~TJ'S 125g ~ Building of the Reef~

[prsnlty]

Oh wow Todd, I'm sorry to hear that happened. Funny how these things happen while we're away. I'm afraid to leave my tank for more than 2 days. I hope it didn't damage that beautiful floor, or is it not in the same room?

 

[Mike&Terry]

Thanks Kevin, Jackie and Brad. I know its been a long while and I'm getting around to an update soon.... I promise. After having to deal with a few issues of late because of my annual 'Salmon Fishing Season' N-E-G-L-E-C-T and a failure on the Frag Tank overflow box flooding the room with 35+ gallons of SW and creating havoc to a lot of Coral as sump stopped returning clean heated water. More details later and will try and get some pics taken even though not particularly happy with it at the moment, but hey Scott Fellman said to share our failures as to improve ones own success.... lol

Cheers, Todd

So sorry to hear this, Todd. Hope the damage was not too significant...

 

[TJ's Reef]

Damage outside of the tank was not to horrible just destroyed the base boards and a bit of drywall damage while removing wet baseboard to dry it all out. Inside the tank is another story..... completely lost 2 of 3 Garf Bonsai colonies, Lg Purple Slimer colony, 75% of Lg Cali Blue Tort, 75% of XL Lavender Tort, 50% of Green Slimer, 50% of Bob Moore Stag, 50% of the Sunset Milli, 50% of my Quad-color Acro (favorite coral) still slowly receding, 30% of Red Planet still slowly receding, 10% of the XXXL Rose Milli (not really noticeable) and about the same on the mixed Birdsnest but like the Rose Milli barely can tell. The GOOD NEWS is that most of my LPS and Softies are loving life with the added nutrients and/or light.

Quick cell phone pics below including the new frag rack I made to accommodate the recent fragging.

FTS with lots of new room where the 'Sticks' used to be so prominent on left side.


Closeup recession of my favorite and once colorful Quad-color Acro


New Frag Racks


Decent pic of one of the new Wrasses (C. cyanopleura or C. aurantidorsalis ???)

Cheers, Todd

 

[prsnlty]

Oh no! I loved that purple slimer and the cali tort... I'm so sorry this happened to you

Can't see the pics but I can imagine... I hope you are able to save some of each and the receeding stops. Best of luck!

 

[mfinn]

for some reason, I'm not seeing the pictures.

 

[TJ's Reef]

for some reason, I'm not seeing the pictures.

Me either Marty...lol

So, let me try this again..................

FTS 11-28-14

New Frag Racks and some fragged survivors. Plus a couple sweet lil Maximas from 'Your Reef'

Cheers, Todd

 

[spspirate]

Sweet frag rack! Reef shot looks colorful and healthy Todd!! You'll bounce back fast I'm sure.

 

[TJ's Reef]

Sweet frag rack! Reef looks colorful and healthy Todd!!

Thanks Andy, it only took me a few hours to make. I couldn't stand having the egg crate in there any longer and from a FTS perspective not wholly bad.
though probably lost 200+ inches of SPS Coral, so not real happy.................. or proud of my husbandry practices of late. Bright side is that I will be able to step back the dosing amounts for a while now. Also think I found a perfect tank replacement from a friend now, which will speed the update process quite a bit. I will need to cut it down in height 2-3" then still drill and build a 'Ghost Overflow' for it but already a nice clean 3/4" acrylic tank with the 60" x 24" needed footprint.

Cheers, Todd

 

[spspirate]

Wow! Can't wait to see the finish product! I think you'll find your skimmer being a little more productive with a "ghost style" overflow.

 

[Saltgator]

Thanks for the update Todd. Sorry about the losses.

 

[427HISS]

Knowing Todd, it will be wonderful when done !!! :rockon:

 

[skinz78]

Dang Todd sorry to hear of the losses, the tank still looks awesome though! If you need a place to home some of those frags I think I could find one LOL....

Who you getting the new tank from?

 

[Zero Nitrates]

Very nice frag racks! Sorry about the losses. Your tank looks awesome.

 

[joekool]

Like the frag racks bud they are cool. What's the details on them bad boys

 

[Jp978]

Great thread!!

 

[TJ's Reef]

Thanks guys, still in slow recovery mode but most Corals have started to show good color and some growth again. Making water for another 30 gallon WC and see if I can knock down the Nitrate and Phosphate back to more reasonable levels. The emergency delivery of SW from great friends was dumped into my Refugium blowing up a 3 year untouched anaerobic sand bed and burying a large amount of Caulerpa and since I had my hands more than full dealing with water damage did not address the issue until damage was done.
Joe, it only took me a couple hours to fab the Frag Racks which fit into my std 15g acrylic frag tank with enough room for a mag cleaner to fit around. Looked like a Winter Wonderland in the shop with all the acrylic shavings though.... should have taken a pic of that mess. No longer very clean though as has a good coat of algae so added a small 3" Hippo Tang for maintenance duties.

A few quick cell phone pics from the 8th below, looks a tad bit better now as my XL Green Stylo is starting to turn back to green finally and new growth tips on most of SPS.

FTS 12/8/14

Left side

Right side

Canyon view

Cheers, Todd

 

[Aquaph8]

It's looking great Todd snd the frag rack turned out really nice!

 

[prsnlty]

It's looking fantastic considering all it has been through. Lol if it was my tank it wouldn't look 10th as good! You definitely have a "wet thumb"!!!

 

[427HISS]

You definitely have a "wet thumb"!!!

I agree. And,... a green, blue, tan, red, yellow, brown purple, pink,..............................lol :wink:

 

[TJ's Reef]

Thanks Jackie and Kevin and sure my thumbs and fingers have been all those colors working with all the machinery, tools, paints, stains and chemicals over the years... lol
Made the decision today (like 3am) that I would scrap the old 212g tank repair/redo and just buy all new 3/4" cell cast acrylic and build a shiny new tank exactly the way I want with a near coast-to-coast 'Ghost' style overflow but will need to do a little research as to options on outer box so as to be able to choose a Herbie, Durso or Bean Animal drain. Want it to as quiet and slim profile as possible. Now I need to build a protected work surface to assemble tank on and maybe an excuse to buy a new tool or bit or something.............

Big bonus today = noticed a bit of regrowth over STN'd area on my Red Planet colony and the Hippo Tang has made a noticeable dent to the algae in the Frag Tank both of which makes me VERY HAPPY HAPPY indeed.


Cheers, Todd