA.

Anyway, here's a few cell phone shots. I actually started trying to remove it and realized I needed some pictures. That explains the "stuff" floating in the water and everything pretty well peeved by the time I grabbed the phone.

Pretty awesome as one eviction has been served and just two more to go!!!

Older picture of cap for perspective. It's about 12"x16":

The perpetrator under the cap:

The perpetrator in an acclimation box until I find it a new home, sitting on a 4"x3" chunk of the cap. A small rock in as well hoping he jumps over to that:

Zero Nitrates · Jun 22, 2016

Never seen that. Crazy!

dbl · Jun 22, 2016

Zero Nitrates said:
Never seen that. Crazy!

I found it pretty amazing, but I'm easily amused.

dbl · Jul 24, 2016

Well, I finally got around to tearing the tank apart for project RBTA removal. What a pain. I ended up getting three of them out and left the fourth for the clowns. Didn't disrupt it in hopes it will stay put.

Anyway here is the last decent picture prior to this morning:

Here it is mid tear down:

And here is the temporary holding tank and my newly finished QT/frag tank mainly filled with accidental frags from today's festivities. Final pictures to come once completed and settled.

And the three evicted RBTA's in their temporary cages.

s2nhle · Jul 26, 2016

wow, that was alot of work.

dbl · Jul 26, 2016

s2nhle said:
wow, that was alot of work.

Thanks, and yes it was, and unfortunately it's not over. I'm struggling to find a new aquascape I'm happy with, but I think I'm getting close.

dbl · Jul 30, 2016

Well, I finally have things back together. I've played with the new aquascape a few times this week but I think I like what I ended up with. Didn't start out intentionally, but I ended up with a "SPS island" and a "LPS island". It seems like the fish are happy due to the increase in swimming room.

Anyway, let me know if you see something that just looks stupid! If you go back to post #54 you can see what it looked like before project RBTA eviction. Several of the nice colonies I had were taken out by the perpetrators, hence their removal.

Here are some cell phone pictures (I didn't get the DSLR out for these), starting with one side, then the end panel, then the other side:

Couple of shots of each "island" from both sides:

vipertaj · Jul 30, 2016

Looks really good. I wouldn't change a thing. Beautiful setup.

dbl · Jul 30, 2016

vipertaj said:
Looks really good. I wouldn't change a thing. Beautiful setup.

Thank you...I appreciate the feedback.

x_burt · Jul 31, 2016

Looks awesome bud!
How is the middle between the 2 islands? Can you see sand there?

dbl · Jul 31, 2016

Thanks Mark...I appreciate the comments. Basically I used some smallish rocks to connect the two islands. So yes, you can see sand in some spots and I ended up with some great recesses/hiding spots for the fish and critters. Here's a "close-up" of the area.

fragit · Jul 31, 2016

I think it looks fantastic dbl! Making me think about changing my rock work!

dbl · Jul 31, 2016

Thanks Jesse (@fragit). I've been following your build and it really came out terrific. Hard to see your scape at this stage but it looks similar to what I ended up with from what I can see.

I will say this much...I do like my new version better than the old one, in that all the rockwork is lower in the tank. I will be able to see everything a little easier I think with version 2.0!

x_burt · Aug 1, 2016

It looks great. I'm a fish guy so I love seeing good room for them to swim

s2nhle · Aug 1, 2016

Looking great. I like the idea of separate island for SPS and LPS.

dbl · Aug 1, 2016

s2nhle said:
Looking great. I like the idea of separate island for SPS and LPS.

Thanks. As I said it didn't start out that way intentionally, but I do like it. One potential benefit...The way my current lighting is set up, I could in theory, adjust the lighting over each island if needed.