evolved's 190g Reef: Wrasse Retreat (Updated 2/6, Pg 33)

The tank's already looking great! ;D

 

I take it the tank is full by now?!

(I know I've seen it already but please do share pics!!!)

 

Its about time for an update i agree

 

Just caught up! Macna sounds awesome! I may have to go next year, I missed the annual visit to the Keys with my boy this year, so gotta make up for it next year. Sounds like my son will love it. Plus allegiantair flies into ft. lauderdale for around $100 roundtrip usually Sidenote, how would you compare prices there verse online?

The new tank looks great, Wanna see what that sand looks like with rock and corals on it, considering it for my next tank.

 

So. Much. Work. Why didn't someone warn me?!?! :

Removing the old rocks corals: easy. Scrubbing off the old algae, tweezing bubble algae, rinsing old rocks in clean water: a pain, but not difficult. Catching 10 wrasses and 3 other fish: a challenge, especially when 2 Halichoeres sand dove on me when I was fussing with others; had to nab them the next morning. But I didn't lose any fish during the whole process. Re-aquascapping the new tank: OH MY GOD ARE WE DONE YET. Huge time consumer, especially when some rocks need to go back roughly in the orientation they once were. Removing all the equipment and re-configuring it all on the new tank: ugh. Enough ranting, you get the idea.

So we started around noon on Saturday (later than I would have liked) and didn't get to bed until 2AM. Many corals still in tubs. Resumed Sunday morning around 10, worked into the evening; finished with re-hanging the lights around 10PM. Monday morning started off getting the Apex back online and re-connecting/configuring all my equipment. Finished gluing rocks Monday night, and got the remaining corals into the tank. The last two nights I've still been placing corals, and I'm still not done yet. Several more hours to go. My god I have a LOT of corals. Crazy how you don't realize this until it takes you an hour to take them all from tubs to the tank.

Anyways, things are looking relatively good. Some SPS browned a bit (expected) but I loses were very minimal. And those were due to my own accord, as I left some LPS in tubs too long without enough flow. I intentionally left the flow low, as I knew some would eat each with too much flow, as they were in close proximity. I only lost one chalice frag (that hadn't looked very hot for months anyway) and my giantantic chalice lost quite a bit of tissue between polyps. Polyps themselves look aright, but there's a lot of skeleton visible. We'll see if that one makes it or not, but it's far from my most pretty or expensive piece. A couple other LPS had small areas (nickel, dime size) areas of recession, but I know those will bounce back fine. Besides this, all is well.

Picture time. Mainly showing the under the hood shots for now, as it's actually finished.

Here's an idea I came up with through some inspiration, and I didn't share yet (although I did mention making things splash proof). I bought myself a simple toolbox at Home Depot and made it an electrical enclosure. Also works nice for wire managament by stuffing them inside. Sure, the inside of this guy isn't so pretty now, but meh:



Dremeled a hole to make this possible:


You'll see more of the enclosure in a moment.

Sump shot. Doser above:


Looking left, skimmer and reactors:


Better shot of those from the left stand door:


Looking right; ATO is in place. Note the top of the tool box enclosure too:


And now you can appreciate the enclosure from the right stand door:


Got vortechs? The 2 MP10s work fine on 1/2" glass. Apex and WXM is on the side.


Lastly, one quick shot of the DT from Monday. Many corals not placed here; it already looks better today:



New fishy additions will be revealed soon; arriving in the next couple days. If know where I buy things, you can stock right now and probably figure it out (ahem, Alex).

More pictures by the end of the weekend or early next week. I still have to drain/clean the old tank and get it out of it's old spot. Tired of my TV being in the middle of the room.

 

I can only type so fast you impatient two.

Prices are definitely cheaper. The higher end LPS I bought were half the price you'd normally pay (on the extreme end).

And thanks, btw.

 

Sweet. Took you three days huh? Clearly not enough beer was consumed. I like the new scape. Looks great...more space, more open, more tank!

 

Thanks Andy.

There was a couple awkward/ugly pieces of liverock I chose not to even re-use. I hated how jammed up the the old tank looked; wasn't about to do that again.

 

Looks great!

 

Top off those dosing jugs!haha,looking great man also looks like alot more room!I may have missed it in the thread but what is the "husky" box thingy?I'm assuming a battery back up but curious minds want to know