Author Topic: Steph's 90 Gallon Rescue Tank (Read 11015 times)

~reefchik~ · « **on:** August 06, 2009, 15:16:38 »

So we "rescued" this tank from the neighbor, whom I've been mentoring slightly over the years to keep the thing going. It used to look pretty good, was FO for a while, then I talked him into better filtration and some LR, and lent him some of my books and gave him a few free frags of softies a couple of times.

Well, a couple months ago we were hanging out in the backyard with some beers, and they tell us they have had it with the tank and do we want it. Free.

Why sure, sez me.

They took us inside to look at the tank and OMG...what a mess. The water level was down by at least 40% and the glass was crusted with black gunk...only 6 chromis and an engineer goby survived. No corals. The LR looked dead and blackened. Ewwwww......

Long story short, here's a pictoral of the "Day We Rescued The 90":

<< the new foster child reflecting on day's events.

In case this board doesn't like too many photos in one post, I'll continue below.

~reefchik~ · « **Reply #1 on:** August 06, 2009, 15:34:21 »

In case you're wondering, I'd ordered a big pack of macro algaes and reef CUC, and they arrived the morning we set up the tank, so in they went and I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.

I replaced all the sand with Aragamax for a DSB, seeded it with a few cups of live sand out of my old tank, and used his rock, since I tested his water the day of the move, and it actually wasn't bad. I guess if you don't feed a tank for a while, your nitrates will eventually go back to zero.

Poor fish.

It came with a Fluval 405, which I've never used. Pretty beefy filter though, I must admit. I would have liked a sump, but you take what you can get when the men say it's time to move the tank, KWIM? (I just bossed them all around and did the cleaning part and detailed setup).

So now it's been about 2 weeks since setup, all tests are looking good, and we do a partial water change. On the 17th I put all the critters from my 20 gal tank into the big tank. Then we leave for a week's vacation and I'm still holding my breath and wondering if all this hurry will backfire.

So far so good. These pix were taken this week:

I think my corals are ecstatic to have new water and breathing space, not to mention even more water motion. Some of the small frags of colt that was overgrowing my small tank have doubled in size since the 17th, and so has the small toadstool leather that Reefcleaners sent as a "gift".

I know now why engineer gobies are called that. I'm not delighted with him rearranging everything under the rock all the time. If he doesn't chill, I may eventually re-home him, but I'm trying to work with his Extreme Makeover habits for now.

jeremyt · « **Reply #2 on:** August 06, 2009, 15:48:57 »

nice caves. looks a lot better now.

lazylivin · « **Reply #3 on:** August 06, 2009, 22:43:06 »

Hey ~reefchik~, great thread and I appreciate all the pictures. Love the rock work....looks like you put a good amount of time and thought in the layout.

jd · « **Reply #4 on:** August 06, 2009, 22:49:42 »

Looks sharp. Well done!

~reefchik~ · « **Reply #5 on:** August 06, 2009, 23:27:42 »

Thanks, everyone!

pontiac2002gtp · « **Reply #6 on:** August 07, 2009, 11:14:43 »

Looks nice. Hopefully you put the rock in first so the goby won't make it sink and possibly fall over.

~reefchik~ · « **Reply #7 on:** August 07, 2009, 12:01:01 »

Yes, the base rocks are all sitting on the glass and shored up by sand. He still managed to collapse a few surrounding rocks, two of which had a clam and an oyster growing on them which was fun to watch.

Blown76mav · « **Reply #8 on:** August 07, 2009, 12:03:54 »

Looks Good.

Secondgen · « **Reply #9 on:** August 08, 2009, 11:54:05 »

Really nice looking tank. What a great turn around. Nice job.

~reefchik~ · « **Reply #10 on:** August 08, 2009, 12:31:24 »

Thanks. It was one of those deals where once we got started, it was all out til it was done. Because I wanted to save the fish, we had to gitterdone all in one day. But so far it's worked out ok. The only casualty was one chromis got sucked into my new Maxijet PH - oops.

Reefd Up · « **Reply #11 on:** August 10, 2009, 08:27:11 »

Very nice rescue! (And welcome to the club!)

~reefchik~ · « **Reply #12 on:** August 11, 2009, 00:16:20 »

Thanks for the welcome, Reef'd Up! It's nice to get to know local folks with the same obsessi......errrrrmmmm.....hobby

~reefchik~ · « **Reply #13 on:** August 27, 2009, 19:51:23 »

Instead of continuing my Equipment thread ad nauseam, I'll bring the rest of the tank photos here.

The Reef Master sump/fuge is in. All is going well so far.

Just puttering with the camera and seeing the difference between using flash and no flash - big difference! Top is no flash, second one used flash:

Now for the obligatory coral shots (these I got from Justin last week - all doing well)

And the FTS:

TechGuy · « **Reply #14 on:** August 27, 2009, 20:30:50 »

Need to get that Stylophora some more light!

~reefchik~ · « **Reply #15 on:** August 27, 2009, 21:00:00 »

I think all three are pocillopora.
You mean the one on the bottom?

I have new bulbs coming tomorrow.

~reefchik~ · « **Reply #16 on:** August 27, 2009, 21:08:26 »

Now I'm going to embarrass myself. Justin, what is the coral in the center on the sand? Someone was over this morning and asked, and I can't for the life of me....

TechGuy · « **Reply #17 on:** August 27, 2009, 21:11:40 »

http://hunnybuns.eaph3.com/share/90Reef/pocillopora1.jpg

This picture, bottom left. Certain its a Stylo...

Aquatic Specialists · « **Reply #18 on:** August 28, 2009, 19:48:19 »

Steph that is a rhodactis mushroom. That is no problem forgetting there are just so many.

~reefchik~ · « **Reply #19 on:** August 31, 2009, 17:40:03 »

Quote from: TechGuy40 on August 27, 2009, 21:11:40

http://hunnybuns.eaph3.com/share/90Reef/pocillopora1.jpg

This picture, bottom left. Certain its a Stylo...

Could be - I can hardly tell Stylos from pocillos, anyway. Justin might remember, he really liked that green and pink one together on the rock, and I did too. I would have sworn he said they were pocillopora, but then again I don't hardly swear to anything anymore because I still seem to have a degree of *chemo brain*. (wish it would go away already)

~reefchik~ · « **Reply #20 on:** August 31, 2009, 17:42:59 »

Thanks, Justin!

Aquatic Specialists · « **Reply #21 on:** August 31, 2009, 18:11:12 »

Yeah it is a pink and green pocillopora.

~reefchik~ · « **Reply #22 on:** September 22, 2009, 19:13:03 »

Despite all the woes of the cyano and hair algae, the tank is still improving in other ways.

Things are growing like crazy, and coloring up really well. You can see the comparison to this shot taken about 6 weeks ago:

Here are some coral and fish shots:

Pink and green pocilliporas

Loving this fish!

the monster sarc.

On another thread I'll post something I bet you've never seen: a seahair eating cyano.

lazylivin · « **Reply #23 on:** September 22, 2009, 20:09:07 »

Looking really nice. Thanks for sharing some pictures.

~reefchik~ · « **Reply #24 on:** December 01, 2009, 16:04:07 »

FTS:

End view:

Pink & green pocilloporas and orange monti:

Rhodactis:

Red grape algae or ?? Anybody know what these are? They are growing all over my tank especially in the powerhead and the overflow:

They are becoming a nuisance.

Tang:

I'd like to start swapping out some of that colt and anthias for some more SPS but I'm not in a big hurry. I'd also like to add maybe one or two more fish. Our clown disappeared while we were on vacation

Any suggestions?

2024 Ohio Reef Frag Swap

Author Topic: Steph's 90 Gallon Rescue Tank (Read 11015 times)

Blown76mav

Reefd Up