Bayou

Been a while, a lot has happened. Never a good start to an update....

My second son was born in November and I've been busy with that. So that is my excuse for not posting anything. And here is the bad news... tank has been broken down and moved.

I could not convince my wife to stay down here in Austin so we are moving back north to Denton County at the end of the month. Turns out my boss down here really liked the tank... so its his now. Mason has been servicing it and he moved the tank and will continue to service it... so I'm bummed about not having a really kickass tank but at least it is in good hands and someone will be able to enjoy it.

Turns out they were not able to put the temple back together. If anyone wants the cut stone parts let me know. I will warn you that it will take a LOT of time to put it back together.

So thanks for living up to stereotype and being cool and nice and accelectic and accomodating. I wanted to move down here for 10 years and I was so excited last year when I finally was able to.... But if the wife aint happy...

Just found this thread. You did a great job!

How are you feeding the external overflow?

teeth cut into the back, it works well but does produce some splash

updates? hows it lookin? corals survivin now?

Got some updates.

Nem has settled I to a good spot. It is in he temple but reaches up to light and you can see it on top. It is colored up really nicely and no longer bleached. If it stays there a little while longer I will remove the pads covering the powerheads.

Got Royal to make a cover for the overflow. Came out pretty good. Black acrylic. No more salt spray on the wall and less noise.

Still have not installed auto top off or reactors.

Added a bag of carbon to sump.

Skimmer has settled in pretty well. Finally.

Still need to attach corals.

Added some fish. A pair of Bangii cardinal fish, a flame angel, a blue tang and a banded coral shrimp.

Adjusted light schedule, powerheads and reduced flow of return pump.

Got some help with maintenance, Mason(fish whisper) is coming 2x a month to bring water, do water changes, test water and clean up a bit. I feel guilty hiring maintenance help but I just don't have time when I am at work and I don't want to go back to work at night.

He is charging me way too much but he was the only person that showed up after hearing I know exactly what I am doing and that the tank is on the 3Ed floor.

I plan to stock more corals in a week or 2. I really want an orange torch or hammer, a bleeding apple scoly, a purple tip frogspawn and several sps frags.

Oh and I will be moving back to DFW in Feb. So I will have this tank close to really kickass and then I will leave.

No joke, I'm bummed that I'll be missing the potential tour. Move it down to Austin, would ya? THX.

I moved it 2 years ago and it took me a month. Literally. 1 system a week with several volunteers each Saturday. And that was only 15 miles from the old location to the new one. The farm has a move in its future but it will not be to Austin. We are really close and really friendly with the big fish wholesaler in DFW. If possible I'd like to stay near them. Good to have friends.

Been busy but have a few updates.

Lost the box fish. It was eating well and very active. Not sure what happened but I came in a few Saturdays ago and he was no longer with us. I got him out quick before he polluted the tank.

Nem has taken a few walk abouts and is still finding a happy place. He is in the rocks behind the temple. Probably going to stay there.

pH and Alk was low. I am now dosng on a regular basis to get numbers up and to keep them up. Did first water change after the box fish died. Messy but went well.

Need to put a cover on the external overflow box. I need to find an acryllic dealer who will cut a flat piece for me to sit over the box.

I need to take sometime to install the autotop off and to mount the corals in the tank. After than happens and after overall coral health improves from dosing I will add somemore livestock.

i thought you had a chiller? didnt u build a section on the side for one? maby a portable ac unit in the office for the weekends would be an option

I did have a chiller, a BEAST of a chiller. It was too big and so I sent it North to the farm. We are wanting to set up an SPS system there next year and it will be perfrect for that.

Got a few updates

I knew it was gonna happen but still bummed me out.... Lost the first corals this week. Pom Pom Xenia melted, dragons breath was consumed by the foxface and the blue cespitularia is on its last leg. Temp over the weekend got way too high(84) and I think I dosed too much alk on Sunday. And the levels rose too quick. I am used to much larger systems.

After 5 days of staying in the barnacle the nem grew legs. At 7:00 this am it was on the temple and at 8:15 it was on the powerhead. I got it quick so damage was minimal. Foam covers are now on the powerheads. Nem was replaced into the barnacle but I doubt it will stay. probably going I end up in the liverock behind the temple.

Heat will be an issue on weekends. The building does not run the a/c or heater on the weekend. So until it cools off I will have to go to the office and set a timer to run for 3 hours in the afternoon to keep it from getting too hot. I am also running the fan over the sump to evaporate a little.

Got some coralline algae coming in. Looks nice.

is a chiller an option? sounds like a better use of your valuable time to spend a few hundred on a chiller than to go up to the office every three hours over the weekend like you're nursing a child :/

Chiller is an option for sure. Luckily now that temps have come down to the lower 90's I do not have an overheating issue anymore..... until May/June of next year.

just read through this thread and I am super impressed with your tank man. It looks amazing and I hope everything gets settled soon and you can relax and enjoy your work.

Thanks! I'll admit I bit off more than I could chew. Between moving and trying to settle into a nw office and building a new tank.... it was a bit much. Should get easier now...... oh no.... i keep forgetting I have a baby due in Mid November. Nevermind.... no rest in my future! LOL

Here's a pic showing the variable speed fan's, these will speed up or slow down automatically as the temperature changes.

Cheers,

That is too cool. Does the speed change from the controller measuring the water temp or from a sensor in the light measuring the temp in the fixture?

C'mon....hook a geek up

Got a few updates

I knew it was gonna happen but still bummed me out.... Lost the first corals this week. Pom Pom Xenia melted, dragons breath was consumed by the foxface and the blue cespitularia is on its last leg. Temp over the weekend got way too high(84) and I think I dosed too much alk on Sunday. And the levels rose too quick. I am used to much larger systems.

After 5 days of staying in the barnacle the nem grew legs. At 7:00 this am it was on the temple and at 8:15 it was on the powerhead. I got it quick so damage was minimal. Foam covers are now on the powerheads. Nem was replaced into the barnacle but I doubt it will stay. probably going I end up in the liverock behind the temple.

Heat will be an issue on weekends. The building does not run the a/c or heater on the weekend. So until it cools off I will have to go to the office and set a timer to run for 3 hours in the afternoon to keep it from getting too hot. I am also running the fan over the sump to evaporate a little.

Got some coralline algae coming in. Looks nice.

Sunlight hits my reef.

That looks awesome!

Added some corals!

Last week Ben shipped me a few from the farm to bank in another location. Krypto candycane, blue Xenia, blue cespitularia, sympodium, dragons breath macro algae, a pink birdsnest and a Pom Pom Xenia.

Then over the weekend I picked up a few from club members. A sherman rose bubble tip anemone, a setosa and a few digi frags.

Here is a pic of the nem, bleached out from being in a sump for a while but has acclimated pretty good so far.

Thanks!

Clean up crew arrived in good shape. Plenty of snails and crabs now.

Ordered the rest of the clean up crew today. Reef Cleaners has been a customer of the farm for years buying as much macos algae as we would sell them. Good guys over there so I returned the favor and placed an order with them for the rest of the snails and crabs needed for the tank.

Also of note, After several days of hiding the Foxface has come out and said hello. I was a little worried about him but I think he will be fine. needs to put some weight on but he looks good. Cowfish is already popular around the office and has a great personality. Clowns have settled in pretty good... they are very active swimmers! The only fish still being shy is the Royal Gramma but they are a bit moody. He should come around in time.

LOVE THE COW!!! How hard is it to keep? Is it better to have a dedicated tank for it? Have been wanting one for some time but i've read that the smallest tank it should be in is 100Gl.

Thanks!

When I was doing research on it I did not see anything to make me think I could not house it in this tank. They are toxic if they die.... That could be a big problem. This tank is 112 gallons and I got him/her pretty young. Should be good.

Gallery of Pets has tank raised clowns. I got a pair for the tank!

Thanks guys! Coming together nicely. Will start adding corals next month I think. Then the real fun will begin!

Update

Water leak has been cleaned up. Property manager got very pissed off but accidents happen. Everything is cleaned up and paid for now. Life goes on.

Had Ben ship me some live rock this week to stack in back of temple. Will post a pic later but it looks pretty good. Just need a little more to fill in gaps.

Got skimmer installed. It should work out fine.

Got a clean up crew started on Friday. Will add to it in a week or so.

Spent a few days contemplating making the tank a cuddle fish tank. Decided against it, but we are now talking about breeding them at the farm starting this fall.

Started a LFS scavenger hunt for a good small specimen of longhorn box fish(when in Rome). Found one at Aqua Dome. By the way, that place is a Good LFS. Hope you guys realize the greatness you got hiding amongst a bunch of mechanic shops down there. While there I also picked up a six line wrasse, a royal gramma and a small fox face. Later I will add a pair of true percs, an RBTA, a Manderin and something else tbd later. Open top and 3' length is eliminating a lot of types of fish I'd like to see in there.

Still need to install auto topoff. Need to do some programming on controller. Need to get net function functioning. Need to install pH probe and ORP probe. I think I need to calibrate the temp on the controller. Need to organize wires in cabinet. Will wait to install ozone and reactors till this fall.

That is beautiful! !

Thanks!

sounds like alot of water lol how much did ya loose?

I have no idea.

awesome! Nice work, going to be tough to get any work done now ehh?

Yes!

Also of note.... Got to work this am and had a leak in the water line last night. Not sure exactly what happened but the property manager is kinda pissed at me and I expect a rather large bill!

Water extraction, fans in 3 offices and a dehumidifier in my office. In a few days they will come back and clean the carpets.

Sometimes I wish simple stuff like video games or tv would keep my attention.

Water is clearing up. Looks pretty cool! Kinda sterile right now but I will fix that soon enough.

I worked on this $#%!@ tank most of yesterday and all day today! Carried 20 5 gallon jugs of water from parking lot to building to elevator to office(4 trips to LFS) mounted the power heads, mounted the controller, mounted controller power strips, tried to get controller to hook up to computer network, tried to install skimmer and realized my sump is not deep enough, exchanged it for a Bubble Magnus(not real happy about this but I think it will be ok), plugged everything in to make sure breaker has enough capacity, let tank run for 2 hours and saw no leaks, adjusted return lines to make sure siphon does not flood sump when return pump goes off, added salt to the tank, cleaned up extra supplies/tools and inoculated tank with bacteria.

Long day!

Still got lots for tidying up to do(wires), some programming to do, still need to install auto topoff and get it working, need to calibrate and install pH and ORP probes, finish installing skimmer. Then later install reactors and ozone.

I hope the water will clear up by morning. I will take another pic if it is.

Thanks to Fishy Business for letting me borrow jugs overnight, for free!