Fence's Tank Build

Fence13 · Jun 7, 2018

It's here! Queue dramatic music! (I hope you're prepared for pictures)

Yzma: Ah, how shall I do it? Oh, I know. I’ll turn him into a flea, a harmless, little flea, and then I’ll put that flea in a box, and then I’ll put that box inside of another box, and then I’ll mail that box to myself, and when it arrives…I’ll smash it with a hammer! It’s brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, I tell you! Genius, I say! …Or, to save on postage, I’ll just poison him with this.

Fence13 · Jun 7, 2018

@revhtree says that's not enough pictures...

mint pavona is growing back from the dead after being covered in zoas. ORA Aurora Borealis also growing out of the zoas. Rainbow monti, Strawberry shortcake, garf bonsai/tricolor?, and then a UC unknown coral.

on the right are the UC Firecracker (top) and Walt Disney (bottom)

najer · Jun 7, 2018

Fence13 said:
It's here! Queue dramatic music! (I hope you're prepared for pictures)

Yzma: Ah, how shall I do it? Oh, I know. I’ll turn him into a flea, a harmless, little flea, and then I’ll put that flea in a box, and then I’ll put that box inside of another box, and then I’ll mail that box to myself, and when it arrives…I’ll smash it with a hammer! It’s brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, I tell you! Genius, I say! …Or, to save on postage, I’ll just poison him with this.

Check out the base flesh on those, what great frags!

England calling, I need a Battle box!

Fence13 · Jun 7, 2018

najer said:
Check out the base flesh on those, what great frags!
England calling, I need a Battle box!

@Battlecorals is definitely worth it! The overnight to England may be some horrible cost!

powers2001 · Jun 29, 2018

Awesome Battlebox, now could you post a full tank shot?

Fence13 · Jul 10, 2018

I'm so sorry for the delay in updating this post. I was going to do a big fancy posts with memes, gifs, and jokes but I just can't. I honestly don't have it in me right now.

On Jun 30, 2018 I finally got done filling the tank and was running it with just powerheads and heaters to help circulate the water. On the night of the 30th my house was impacted by the flash flooding that occurred in Des Moines, IA. We had enough water come up through the flooring to basically ruin all the floors and a lot of personal items. The stands for two of my tanks, including the new SCA tank were completely ruined. I had to tear down the 93g cube and part it out to scavengers for pennies on the dollar, and most of it was given away for free. My house still has construction going on to remove damaged floor and cut out mold spots in the subfloors and drywall.

It's probably going to be another 2 or 3 weeks before my house has flooring back in it. Then who knows how long it will take to get a new tank up and running. The stand from SC Aquariums, their "wood" stand that costs more money, completely warped and soaked up water - come to find out, it's composite wood or MDF on the support beams and wood paneling on the outside. I wrote them a very strongly worded email about false advertising and misleading customers but I don't think they will do anything to remedy the situation. FYI @Robin Haselden because I know you have the same stand I do, even though they already replaced it once.

NY_Caveman · Jul 10, 2018

Fence13 said:
I'm so sorry for the delay in updating this post. I was going to do a big fancy posts with memes, gifs, and jokes but I just can't. I honestly don't have it in me right now.

On Jun 30, 2018 I finally got done filling the tank and was running it with just powerheads and heaters to help circulate the water. On the night of the 30th my house was impacted by the flash flooding that occurred in Des Moines, IA. We had enough water come up through the flooring to basically ruin all the floors and a lot of personal items. The stands for two of my tanks, including the new SCA tank were completely ruined. I had to tear down the 93g cube and part it out to scavengers for pennies on the dollar, and most of it was given away for free. My house still has construction going on to remove damaged floor and cut out mold spots in the subfloors and drywall.

It's probably going to be another 2 or 3 weeks before my house has flooring back in it. Then who knows how long it will take to get a new tank up and running. The stand from SC Aquariums, their "wood" stand that costs more money, completely warped and soaked up water - come to find out, it's composite wood or MDF on the support beams and wood paneling on the outside. I wrote them a very strongly worded email about false advertising and misleading customers but I don't think they will do anything to remedy the situation. FYI @Robin Haselden because I know you have the same stand I do, even though they already replaced it once.

Wow, I have had a flood before, but this sounds much worse. So sorry to hear. Sounds like repairs are well underway. Best of luck.

najer · Jul 10, 2018

Fence13 said:
I'm so sorry for the delay in updating this post. I was going to do a big fancy posts with memes, gifs, and jokes but I just can't. I honestly don't have it in me right now.

On Jun 30, 2018 I finally got done filling the tank and was running it with just powerheads and heaters to help circulate the water. On the night of the 30th my house was impacted by the flash flooding that occurred in Des Moines, IA. We had enough water come up through the flooring to basically ruin all the floors and a lot of personal items. The stands for two of my tanks, including the new SCA tank were completely ruined. I had to tear down the 93g cube and part it out to scavengers for pennies on the dollar, and most of it was given away for free. My house still has construction going on to remove damaged floor and cut out mold spots in the subfloors and drywall.

It's probably going to be another 2 or 3 weeks before my house has flooring back in it. Then who knows how long it will take to get a new tank up and running. The stand from SC Aquariums, their "wood" stand that costs more money, completely warped and soaked up water - come to find out, it's composite wood or MDF on the support beams and wood paneling on the outside. I wrote them a very strongly worded email about false advertising and misleading customers but I don't think they will do anything to remedy the situation. FYI @Robin Haselden because I know you have the same stand I do, even though they already replaced it once.

That sucks, hope you get things back together soon.

powers2001 · Jul 10, 2018

I am sorry to hear that. I hope you will get things back together soon.

Fence13 · Jul 10, 2018

Thanks everyone. It's a pretty hard loss. Once the floors get replaced I'll then be able to start exploring "new tank" options......

Fence13 · Oct 10, 2018

Guess who's back?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New house + new tank + plumbing friends = fish!

samnaz · Oct 10, 2018

woo! finally!

Fence13 · Oct 10, 2018

SOOOO...Here's the cliff notes:

After the disastrous flood, I had to tear down my 93g tank because the floors under it needed repairs.
Ended up giving away all the fish, nems, and corals to scoundrels who didn't really help out at all.....including one local teacher who said he would do more than he did. (People can be miserable).
Combined my favorite fish from the 93g into my beautiful 75g SPS tank.
Fish in 75g caught a disease and most died within 3 days. Left me with a foxface, 2 melanurus wrasses, and a six line wrasse.
Found out that our house was going to be purchased by our city due to the damage. So we bought a new house.
Well since I was buying a new house, I had to buy a new tank.... bring on Innovative Marine EXT
First tank arrived damaged, but IM was great in getting a new one out to me. Their customer service is amazing.
After moving in, got the new tank moved in and setup. Friend helped with plumbing to shore up some leaks.
Was able to use most of my old equipment and sumps.
Lost about 75% of my corals.....most of my montipora corals survived......they are resilient!
Looking forward to starting over.....

Now that everything is setup and running with water.......I'm excited about all the possibilities of what I can put in this new tank!

now......enjoy pictures.

Fence13 · Oct 10, 2018

Thanks @samnaz I'm hoping this drive carries forward and helps remind me why I liked this hobby to begin with. Did you finish your tank build yet?

NY_Caveman · Oct 10, 2018

Very nice! Nice comeback.

Fence13 · Oct 11, 2018

@NY_Caveman thank you! It's good to be back!!!

Fence13 · Nov 7, 2018

Thought it would be good for some photos now that the dust has settled and some color is showing. Things continue to improve. Most of my LPS are coming back to life and healing up any damaged skin, and my SPS are getting color back in them.

My wife even claimed a 12" cube by Deep Blue and will be taking over that little nano tank.

Fence13 · Nov 7, 2018

This is the newest picture here and I wanted to talk about some of the additions I did recently. I was able to purchase some Apex mods from a buddy who was sadly leaving the hobby. I'm still in the "testing it out" phase with them but I figured this was a good time to talk about it.

Loosely hung near the Kessils are the Apex lunar modules. I keep fiddling with the programming here. I'm not sure I really enjoy them going off the lunar table with the old (classic) apex. But they don't seem to cause any problems and will look better if I clip off the excess zip tie ends.

In the top left is the Apex auto-feeder. This thing is loud and annoying so I have it run when I'm not home. But the little pellets just float away or the bigger medium pellets sink right to the bottom. I can't seem to settle on a feeder ring (reviews vary between BRS and MarineDepot and BAO is sold out of there acrylic one).....I could buy the cheaper Eheim one with their feeding chute....but I could just go back to feeding them manually.

Not pictured is the Apex WXM module. I'm not entirely sure the point of this. But it seems to be more of a fun toy then actually useful. My old tank lasted years on just lagoon mode at 80 - 90% power....since it was 48" long. This tank is a foot shorter, and the new QD models are a little stronger, so I run it about half power and still get good movement from my torch on the right side of the tank. Here's a snippet of my WXM setup.

samnaz · Nov 7, 2018

Fence13 said:
Thanks @samnaz I'm hoping this drive carries forward and helps remind me why I liked this hobby to begin with. Did you finish your tank build yet?

it's officially the worlds slowest tank build at this point, I think... heh.