72 Oceanic Reef Ready Bow Front Evolution...
- Thread starter mikeguerrero
- Start date
mikeguerrero
Active Member
It's been about one month since I've posted about my 72 gallon bowfront, the move is complete and I'm finally in my new home.
I have lots to share during this move; the do's and dont's. Because I didn't have a destination to move my live stock; I lost all my fish except for three. My blue tang, the male clown and my orchid dottyback are the sole survivors.
I lost all my SPS corals and my blue crocea clam.
Thanks to my brother flying up from Anaheim this past weekend, I was able to put back together my reef to it's full capacity; filtration, live rock and gadgets.
I made sure to give myself plenty of room this time around; as I made many mistakes in crowding all my items the first time around.
Things that I changed/added are:
1. Two Reefkeeper #2 instead of just the one.
2. Six Maxijet powerheads instead of 5 connected to the RK2 for maximize performance.
3. Four one watt moon lights instead of three.
4. 10 additional pounds of live sand.
5. 12 additional pounds of live rock
6. All new Oceanic salt water.
I have all new photos of where my corals and fish stayed during the month hold and pics of when I started to reset up everything.
I did decide to downsize my 6 gallon Tru Vu; I sold my 150 watt HQI to my brother as he wants to set up a 20 gallon reef.
I kept all the other parts to my six gallon and decided not to sell it off. I will instead set it up with two 18 watt fixtures that I have lying around.
This nano will have a unique pair of fish or shrimp combo, I don't know yet; I just know that in the future I would want to set up a nano; so might as well keep the parts I have.
I'll post pics tommorrow...
MG
I have lots to share during this move; the do's and dont's. Because I didn't have a destination to move my live stock; I lost all my fish except for three. My blue tang, the male clown and my orchid dottyback are the sole survivors.
I lost all my SPS corals and my blue crocea clam.
Thanks to my brother flying up from Anaheim this past weekend, I was able to put back together my reef to it's full capacity; filtration, live rock and gadgets.
I made sure to give myself plenty of room this time around; as I made many mistakes in crowding all my items the first time around.
Things that I changed/added are:
1. Two Reefkeeper #2 instead of just the one.
2. Six Maxijet powerheads instead of 5 connected to the RK2 for maximize performance.
3. Four one watt moon lights instead of three.
4. 10 additional pounds of live sand.
5. 12 additional pounds of live rock
6. All new Oceanic salt water.
I have all new photos of where my corals and fish stayed during the month hold and pics of when I started to reset up everything.
I did decide to downsize my 6 gallon Tru Vu; I sold my 150 watt HQI to my brother as he wants to set up a 20 gallon reef.
I kept all the other parts to my six gallon and decided not to sell it off. I will instead set it up with two 18 watt fixtures that I have lying around.
This nano will have a unique pair of fish or shrimp combo, I don't know yet; I just know that in the future I would want to set up a nano; so might as well keep the parts I have.
I'll post pics tommorrow...
MG
TimSchmidt
New Member
Sorry to hear about your fish but glad the setup is done. Your work is always very clean and efficient looking so I'm interested in seeing what you consider avoiding
mikeguerrero
Active Member
In another forum I was asked if I know what I want to place in my reef this time around since my disaster. This is my response:
Yes I do know what I wish to place inside this tank. I do want tangs, as I loved their personality and how they kept my reef spotless of the greens.
I do want to get very small babies, the smallest I can find and let them grow.
I believe I will only purchase one or two SPS corals as they are vey sensistive and costly; they can die easy.
This new reef will have lots of LPS corals as they are super hardy and can withstand lots.
The reason I lost all my fish was simple; when I placed them in two large containers, I forgot to set them up with air.
I had to rush back to my condo to take apart the tank as I only had one night to do such a task.
My mind was focused on the disembling of my tank and when I went back to my home my wife's cousin said, "hey they look dead".
They were all dead or dying. I quickly set up the 6 gallon tru vu that I have and then the damn thing wouldn't start the pump was jammed.
That took up an additional 20 minutes of time. By then I only saved:
1. Two black ocelleris clowns.
2. Algae blenny
3. Three Chromis
4. one orcid dottyback
5. one blue tang
6. one red blood shrimp
7. one pepermint shrimp
8. one pistol shrimp
9. 4 red hermit crabs
10. various blue hermit crabs and some snails.
11. one sand sifting star
All my mushrooms survived including my yumas and florida rics. My blasto also survived along with the torch corlas and the frog spawn. My coco worm is still very much alive.
At this point I set up a refuge bucket in the garage from Target. It was very large and was able to hold all my corals, live rock, and fish.
I set up my metal halide, I went and purchased an extra HOT magnum filter and 200 watt heater. I even gave set up two moonlights for them to see in the night.
This setup was buying me plenty of time but on the second week it started to leak from the bottom. I was so upset when I saw this leak, thank god it was in the garage. I can only imagine how it would have looked at my old place on white carpet.
Anyway, I had all these moving buckets that were rather large and stronger plastic than the one that leaked. I created two separate buckets and divided the two.
In one bucket went all my fish and live rock and the second one went live rock and nothing else. Each had their own filter and temp gauge.
I didn't place anything on the top since it was quite a jump if any fish decided to go that route. It was a mistake; my brothers large healthy black ocelleris clown jumped to her death.
On the second week just before my brother helped me set up my reef tank, Johnny my algae blenny leaped to his fate.
On this night I transferred all my corals and fish regardless of cycling or how far I was in.
Thank god all my stuff is premium rock and the live sand was already cycled.
The skimmer was on and so was the phosphate remover reactor. Everything went in except the three chromis.
I'm taking them back to the petshop and giving them away for free; anyone local want three free chromis drop by.
My only concern has been waiting for all parameters to become stable. I've noticed that I run a PH of 7.6 at night and about 7.8 during the day.
My sump reads 7.7 in the morning and 8.0 during the day. This tells me that my tank is still cycling and my rocks are going through nitirification.
I first thought I had to re calibrate the probes which I had just done. So I pulled them back out both of them; I now have two one on each reef keeper.
When I checked them they read the same for a sample of water and then it hit me that one probe is right next to my rocks which was picking up ACIDIC elements from nitrification.
Regarding my sump being a refuge, I completely scratched this idea from this new setup not because I don't believe in it but because my sump WAS NEVER DESIGNED TO HOST ONE.
In the past I got macro to grow all over my pumps and it got them super dirty.
I now have a super clean sump and easy for routine maintenance on the pumps.
I learned that having three large MAG pumps submerged in my sump generate tons of heat, in fact that's one of the reasons my electricity bill was so high, my chiller ran every hour for about 20 minutes.
I made room in the sump to lift all three pumps out of the water and place them on a platform and have an elbow going down to the water to feed it.
This way the pump will not transfer it's energy to the water, I just need to see if the enclosed sump, since I have glass lids will heat the air and cause the heat once again, defeating the whole purpose of raising them above water.
This is an idea if anyone wants to jump in and give me some advice please do so.
Well, that's all for now....
MG
Yes I do know what I wish to place inside this tank. I do want tangs, as I loved their personality and how they kept my reef spotless of the greens.
I do want to get very small babies, the smallest I can find and let them grow.
I believe I will only purchase one or two SPS corals as they are vey sensistive and costly; they can die easy.
This new reef will have lots of LPS corals as they are super hardy and can withstand lots.
The reason I lost all my fish was simple; when I placed them in two large containers, I forgot to set them up with air.
I had to rush back to my condo to take apart the tank as I only had one night to do such a task.
My mind was focused on the disembling of my tank and when I went back to my home my wife's cousin said, "hey they look dead".
They were all dead or dying. I quickly set up the 6 gallon tru vu that I have and then the damn thing wouldn't start the pump was jammed.
That took up an additional 20 minutes of time. By then I only saved:
1. Two black ocelleris clowns.
2. Algae blenny
3. Three Chromis
4. one orcid dottyback
5. one blue tang
6. one red blood shrimp
7. one pepermint shrimp
8. one pistol shrimp
9. 4 red hermit crabs
10. various blue hermit crabs and some snails.
11. one sand sifting star
All my mushrooms survived including my yumas and florida rics. My blasto also survived along with the torch corlas and the frog spawn. My coco worm is still very much alive.
At this point I set up a refuge bucket in the garage from Target. It was very large and was able to hold all my corals, live rock, and fish.
I set up my metal halide, I went and purchased an extra HOT magnum filter and 200 watt heater. I even gave set up two moonlights for them to see in the night.
This setup was buying me plenty of time but on the second week it started to leak from the bottom. I was so upset when I saw this leak, thank god it was in the garage. I can only imagine how it would have looked at my old place on white carpet.
Anyway, I had all these moving buckets that were rather large and stronger plastic than the one that leaked. I created two separate buckets and divided the two.
In one bucket went all my fish and live rock and the second one went live rock and nothing else. Each had their own filter and temp gauge.
I didn't place anything on the top since it was quite a jump if any fish decided to go that route. It was a mistake; my brothers large healthy black ocelleris clown jumped to her death.
On the second week just before my brother helped me set up my reef tank, Johnny my algae blenny leaped to his fate.
On this night I transferred all my corals and fish regardless of cycling or how far I was in.
Thank god all my stuff is premium rock and the live sand was already cycled.
The skimmer was on and so was the phosphate remover reactor. Everything went in except the three chromis.
I'm taking them back to the petshop and giving them away for free; anyone local want three free chromis drop by.
My only concern has been waiting for all parameters to become stable. I've noticed that I run a PH of 7.6 at night and about 7.8 during the day.
My sump reads 7.7 in the morning and 8.0 during the day. This tells me that my tank is still cycling and my rocks are going through nitirification.
I first thought I had to re calibrate the probes which I had just done. So I pulled them back out both of them; I now have two one on each reef keeper.
When I checked them they read the same for a sample of water and then it hit me that one probe is right next to my rocks which was picking up ACIDIC elements from nitrification.
Regarding my sump being a refuge, I completely scratched this idea from this new setup not because I don't believe in it but because my sump WAS NEVER DESIGNED TO HOST ONE.
In the past I got macro to grow all over my pumps and it got them super dirty.
I now have a super clean sump and easy for routine maintenance on the pumps.
I learned that having three large MAG pumps submerged in my sump generate tons of heat, in fact that's one of the reasons my electricity bill was so high, my chiller ran every hour for about 20 minutes.
I made room in the sump to lift all three pumps out of the water and place them on a platform and have an elbow going down to the water to feed it.
This way the pump will not transfer it's energy to the water, I just need to see if the enclosed sump, since I have glass lids will heat the air and cause the heat once again, defeating the whole purpose of raising them above water.
This is an idea if anyone wants to jump in and give me some advice please do so.
Well, that's all for now....
MG
TimSchmidt
New Member
Wow. A tragic tale...did you get some pics. Also I noticed in your other post you said that you had trouble running you pumps in-line above water line. Did you find a solution? Or are you going to have to drain your sump and drill bulk heads along the side?
Yep, I was there to see the poor fish in that bucket in the garage and I just simply told Mike he had to set up his tank if he didn't want to see everything else die. I'm glad between the two of us, we got it up and going. Big Kudos to Mike for knowing exactly how to put all his equipment back together!
My brother has pictures and I'm sure he'll be posting soon as everybody here is anticipating that
My brother has pictures and I'm sure he'll be posting soon as everybody here is anticipating that
EDGRAY
New Member
WOW what a trip you went through mike... wow... I'm really sorry an at same time i admire you that even what u went through you didnt just give up ...WoW i bet $$$ is really hurting right now and more with all the loses and well all the tangs were so cute so so sad that they had to die.... gosh dont know what else to say just that wow incredible ... :cry: :cry: ...
WHAT DID I LEARN FROM THIS: -----> Never get a bigger tank cause moving it will suck :mrgreen: :lol: thats why i love my NC....
any pics of what is left????
WHAT DID I LEARN FROM THIS: -----> Never get a bigger tank cause moving it will suck :mrgreen: :lol: thats why i love my NC
....any pics of what is left????
little urchin
New Member
crikey mike....so sorry to hear about your losses :anxious ...i bet you are just relieved to get where you are going, and don't plan to move again in the near future
aquemeni5110
New Member
Mike, sorry to hear of your losses. Best of luck on getting settled and back on track.
mikeguerrero
Active Member
So far I've been really happy with my tank on the second go around. I have four moonlights instead of the three, I get better coverage of the tank at night, it looks spectacular.
Having the use of two Reefkeepers is incredible, I get to use 6 different powerheads on six different wave cycles.
The sands have parted on my tank like never before it looks so natural and well words just cannot explain it, you'd have to see it to enjoy the look.
My tank without the use of Ozone has reached 315 mv and is crystal clear. I have gotten it to 420 mv with ozone in the past.
My LPS corals are regenerating and it appears they are looking more healthy by the day.
I even got the chance to upgrade my Reefkeeper 2 to the latestest version software wise. It comes shipped with version 2.0 and I flashed 2.1 yesterday.
It was fun purchasing the correct USB to serial cable and then linking it to my wife's laptop and dowloading 2.1.
Now my reefkeeper has more option than before and I'm impressed on smooth the operation went; I even did it on the second reefkeeper.
Kudos' go to Digital Aquatics on how quickly the upgrades can be done.
MG
Having the use of two Reefkeepers is incredible, I get to use 6 different powerheads on six different wave cycles.
The sands have parted on my tank like never before it looks so natural and well words just cannot explain it, you'd have to see it to enjoy the look.
My tank without the use of Ozone has reached 315 mv and is crystal clear. I have gotten it to 420 mv with ozone in the past.
My LPS corals are regenerating and it appears they are looking more healthy by the day.
I even got the chance to upgrade my Reefkeeper 2 to the latestest version software wise. It comes shipped with version 2.0 and I flashed 2.1 yesterday.
It was fun purchasing the correct USB to serial cable and then linking it to my wife's laptop and dowloading 2.1.
Now my reefkeeper has more option than before and I'm impressed on smooth the operation went; I even did it on the second reefkeeper.
Kudos' go to Digital Aquatics on how quickly the upgrades can be done.
MG
little urchin
New Member
we will need to see pictures of course :win:
TimSchmidt
New Member
Pics! Pics!
mikeguerrero
Active Member
Rise from your grave...
The 72 gallon bowfront is ressurected... I took all these fotos to please my loyal fans and critics...
Enjoy... Special thanks goes out to my brother who flew in from Orange County to help me setup this sleeping beast...
Thanks bro....
MG
The 72 gallon bowfront is ressurected... I took all these fotos to please my loyal fans and critics...
Enjoy... Special thanks goes out to my brother who flew in from Orange County to help me setup this sleeping beast...
Thanks bro....
MG
TimSchmidt
New Member
I love your setups. You could charge people to setup their tanks for them, very professional looking.
aquemeni5110
New Member
Looking good Mike! What fishes will you be housing this time around? Nice house by the way. Your Entertainment system is clean. :shock:
little urchin
New Member
great stuff...what a lovely brother to come and help out...i bet it's just a relief to have it all running again...thanks for sharing :loveface