Tank tear down and rebuild

[RayAllen]

As of lately i have not been happy with my tank; also rather bored. Its small 39g with another 15g in the sump.

The list of To Dos:
1.) Take out foam structure
2.) Replace sand with a new substrate
3.) Fix baffels in sump where the silcone has given way
4.) Redo return plumbing

Now with that said the tank is almost to the 6 months mark so it has matured a bit, but im about to undo that. Any advice on the best approach to doing this.

My plan is to temporalily transfer what corals I do have to a temporary container with a pump and skimmer running and MH above it. Also keep most of the water.

Other than that my approach will be a little rough so that I can get it done on a Weekend

Ray

[Mr Cob]

I think you get the award for the most redos in one year! :)

I have never had a problem with redos. I know a lot of people say the tank will go into a cycle...but mine never has...maybe because it's 150+gallons of water with a lot of live rock and maybe the cycle was so small I didn't notice. I have added a new foam structure I have done 3 teardowns and even replaced the sand with no real problems and replaced the sump too and reused the DSB.

I also have made sure everything was done over the weekend too. I kept live rock, macro algae and air stones in all holding containers too and of course monitored the temperature in each coupled with small water changes.

Last time I bought a couple of large plastic trashcans from wal-mart and kept the majority of my water so that I didn't have to upset the tank with a major water change.

Have fun and good luck.

[RayAllen]

[quote=Mr Cob;637403]I think you get the award for the most redos in one year! :)

quote]

LOL, havnt changed to much. Sold the 210 and 29g biocube 7 months ago and started the 39g which Is what i still have, although it has gone through a couple of coral changes and rock layouts. I seem to talk or think about changes more than actually do them. Cant get rid of this one or Id have to patch up the hole in the wall, haha. I do admit to have a problem with changing things, but im like this with eveything in life except my wife.:ph34r:


As for the rebuild I dont forsee any problems and like you hope not to have to much of a cycle.

[ErikH]

so whatcha gonna do different? I see the teardown, but what are your plans for the build?

[RayAllen]

Im going to use a more appropriate substrate. Replumb both the return and drain. Go strictly with liverock so no more foam. I also need to repair my sump where the silicone has released. So not a total rebuild just some changes.

[ErikH]

Cool man, maybe you should do some small pillars in there using rods. I wish I had the talent that others have aquascaping!

[LoneStar]

With a tank that small, it shouldn't be too expensive to use nothing but live rock. I think it will look better in the long run if you do!

[RayAllen]

With a tank that small, it shouldn't be too expensive to use nothing but live rock. I think it will look better in the long run if you do!

yeah, I do to. Im had issues growing coraline in this tank. Which meens you can still tell the diffrence between the rock and the foam after 6 months. I do love the way foam looks in the aquarium once covered and blended like Texreefers previous tank, but with coraline not growing its sticks out.

[cpreefguy]

Sounds like fun!!!
Post some pics after you're done :)

[brewercm]

Isn't this fun Ray. I'm doing the same just down sizing from my 135 to a 58. Just deciding on lighting now.

[Mr Cob]

yeah, I do to. Im had issues growing coraline in this tank. Which meens you can still tell the diffrence between the rock and the foam after 6 months. I do love the way foam looks in the aquarium once covered and blended like Texreefers previous tank, but with coraline not growing its sticks out.


Funny...my foam structure literally purpled up within a month and by the 2-3 month mark it was completely covered in coraline, it was covered in coraline before the live rock. My live rock took 3-6 months to color up.

I used black pond foam though...so that could be the contributing factor.

Can't wait to see your new look Ray.

[cpreefguy]

Just deciding on lighting now.
2 x 1000w 20k halides :D

[RayAllen]

Thanks Sean, the above post by Mr Cob saying I made a lot of changes made me think of you. I was thinking Sean changes his tanks and ideas just as much as me, lol. What can I say; I get these itches..

[cpreefguy]

Thanks Sean, the above post by Mr Cob saying I made a lot of changes made me think of you. I was thinking Sean changes his tanks and ideas just as much as me, lol. What can I say; I get these itches..
Who? Me? Nah... :D

[RayAllen]

Isn't this fun Ray. I'm doing the same just down sizing from my 135 to a 58. Just deciding on lighting now.

58's are cool. Oceanic im assuming. My 39 is also Oceanic with thick glass and no brace. Love it! Its lit by a single HQI 250watt and im picking up a brandnew 12k reflux bulb from BigByrd this weekend. Been running a 14k Phoenix but I have heard good things about the reeflux 12k so figured Id give it a go.

[Mr Cob]

I'm also never satisfied! I always have an idea to make rthings look better but unfortunately that also requires more time and work on the tank....that the wifey doesn't appreciate...

[BIGBIRD123]

you need rock?

S

[RayAllen]

Steve I may need a few pounds. I can talk to you about it when I pick up the bulb this weekend.

[RayAllen]

Ok time for an update.

Over three days SAT,SUN and MON I did the tank redo. Again what I did Completely took the tank down and removed the everything. I did this to replace the sand and also remove the huge foam strucutre that was siliconed to the bottom and back glass. Lets say it took a little elbo grease to remove it and then get all the silicone off!

Oh side note- sand I used is the Red Sea man made sand I won at one of our meetings. Very cool stuff. Suppost to work great.

I bought a kick arss 3" razor blade scraper that made the job much easier, also a little rubbin alcohol. I picked up a few really cool peices of Live Rock from Steve on Sunday. Ummm I also redid the input and output plumbing which is super quiet now compared to the gurgle I was dealing with before.

I sold all my corals yesterday except for my clam :) Did this for 2 reason-

1.) I did want to stress everything out even more. To many stories of lost corals to major tank changes. 2.) I want to go anemones because ive always wanted some and think it would be cool as a anemone clam tank only. I did keep all my fish and inverts and they are very happy in their new diggs.

Now for pics

Before- Friday Oct 7
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b108/frogguy1/Almost5months.jpg

Destruction Oct 8
Tank outhttp://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b108/frogguy1/IMG_0435.jpg
temporary holding tank with MH and skimmer going
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b108/frogguy1/IMG_0441.jpg
Foam structure, sorry Mike could get it out in one peice with all the silicone
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b108/frogguy1/IMG_0454.jpg
New best friend
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b108/frogguy1/IMG_0469.jpg

Construction Oct 9 and 10
Clean tank
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b108/frogguy1/IMG_0468.jpg
Really cool Red Sea man made sand I won in a meeting
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b108/frogguy1/IMG_0474.jpg
Sand Up close
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b108/frogguy1/IMG_0476.jpg
Rock and water going in
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b108/frogguy1/IMG_0480.jpg
Shot of behind the scenes and new plumbing
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b108/frogguy1/IMG_0506.jpg

Done
Last night
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b108/frogguy1/IMG_0492.jpg

Today
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b108/frogguy1/IMG_0518.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b108/frogguy1/IMG_0519.jpg

Im very happy with the look and cant wait to buy my first anemone.

Enjoy- Ray

[RayAllen]

In the Today pics of the tank you can see the really cool rock i got from steve on the left side of the tank with all the neet holes. The flat shelf in the middle and main support on the right also came from Steve. Thanks BigBird! You can also see all three of my fish in that pic. The sixline is hiding under the shelf but you can see him.

[BIGBIRD123]

Really looks nice...

S

[ErikH]

Looks great!

[cpreefguy]

I like it a lot. Good work!

[SABOB]

So,what anemones are you planning inthe tank?Need to cover the back half of the Koraila to keep anemone from getting sucked in the intake.I am using a knee high pantyhose of my wife's.....shhhhh don't tell her!

[brewercm]

Looking good. Yeah, mine is a Oceanic without center brace so will be nice and bright throughout the whole tank. Still debating lighting though. Whether to go all T5s and which ones or a setup I saw I liked that had two 150w DE halides and 4 39 watt T5 actinics. Still leaning towards all T5 though. I'm going to wait until after the holidays to put the new system up though since we'll be going on vacation in two weeks and be gone almost the same.

[RayAllen]

So,what anemones are you planning inthe tank?Need to cover the back half of the Koraila to keep anemone from getting sucked in the intake.I am using a knee high pantyhose of my wife's.....shhhhh don't tell her!

Thanks guys for the compliments.

I havnt decided on which anemones because in all honesty I dont know much about them. I have a book on anemone and anemone host fish that ive been looking through. Bubble tip and Rose are the ones i see the most on Maast and I do like them.

Ive had a small cinammon clown for a while now and want to try and pair it up. Its very docile compared to its tank mates so I think I may be able to do it if I buy one a little larger than it.

[RayAllen]

Another note. Tank is completely clear again this morning and looks great.

[BIGBIRD123]

Mine too...LOL!

[RayAllen]

Mine too...LOL!

LOL, now you are moving at super speed.

[Mr Cob]

Nice job Ray! Let me know how that sand works out, my brother-in-law purchased a Red Sea Max and we were hesitant to use the sand that It came with, which is the same as the sand you used. We thought it looked like bird seed...LOL, but it seems to look good in your tank from the pictures.

[RayAllen]

Nice job Ray! Let me know how that sand works out, my brother-in-law purchased a Red Sea Max and we were hesitant to use the sand that It came with, which is the same as the sand you used. We thought it looked like bird seed...LOL, but it seems to look good in your tank from the pictures.

Will do, I too thought it looked funny, but now in the tank it looks great. I like the color and the texture. It contains no silica whats so ever so its suppost to help block certain unwanted algaes. We will see about that......

[LoneStar]

We thought it looked like bird seed...LOL, but it seems to look good in your tank from the pictures.

Thats what I was thinking. Lets see how it looks after a few months, so keep the pictures rolling....

[RayAllen]

Updated pics of tank with M Doreensis anemone aka LTA in the photography forum.