Time for a Re-Boot

ndrwater

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So.. this is the first post of what hopefully will be a rewarding journey.
As the title states, it's time for a Re-Boot. My SPS tank has been up and running for a bit over 6 years and has been a resounding success. Great news right? Well yes and no.. yes in the fact that I proved beyond a shadow of doubt, that I can grow Acros... BIG colorfull, happy acros. The downside is that of you are like me, you hate spending every waking moment fiddling with the tank. There is a lesson here to all the newer SPS reefers out there.. less is more. Keep your hands out of the tank.. My issue is that all the corals have gotten so big, I don't have room for anything new.. So much so that the last 4 frags I got I had to glue onto a rock and leave it in the sandbed.. That was long enough ago that many would call those frags colonies now... Like 3"x3" colonies..
So.. what's the plan? Gut it.. like really.. 99.5% of all corals will go. Probably give them away. No point in selling them IMO. Who needs or wants a 20"x20" staghorn. How about a 30" Monti Cap.. so, whether I give em away, or they end up being repurposed in my Calcium Reactor.
Going to go bare bottom this time around too. Biggest mistake I made with V1 of this tank is the sand.. The rock is staying. Or at least most of it. Going to rescape a bit and get more room for future growth. 2nd biggest mistake I made wasn't allowing enough room around the corals both horizontally and vertically for growth.
Last, I am going to re-home a few fish. All these fish have been with me at least 5 years and this is probably going to be the hardest part.. These fish aren't just fish, they are my pets. But... There are a couple in there who would probably be better off in someone else's tank..
Okay, so long backstory aside, today is day 1 of the journey. I got myself a tomato bin to move stuff into while I basically gut the tank. I needed something big enough to keep things alive and wet while I get all mideval on the current setup. It needed a good cleaning so (as the picture shows) its getting a good bleach soak before I really get things moving.
Wish me luck and follow along for the ride.. hopefully, this'll be fun..

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ndrwater

ndrwater

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Probably the last FTS of V1.

Being stuck at home has made my procrastination annoy me to the point that this is being done.. Guess you gotta make lemonade out of lemons methinks
Also FWIW, this is the tank after taking three 5 gallon buckets worth of coral out of the tank.. the buckets were just about stuffed full. Corals on top of corals on top of corals.. This pic isn't even close to what the tank looked like full..
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ndrwater

ndrwater

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Cool. What are you going to be redoing?
New scape, new corals, no sand, shuffling of a few fish, hopefully finally ridding the tank of the stupid Toxica palys, stuff like that.
Definitely going to be a LOT more selective with the new corals that go into V2.
 

Phildago

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New scape, new corals, no sand, shuffling of a few fish, hopefully finally ridding the tank of the stupid Toxica palys, stuff like that.
Definitely going to be a LOT more selective with the new corals that go into V2.
Are you getting a new tank or just completely restarting your system?
 
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ndrwater

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That sounds cool. What are you going to do with all your old colonies?
Some I'll keep. Only the special or special to me ones. Most I'll probably give away, and whatever's left, becomes media for the CaRx
 

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Much the same... all this down time and my usual procrastination is falling by the wayside. Doing a full reboot of my 200g. Just completely gutted another 1/3 of the tank today. Keeping my sand bed though despite the fact that each 1/3 of tank takes about a 50g vaccum and water change. Hopefully by next weekend I will be done with the last 1/3. Then the part I hate... rescaping.
 
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ndrwater

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Starting the process of moving water from A to B so (worst case) I have enough water for a 100% water change..
I also have a full sized Tomato bin to keep stuff in during the Re-Boot.. that's outside at the moment though..
The white tote holds 100 gallons, the 2 with stickers are 55's and the other is a 70.

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ndrwater

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following for ideas... i might be doing the same with my algae infested tank :D
So far, my only solid advice would be to not hold back. I have been threatening to do this for a year.. Now is my time..
 

joe0813

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So far, my only solid advice would be to not hold back. I have been threatening to do this for a year.. Now is my time..

I want to get rid of all my rock and start fresh with the marco shelf rock. just dont want to spend the 1300 dollars right now on new rock
 
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ndrwater

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What are your thoughts on how you will create a scape that leaves room growth. Space corals further apart?
Probably a little of both. Not sure I like the "Bommie" look. I may do something similar though. I do know that this time around, it won't be buying corals for the sake of buying corals. It'll be more because I like a certain piece. Not necessarily looking for named stuff, just COOL stuff. Fortunately for me, there are a bunch of coral not only sellers, but growers very close to me. I get to be super selective.
There will be more room between the corals though, and the rock won't be as high this time either.. I'll probably just wing it and see what appears.. plan is this Saturday for the mayhem to begin...
 
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ndrwater

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Tomorrow is supposed to be the day!!!
Got a call in to see if I can get some flat Marco Rock to be the new base for my soon to be new scape.
Also have a call in to see if I can get a band saw here to REALLY get crazy.. we'll see how things go.. might have a guest helper along for the ride that some of you may know too... Just got off the phone with him and he says he's game... Social distancing notwithstanding, we have Palythoa Toxica to deal with too...
Updates to come sooner than later!!
 
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ndrwater

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Just a side note.. if my currently unnamed help is game, we may Livestream some of the shenanigans via Instagram... His account of course, because I am much to curmudgeonly to do any of that stuff myself...
If that happens, don't judge if you see a beer or 19 in the frame...
 
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