The Rebirth/Rebuild of my 180g sps thread

[Acronuts]

I wouldn't bleach the live rock I'd just soak it in some Rodi water change it out a couple
Of
Times and call
It
Good

Reefup should the bin that would hold the rock have the rodi water circulating? Or would it be best not to? I would think that fresh water that is circulated would seep into the nooks and cranes of the rock therefore possibly killing any majanos that are hiding.

 

[Acronuts]

great idea to redo your tank... Now you get to do the things you've always thought about but never could do.. although that never ends.. lol
By the looks of your old tank, the new one should be spectacular.. Lots of nice colonies and color.. good luck

Thanks gr808! Lol u r right like we r ever done!

 

[skinz78]

Vinegar is slightly acidic and will remove the outer layer of crud from them.

 

[Acronuts]

Vinegar is slightly acidic and will remove the outer layer of crud from them.

ok thanks for the info!

 

[Acronuts]

Well guys here is the middle of the 3rd week and the sand bed is almost gone.
I am stocking up on some items that will be needed.
I bought more IO salt mix and changed all my RO cartidges.
I also bought a couple of tubes of aquarium silicon for "gluing" the star board.
In order to get the aquascape I am aiming for I am stocking up on the 2 part epoxy. One mistake I made before was that I just put rocks on top on each other and hoped for the best.
Here are a couple of shots to show the live rock that has been sitting outside. Looks like it is clearing up nicely. As for smell not too bad either!

Next week is a big week! Stay tuned.........

 

[skinz78]

Wait a min,,,, O/T but is that electrical disconnect really that crooked?

 

[Acronuts]

Wait a min,,,, O/T but is that electrical disconnect really that crooked?

Lol! No it is just that my real estate sign posts are on the diagonal and I took the pics horizontally!

 

[Reef Breeders]

I hope those mojanos are gone, and hopefully the local reefers will dontae some frags to get the tank going again. 180 s are my fav tanks (one day ill get 1)

 

[Acronuts]

I hope those mojanos are gone, and hopefully the local reefers will dontae some frags to get the tank going again. 180 s are my fav tanks (one day ill get 1)

Now wouldn't that be nice!

 

[Reef Breeders]

That would be awesome, but probably 7 years from now when I have room so a long time.

 

[Acronuts]

That would be awesome, but probably 7 years from now when I have room so a long time.

wow 7 yrs is a LONG time but my tanks' size is very doable and has some flexability. The only thing is I have to get up on a step ladder to open the hood and if i have to get anything in the back of the tank I need an extention grabber type of thing. Other than that I love the 2 feet in height and the 2 feet in width.

 

[Acronuts]

I have decided that while I was at it I will do some other upgrades.
I would like to upgrade my main pump. It is an old gen x and i can tell it is about to die on me.
I would like to get a gph flow rate of about 10 times my actual gallons which when up and running is about 220 to 225 including sump.
What pumps do you guys recommend that are energy efficient ? And quiet? And can do about 10x the turn over of my tank?

I am upgrading my mp 40's vortex pumps to the es model by upgrading with the hardware kit like this one.

I have also taken the advice of a fellow reefer and ordered mortar for the reconstruction of the reef aquascape. This product is more cost effective than buying tubes of epoxy.

The tank is now almost ready. I got rid of most of the sand and did a 10% water change yesterday. This will be the last water change.
I have put most of the larger pieces of rock into a 35 gallon garbage bin with tap water. So far in one day I have not noticed any bad odors.

I do not want to add bleach to the rock but will be soaking with vinegar. I will also add a pump for circulation. The rock will be held for one week and then rinsed throughly and left to dry again for another week while the smaller pieces are soaked in vinegar, rinsed and dried.

Well guys that is the update for now.

 

[Acronuts]

Hey guys just tested po4 with API test kit and the bru is coming in at a whopping 1.5!
Not as bad as I thought but the rock has been sitting outside my back yard for 4 weeks and every week I would rinse. I know that i would be freaken if this were the measurement on a normal basis. But let's see what happens!

 

[Acronuts]

Today I removed the rock that had been soaking in tap water. Interestingly though was the smell. The typical smell one has when rock is cycling.
I plan on soaking in RO water and place a power head this time. I will test after a week and see what the phosphate readings are by end of next week.
Next week is install time! Stay tuned guys!

 

[Acronuts]

Well before I go and bathe the rocks in bleach and after that vinegar, here is an idea of what I am looking for as the final look to my aquascape. Looking at it from three angles for a couple of days allows it to be just right before I mortar it together.

Front view of proposed aquascape, two islands with lots of nooks, small and large cave like settings.

Proposed front right side of tank closer look

Proposed front left side of tank closer look

From a far looks like the islands are the same but when you see the pics individually you can see they are different.
I also took into consideration water flow. I want as much flow as possible so these pics show plently of room for my my vortechs and korallias.

I am also thinking of adding a bridge at top to connect the two islands. What do you guys think?

I am also taking into consideration the height of my islands. The tank measures 24" tall. With the Star board taking about 1/4" and the trim another 1 1/2". This leaves me about 21 1/2".
Right now I am about 18 to 19 inches from bottom. I think I have plenty of room for acros to grow.

Another factor I always hated was the the fact that I had things very close to the glass making it hard to clean and pass magnets around.
As you guys can see the star board has been cut and there is plently of room for siphoning detritus.
What do you guys think? Am I forgetting to think about something?

 

[Acronuts]

Well guys a couple things to update:

I added more to the initial design of the aquascape. Some of you suggested instead of a bridge that I connect the islands for more coral space. After some thought and knowing that I had extra live rock I thought of combining the two ideas.

Here is a closer look. The bridges I decided to keep on the lower side to give a better feel to the overall look of the bigger and taller islands.
What are your thoughts?

Here is a shot of the whole look to the aquascape. Compare them and geive me your honest opinions guys.

Not sold on it yet but thinking about flow in the tank and thinking about not having any dead spots.
Rocks have now been bleached and throughly rinsed.

Interesting that these rocks have sat for 4 weeks outside drying out, then for 4 days in tap water with bleach and yet coralline algae survives along with these!!! What are they?

In cleaning up the rock I found this critter. Unfortunately gone but this half is embedded in the rock the other half I am keeping for a while. The surface is hard and the and the edges are sharp. Some type of clam I guess.

 

[Acronuts]

Todays tasks involved cutting a final edge to the middle of the star board to match the two end pieces.
I decided that leaving a 1/2" gap on the edges of the sides and front/back of the boards would bring me to the 71.5 x 23.5 inches to match the demensions on the inside of the tank.
I will silicon the board to the tank's bottom. Run an edge of siliscon along the parimeter of each board.
At first I thought oh man my jig saw's blade is broken!

But then I remembered that I bought a larger one during the 2004 hurricane season.

 

[Acronuts]

A few more things that were taken care of this weekend.
Here is a pic of the beginning of the drain. Funny how the fish don't wanna get caught!

Here is the 55g tank that the fish and some of my remaining corals will be housed for awhile.

Star board clean, cut and ready for install next week.

Tank finally empty. Corals and fish are all out. Look at the coralline algae growth on the back of the tank and over flow boxes.

Bleach went in last night and in less than 24 hours the coralline algae has turned mostly white. The anaptasia's were gone after I added just the tap water. The majano's were closed but look still alive until I added the bleach.
This evening I started to siphon any remaining sand and the majanos came off the glass very easily. I do suspect they were no dead.

Here is a fts. Wow it is surreal!

 

[Acronuts]

Well I decided to rebuild the aquascape and I knew going in that since I had only pics that possibly the rebuild of it may not be exact.
While one island ( the right one ) was easier because of the unique shapes, island two was more difficult.
Here are over head shots so you guys can see how much space there is at the tops of these islands.
The 1st pic I have between 5-7 inches across tapering to about 2 inches
The 2nd pic I have between 9-10 inches at the thickest to 4-5 to 1.5 inches.
I will see if I can add angle shots to show the ledges.

 

[Acronuts]

It's been a busy week here. After I ran bleach in the display tank for 4 days I got to empty the tank out.

I guess I was feeling paranoid because I decided to remove all the dead dried coralline algae. You can see the difference.

Once done I moved on to test the star board. There was a slight cutting adjustment but took care of it and laid the three pieces inside the tank.

One of the things I found out that even though I took pics of the aquascape, once I tore it down I was freaken out at how hard it was trying to place the rocks back exactly how they were in the pics.
Then guys I was itching to see the aquascape inside the tank. Man what a day!!! 1st the space seemed to SHRINK! What space I thought I had was gone. Either way I made some adjustments. Nothing is mortared yet.

I have some good things to show like: A more natural looking bridge

Another bridge on the rt side island

These bridges I am not so sold on yet. They don't seem natural enough and they seem as though they are just shelves to put stuff on them. I am seriously considering not having this whole middle section.

Here is the FTS without the store shelves section and before I added the more natural bridges