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150g tank rebuild - Project Phoenix

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    Posted: May 04 2012 at 2:33pm
Most of the tank threads are dedicated to the building of a new system, however, this thread will be a little different. I am nicknaming this endeavor "Project Phoenix" because I will be attempting to bring a system back to life from the metaphorically ashes that is currently sits.

For those who have been on this forum for a while might already know all the issues I have had with my tank. For those who don't know, the cleft note version of the story: Switched from an established 120g to a new 150g and lots and lots of stuff died over the past 2 years. (If you're interested in the long version, you can visit the previous threads The downward spiral or SPS loss and Previous final attempt )

This rebuild isn't going to be a quick and easy change over. I have a little over 300g total water volume that include my display tank, my frag tank, my anemone/holding tank and the sump. The primary goal of this is to create a post-free, stable, and beautiful reef aquarium. One major item I need to take into consideration is the current livestock and corals.   I have to make sure I don't intentionally kill off anything else in my tank, so this process will need to be completed in stages.

The major steps that I have identified at this point are:
1. Drain and clean out all of the tanks connected to the system.
2. Replace all the LR in my DT tank.
3. "cook" my current LR to ensure it is clean of all pest and ensure there are not any p04 to leach into the tank. (I have been reading up on RC on a treatment using SeaKlear to speed up this process. I will get more into this when I do it)
4. Re-evaluate all my current equipment and make the appropriate changes as needed.

I have already ordered 80lbs of BRS reefsaver rock with will be here today. I chose this type of specifically to ensure there are no possible chances of unwanted hitchhikers and to decrease the amount of time cycling LR or DR. Depending on how things turn out, I will probably need to purchase an addition 80lbs.

I will update this as the process goes and I am looking forward to having a tank to be proud of again.



Edited by chk4tix - May 04 2012 at 2:35pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote chk4tix Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 04 2012 at 7:18pm
Ok here are a few pictures to show my starting point.   I just took these pictures to capture my tanks current conditions.

Full Display tank shot:


Left side:


Middle:


Right side:



Frag tank:


Anemone/holding tank:


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote chk4tix Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 04 2012 at 7:32pm
On to the new. Here is the reefsaver rock I recieved from BRS today. It is 80lbs of rock and at this point it looks like I will probably end up buying more. However, this is some very nice rock. I like it a lot better then the Fiji rock I current have. It really looks like it will be great for aqua scaping.

Here are some pics:
The boxes

The actual rock




More fun tomorrow


Edited by chk4tix - May 04 2012 at 7:33pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ann_A Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 05 2012 at 12:15pm
Looking good! Let me know if you need any help with anything...I'm only 2 minutes away.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote chk4tix Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 05 2012 at 1:45pm
Thanks for the offer Anne.

Ok this is a quick update since I am up to my shoulders in water. I have removed all of the rock from my main tank and 40g tank. And place it all into my frag tank for the time being.
In progress pics




LR moved to frag


I plan on moving all the coral I have to my 40g to keep it out of the way during this process. I will also be power washing the Rock that I bought to make sure it's as clean as possible. Once this is complete, I will move on to the next phase.   Even though my tanks are all a part of the same system I do have the ability to isolate each tank from the main system. Because of this I will be using my frag tank to cook my current LR So I do not have to set up an entirely different tank to do this. Then once I feel the rock is ready ( this could be months). I will completely clean the frag tank and get that back on line.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote chk4tix Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 08 2012 at 10:31am
Busy week so far, so I haven't had much time to post.  (I give props to those who can actually do a tank build and still find time to post actual updates as they go.)

In the last couple of days I have had the time to power wash all of my new rock and moved all of the current rock to my other tanks.  I have sorted all the LR and placed rock with no corals in my frag tank. (sorry for the bad pics I am using my phone, didnt want to break out my SLR just for these)
The few miscellaneous loose corals and a few that are attached to rocks I moved into my 40g Bowfront.  Eventually I will stick these all in my display while I redo my frag tank.


I also figure out how I want my new aquascape to go by building different formations on my kitchen island.  This is the formation I decided to go with. 
Front


Top


I still think I will end up buying additional rock or trying to incorporate the LR i already have after I finish "cooking" it.


One thing during this process that I realized is that it is much easier to create some neat rock structures when they are on the counter but it is much harder to recreate those same structures in the water. This is what it looked like when I finished.  It looks a little empty But I am hoping to fill it up with SPS once things are good again.



Lights on but cloudy


I am dosing the tank with MB7 to help build the micro bacteria back in my tank. I am kind of concerned about the levels of biodiversity in my tank and probably need to get a little sand from other members tanks to help get this going. So far with the new rock, I have had a minor spike in my p04's but I have also been dripping SeaKlear to fight this rise. My p04's got to about .46ppm but with the dosing, I they have dropped back down to .24ppm as of yesterday after noon.  I need to do a test on these tonight to make sure my numbers are still dropping, but I am happy to see with the addition of the new rock that I have been able to keep these levels relatively low.  I also noticed that a few of my other levels are off, so I will need to make sure I keep them in check during this change so I dont cause more stress then I have to.

An issue that I have found during this process is that I had stray voltage in my tank.  When I was moving rock, I happened to have a cut on my finger and got a little zap. So then I spent the next few hours trying to track down where the stray voltage with a voltmeter.  I assumed it was a bad heater or bad powerhead leaking electricity, but it actually ended up being some strange issue where my WXM module connects to my EC8's aquabus.  I am not sure how this was causing a transfer to the tank, but once I disconnected it, the voltage disappeared, when I plugged it back into the same port, it reappeared.  Luckily this was an easy fix by just plugging the the WXM into another port on the aquabus. 
I have no idea how long I have had this stray voltage or if this was created or added to the other problems I have been having with this tank. I do have a grounding wire for my tank but apparently with all of the moving around of return pipes/skimmer I inadvertently pulled it up out of the water and I wasnt able to see this due to the location I had placed it. Hopefully I wont run into this problem again in the future.

That is all for now, hopefully I will have some time later tonight to work on the tank.





Edited by chk4tix - May 08 2012 at 10:36am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote chk4tix Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 13 2012 at 6:16pm
It has been another semi-productive week. Over the past few days I was able to clean out the refuguim and my frag tank.   Since I have been redoing my setup,   I have added 80lbs of dry rock to my tank and my p04 went up to .38ppm but is down to .17 so I believe that I have already past the peak. I have begun to have some success with my p04 problems. I am currently sitting at .17ppm which i think is pretty good since it was originally above 1.0.

I have a few follow up questions now. Because of the vodka dosing I was doing I didn't really have a Refugium set up because all of my Marco just died and the hair algae flourished.   I cleaned out the refugium and I added so macro. I want to know if it is prefered to have LR and LS in this area or if it should only be a place for macro. I currently have LS and LR on half of the refugium but am looking for others opinions on how they would do this.

Here are some pics to help illustrate what I am doing

Full sump pic: leftside is where the tank returns and the skimmer are, the return is in the center, and the refugium is on the right


This is a pic of just the refugium area


This pic
Is to show the internal separator which splits the refuguim in half. This area is about 25g



Do I need more or less LR or LS in this area?



Next up is the frag tank, as I mentioned I have emptied it and cleaned it. I have again temporarily moved the live rock I had in the tank to a 29g tank I forgot I had laying around.

I am not sure if I will be keeping any of my current LR by time I am done but I haven't decided 100% for sure yet.   

Here is the frag tank after it has been emptied and before I started the cleaning.




And here is a picture of the frag tank filled back up with water. I haven't connected it back to the whole system as of yet because I need the fresh saltwater to sit for a few days.


As I said in an earlier post I was on the fence if I needed more rock for my display tank. After observing my tank for the last little while I have decided that I do need more rock. From looking at my tank and the inhabitants, I will need a lot more area for the grazers and for the fish to hide when stressed. I have noticed since finding the stray voltage in my tank and correcting the problem, all of my fish are out more often. They also appear to be less frighted when my kids are "petting" the fish.   
Here is a current FTS


Left


Middle


Right


My additional rock should be here by the end of the week. So far things have been going pretty nicely and I am starting to like my tank again. I am currently taking a serious look at LED's for the display tank but I will wait to pull the trigger on that until I know I have resolved all my issues. I have a few of my favorite chalice's that have barely held on up to this point. I haven't lost anything new in this rebuilding and I hope to start seeing some signs of growth.



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote chk4tix Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 19 2012 at 1:00pm
Not much to add as an update for this week. My frag tank is still cycling so I have not reconnected it to the main system yet. Hopefully it won't be to much longer before its ready to go.   I did build a cheap and easy DIY skimmer to run in the frag tank while it cycles. I took the idea from this webpage DYI skimmer I am actually surprised how well it works. I have had a few different nano skimmers from when I had my nano tanks and this thing holds it own.

Anyway, I added the 80lbs of additional rock I got from BRS. My tank looks a lot less "empty" and the rock creates a lot of nice areas for my fish to swim and hide. It still looks strange to got from a tank with nice purple rocks to white dead rock. I can't remember how long it takes for the rocks to color up since it has been so many years since I started a tank.

Here is what it looks like today




One thing I would like to accomplish this weekend is to take my 40g tank off of the main system. I want to turn it into a standalone system with its own sump.   In the future I plan on selling this tank off to reduce the number of tanks I have to maintain.

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