404 gallon - round 2.5

[Snappy]

Tank is almost empty - just a few stubborn fish left to catch.
The egg crate was used to corner fish to get with a net but the fish that are left can all swim through the holes.


Found this rascal after all the rock came out, I've been after him for a while - he's now living in the sump with the other bad crabs


here's a couple of the final corals I pulled out -
Heliopora colony


mini carpets


green polyp toadstool ( mad and shrunk up - the piece is about 9" across)

[Snappy]

When I get it drained & cleaned I will taking out the closed loop pipes - YEAH!! I hate all that plumbing - always in the way.

Cover over the holes and once cured it's time to get the aqua/coral scaping done & let er' rip once again!!

[Snappy]

[Snappy]

I just realized I forgot to take pictures of the process after I emptied the tank.
Here's a summary:
-disconnected the closed loop plumbing (dirty stinky job!)
-patched the drilled holes in the back wall & the one in the overflow
-went on vacation for a week (diving in Cozumel/Playa del Carmen) while the sylicone dried
-scraped off the old dried up coraline algae, etc.
-filled the tank with a mix of used water & some fresh SW (using the water I had the rock & fish in for about 6 weeks in theory should minimize the new tank cycle) -I had done regular water changes
-aquascaped with aprox 100 lbs of sand and 400 lbs of rock (there is a 20%/80% mix of established clean live rock together with the newly cured & about 10 lbs of live sand poured out on top of the new sand to seed it and get things cracking) Again in theory this should minimize the cycling process because of the bacteria, etc already present.
-added the fish back in to the mix along with a few test corals

Over the course of the next few weeks I will be transferring more corals I have in the prop tank & replace the old bulbs with new Phoenix 14K 250 watt MH bulbs.

I will snap some pix of the new set up ASAP.

[eli@fijireefrock.com]

Cannot wait to see more of your build as I keep checking on your post every day...

[eli@fijireefrock.com]

Originally Posted by Snappy

mini carpets

WoW
I seen mini carpets but not that mini...Crazy carpets

[Delphinus]

Wow, big effort!! Should be worth it though!!

[Snappy]

Here is what the new rock work looks like. As you can see it is a more open floor plan with caverns, caves, swim-throughs & plenty of open areas. Lots of shelf space for corals on the top similar to what I had previously (but different)

Larger open spaces


FTS

[Snappy]

A while ago I made up a "garden" rock of Ricordia - here's what they look like now.


A couple came off due to crowding so they formed another small rock.


Here's a blue one that got away from the heard and landed in the heliopora colony where it can flourish undisturbed.

[Snappy]