Saint's 110g Reef Build - Another Break Down

[saintsreturn]

Here are come pictures before i pulled the plugs and glued everything in place. It was fun to play with the new filter and add in these varieties in color.

Here you can see where the torch badly damaged my bubble coral... stupid sand sifter knocked it over while i was at work.

 

[saintsreturn]

I am feeding some new foods to try out and had a good laugh this weekend. The food comes with chunks of what i think are clams, and the fish go nuts for them.

I had two pieces float by the feeding frenzy and this was the result:

The shrimp grabbed a chunk and pushed it into my torch so he could work it without the fish taking it from him.

Then a piece went into the duncan, who immediately started pulling it into its mouth.

Tried taking a couple pics of it

But my fairy wrasse had other plans...

mine!

 

[saintsreturn]

I finally broke down and bought one of those clip on filters. Wow it makes a huge difference!


Here is hawkeye and zoa mountain doing their things. I added some new plugs to the mountain.

Decided, after years of only running snails; to switch it up and go to crabs. I saw this guy and had to have him. So our new Halloween crab doing work

This little dude loves this rock, i could not get a clean pic of him waving his arms at me.

We waited months to replace our urchin who died in the move, but i finally got one. Even better, i got one i always wanted Here is our Orange Tux Urchin

Was really surprised to see this bump moving around. Turns out one of the baby snails made it and started growing to a decent size.

My largest emerald crab came out to say hello last night. When i put the light on the urchin, he bolted from his rock towards the light. Usually he hides, so this was a nice treat.

 

[saintsreturn]

What filter did you buy? The tank is looking great!

Hey there, sorry for the late reply. I have taken a bit of a hiatus from the internet.

That said, I didnt buy a new filter. I just run a filter sock (took it out this weekend, but usually have one in full time) and a skimmer. I run a second sock when i manually clean the tank to act as a filter for my cleaning tube. Other than that, nothing else.

Hope you are doing great!

 

[saintsreturn]

Lots of photo's added with some updates. Life has been busy and preparing for Aquashella Dallas was a drain in the real world. Thankfully it all worked out and its time to focus on the tank again. Hopefully some good things come soon

 

[NY_Caveman]

Nice! I usually see mine about once a month. Last time i saw him though he was eating bubble algae in broad daylight. Huzzah!

 

[saintsreturn]

Nice! I usually see mine about once a month. Last time i saw him though he was eating bubble algae in broad daylight. Huzzah!

It is funny how that works. When i added them to the tank, i lost them around day 2. Day 1, they were right where they fell on that food supply. Now i can see most of them moving around out of their holes for food.

 

[saintsreturn]

Couple daylight style shots from last night.

 

[saintsreturn]

Had a little fun yesterday.

 

[saintsreturn]

What a fun day yesterday! First additions since the wipe out.

New D Sail fin. Small guy too, maybe 2"

Acclimating with his new cleaner friend

Throw your sails up if your acclimated

Quick dart across the screen

Snails have been busy

Nice lightning storm that came through, required a cigar and a whiskey to enjoy

 

[saintsreturn]

Went to a local show this weekend and had a blast. I will upload some pictures in the near future. The show itself was awesome because it was smaller and more personal feeling. Most of the vendors had some serious awesome stuff there and I overhead some great advice being shared.

But the best part!!?? You know that website you used to inspire you in your journey or find information to things you questioned as you grew? Do you have a site you use now, besides this one of course?

When i got into this hobby, i browsed the internet for hours. One of the first posts that brought me to this site was @Paul B article on putting a bottle in your tank. This article really inspired me and made me think about the little 29g hang on back setup i had for a couple of years. He took the boring out of the tank for me and to this day i still follow along with his antics

But what about those on this site, that you followed off this site? Everyone i talked to always pointed me to the same site for information. One site was listed as a favorite with over 10 different favorite tabs based on his links. He answered questions i did not know i had, and many i tried to find. He has been a source of inspiration for years and until Saturday, he had always been someone I thought would never know much he made an impact on my system and way of thinking for years.

Turns out, he knows a vendor I do a lot with. We ended up talking for a while about power supplies and the obstacle i overcame with my battery backups. Our mutual buddy said "you two should talk more" and we exchanged numbers, which i saved as "power supply guy, coral" and he walked away. I didnt think much of it, because the conversation was casual and engaging but comfortably normal at the same time. A couple hours later i walked away to grab a bottle of water and saw him standing next to his booth... HOLY ******************************* I just met an online hero of mine who saved me so much headache throughout the years and didnt even know it!!!!!!!!!! There stood @melev

Thank you sir! For more than you ever will actually know! And thank you for the compliment on my zoa mountain I may have geeked out on that more than i let on LOL. BTW, i updated the phone contact number lol. It was great to meet you!

Logan

 

[Victoria M]

How cool is that!

 

[saintsreturn]

How cool is that!

It was awesome!

 

[saintsreturn]

Well, you read the title right. I just accepted a job offer back in my home town and will be doing some remote living for a while. So I will work on posting some final pics of the tank and then work on breaking it down and getting stuff to local reefers where they will thrive.

I am keeping my EcoTech products and selling everything else. The plan is to find the new house in a year or so and start over, again. Until then, i will be looking to home things the best i can and get them out of the way as fast as possible without harming the residents.

So thank you all for joining and tagging along. If you have any questions on anything, please let me know. I can focus on sending details prior to the disassembly so i can hopefully answer any lingering questions on the setup.

 

[saintsreturn]

It's been a tough week getting ready for the showings, listings and photographs. One of the hardest parts is cataloging my collection and seeing it leave piece by piece.


My tank looks sad with half of my coral out and the rock all messed up, but I am hiding it well for my pictures LoL.

 

[saintsreturn]

I didn't take a white photo of this, but this is my current rock scape from the pictures above. Not much left and hopefully I stop the bleeding and sell the rest off this week.

[emoji25]

 

[saintsreturn]

Well we are getting closer. 1/2 the livestock is accounted for and all of the CUC are accounted for. I have half the corals remaining and then the skimmer is getting picked up.

Probably early to mid next week the tank is coming down. Going to be sad to see this end, but i will post up some more pics as the progress goes the other direction. Have to be honest, i hope i find a reefer in my home town as generous as i have been with this LOL. Sucks to see all the work and coin go for so little. But, it is the game and at least i know they will be in good homes versus the crap shoot i am about to enter

 

[saintsreturn]

It's been a journey and it hasn't been fun. On the plus side I am black on the finances with the sales, but it doesn't make it any easier.

Next to go are the fish. Then the tank should be out next week.

Maybe it's not to late to cancel this idea?!

Last week:

Yesterday. Rock is out and only the fish and crabs are left:

 

[Victoria M]

congratulations on the new job though! I have certainly enjoyed your journey.

 

[saintsreturn]

congratulations on the new job though! I have certainly enjoyed your journey.

Thank you and thank you! I am already mapping out the plans for the new system, but i am sure it will be at least a year away. As much as i loved this system and the work put into it, i found some things i will definitely do differently.

It will be worth it in the end and the new job wont hurt to much either lol.