Long over due update. 4 years later....
TL;DR - Tank had to come down, got moved to Florida, rebuilt, survived two hurricanes ...
Tank this month
Too many fish!
Still room for more!
Getting there
Florida build day (July 2024)
Last full tank picture before disaster
May 2023 my house flooded. As a result my tank had to come out of the house so new floors could be put it. Consequently, I either had to find someone to buy
(1) the tank (Cade 1800 s2), (2) livestock (1 fox face lo / 1 zebra tang / 1 hippo tang / 1 lemon peel / 2 PJ Cardinals / 3 talbot damsels / 1 lawnmower blenny / 1 goby / 3 green chromis / 1 starfish / 3 yellow damsels / 2 clown fish / 2 tuxedo urchins / 1 pincushion urchin) and (3) gear OR find a way to relocate it to Florida.
Since I was going to relocate the tank at the end of the summer anyway I chose that path and tried to find someone to tear the tank down, house the livestock and then transport it to Florida 60 days later.
The move was not smooth, I lost a lot of stuff and questioned my sanity.
First off the tear down and rebuild was not as advertised. My livestock got devastated. Of the above I "lost" all but the Mimic Lemon Peel Tang / Fox Face Lo / 1 green chromis / 1 damsel / 1 tuxedo urchin. He "traded" me a Sail Fin Tang & a Stripeless Cinnamon Clownfish for my losses. Corals gone. Sand had to be replaced. Chaeto was barely alive and the stand was not clean. Dude obviously stored it outside as it had leaves and dog hair all over it. Overall would not recommend.
My man did not have enough water to fill the tank, did not know how to re-plumb it, did not have adequate men for the job and was about 10 hours late on the delivery time. I hired movers to be here when he arrived but they had to leave so when he arrived it was me, his HS friend and the dude trying to get this monster in place while my fish and rock sat in garbage cans.
I changed my sand to Carib Arag Alive Fiji Pink (8 bags - 160 lbs). Made my RODI and got some salt so I at least had stable water. Dumped the fish and rocks in and hoped for the best. My Kessil lights were in pieces so I only had my refugium light. Got it hooked up and on the tank and got enough close to 1.026 water in the tank and went to bed around 3am. The rock was bleached and probably not what he took out of the tank. But lessons were learned and moving on.
So first issue was in the rebuild the drain had a persistent leak. I could not get it stopped until I called Algae Barn and had them ship me a new part. Should have done that on day 1. I have a whole box full of parts that didn't work/fit. That metric to imperial struggle is real.
Second issue was getting lights back on the tank. Turned out my gear just getting tossed in a rough tote and sitting is not a good idea. At least one of the power supplies was bad as I replaced it but the light would randomly shut off. I think its over heating so a fan issue, or worse. I ended up just buying two new lights. I also had a bad wave maker (MP40QD). It was rumbling (bent shaft?). So new wave maker ordered. Funny story - dropped it within 5 minutes of putting it on the tank. (Pro Tip - hook up the safety straps BEFORE you put it on the tank!) and it was never right. So went to my LFS and bought another one. It's just money right?
So my gear casualties were a barely used MP40QD wave maker, 2 kessil AP9x lights, and a kessil dongle.
The to be repaired pile got depressingly large. Oh and my GHL doser bricked.
Spent the July 4 weekend cleaning gear, assessing damage and making new plans. I spent too much time looking at a very depressing tank and questioning why I had it moved. Started looking for new LFS and found a handful that were glad to have me in town. I started restocking fish and corals.
In October 2024 hurricane Milton knocked out power for right at 48 hours. I figured it was going to be another wipe out just as I was getting back on my feet. Used a big whisk to get air inn the water and gasses out of same. The wife found a local fish store that had a bubbler and put it in the tank over night and let it run even after the power came back on. Lost pincushion and tuxedo urchin, a clown and a lawn mower blenny. Bubbler ran about 30 hours on 4 D cells. I'd say get one since it likely saved most of my stuff.
Today the tank looks good: I have:
sail fin tang / fox face / midas blenny / bar gobies (4) / green chromis / PJ Cardinals (7) / ocelleris clown fish (3) / cinnamon clown / maroon clown / squirrel fish / bi color angel / springerii damsels (3) /kupang damsels (3) / diamond goby / starry blenny / purple fire fish / red fire fish (5) / anthias (5) / blue hippo / valentini puffer (2) / engineer goby / electric blue damsel / flame angel / coral beauty angel / Orange Spot Rabbitfish / sand sifting star / pin cushion urchin / tuxedo urchin / halloween urchin / skunk cleaner shrimp / peppermint shrimp (3) / snails / emerald crab
I'll see if I can get two videos to load a before and after.