How about a nightmare build thread?

[Gregg @ ADP]

I can't believe you are continuing this.

I would flat out refuse if they didn't let me tear it out and start over.

Trust me. That was part of the first conversation. The answer was an unequivocal ‘no’

Believe it or not, I’m actually in year 10 of taking care of this beast. There was the major renovation initially (40 hours!!!), then getting it to the point where coral would a) live, b)grow, c) reproduce (years), and now I’m at the point where, when I can find time, I chip away at the laundry list of issues.

Wanted to get this thread going, because next week I’m tackling the interior drywall issue (if I’m not rebuilding yet another rock-slide)

 

[dantimdad]

BTW, one good argument to them for tearing it down is the crazing in the corner in the first picture.

 

[dantimdad]

And you need to send me a big chunk of that leather. :D

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

And you need to send me a big chunk of that leather. :D

Ha! Do you want some? The main colony is almost 3’ long.

 

[dantimdad]

Ha! Do you want some? The main colony is almost 3’ long.

Absolutely!

PM me if you are serious.

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

Here’s a little bit of ‘good’:

At this point, the corals are doing pretty well. This is while I’m working on it, so a lot of stuff is shut down/closed up. Those giant mushrooms are both about 12” in diameter (started from 1 that was 4”). There are 4 good sized RBTAs that are closed. At the very top, you can see a little green hydno...that was part of a much larger colony until a rock-slide a month ago. Now there are 7 or so hydno colonies.

Also probably 60 fish in this tank. Maybe more.

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

This looks fun!

 

[PDR]

60 fish? :confused:

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

60 fish? :confused:

Most are pretty small...25 chromis, 10 Allen’s damsels, red mandarin, various gobies, etc

One Vlamingi tang that’s about 10”. The pyramid butterfly is decent size. Both have been in there for a decade.

The LSS could handle another 60 easily. It’s juiced up.

 

[AlexStinson]

I am loving this thread. When I worked at a store we got called to break down a few disasters, never seen one brought from the grave like this.

 

[Teri NewbieReefer]

And I thought my snarl of cords and pipes was bad!!! Please, oh please share more of this kind of hell tanks so the rest of us can feel better about our disasters!! :)

 

[dantimdad]

And I thought my snarl of cords and pipes was bad!!! Please, oh please share more of this kind of hell tanks so the rest of us can feel better about our disasters!! :)

I will post more soon

 

[CalebWBrink2000]

This seems fun

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

This seems fun

I am loving this thread. When I worked at a store we got called to break down a few disasters, never seen one brought from the grave like this.

And I thought my snarl of cords and pipes was bad!!! Please, oh please share more of this kind of hell tanks so the rest of us can feel better about our disasters!! :)

Believe me. I’m just getting started on this tank. Many levels of failure by a ‘premier custom saltwater aquarium design’ company.

 

[Ocelaris]

This makes me feel a lot better about all the challenges I'm facing with my new build. Just when I thought I was doing a terrible job getting things together (it's taken me 6 months), I realize there's a lot of planning involved or you end up with these types of builds.

 

[john.m.cole3]

following the nightmare!

 

[TessGlo]

I love this, OMG, thank you for venting to us. I often wonder about the tall or showy tanks people get.

I was in a very expensive home recently with it's living room/ dining area centered around a very large and tall cylinder reef tank that was under a roof covered with skylights. The tank had to be moved in with a crane and the roof opened up. They clearly spent a fortune, but it looked horrible, covered in algae, foggy/scratched acrylic. They wanted real corals but I did'nt see any. Owners said they had professionals taking care of it. I'm not about to blame the professionals because I could not imagine trying to keep algae at bay with tons of sunlight and having no way to get inside the tank. Rocks that fell from the center structure could not be retrieved from the bottom of the tank and I can't imagine how you could fix the mess of a sand-bed because there is no way to get to it to siphon.

May the force be with those professionals who try to keep these tanks looking nice. I will never complain about getting water all down my armpit because that is like a day at the beach compared to what it must take to keep some of these tanks clean.

 

[ScooterV]

I think a lot of businesses and home owners have a vision in their head, and "professional" installers are happy to take their money without pointing out how/why it's not likely to end well :(

 

[Oliver d]

I love this more please

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

Before we get much further with the roast of this build, I do want to emphasize that despite its innumerable flaws, it’s a pretty successful tank.

It had one die off about 4 or 5 years ago when the ATO shut-off valve malfunctioned and stuck open. Lost a lot of coral...both in # and biomass. And before the LEDs went in, temp was a huge issue...even with remote filtration and a chiller. So, definitely some peaks and valleys the first 5-6 years. Last 5 years have been smooth sailing, and I’ve been able to establish the enviro quality and stability to allow me to now transition into more SPS. It will always be a blended reef, but I would like to start to fill it some of that hard to work with vertical space with some plating montis and acro colonies.

Typical parameters:
salinity- 1.025
temp- 78-80
pH- 8.0-8.2
alk- ~9
Ca+- ~420
Mg+- ~1350
PO4- 0.4-0.5 (I can easily get this down)
NO3- 15-20

I had the sump (170 total gal) built with a pretty substantial refugium. That said, I moved away from fuges years ago. I’m thinking about firing it back up and just managing it differently. When it was up before, I had a 150w MH pendant over it. I grew ridiculous amounts of mac-alg, and then I would put a Euphyllia or similar in, and then just watch it dissolve away.

Anyway, the tank has initial design warts that simply can’t be removed. Some are major and create a lot more work for me. That said, the biggest problem I have with the tank is that it just gets filled up with coral, so I end up spending a lot of time cutting, moving and rearranging. I put a 4-head frogspawn in a little over a year ago and it’s already almost the size of a volleyball.

This was a pic from about 8mos ago. I ended up moving a bunch of stuff around because the Sinularia has overgrown both sides and we’re filling the entire open space in the middle:

That giant mushroom ended up splitting because it had grown onto two rocks and then one rock slid and started pulling it apart.​