Documenting My New Tank!

[Reefland]

Well wish us luck everyone. This weekend we will tear down our 75 gallon tank, scrub it clean and set it back up with new liverock and newly fragged corals. All of the corals that we currently have will be cut from their base and glued to new rocks to ensure every possibility of spreading that red algae to our newly set up 75 will be eliminated.

We have ~70lbs of Kaelini (looks pretty good too) cured at Aquatica Reef and will pick it up Sunday or Monday and set the tank back up. I will be taking and posting plenty of pictures of the process.

Scott Z.

[Ninong]

Good luck!

[Poseidon]

Wow... Good luck Scott! I know that is going to be a ton of work!!!

[zhenya]

Good luck,Scott Remember what we talked about, clean everything well and if possible, sterilize everything inside the tank and overflow,sump, etc.
I sincerely hope that is the last you see of that red menace.

[DEE]

Good Luck Scott!- Hope all goes as smoothly!

[Reefland]

Thanks to everyone for wishing us luck, it was a busy day yesterday.

Just to help people from reading this entire thread, our 75 gallon tank had to be taken down and redone due to a red macro algae (unknown sp.). We have battled this algae for about a year now and even after removing 75% of the liverock and replacing with new liverock several months ago, the algae returned. What I do know about it is it came from a piece of gulf liverock.

Here are some pictures that were taken yesterday before we started:






This time, we decided to completely remove the tank and all equipment to scrub it all clean and start over with all new liverock.

We started by shutting all the equipment down and removing the corals and placing them in a Rubbermaid container. To absolutely make sure none of the algae is introduced into the new tank, all of the corals will be cut from their current base and glued to a new one; luckily we only have some frags right now to make this a bit easier. Some of them have already been cut, the others will be cut before they are put back in.







As the corals were removed, the rock was removed and tossed to the garbage. Then we started scooping the sand bed from the tank. That is always a big job and I suggest a plug be used (for your nose) because it is always a smelly job. This one however was the worse I have ever done. After the sand bed was removed, the water was siphoned from the tank.

Once the tank was completely empty, the tank and sump were taken outside and completely cleaned. A water hose, sponge and razor blade did a good job of cleaning them both.





Cleaning all the equipment was a more difficult task than the tank and sump. I placed all the equipment in a bathtub full of hot water and using a scrub brush, cleaned all of it.



The tank and sump remained outside while all of the equipment was cleaned, allowing them to completely air dry. Once the equipment was clean, it was time to start reinstalling.



I took the opportunity to place the equipment in the sump in a more accessible location. When I recently upgraded to the MR-1 skimmer, it was not in the most prime place due to the limited amount of working space that is available under a set-up 75 gallon tank. We also made sure that all of the wiring was much more organized.





Once all of the equipment was in place, it was time to bring the tank back in.



Since we are going to go bare bottom this time, we are able to keep a powerhead at the bottom of the tank which will help keep any detritus from building up behind the rock work.



At that point, we began filling the tank up with new RO/DI water. Right now, the tank is about 1/4 the way full and still filling. We have ~70lbs of new Kaelini Liverock fully cured at the LFS that we will pick up tomorrow which will give us time to get the tank completely filled with ASW and up to temperature. Once we add the liverock, we will move the fish and the corals back to the tank.

When we get it all back up, I will be sure to take some more pictures to share.
Scott Z.

[zhenya]

That's a lot of work you did there,Scott. Good job!
So, it's the bare bottoms this time? Post pics when you add rock and livestock back in,I'm interested in how it's going to look without sand.

That red algae sure looked menacing I hope that is the last you'd seen it in person.

[Reefland]

Menacing is an understatement!

The bare-bottom is going to take some getting used to for sure, especially in the beginning while it is bare. But after a while; as our newest featured member says, you'll never be able to tell it was a bare bottom when the coralline covers and gives a solid substrate for corals to inhibit.

Scott Z.

[Reefland]

As of midnight EST, the tank is about 3/4 the way full of ASW:


Today at noon I pick up the liverock and will transfer everything back over. Fingers crossed, we should have no problems using fully cured liverock.

Scott Z.

[Poseidon]

Holy Smokes.... Almost looks like you needed to have a "clean my tank" party!!!

That was a ton of WORK there, Great Job!

[Reefland]

Well we went today and picked up our cured Kaelini Liverock and was very pleased with it. Lots of great shapes and plenty of shelf like pieces to hold our corals. 60lbs of Kaelini was plenty of rock for our 75gallon tank; filling it much more than it has been in the past. The great thing is the rock work is very open and there is plenty of current to keep anything from building up.

After we got the rock in the tank, we moved the fish back to it and then began glueing the frags that we had already cut from their old bases to new pieces of rock and cutting the rest of the corals and placing them on new pieces.

Overall we are very pleased with the tank as of now; other than the water being a little bit foggy.


The bare-bottom look is not bad either; in fact it looks rather good. As you can see there are plenty of small pieces of rock laying in the front on the bottom which helps the overall appearance.

Look out, WE'RE BACK!

[zhenya]

I like the look,Scott Water will clear up in a couple of days completely and so...I expect much better pics and more of them

Seriously,it's really nice looking rockwork and I see you got plenty of places that needs to be filled up ;)
Good luck,guys!

[Reefland]

Thanks Gene, for the first time in a long time, we enjoy looking at our tank again!

It'll be awhile before we start filling up those empty spaces, got to make sure everything is balanced first. ;)

Scott Z.

[Poseidon]

Man that looks very nice Scott... I'll bet staring at all that red really STUNK!

[zhenya]

... I'll bet staring at all that red really STUNK!

Mike, when I first saw those pics that Scott posted I couldn't help but shudder... I know Scott was having troubles with the red algae but man, I can understand why Scott said that "for the first time in a long time, we enjoy looking at our tank again".
I'm sure it was hard to look in the tank as well

[Leddy]

Looks good Scott, enjoy the view of the tank.



Leddy

[Reefland]

Here we are today at 4pm.


Scott Z.

[Poseidon]

Looks good Scott!!!

Why can I always see the dark area between your halides though... I'm sure it only shows up in pictures and not when you are sitting there right? Maybe try and overexpose by 1/3 stop or so....

[Reefland]

There is a small amount of darker area in the center near the top. We use only 2-250w halides and they sit on small 4" tall bases on top of the aquarium which prevent the light from spreading completely, and then there's the center brace. In a couple of weeks hopefully we are going to build a full top which will eliminate some of that.

Scott Z.

[zhenya]

Scott,

I know you like your DE bulbs without any actinics ;),however,if I turn off my VHO actinics I have the same type of small shodow in the center.Having actinics run the length of the tank(front and back) helped me to eliminate this effect,FWIW.
Tank looks great!!!