AF OceanGuard 435 New Setup

[Greenfishguy]

Good morning all. I haven't ever created a build post so bear with me if I make any mistakes. I decided to upgrade my tank and I was trying to decide on an AF OceanGuard 435 or a Waterbox Frag 105.4 system. I found a sale for the AF tank and decided that is the one for me. I figured I could document my set up journey for anyone who was considering the AF brand and wanted to see the setup/installation. I have only been reefing for about 2 years now so I am no expert, but I can do my best to answer any questions and would love feedback as well. Anyway here we go!

The plan - the goal is to have a lower maintenance tank so I am going to stock softies and LPS, not sure if I want any SPS at the moment

The equipment - most of this I already had from my SC50 tank but here is what I will be using for this new build
AF Oceanguard 435 tank
AI Blade Grow 30" light - I had a kessil 360 but wanted to try the new blade instead of buying a second kessil
ReefOctopus 110S Classic Skimmer
Simpicity 1000DC return pump
IM Helios dual 200W heater
Maxpect Jump2k gyre pump x 2
Duetto ATO pump

Stock I will be transferring over
Tomato clownfish x 2
Six line Wrasse - he plays nice!
Banggai Cardinal
Royal Gramma Basslet
12 assorted softies
2 LPS - duncan and trachy
many snails/ hermit crabs

I don't believe I will have a mini cycle since I am moving all of the rocks over and not adding to the bioload, but I will keep an eye on the parameters.

 

[Greenfishguy]

The tank came in about 3 weeks after I ordered it. The delivery was for curbside, but the driver was nice enough to bring it to my door. I inspected it for any damage but it looked good, so I signed and sent the driver on the way. The crate is the tank/stand/sump and the thin box on top is the color side panels for the stand (I went with white). I also received a AF starter kit which had a lot of goodies in it (sadly the nitrifying bacteria bottle was broken and leaked everywhere, but I didn't really need it).

 

[Greenfishguy]

Unboxing the crate was pretty easy. Whoever packed the aquarium circled which screws to take out to make it easy to open - I thought this was amazing and saved a lot of time.

 

[Greenfishguy]

Showing off how this was packed. The tank is upside down over the stand. The crate had a lot of packing foam so the tank was in perfect condition with no damage to it. The only hard part was we had to lift the tank up off the stand, bring it inside and set it on the floor. Then we could bring the stand in and place the tank on it. I had my brother helping me so it wasn't too bad.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

This is going to be a cool build to follow!!!

 

[Greenfishguy]

Here is how the sump and plumbing came packaged in the stand, all looked great. We got the tank on top of the stand and moved it close to where it would be ( I have tile floors so we can scoot it over a bit without having to pick it up). The stand didn't come with the sides and doors installed since you can chose from a few different colors.

 

[Greenfishguy]

This is going to be a cool build to follow!!!

Thanks! I want to share as much as I can so we can all help each other out.

 

[Greenfishguy]

Installing the side panels was super easy. You just threaded some screws through the inside of the stand and tightened with wing nuts - all included.

 

[Greenfishguy]

Now the tanks is in its forever home, next to the old one. It should be easy to move everything over since they are close together.

 

[Greenfishguy]

Placed the sump where it needed to go and completed all of the plumbing. It was very easy and used schedule 80 threaded fittings.

 

[Greenfishguy]

Once the plumbing was completed, I installed the doors which was pretty simple. Ill eventually adjust the doors so they will be level with each other, they are slightly crooked, but not too bad.

 

[Greenfishguy]

Now that the tank is set up and where it will live, I will start getting the water and all that good stuff ready. I will post updates later on how its going. Thanks for checking out my thread so far!

 

[Greenfishguy]

I mixed about 25 gallons of salt water to get the tank going. I also have a brute 33 gallon trashcan full of salt water going with a heater and pump for when I add more to the new tank.

 

[Greenfishguy]

I added the dry rock scape I made along with new sand. I decided to not use the old sand for reasons. I used 40 lbs of Caribsea Special Grade Arag-Alive sand.

 

[Greenfishguy]

Added the 25 gallons of water along with an extra heater and pump I had. Ill leave this going for a day or so so the temp gets correct and the sand has a chance to settle a bit. Will update later.

 

[ScubaFish802]

Nice tank and stand, exciting stuff so far - following along!

 

[Greenfishguy]

Almost time to transfer it all over! I added around 30 more gallons of water to the new tank. Same deal as before - I'm going to let it settle for a day before transferring it all over. The salinity and temp are the same in both tanks so I expect this to go smooth. Fingers crossed!

 

[Greenfishguy]

Time to move everything over! I started by moving the main stuff, like return pump and controller to get things going. I sadly didn't take any pics of the actual transfer over process. I was too much in a hurry to get everything over safe and sound with as little stress as possible. After I set up the main life support in the new tank, I transferred over most of the water from the old tank into the new one, leaving about 3 inches in the old one. I also moved all of the live rock over so it would be easier to catch my fish. I then moved all of my fish and snails/crabs over and started moving the rest of the equipment over.

 

[Greenfishguy]

Here is the tank fully set up with everything moved over. I am going to play around with the scape in a few days to get it finalized where I want everything, but its pretty close. I want everything to have a chance to adjust.

 

[Greenfishguy]

Final under tank shot! Cable management isn't my specialty, but its organized to where I can get to everything easily. I will update in a few days to see how all of the fish and corals are doing. So far so good!