Cali Kid Corals

Mike's 200 & 40 gallon tanks

Almost certainly they're the banded trochus snails, I got a handful from John (@JVU) and they have been readily increasing in numbers, quite a few becoming larger too so they look like actual trochus instead of the almost clear snails we think about when we see babies. But never saw such a large amount of eggs all at once and in such a big pattern, like I said the picture is maybe 1/10th of the total size of eggs. I initially freaked out because it looks like some circular scratch marks in the glass from afar and I'm like "WTF scratched my tank!!!!" But being as I don't have any pairs of the same fish in the tank, it can only be snails.
 
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Oh yeah forgot this picture too, this was going to be some of the stuff I brought to the frag swap... before it cancelled. Oh well hopefully it grow out some more... well except the chalices, I have never gotten good growth from them.
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Welp, may have hit a really critical snag. There was a bunch of water all around the stand. I fear that the holes that I covered for the old overflow... on the BOTTOM of the tank, may be leaking, it may be a slow leak but any leak is not a good leak. Checked the salinity and it seems ok, so it may be one of those cases where it looked like a lot more water than it really was, but again any water is bad. This reminded me of the last issue, but with more water, where I thought it was simply a leaky bulkhead, but checked around the bulkheads on the overflow and they feel dry as can be. I doubt this was an issue of the fish splashing water out, I do have screen covers so I know it's not from a raccoon in the house trying to go fishing :D

But yeah, just hit the 1 year anniversary and I may have to take the tank down definitely sucks balls on top of balls. Corals are really starting to grow in nice, going to have to see if I even have spare tanks enough to put everything (I don't think I do to be honest). Horrible time for a pandemic to be hitting the world too. (yeah I know that's selfish... people are dying and I may need new fish tank parts).
 
If you find yourself having a critical need to move everything out of your tank, I have a large 300g stock tank not in use you could borrow. I keep it around for emergencies like tank leaks.
 
Thanks John, strangely enough I have one too :D ... in the backyard after multiple people flaked on me to pick it up :D But I'd like to keep that as a "last ditch" solution. Mario already lent me an 80g tank, and Mike is looking in his basement now. But yeah everything is moving out today. Unfortunately being all stuck at home with little to no exercise and an abundance of "not good for you" snacks has made me very weak, after moving one tank I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack :D
 
What a pain. Those leaks are pretty much impossible to fix wet.

But at least now is a good time for a big project like that.

While you are at it, you might as well upgrade to a larger tank.
 
haha, no.

Well ok at least no if I didn't have a larger tank set up. I don't exactly want to "settle" for what's available on the used market (which for larger than 200g tends to be pretty slim pickings)... and I'm not really down from through down thousands on a new tank that it would cost to be "bigger" plus now really isn't the time for that, sure I'm home but no way I want to be dealing with a tank right now.

Just thought right now, I could use the 300g rubbermade tub as a super temporary, or hell just as THE temporary (really depends on how easy it'll be to plug those holes, i.e. am I going to have to order things that will take weeks?)... but I remember there used to be aiptasia in it... now sure the tub has been outside facing the sun for the past year... but I don't trust those sons a bitches one bit, I know they'll find a way to come back and then ruin my tank completely.
 
Well this was a horrible day

First got 2 tanks as holding tanks, the plan was to just plumb them to my sump so i can take my time, let the heaters/protein skimmer run the tanks... yeah so first tank, a nice 80g with an external overflow was first up, beat myself up for a couple hours figuring what to do. Finally I figured something out, drilled a hole in the side my stand because screw it! started filling it up with water, and about 6 inch worth of water I noticed a leak... SERIOUSLY! Oh fuckitall... ok that plan down...

Next up, a long short tank... no problem I could get quite a few corals in there, maybe a tang, and ... yeah I couldn't get a drain speed that I liked, even on my pumps lowest setting... spend an hour trying to dial it in... then fuckitall! Plug up the drains and I'm just going to put stuff in there with a heater and a pump and fix this quick style.

I misplaced my Naoke wrasse some how, it was in the tank when the tank was only about half full, then I pulled rocks out to put in the other tank and sure enough... no idea where it went, I'm going to hope it was hiding in a rock somewhere or something. Otherwise... you guessed it... fuckitall!

Also found 4 aiptasia hiding in places I can't normally see, that's going to be the straw I think if they come back, I chopped off all the rock they were on, one was in the sand... but yeah, one upside to this if I found them, and dealt with them.

In moving things around I was going to put the completely full skimmer cup into the sink,,, and of course some of it spilled out on me causing me to jerk, and then the entire cup spilled on me... yup fuckitall it's one of those days.

I managed to drain all the water, scoop out a bunch of sand (snails are gonna die), and use a shop vac to get most all the water I could. So now I'm tired, my back hurts and I'm sure it's going to hurt a lot more tomorrow. But tomorrow I'm going to see if I can't pry up the panels, then move the tank and plug it up. My hope is that the weight of the tank didn't embed itself into the tank stand, making it a PITA to move, as it is it's a 200 gallon glass tank, it's going to be hard to move.

Overall though... I think I would have given up on the tank if we weren't sheltering in place, would have sold all the SPS, the tangs, and given the tank away, I was that done with it, I am that done with it. Hopefully things survive, otherwise yeah I'm done with that tank. A long time ago I emergency moved my entire LPS collection to an old acrylic tank, most everything RTN'd by the next morning, if that happens again I'm throwing it all away.
 
No worries Mike, you have helped, just in a different way. Turns out that gasket I needed was for the tank that ended up leaking, not from the gasket, there was a crack somewhere on a seam I think, it happens I guess when you have an acrylic tank sitting for too long dry.
 
Welp it's over.

Today I braved a home improvement store to get some PVC plugs to cover the holes in the bottom with bulkhead and worry about the janky nature of things later. So I grabbed a putty knife to try and pry up my acrylic panels I used to cover the holes, and the E6000 I put there was like cement, it wasn't going anywhere. So I decided to pull the end a few inches off the stand to see which hole was leaking, filled it with garden hose water, and it wasn't but an inch filled and I noticed a drip... from the corner of the plastic trim, nothing from the holes. So that tells me the silicone failed somewhere along the edge, so that tank is done. There's no slathering on silicone to fix it, and as I told my wife when she said "can it be fixed" I told her it could, but maybe 15 years ago when I was younger and had more energy (and more free time without a kid) I would attempt to fix it, but right now, no, I just don't have the energy. I mean I could do a PVC bottom like I did with the 80gallon Leemar tank I was gifted (with a broken bottom pane), but even if I did that, I'm not sure I can trust the corner seams down the road.

So today I am defeated man, I may pull in the 300G rubbermade to store stuff in to keep stuff alive enough to sell it later. But yeah. Big tank days may be done, because I'm not spending thousands on a new tank, or even a used tank.

Might send an email to Marineland to see if they'll reimburse me in some way, even though the tank only cost me like $300 or 400, but considering COVID I doubt they'll even have anyone reading emails at all, and I would fully expect them to weasel out of it in some way.
 
This whole thing is a huge bummer Mike. Options are unfortunately limited with the lockdown, but if there is anything we can do to help please let us know :(
 
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