DKoKoMAN’s 305g Basement Reef

[DKoKoMan]

Originally Posted by Mattyb

Good luck with the transfer. Hope it all goes well

Thanks! However I already transferred last Sunday and I’m behind .

Stay tuned... plugging away at this lol.

[DKoKoMan]

So I was lucky enough to have 7 people including myself to help with getting everything out of the trailer and in to my house. Everything went smoothly, panicked a little when the tank was brought inside. Although I measured, remeasured and took the time to ensure this tank would fit it appeared super tight. The external overflow box made for a challenge on the way the tank would need to be carried down to allow getting through the door frame.

Everything was now in place except for the tank itself. Let the games begin...a lot of sweat, blood and tears were present. It didn’t help that the tank glass temperature changed and condensation was now present. I wasn’t able to use the suction cups due to the tight space. Eventually we got it through the door, down one of the small flights of stairs and stood it up on be landing. Then the hardest part was making the tight turn on the landing, lowering the tank down on the stairs and clearing the ceiling in the process.

There was a lot of pivoting happening which led to my wife refer to the episode of “Friends”. I have attached the link for the video https://youtu.be/Tam7KO4qhUI.

The tank was eventually carried down and put in to place. Everyone enjoyed beer and pizza. That was enough for the one day.

[DKoKoMan]

Started the tear down on the 150g the following day. I used a series of heavy duty Rubbermaid containers (4 containers in total). The LR was placed in each Rubbermaid, all Rubbermaids had a heater and Powerhead to keep the water in check. Everything was removed and the fish were then able to be caught and placed in one of the Rubbermaid’s with a small amount of LR. Most my LR had corals encrusted and were placed the best I could to prevent them from breaking.

The tank was emptied preserving as much of my original water as possible for the transfer. The 150g was moved out of the way to make room for the new tank. I used a heavy duty exercise mat for the floor where the steel stand would be put in place. The new stand was set in place and levelled. The tank was placed on the stand, the sump was put in and all the plumbing connected (got to love unions).





All new Live Sand was used as I didn’t want to go through the trouble of washing the old sand and I simply couldn’t due to the take down and setup. Water was added...luckily I made up a bunch of extra saltwater as it didn’t hit how much more volume this tank would be until I started pumping the water. Salinity was matched up and everything was put in to the new tank. All the fish appeared to be very relaxed and all the steps to reduce stress appeared to work.

Everything was back in and the tank was now functional. The total time for the tear down and transfer was 12 hours...what a long day.

[DKoKoMan]

The tank all setup and running!

[DKoKoMan]

All in all the transfer went quite well. The next day it was discovered that I lost two fish... my flame angel and my rainbow wrasse. All the other fish appeared to be as normal and I tested the ammonia which was “0”. All the parameters were spot on. In addition I lost my fromia starfish (I expected this as they are finicky) and a couple Acros had STN. Over the week (transfer was done on a Sunday) everything appeared happy and I dialed in the flow for the tank. I have two MP40’s on each end of the tank point at each other and running between alternating constant and reef crest mode.

The lighting schedule was left untouched. As the tank is wider than my last one I turned the radions to run front and back. I added two additional radions to provide overlapping light in the tank to prevent any dead spots. This way lower light demanding corals will be at the bottom and the mid of the tank will still be able to grow most SPS.

At the end of the week no further losses were incurred and everything was looking back on track. My LR and scape is a minimalistic approach with lots of room for the fish to swim. I have no LR touching the back or sides of the glass so there should be little dead spots.

I may add additional LR in a couple places but not at this time.

[Serpantkeeper]

Tank looks great man!!! Glad everything went as smoothly as possible. Can’t wait to see it in person.

[DKoKoMan]

Originally Posted by Serpantkeeper

Tank looks great man!!! Glad everything went as smoothly as possible. Can’t wait to see it in person.

Thanks man! Still have a bunch more things to update. How are your frags doing?

[DKoKoMan]

Couple photos of the many zoas I have moved over. Everything is looking happy and opened up.

[DKoKoMan]

[DKoKoMan]