Kessil

Best way to break a tank down for "remodeling" without irritating fish too much.

And done! Gotta move quick, I'm liking the look of a top down pond aquarium a bit too much :D
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Some interesting surprises when moving, found 2 peppermint shrimp I had no idea I had (maybe that's what decimated my acans), one was hiding a rock, decided to bail as I walked towards the pond, and I almost squished him, he might be a bit off now though, that was a good 4 foot fall :D

Found a few ricordia (maybe) that I had no idea where in there, also too many of those damn vertemid snails as one poked me in the finger... now I got antibacterial oinment on it and I'm staring at it like a hawk for the next day... already had one near death experience with them MFers, I'm tempted to stand over a bucket and chop off all of them that I can find... I have a feeling it's a lost cause though as I'm sure I'll miss one or two and they'll simply zap back into full force

Also a ton of those tiny feather dusters in every little crack, cave and crevasse, I wonder if they actually are beneficial or if they're preventing flow ... again tempted to remove them, but probably a lost cause as well. Self made cryptic zone?

Finally this bugger I scraped off the bottom, Gus identified it as a blue ridge coral, got it as a tiny nub some years back at a frag swap labelled "Millepora?" thought someone mis-thought it as montipora (digitata)... then seeing a picture of a millepora sp. (aka fire coral) I was scared to even touch it :D.... now a little spatula action and got this bugger that's easily a foot wide off the bottom... the side piece cracked a bit.
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Also found that live rocks apparently grows, since some pieces were bigger than I ever put in... then I saw how the skeletons of some corals just stitched everything together as a really solid piece... thorite? epoxy? super glue? BAH! Let mother nature do the work!

Ok I need a lunch break down, and then I can get started on cleaning the aquarium up a bit before thinking about how to put rocks.
 
Bluish skeleton on the bottom side of that piece?

Many of my acrylic rod frags grew down and out on the base, so when I popped them up I got those flat paper thin plate pieces too. Then I just diced them into frag plug sized pieces and a touch of IC and voila.
 
yup blue bottom, and the rim of it has a bluish tint of sorts... I just had it on the bottom of the acrylic, almost shadowed by other rocks and it simply grew along the bottom, then up the side, with a few little branches that poked up.
 
I'm 100% sure it's blue ridge coral. We used to have it at swaps regularly back in the day.

Any chance I could swing by and scavenge some microfauna?
 
Sure... not sure what microfauna you're hoping to find, the tank is empty with maybe a 1/2 cm of water on the bottom. I know there are mini brittle stars and have seen a few "pods" but nothing big.
 
Mike take some of the coraline scrapings and add then to your live rock bin. Also I like that salt water pond too. add some sand and some rays and then you are set. Great look down lagoon.....think clams : )
 
I have 2 clams, that's enough for me :D

My biggest issue with a look down lagoon is that there's too much surface area which means lots of evaporation, which means heating, and lots of surface to light... bleh.

I do have to say though seeing my yellow tang swimming against the black background does look super cool.
 
Coraline removed from the side panels, flipped it on it's side, poured maybe a quarter gallon of vinegar, let sit for an hour or so... made scraping so much easier. Then rotate and repeat. Couldn't get the back though due to the external overflow.

Later today I'll see if I can't start envisioning a plan of attack and start stacking/drilling/concreting.
 
Ok minor update...

Things ain't happening today, the lights under the kitchen cabinets finally went out, then rather than buying new bulbs, I decided to test the bulbs and find out they all work, so I need to replace them. Well wiring issues, cabinet had to come down to access said wires... yeah needless to say took a bit longer than I want. I don't want to rush the rock work, since some of the rocks do have corals, otherwise I wouldn't care one bit. Also decided to make up 40g of fresh SW just in case :D

Tomorrow first thing though!
 
Ouch my back hurts

Empty, and coraline free (mostly)
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Rocks placed... no water :D
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Water in, its a tad cold, corals sliming like crazy due to some of them being out of the water for a few hours, skimmer overflowing like crazy such that I have to have the cup popped up to let out some pressure :D
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side
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Overall happy with my main structure in the back, that one red tabling acro colony has a lopsided rock and I'm not quite happy about it. Lots of left over stuff, like a melon sized colony of candy cane coral (unfortunately it broke into 4 pieces) a good hunk o pocillipora, and some digitata... unfortunately had to set up another tank just to hold it, double unfortunately that tank water was coooooooooold... luckily its the hardiest stuff in there, so hopefully should pull through, while the heater warms it up.
 
That looks really nice, I really like it!

When you described what you were going to do, it didn't sound like it was going to be that visually interesting, but it turned out very cool. I like the "channel" in between the big and little structure, looks very natural.
 
Gus, thanks. Yeah I know I basically said "Big mountain of rock" and that sounds like what every noob does, However I managed to get all the angles, and support the way I want. There's actually considerable area behind that structure that's open. I made sure nothing was going to move too, because I know I'll be putting the siphon hose behind there to get the detritus quite often.

Erin: 4 wide 3 deep 2 high
 
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