Saying hello - been 10 years since I moved to Philly
- Thread starter kvosstra
- Start date
Coral reefer
Past President
Pm me when you’re ready for a box. I’ll do my best to coordinate
kvosstra
Supporting Member
The first pic is the tank empty at the old home - it was built into that wall with the fish room behind.
The blank wall is where the tank will go - plumbing to the basement with all the equipment down there, including the frag tanks and such.
I have suction cups - and yes, part of a reef-club - but getting 10 guys to show up to do a major move is not easy, and, like I said, the community appears to be a bit more fragmented (Or I'm just too new) - I have found that philly folks are really loyal to their philly bretheren - and I'm NOT philly! lol. I'm about as Californian as we come.
I got a note from my electrical contractor that he's trying to get some guys - from there, I can probably get at least 2-3 other folks - If its not professionals doing the move, I'd really like to have at least 10 folks - that means about 100 lbs each...
I'm just so eager to get everything running!
-Kyle
The blank wall is where the tank will go - plumbing to the basement with all the equipment down there, including the frag tanks and such.
I have suction cups - and yes, part of a reef-club - but getting 10 guys to show up to do a major move is not easy, and, like I said, the community appears to be a bit more fragmented (Or I'm just too new) - I have found that philly folks are really loyal to their philly bretheren - and I'm NOT philly! lol. I'm about as Californian as we come.
I got a note from my electrical contractor that he's trying to get some guys - from there, I can probably get at least 2-3 other folks - If its not professionals doing the move, I'd really like to have at least 10 folks - that means about 100 lbs each...
I'm just so eager to get everything running!
-Kyle
MolaMola
Supporting Member
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!!! Speechless
kvosstra
Supporting Member
I have a tank! Move was crazy - but it took 9 guys (and me occasionally moving a dolly to assist).
Basically, 8 guys,4 on each side, used heavy-duty moving shoulder straps -and the just lift as a team and go. No matter how you shake it, 1000+ lbs is heavy and its so big and awkward!
I have been working to rinse sand now for the better part of 2 days -I'm just trying to ensure that when I fill the tank for real, that I dont have a cloudy mess - I'll probably use a tray and a bucket that sits in the tank to help the flow be nice and gentle, for at least the bottom foot of water.
I have a ton of dry rocks now, as I just could not fit everything into holding tanks - and I wanted some nuisance polyps gone as well, so those had to be bleached and those have alternated between water and drying out. Im doing a quick final rinse on the dry rocks and will try to make sure they are as clear as possible.
QT room is fine, but the kids or dogs, or my own damn feet, pulled a temp probe on one tank - and that meant it read the room temp for at least 12 hours. I found the tank at 96 degrees one morning this past week and 3 dead fish - accidents happen, but I was heartbroken to lose those fish from what seems like carelessness. I have now taped any probes and moved them a bit more out of the way. Hopefully, all future QT is just one tank at a time!
Excited to get start on the aquascape - and then I bought a bottle of bacteria to see the tank so some of the fish can get in there! A CC crew is pending order, as soon as I feel like the tank is stable enough, to hopefully keep it clean from the start.
I hope to frag a few of the remaining corals - e.g. the duncan from above, to trade for some stuff - as that is the most fun way to acquire corals anyway! I have a simple 30g tank that I will add a solid frag rack and a cheep wave pump so that I can dip and quarantine before they go into the display tank water. Hopefully, even from the east coast, I can participate and send back a box of corals as soon as next spring, as they get growing!
Basically, 8 guys,4 on each side, used heavy-duty moving shoulder straps -and the just lift as a team and go. No matter how you shake it, 1000+ lbs is heavy and its so big and awkward!
I have been working to rinse sand now for the better part of 2 days -I'm just trying to ensure that when I fill the tank for real, that I dont have a cloudy mess - I'll probably use a tray and a bucket that sits in the tank to help the flow be nice and gentle, for at least the bottom foot of water.
I have a ton of dry rocks now, as I just could not fit everything into holding tanks - and I wanted some nuisance polyps gone as well, so those had to be bleached and those have alternated between water and drying out. Im doing a quick final rinse on the dry rocks and will try to make sure they are as clear as possible.
QT room is fine, but the kids or dogs, or my own damn feet, pulled a temp probe on one tank - and that meant it read the room temp for at least 12 hours. I found the tank at 96 degrees one morning this past week and 3 dead fish - accidents happen, but I was heartbroken to lose those fish from what seems like carelessness. I have now taped any probes and moved them a bit more out of the way. Hopefully, all future QT is just one tank at a time!
Excited to get start on the aquascape - and then I bought a bottle of bacteria to see the tank so some of the fish can get in there! A CC crew is pending order, as soon as I feel like the tank is stable enough, to hopefully keep it clean from the start.
I hope to frag a few of the remaining corals - e.g. the duncan from above, to trade for some stuff - as that is the most fun way to acquire corals anyway! I have a simple 30g tank that I will add a solid frag rack and a cheep wave pump so that I can dip and quarantine before they go into the display tank water. Hopefully, even from the east coast, I can participate and send back a box of corals as soon as next spring, as they get growing!
Attachments
Coral reefer
Past President
Awesome tank, can’t wait.
What size is that tank? Awesome!
Oh and you should start a new tank journal here: https://www.bareefers.org/forum/forums/tank-journals/
Oh and you should start a new tank journal here: https://www.bareefers.org/forum/forums/tank-journals/
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kvosstra
Supporting Member
the fun continues...slowly!
I got the side overflow removed, but the tank is completely etched there - tried strong acid, tried some very light polish....nothing! GRR!
I'm actually going to use 1000/1500/2000 grit sandpaper and see if I can just get the surface stuff off - if not, I can just accept the side being hazy, or just enclose it in the wall - bummer!
Bought a ton of plumbing tonight - tomorrow should be a busy day of plumbing sumps and getting this darn thing ready to fill!
I got the side overflow removed, but the tank is completely etched there - tried strong acid, tried some very light polish....nothing! GRR!
I'm actually going to use 1000/1500/2000 grit sandpaper and see if I can just get the surface stuff off - if not, I can just accept the side being hazy, or just enclose it in the wall - bummer!
Bought a ton of plumbing tonight - tomorrow should be a busy day of plumbing sumps and getting this darn thing ready to fill!
Coral reefer
Past President
About to help @Tim Obert set up a 120x36x36. Excited!
Kensington Reefer
Supporting Member
riding along...
kvosstra
Supporting Member
an update! Yay -
On the sad side...the massive duncan colony did not make it - I blame the extreme slowness of the area, as well as just my inability to get it healthy. I should have just more propertly set up a decent tank (like a 60/90) and housed some corals in there from the get go...just a bummer. I also have a full box of deaths of sps. so sad
But! The benefit of living in philly is that I have more space than would be possible in California. I have a whole room for my fish quarantine - and a decent sized basement that houses the sump and related parts of the tank.
Tank is up and running - vortech L2 is the return pump - a neptune cor 20 moves water from the sump and through a fuge. This also has a manifold for some future additions. A second cor 20 will be running the large skimmer and will return water through the 80w UV sterilizer. Both the skimmer and UV are not yet plumbed in - we're still waiting on a replacement needlewheel for the skimmer pump.
I sent 18 fish through quarantine - and they are now happily in the tank! I have been breeding berghia too, and will drop some into the display (wrasses be damned) to pick off the last few aiptasisa. I have 2 really bad rocks - these will likely just go into a 10g holding tank with 5 berghia each - hopefully they will be clear in a week or so...
Lights are a mixture of AI 52 x6 and AI 64 x4 - unfortunately, in the move, four of the 52's got too much moisture and had to be replaced. yet to be hung is a 4x48" t5 retro - I just need to find some time to hang it - it will sit between the hydra's is the plan.
Water movement - Gyre 340 (I think) - x2 - - MP 60X2, MP40X3.
On the sad side...the massive duncan colony did not make it - I blame the extreme slowness of the area, as well as just my inability to get it healthy. I should have just more propertly set up a decent tank (like a 60/90) and housed some corals in there from the get go...just a bummer. I also have a full box of deaths of sps. so sad
But! The benefit of living in philly is that I have more space than would be possible in California. I have a whole room for my fish quarantine - and a decent sized basement that houses the sump and related parts of the tank.
Tank is up and running - vortech L2 is the return pump - a neptune cor 20 moves water from the sump and through a fuge. This also has a manifold for some future additions. A second cor 20 will be running the large skimmer and will return water through the 80w UV sterilizer. Both the skimmer and UV are not yet plumbed in - we're still waiting on a replacement needlewheel for the skimmer pump.
I sent 18 fish through quarantine - and they are now happily in the tank! I have been breeding berghia too, and will drop some into the display (wrasses be damned) to pick off the last few aiptasisa. I have 2 really bad rocks - these will likely just go into a 10g holding tank with 5 berghia each - hopefully they will be clear in a week or so...
Lights are a mixture of AI 52 x6 and AI 64 x4 - unfortunately, in the move, four of the 52's got too much moisture and had to be replaced. yet to be hung is a 4x48" t5 retro - I just need to find some time to hang it - it will sit between the hydra's is the plan.
Water movement - Gyre 340 (I think) - x2 - - MP 60X2, MP40X3.
Attachments
kvosstra
Supporting Member
I'm resurrecting my thread! Tank is happily running, lights up, pumps running, CA Reactor working, corals growing!
I worked stupid long hours Feb-April, and now have a little break to get back to the tank.
The fish from above, mostly the wrasses, are swimming all over the tank. I have added another wrasse or two, as well as a regal angel.
6 yellow watchmen gobies are in quarantine and will go into the tank in the next week or so.
New fish are coming, as soon as I can go pick them up, and will be a majestic angel and a maze/scribble style captive bred angel.
After these two angels, I will do a group of gem tangs, 3 multibar angels, and then TBD.
the guts are the tank are in the basement - a 4x2x8in frag tank - will be lit by 2xAI52's - and maybe a few T5's
the big water change station works well, but I need another container - its just a space contstraint, due in part to my outdoor spa plumbing and A/C units being in the same space.
I am replacing all of the main display lights from AI 52's to AI 64's - I already had 4 of the 64's and now just swapping out the last 6 - the issue was that I could not accurately control both sets of lights - since they were technically on different programs. A bit annoying, but it is what it is. I will also add in 4x t5 to just fill in some light.
Now onto corals!
Currently have about 40 frags sitting on my racks, ready to be mounted. I battled some significant aiptasia, and an army of berghia decimated it. I now have several tanks full of berghia that I am selling locally, when I have the time - but my issue is that I'm basically out of aiptasia! I was also growing aiptasia in a separate tank, but I mistakingly introduced a few berghia in there, just from intermingling some rocks, and so that tank just was cleaned of 10 adults - lol. So 4x 10gallon tanks of large berghia!
My goal is to have large stags, such as green slimer, torts, albrolhensis, hooksemai (spelling), etc. as the overarching growth. Then below and around those larger stags, have the variety of shapes and growth patterns. So tabling stuff will be there, bunching stuff like millipora, and odd growth patterns, like echniata and other misc stuff. I'm trying to really organize by color, so that I get a red, a blue, a purple, a green, yellow, mixed together, to have the colors pop. Obviously, both the underlying color and the poly color can influence those choices.
a big issue is where to buy the corals - I've done some solid trades for these first 40 - but now want to get some additional premium ones - I have some unique East Coast stuff - so Expect me to get a box together as these grow in to ship out to you guys/gals! I hope I get enough growth in the next 6 months to start with some small frags that can be shared.
Any guidance on where to buy? Looking for high end sps only, 20-50 varieties
a few pics - and will start to catalog my corals with my macro lens in the not too distant future.
Corals are being placed on rocks this coming week - as soon as the lights are swapped out - and the cabinetry will follow right after that! I cant wait to hide the mess
All the best! - Kyle
I worked stupid long hours Feb-April, and now have a little break to get back to the tank.
The fish from above, mostly the wrasses, are swimming all over the tank. I have added another wrasse or two, as well as a regal angel.
6 yellow watchmen gobies are in quarantine and will go into the tank in the next week or so.
New fish are coming, as soon as I can go pick them up, and will be a majestic angel and a maze/scribble style captive bred angel.
After these two angels, I will do a group of gem tangs, 3 multibar angels, and then TBD.
the guts are the tank are in the basement - a 4x2x8in frag tank - will be lit by 2xAI52's - and maybe a few T5's
the big water change station works well, but I need another container - its just a space contstraint, due in part to my outdoor spa plumbing and A/C units being in the same space.
I am replacing all of the main display lights from AI 52's to AI 64's - I already had 4 of the 64's and now just swapping out the last 6 - the issue was that I could not accurately control both sets of lights - since they were technically on different programs. A bit annoying, but it is what it is. I will also add in 4x t5 to just fill in some light.
Now onto corals!
Currently have about 40 frags sitting on my racks, ready to be mounted. I battled some significant aiptasia, and an army of berghia decimated it. I now have several tanks full of berghia that I am selling locally, when I have the time - but my issue is that I'm basically out of aiptasia! I was also growing aiptasia in a separate tank, but I mistakingly introduced a few berghia in there, just from intermingling some rocks, and so that tank just was cleaned of 10 adults - lol. So 4x 10gallon tanks of large berghia!
My goal is to have large stags, such as green slimer, torts, albrolhensis, hooksemai (spelling), etc. as the overarching growth. Then below and around those larger stags, have the variety of shapes and growth patterns. So tabling stuff will be there, bunching stuff like millipora, and odd growth patterns, like echniata and other misc stuff. I'm trying to really organize by color, so that I get a red, a blue, a purple, a green, yellow, mixed together, to have the colors pop. Obviously, both the underlying color and the poly color can influence those choices.
a big issue is where to buy the corals - I've done some solid trades for these first 40 - but now want to get some additional premium ones - I have some unique East Coast stuff - so Expect me to get a box together as these grow in to ship out to you guys/gals! I hope I get enough growth in the next 6 months to start with some small frags that can be shared.
Any guidance on where to buy? Looking for high end sps only, 20-50 varieties
a few pics - and will start to catalog my corals with my macro lens in the not too distant future.
Corals are being placed on rocks this coming week - as soon as the lights are swapped out - and the cabinetry will follow right after that! I cant wait to hide the mess
All the best! - Kyle
Patio
Supporting Member
Awesome!