907 Tank & Stand Build - 55 Gallon

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Tank, wondering what will come first, the horses leaving or his hernia.

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rmorris_14

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Been a busy spring! Updates below, tank is in cruise control while we finish up some life chores and start enjoying some weather above freezing :D ..for a little bit.

I'll be catching up on y'alls threads shortly here and I'm expecting to be impressed. FYI.

Photo updates are the most fun.







Royal gramma, seen here asking where I've been.



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:face-with-tears-of-joy: :face-with-tears-of-joy: :face-with-tears-of-joy: :face-with-tears-of-joy: :face-with-tears-of-joy: :face-with-tears-of-joy:
 
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Everything good?

Hope all is well need some squatch updates

Yessirs, all good! We've just been crazy busy chasing squatches and what not :D

Only a few months up here that aren't frozen so we are out and about taking advantage and I've been slacking on the forums..

The tank is good though! Had one incident while I was away for a week, skimmer freaked out and dumped ~6 gal SW into the overflow - luckily I have it run to a 5G bucket so mess was minimal, ATO kept the level proper but hence SG lowered to 1.022 and raising that back to 1.025 over 3-4 WCs. Will get some pics up shortly!

How's everyone's summer?! Will catch up shortly here..
 
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Let's do a little update!

Tank is good, little algae returning, it's been running on autopilot most of the summer here with bi-weekly check-ins while we get ready to move it (back, lol), to its old home, next week. Long story yadda yadda all is good and we are pumped to reset :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

Only had 1 issue where the skimmer freaked out and dumped about 6G SW into my 5G reservoir (smh..), which I can attribute to a half-butt skimmer clean job where I knocked some gunk from the neck, into the chamber, and let it run (do as I say kids, not as I do).

Yadda yadda yadda 15G ATO reservoir was plenty to keep the tank full, however dropping SG from 1.025 to 1.022. Been raising back to 1.025 with ~3, 5 gal WCs @ ~1.029. No related issues reported :)

Pistol shrimp has been super busy on the right side in my absence..

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Meanwhile, 1 (Edit) Rhodactis is now 4 Rhodactis :thinking-face:

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Not bad for minimal attention for 4+ months though, some light GHA, cyano etc. The electric toothbrush method held this stuff back prettttyyy gooood if you ask me.

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The big Goni got booped by the glass cleaner but is happy as can be otherwise :D
 
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did you say you needed to move it back now?

We decided to change life plans, so we're heading back to the old house which we luckily hadn't sold yet. Location location location. The new one just wasn't right and we are relieved to change back :)

All good and yep, tank will be getting moved next week or week after, same manner as before.

Not super excited for that project but I have all supplies ready to roll and at least it's not -10 F this time of year :rolling-on-the-floor-laughing:

Been running back and forth for a month or so, lots of time on the road.

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jmatt

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We decided to change life plans, so we're heading back to the old house which we luckily hadn't sold yet. Location location location. The new one just wasn't right and we are relieved to change back :)

While I'm sure you're not looking forward to the chore, I'm sure it was a mental relief when you finally got to the point where you definitively decided "That's it, we're going back".

There was probably a lot of thought leading up to it, but there was one clear moment when you made up your mind... and I'm sure that a wave of relief just swept over you.
 
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While I'm sure you're not looking forward to the chore, I'm sure it was a mental relief when you finally got to the point where you definitively decided "That's it, we're going back".

There was probably a lot of thought leading up to it, but there was one clear moment when you made up your mind... and I'm sure that a wave of relief just swept over you.

That is pretty much the nail on the head right there!

Getting prepared for the move, ready to pre-load a 32g brute with SW at the destination here and realized I left all of my mixing pumps where the tank is currently, 300 miles away lol.. Great start :grinning-face-with-sweat:
 

tbrown

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That is pretty much the nail on the head right there!

Getting prepared for the move, ready to pre-load a 32g brute with SW at the destination here and realized I left all of my mixing pumps where the tank is currently, 300 miles away lol.. Great start :grinning-face-with-sweat:
Sounds like a valid excuse for MOAR equipment!
 
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Popping in to wave Hi! I lived in Anchorage from 2012-2018 and I’m always threatening to move back!

Do it!! We love it up here! We're moving back up to the Mat-Su valley :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

...Tank moving count down is T-minus 40 hours... :grimacing-face::grimacing-face::grimacing-face:

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Tank move is on! Yesterday was go day, started unloading the tank around 6:30 AM, arrived at the new location at 5:00 PM to start transferring into totes and warming up, after a 5 hour drive. Everyone is swimming in their temporary tote-homes at this time :)

I did this pretty much the same as the last move, which worked well, with a few light tweaks. Generally, same theory - pull loose corals first, into small tupperware containers. Rocks with coral attached go into 4 buckets with livestock spread evenly, old SW fill to 75%, all of those run RESUN DC-160 battery powered bubblers. 2 D batteries each will run them for ~3 days, plenty of time for most moves. The rest of the rock goes into more buckets with old SW, no bubblers here. With water 95% drained I pull the old sand while combing through it for snails and shells, then toss it (new sand will be used). Then I load all buckets into the wife's car so she is responsible and tell her to run the heat at ~78 for the entire drive, while I haul the tank and stand in a second vehicle with a nice breeze :cool:

On arrival I pull everything inside and take 2 of the 3, 15-gal totes and dump their contents onto the nearest table, quick wipe down and split the buckets of rock, livestock and coral into them, most of the old SW that was included and top up with new SW I had pre-made and left in a brute with a Jebao return pump to keep mixed. Add pre-set 78 F heater(s) and flow pumps to the totes for movement and aeration, and here they'll live for a few days until the tank is cleaned and equipment has time to soak in citric acid. New sand is on hand and ready to go - if I was re-using the old, I would recommend rinsing the crap out of it first. On the last move everything lived in totes for 6 days, going to try to knock a few off of that on this round..

Things I changed up a bit from the last move:

- Focused on catching the wrasse early (or any fish that hide in the sand bed), poking around for him last in 3" of detritus filled water/sand is not comforting or easy. Was able to get him much earlier this time!
- No need to pre-make an entire 32 gallon brute of RO prior, some SW is the only immediate need on arrival. I probably used 5 of the 32 gal.
- I did not pre-heat the new SW on this round, figuring the incoming old SW will be at room/car temp, I want the new SW to match when I top the totes off and let heaters bring them up to temp gradually vs a sharp increase if the new SW was heated.

Time for pics!

Last shot of the tank prior to the move:

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6:30 AM, rocking and rolling:

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All my livestock :oops:

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Corals ride in here:

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Ready to roll:

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En-route, co-pilot "Tank" on duty:

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Wet travel day, lots of rain up here lately. Temps were 49-55 F on the drive.

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Arrived at the destination, everything inside while I prep totes, pumps and heaters:

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All livestock and rock split between the totes, mostly old SW with a top off from my pre-made SW, 2 pre-set heaters and 1 flow pump for each bin. This is where they'll all live mostly in the dark for a few days..

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Only one thing left to do now..

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More to come as we get the tank and stand in, everything cleaned and fired back up!
 

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