Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

Now I'm getting nervous. I plan on starting the move from the 75 to the 120 tomorrow. I'm thinking the corals will be removed (Acros treated for red bugs for at least 12 hours) and may have to stay in bins for at least 1 day. I think the hardest part will be actually removing the water from the 120, moving the 75 and putting the 120 in it's place(a job in itself ) and getting the sump moved over to it and plumbed. I've done all I can with plumbing, the drain/ skimmer plumbing is set and the return piping as well. I think I'm going to just put the mag pump in the water this time, so will remove the drilled glass I put in the sump. I had kept the end of the sump dry where the pump is and it pulled the water thru a bulkhead, but there is barely enough room to change the pump and if I ever upgrade the pump it won't fit. Hopefully I won't have heat issues, as I'll be removing the mag 7 pump and skimmer from the sump. I just realized I'm going to have to extend the peice I have my light fixture hanging from. I love those "oops, I didn't think about it" things. I also have to upgrade the fixture from 150HQI to 250HQI, but that may have to wait till things are back in the tank, don't know If I can swing doing it all at the same time.

Wish us luck, hopefully the corals won't stress too much, but I'm less worried about them than the people. Sure wish I could just wake up in the morning and it all be done.

How did the move go? I am really interested as will be moving my 75G into a 180G in about a week or 2. Just have to finish the plumbing. At least I won't be having to wait and move the 75 first as you are having to do as the 180 will be in a different room. I will take the 75 down permanently. Anyone want a 75 Oceanic RR? I will post it in used equip when it is ready.
Carla

I feel your pain, Sue. I'm in the process of upgrading from a 75 to a 150! But I got Rich to do my plumbing. He's coming out tonight to fix a leak in the drain and it should be up and running after that. I'm excited yet stressed at the same time. My 75 just had simple hang on equipment. So this plumbing stuff is all new to me.

Kristin, you're going to be alot happier with the new setup.

The plumbing worked out just fine, and the move went better than I expected. I think being more prepared helped, and starting early in the morning too. We took out all the Acro's and put them in treatment tanks, everything else went into a huge tupperware bin with a heater and powerhead. It got a little interesting removing all the water.

The new tank is in it's place, just got the return going today. No leaks, and little adjusting on the durso standpipe airhole...tomorrow I want to put the two Tunzes in and get them going, and if I have enough water made get the skimmer finished and going. I think I am going to have to change out the HQI sockets, ballasts and bulbs to the 250's. I have everything much lower in this tank and am not sure at all it'll be enough light. I'm going to give it a few days and decide.

The 75 has the extra rock and sand in it. The clownfish are thrilled, as she had been hanging out around the Caulastrea and their house was on the other side of the tank. I put their house right under it and they're happy.

I'll post a pic of it "so far" in a few minutes.

I'll be glad to get those powerheads and electrical cords out in the next couple of days. It still looks a little rough, the corals are getting used to the new tank, slowly but surely. I'll try to get a closer shot tonite.

carlab wrote:How did the move go? I am really interested as will be moving my 75G into a 180G in about a week or 2. Just have to finish the plumbing. At least I won't be having to wait and move the 75 first as you are having to do as the 180 will be in a different room. I will take the 75 down permanently. Anyone want a 75 Oceanic RR? I will post it in used equip when it is ready.
Carla

Im doing the same im going from a 55 to a 180 in about 2 weeks. Show some pics when you do your move.

Rick

Okay Sue what are the dimensions on that tank? I really like it. It is beautiful already!

Amy

It's 48"x24"x24". I really like the center overflow, and I put a locline splitter on the return to have it come out on each side of the overflow. It seems to be doing pretty good, water flow to the back area without alot of pressure.

Fortunately, this tank is alot higher (Phil did an outstanding job building the stand) and everything is eye level now. Before, the light fixture was and it was pretty annoying. Now you just focus right on the tank itself.

Thanks for the compliment. I hate that I lost the Milliporas, I think they would have looked sweet in this tank.

Got the skimmer going a little while ago, not much I can say about that thing but that it's bad-ass! It certainly holds alot of water. Here's a pic of the sump area, I can say it's a bit neater than my last tank setup. There is still a space issue, but there's still a little room to put "stuff".

sb1227 wrote:Got the skimmer going a little while ago, not much I can say about that thing but that it's bad-ass! It certainly holds alot of water. Here's a pic of the sump area, I can say it's a bit neater than my last tank setup. There is still a space issue, but there's still a little room to put "stuff".

That looks like an H&S If it is, what model is it?

Andrew: it is, it's the A150-F2001. I just call it the Mercedes. It's amazingly quiet.

nice skimmer

Last Sunday I switched out the sockets, bulbs and ballasts to the 250's. Decided to stick with the Giesemann Megachrome 13K bulbs, they've been the best I've found. Had set up the Tunze 6000's a couple of days before, and what a difference! Thanks to Phil and Casey for talking me into switching. I got a 2 foot peice of Oak and finished it the same as the stand to mount the electronics on next to the tank, all I have left to do is install a couple of dowels to hold the transformers and mount yet another surge protector to it. Will take a pic tomorrow.
I'm still trying to get the coral placement right, it's going to take a little while, I think a few things are going to have to move down to the sand. The Acroporas look fantastic, they're beginning to color back up and all of them have polyps way out. It's so nice to see them starting to look like they used to, healthy and happy.
Here's a bad pic

Looks good to me Sue!!!!

Look's great Sue. I almost got that same skimmer yesterday but decided on the Reefmania PS-8 for my 80 gallon that hopefully will be set up by Christmas. How do you like the H&S so far? How are you feeding the skimmer?