RFBF's 90 Gallon Déjà vu All Over Again

[Juano908]

Final Coat of Paint

I'm giving the doors and ears a second coat of paint, and a friend stops in and looks at the ears and states, "They aren't Mickey Mouse ears, they are miniature tombstones."

And here are the doors....or now it's just one, so door. Looks a little streaky because I just gave the panel portions another shot of paint. When it dries, it will be just fine.

Next on the agenda, trim work around the base of the tank. The 1/2 foam I used only compressed about an eighth of an inch. Here's a picture of a piece of un-compressed foam in front of the tank, sitting on the compressed foam.

The issue is that when the trim board is put in place, about an eighth to 3/16 of the plastic base trim on the tank is exposed. Not sure if I am going to make new trim pieces or work up some other solution.

Very nice Paul!!!!!

 

[redfishbluefish]

Happy, Happy, Happy

A little aside from my build....but sort of related.

I use a high intensity light to work in and around my tank that also gets used on almost any project I have...woodworking, auto repair, etc. I got this from my father years ago....it's a Cole Parmer Dyna Lume light.....and, yes, it's an antique. It's super bright and lights up what you're working on.

So recently the bulb blew, and I thought I could simply go on-line and buy another....Bulb 9809-52. No luck. However, one of the posts was the same light I have, for sale on ebay....for $250. I thought that must be a mistake...maybe $25 dollars. But no, I found others for sale for what I thought was a ridiculous amount. Now Cole Parmer still sells a similar looking light in both LED and Halide for mucho dollars, but no info about the bulb, and if it would fit my fixture.

Further research found that the base of my bulb was a BA15S....The things you learn that you really don't want to know!!! Anyway, I found that auto bulb 1156 has a BA15S base. So I buy a two pack of "Long Lasting," bulbs and they worked! The only problem is that they only worked for maybe an hour, and pop, they were blown.

Back to the internet, now searching LED bulbs with a BA15S base. Found many options, most around 3 - 3.5W, and some dirt cheap....20 bulbs for $20, as an example. The one that really sparked my interest was a two pack for $11.39 off Amazon...HERE. These were 5 watt single Cree LED's with aluminum case, and a big lens on the end.

So now I'm back in business:

Now here's the best part.....I can't even begin to tell you how many times I burnt myself on that "cone of death" that covers the bulb.....arms, hands, and even my cheek. It would be blazing hot, first or second degree burn hot!!! This new bulb, nothing. No heat at all. Even the aluminum case around the bulb, only slightly warm. Now the only question....will it last. I'm going to miss getting burnt.

For the time being, I'm happier than a pig in mud.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Always Happens On Vacation

So I've set up four holding tanks to hold my corals and fish while I swap out my main tank. One of the tanks is a 20 Long that holds the hammer colony I had, that broke into multiple pieces when it was pulled out, as well as a Hydnophora and Frogspawn colony. Here is a pic when the tank was first setup, corals not fully open yet.

So we've had our first grandchild...well my daughter had the kid...and I've made two trips to King George, Virginia to celebrate. Drive down, stay a fully day, drive back....that darn Washington traffic. So my second 3 day quick trip, when I returned home, I find the 20 Long filter pickup screen totally clogged, with algae around the MP10, packed with algae....no flow at all. It appears the entire tank is dead. I immediately do a 90+% water change...and here's a picture (top view) siphoning out the water.

Corals don't look good, but I'll give them a day or two...Pretty sure they're totally dead, but some times you get surprises. The other things in this tank I want are a tomato clown and hermit crab, that are still alive. The things that survived that I don't want to keep are Asterina starfish, bubble algae, aiptasia anemones and the algae on the glass. Just can't kill any of that stuff.

Life goes on! The one good note is that I had a frag of hammer and hydnophora in another tank, so I'm not totally lost. No Frogspawn frag though. Makes my decision on what I was going to do with all these pieces easier.

 

[redfishbluefish]

LED REPLACEMENT FANS

So one of the things I'm doing in this relaunch is to fix/refurbish some of the old equipment I have. One of the things is the frag/sump tank LED fixture. I open up this light to clean the cooling fins and fan, and while I'm cleaning the fan, the one wire simply falls off, right at the fan motor. I also notice that one of the fans on my Mars Aqua/SB Reef hybrid is not working. Two fans out!!!

The replacement fans I've been using I've gotten from Best Buy for seven bucks a piece (HERE). I've probably purchased 6 or 7 of these fans over the years. For me, too many fans, too much money....Yes, I'm cheap. As my wife would say, you still have your communion money! I wanted a less expensive fix to all these fans.

So I've placed an order for fans from China.....on eBay....HERE...for four of this fans for a total of $9.54. And just linking this, I see the price has dropped to $2.11 each. I'm going to give these fans a shot.....one already installed in the Mars Aqua, and running just fine.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Paul, any updates? How did the fans turn out?

 

[Crabby48]

Following along from NJ also.
Hope you didn’t lose your coral after getting so far.

This was a bit of a disappointment....finding my Wellso half gone.

This poor guy was sitting next to the growing hammer. I never took notice that while the hammer was growing like crazy, it was covering up the Wellsophyllia.

This guy is one of my oldest corals....around ten years old....and in it's glory, three heads. I'm optimistic that it will come back with a little TLC.

And here's the other odd thing that I discovered while continuing to excavate the tank....finding two, maybe three RBTA's. The last time I had an RBTA was about five years ago. These guys were found behind rocks, very small, and a bit washed out. I've pulled out two of them....but think there's a third back there.

EDIT TO ADD: Yep, just pulled out a third small RBTA. What a surprise.

That is cool story about finding 3 RBTA. After 5 years. I think we all think they are more fragile then they are. Maybe some of it is because the damage they can do if the die or walk. I know mine has kept me up.

 

[redfishbluefish]

It's been awhile. The reason is that I've been working on my procrastination banner. Hey look, we do have a Glitter Fairy Banner, so why not one for procrastination. I've got to believe that this has got to be the longest anyone has ever, ever taken to do a tank transfer....over two years. Now if that isn't deserving of a procrastination banner, I don't know what is....something like one of these:

So I really don't think I'll be able to tell you today why I've put this off for so long, and tomorrow isn't looking good either, but I eventually will be able to tell you why it took so long.

For some reason I've been spending too much time at home, and not doing the travelling we've been doing. I actually re-started this work about a month or so ago, but am now just getting to update my build.


CUTTING CANOPY

Between the foam base of the tank and the plastic framing of the tank, top and bottom, this raised the tank up about 5/16, and now no longer aligned with the equipment cabinet.....check the upper left corner:

Using a straight edge, simply cut off the approximate 5/16 on three sides using a circular saw:

The front edge, the current board was removed and wood notched to fit flush with the new bottom.

The other thing that needed to be done is to cut similarly 5/16 where the pipes come up over the top of the tank. In addition, because that pipe is now shorter, filler blocks were cut to "shorten" this opening.

Filler was used where needed and everything scrapped, sanded and painted:

Test fit.....and DOH! Too tight with the pipes coming over the top

A bit more trimming and I thought I was done......

But one thing now bothered me....the the exposed pipe coming over the back of the tank showing so much. The old tank, I had painted this pipe black, and for me wasn't really noticeable. But this bothered me:

Simple fix.....a scrap piece of 1/4 plywood cut to fit.

Did one more little thing.....this canopy simply sits on top of the tank. I was concerned that pulling on that full front door could cause the canopy to slide forward. Two cleats on the back should take care of that:

CANOPY DONE!!

 

[Crabs McJones]

It's been awhile. The reason is that I've been working on my procrastination banner. Hey look, we do have a Fairy Glitter Banner, so why not one for procrastination.

Yeah we'll get to it eventually

 

[redfishbluefish]

The rock has been curing away in the DT for months. No heat, but powerheads going.

The issue I had getting the powerheads back up and running was that my fat arms couldn't reach all the way up in the equipment cabinet to the controllers. When I tested the build of the equipment cabinet, I thought I could reach:

But with all the wires in the way, I couldn't get there without using a wire snake. I wanted quick and simple, so I removed the false front for the upper cabinet exposing the back floor:

Using one of my large hole saws (I think 3 1/2 inch), I popped two holes through this floor to now easilyreach down into the wire mess.

Sump was slipped into place and here's where I hit a brick wall.....could only find one box of parts, the other box, I couldn't find.....

 

[redfishbluefish]

Everything found except the ATO....still manually adding water daily. Sump was filled with water and the pump turned on. WooHoo!

With the pump off, sand was added to the DT. I use a wide mouth funnel (actually an old oil can top funnel) and a piece of 1 1/2 PVC pipe.

The funnel is duct taped to the pipe and the pipe placed all the way to the bottom of the tank.

Fill with sand and then slowly lift the pipe and move it around.

Continue to fill with sand and before you know it, your tank is filled with sand.....and as a bonus, you get my reflection in the glass!

 

[redfishbluefish]

And then there was light! I had an old Apollo sitting around and added that so I could see my rock curing.

And I'm not happy with the rockwork....will have to work on that:

And now with a light on, two days later, the nasties started.....

And this was a bit of a surprise, I was pulling skimmate with nothing in the tank but rock and sand and all new water....

To combat the nasties, I turn off the light and ordered up an Odyssea 36W UV Sterilizer. I also started making water to do a 100% water change. With what I read about UV Sterilizers, they recommended running in the DT. So I temporarily mounted it in the canopy with a Cobalt MJ1200 pump.

Further reading about UV sterilizers, there were some who stated that this is an el-cheapo and didn't actually sterile, but only clarified. This is my first UV sterilizer and I now have it and will just wait and see.

GETTING BIOLOGY GOING

I know I already have some biology going....with all that algae/dinos/cyano growing, but want to make sure it's going full blast. I decided to take a different approach.....clams. I still am not running the heaters, so I picked up a dozen live clams and threw them in the tank.

I gave them 24 hours to bury themselves, and after that, two were still hanging out on the sand surface....they went into the freeze to use as fish food.

In addition, we had fresh shrimp where I keep the exoskeleton and put that in a holding cage.

After 24 hours I couldn't stand the stink and discarded the shrimp.

 

[redfishbluefish]

100 PERCENT WATER CHANGE OR HOW TO TIC OFF THE SPOUSE

Made up 125 gallons of new water in preparation of a 100 percent water change. Now where does she expect me to store that much water. I already have the new tank and sump filled with water and two 55 gallon tanks and two 20 gallon tanks in the fish room. Another 125 gallons in that room would rock that floor..........So I put it in the living room!!!

What is that saying "Happy wife, Happy life." My life wasn't very happy that day. And you can see 25 gallons in the hall in the back. Water change was uneventful.

Also did a little re-work of the rock. I'm just not good at doing this artsy stuff....but it is what it is. Think I'm going to stick with this.

The heaters were turned on and the tank allowed to come up to temperature. Clams are still in the sand doing their thing.

 

[kschweer]

Excellent work Paul! I always like the detail of your posts!

 

[redfishbluefish]

Excellent work Paul! I always like the detail of your posts!

Thanks Kevin, it's appreciated, but believe it or not, I actually do it for myself. Still working on self-diagnosing my neurosis, but can't quite pinpoint it.....maybe egomaniacal.

I don't think many people look at build threads, and particularly mine....I just don't have that draw that some have.......Hello. But that doesn't bother me, because I can't begin to tell you the pleasure I get in going back and re-reading what I did last month, last year, ten years ago. For me, this is so enjoyable looking back and seeing what I did. So I look at my build thread as my documentation.....a journal for my pleasure. So what's wrong with me Doctor?

 

[redfishbluefish]

Fish are in! After over two years of the fish being kept in two 55 gallon tanks, I lost two fish. Not sure if it was age of something else. No apparent illnesses. Two fish that didn't make it are one Pajama Cardinal and my Melanurus Wrasse. Both 55's were knocked down and dragged out to one of my sheds.....not cleaned yet....summer job. What few corals that survived, they were put into one of the 20 gallon tanks. So the seven fish I now have are:

Pair of clowns
Purple Tang
Tomini Tang
Pajama Cardinal
Flameback Angelfish
Yellow Clown Goby

They are liking their new home!

 

[kschweer]

Fish are in! After over two years of the fish being kept in two 55 gallon tanks, I lost two fish. Not sure if it was age of something else. No apparent illnesses. Two fish that didn't make it are one Pajama Cardinal and my Melanurus Wrasse. Both 55's were knocked down and dragged out to one of my sheds.....not cleaned yet....summer job. What few corals that survived, they were put into one of the 20 gallon tanks. So the seven fish I now have are:

Pair of clowns
Purple Tang
Tomini Tang
Pajama Cardinal
Flameback Angelfish
Yellow Clown Goby

They are liking their new home!

Wooohoo! Congrats!

 

[reef lover]

Awesome!

 

[redfishbluefish]

What's left of my corals in two 20's......slim pickin's. Pretty much starting over. Hoping Reefapalooza happens in late June here in New Jersey.

Going to start moving stuff over today.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I make water in five gallon water jugs in my basement. Since the beginning of time, each one of the jugs occupied a step on my cellar steps....either empty or full. With a bit of time on my side, as I sit here at home, figured I'd clean up the stairs. We have an unfinished basement with studded walls up, but still unfinished. Actually did this about two weeks ago, but had to wait for the paint to dry and time to make the water. At the bottom of the stairs, I now have a shelf that holds 60 gallons of water (and two old skimmers)!

 

[redfishbluefish]

I forgot to mention, when the fish were moved over, so were the lights that were over the two 55's......three SBReef lights....the original lights that were over the old tank. With the fish being added and the lights, I almost immediately started getting the uglies.....a bright green algae covering the rocks. Never saw an algae looking like this. Hard to see in the picture, but the same color as the ugly green color of the room.

You can see the green color of the room above in post #178.