Moving in from Texas
- Thread starter jccaclimber
- Start date
jccaclimber
Supporting Member
Ok, well past the point of being due for an update. Selling the house back in TX necessitated moving out the tank, and a bit of a fire sale that always goes along with a large and sudden teardown. Needless to say the process didn't end in the most organized way, and some losses ensued. The big one was a misunderstanding as to what day we were leaving to drive out here. The original plan was in a moving truck with bubblers, but due to other issues we ended up driving out in my Accord (anyone want to buy a cheap car, it's for sale). As a result I opted to bag the fish, shoot some O2 in to the bags, and move quickly. I got everyone bagged up at the LFS, but it wasn't the smoothest process, and the delay leaving meant they sat in bags overnight. I rebagged the next day when we left, but lost several in the interim. The second bagging was a smoother process, and despite being in the bags for 32 hours, (flat tire at midnight Friday in rural Texas was a major recurring time sink) everyone that was alive at the start of the 32 hours was actually doing pretty well at this end, and there haven't been any losses since.
I took a few pictures during teardown, I have to say that it's a lot more fun taking equipment pictures when the tank is going up than when its coming down.
So, first moving out a really heavy object with what I had on hand. This thing is way too heavy to lift by hand. I tried that with 14 fit adults when it went in, it didn't work and wouldn't have been safe at this height anyways. So, out comes some cribbing a few levers, a bunch of rollers, etc. I considered renting some portable fork stackers, but those wouldn't have fit some of the places I needed to move this.
First, getting it off the stand:
Then get it rolling through the house. Pity it doesn't fit through that door right there in that configuration. I'm actually fairly concerned as to what I'm going to do when it comes to finding a place to put it out here, but that's a problem for another day.
Around the house and a tight squeeze through the gate:
Eventually through the driveway, on to the base of the crate, build a crate around it, and sadly off to storage for now.
Finally, thank you to all of my friends (and a few family members) in TX who helped me execute this. It didn't fully go as intended, but it went MUCH better than it would have without their help and support. I can't understate this. It may be my tank, but this is very much not a one person show. I'm not going to publish their names on the internet, but they all know who they are.
Additionally thank you again to those in the SF club who helped me get up and running here. It'll be a long process to rebuild this, but as is commonly pointed out reef tanks are measured in years, not months.
I took a few pictures during teardown, I have to say that it's a lot more fun taking equipment pictures when the tank is going up than when its coming down.
So, first moving out a really heavy object with what I had on hand. This thing is way too heavy to lift by hand. I tried that with 14 fit adults when it went in, it didn't work and wouldn't have been safe at this height anyways. So, out comes some cribbing a few levers, a bunch of rollers, etc. I considered renting some portable fork stackers, but those wouldn't have fit some of the places I needed to move this.
First, getting it off the stand:
Then get it rolling through the house. Pity it doesn't fit through that door right there in that configuration. I'm actually fairly concerned as to what I'm going to do when it comes to finding a place to put it out here, but that's a problem for another day.
Around the house and a tight squeeze through the gate:
Eventually through the driveway, on to the base of the crate, build a crate around it, and sadly off to storage for now.
Finally, thank you to all of my friends (and a few family members) in TX who helped me execute this. It didn't fully go as intended, but it went MUCH better than it would have without their help and support. I can't understate this. It may be my tank, but this is very much not a one person show. I'm not going to publish their names on the internet, but they all know who they are.
Additionally thank you again to those in the SF club who helped me get up and running here. It'll be a long process to rebuild this, but as is commonly pointed out reef tanks are measured in years, not months.
Last edited:
jccaclimber
Supporting Member
Next, I always love the color of corals under our blue lights, but then you put them in neutral light and they just aren't the same. Every now and then you get one that shows good color even in neutral light. These pictures were taken after a couple hours sitting out drying in the afternoon sunlight. I was pleasantly surprised that they still had that sort of color. As to why they are drying out, as established while I haven't seen anything lately I was not convinced they were pest free and didn't want to risk spreading a pest. I did put a small montipora trimming in my new tank as a test for pests (clean so far), but no sense risking moving it to my tank, or someone else's when selling things.
Next interesting observation. This is a piece of limelight hydnophora. The color shift between the yellow (most of it) and green (right side) portions is not a trick of the camera, it is real, and is entirely a function of how much light each area was getting when growing. This is why when trying to decide how much light a coral needs I often advise people to put it in an area offering some shade. As it grows you can see how it handles different lighting levers, decide what you like, and either move the coral or change your lighting/shading accordingly. For those wondering, the barren patch in the center is from removing the original frag plug a couple weeks prior to taking this picture. White edges are because this was taken after we started fragging it out.
Next up on the interesting pictures list, a handful of feather dusters. I've seen these guys do well popping out of cracks and up from walls, but I've never seen them form a mass like this. All in all I pulled almost a 5 gallon bucket of feather dusters out of the sump. The glowing bit at the bottom is a long lost kryptonite candy cane frag.
Next, a standard clear silicone dosing line. This one on my KNO3 dosing pump. Solution is KNO3 and RO water, so I'm surprised to see what by color I would guess to be cyano growing in it. It grew predominantly in portions of the tube that received sunlight (note pale areas). Unfortunately the microscope was already packed, so I didn't get a look at whatever was growing there. Disregard the Alk label on the container it is coming from, its a repurposed dosing (and formerly orange juice) container, and I didn't cross out the label when switching to KNO3.
Here we have cross sections of some of the montipora that came out of the tank. All encrusting/shelving varieties, no digis in this. I found it interesting how different the cross sections are:
Just because I think it is amusing, the secret to getting my drain to stop gurgling. I needed to add just a tiny bit of resistance to the drain, and a toothbrush that was nearby just happened to be the perfect item. This was in place for almost a year, and performed admirably the entire time. Also, a bunch of algae and disorganized dosing lines in the overflow box.
Next interesting observation. This is a piece of limelight hydnophora. The color shift between the yellow (most of it) and green (right side) portions is not a trick of the camera, it is real, and is entirely a function of how much light each area was getting when growing. This is why when trying to decide how much light a coral needs I often advise people to put it in an area offering some shade. As it grows you can see how it handles different lighting levers, decide what you like, and either move the coral or change your lighting/shading accordingly. For those wondering, the barren patch in the center is from removing the original frag plug a couple weeks prior to taking this picture. White edges are because this was taken after we started fragging it out.
Next up on the interesting pictures list, a handful of feather dusters. I've seen these guys do well popping out of cracks and up from walls, but I've never seen them form a mass like this. All in all I pulled almost a 5 gallon bucket of feather dusters out of the sump. The glowing bit at the bottom is a long lost kryptonite candy cane frag.
Next, a standard clear silicone dosing line. This one on my KNO3 dosing pump. Solution is KNO3 and RO water, so I'm surprised to see what by color I would guess to be cyano growing in it. It grew predominantly in portions of the tube that received sunlight (note pale areas). Unfortunately the microscope was already packed, so I didn't get a look at whatever was growing there. Disregard the Alk label on the container it is coming from, its a repurposed dosing (and formerly orange juice) container, and I didn't cross out the label when switching to KNO3.
Here we have cross sections of some of the montipora that came out of the tank. All encrusting/shelving varieties, no digis in this. I found it interesting how different the cross sections are:
Just because I think it is amusing, the secret to getting my drain to stop gurgling. I needed to add just a tiny bit of resistance to the drain, and a toothbrush that was nearby just happened to be the perfect item. This was in place for almost a year, and performed admirably the entire time. Also, a bunch of algae and disorganized dosing lines in the overflow box.
jccaclimber
Supporting Member
Last two, one of the coral colonies heading out in a large container. It's much nicer seeing these grow than watching them go out, but this can serve as a reminder to me as to why I need to put space between frags. While beautiful, this particular rock ended up being a mess with SPS colonies killing off other colonies as they overgrew each other.
Finally, part of the drive out, fortunately after the flat tire had been fixed. Part of the reason I *left* Texas was to get away from these temperatures, so it seems the southern half of this state away from the ocean is also not a place I want to live. It wasn't the highest temperature I experienced on the drive out, but it was very close.
Finally, part of the drive out, fortunately after the flat tire had been fixed. Part of the reason I *left* Texas was to get away from these temperatures, so it seems the southern half of this state away from the ocean is also not a place I want to live. It wasn't the highest temperature I experienced on the drive out, but it was very close.