DKoKoMAN’s 305g Basement Reef

[DKoKoMan]

Ok... I have been away from canreef more then I usally am. So I left off with letting everyone know I would be moving the 305g basement reef tank. I dreaded this decision however the wife and I were able to purchase our dream acreage. My wife is not into reef tanks like I am, although she has put in a great deal of effort.

The Good!
The tank move commenced... I have been in this position before so I was adequately prepared for what was need regarding supplies. The fish/inverts were removed and it went by fairly quickly. The tank was setup at our new house and all the fish survived.

The Bad!

So all said and done the transfer for livestock was not the worst. The fish were transferred in 5g pails and put in Rubbermaid’s at the new house. Now, the darn mp40 would not stay running for more than 5 mins for some reason. I tried moving it a bunch of times but it didn’t seem to work. So that was a real hiccup during the move but mainly everything survived. I lost 2 of my corals... my red dragon colony RTN’d and my Aussie green highlighter completely browned out /. STN’d.

The Ugly!

So naturally a big tank, so I took every precaution I could in prepping the tank for the move. My squad worked a night shift but everyone reluctantly to go for the next morning. I had a total of 8 people including myself to get the aquarium out of the basement. We managed to work against gravity and one step at a time navigated the stairs.

All was well until I hear ...*crack*...the external overflow box bottom crack near both drill holes . No choice but to carry on we struggle but get the tank out of the basement and in to the trailer. Of course at this time I have 2 people honking like crazy as my truck is jackknifed with the trailer on the driveway. Really people just go around sheesh.

Eventually get the tank to the new house and begin the trek to try to move it to the basement. At this time everyone is ****ed off, angry and upset that the tank had already cracked. My buddy and I carried down the metal stand which made it clear that this was a tight fit and the angle in which the tank would be required to travel would be tough for the weight. In fear that someone would get hurt, the wall would get destroyed or the hardwood stairs, it was decided that the tank was not going down.

I contemplated be upstairs office... this is a 2000 sq/ft. Bungalow, however the overflow was cracked and I worried about water leaking. Long story short, the tank ended up in the garage fully setup and operational. Now I’m lucky the garage in the new house is oversized and the tank fits great with the vehicles in. I’m contemplating removing a basement window to slide the tank through but the idea has been tabled at this time.

So the tank is setup in the garage and looks like a hurricane wiped out my reef. I went from 3/4 of a 5g pail leaking to 1/8 of a bucket. The salt managed to plug most of the rack as well i siliconed the cracked piece a bunch. I reached out to Dave_C (Concept) the day of and he quickly responsed on how to make it work for the time being. Awesome customer service even after the tank has been built. I will have to cut the bottom piece of the external overflow out and have it remade. I’m not great with silicone but I hope I’m able to remove and replace the bottom glass piece. I will end up having to order a couple new sch. 80 piping and elbows after bulkheads are replaced.

Couple photos of the damage...

[kien]

Ouch! Well, glad to hear no one got hurt. Moving those massive tanks is a beeotch. So many things can go wrong. On the bright side it looks like your tank has secured its own fish room (garage) in your new house.

[Dash]

Gosh sorry things were a bit bumpy. Hope it’ll work itself out now that you’re settled in. Do you still have plans to bring the tank inside the house?

[DKoKoMan]

Originally Posted by kien

Ouch! Well, glad to hear no one got hurt. Moving those massive tanks is a beeotch. So many things can go wrong. On the bright side it looks like your tank has secured its own fish room (garage) in your new house.

You hit it out of the park with that statement... it going to lie but getting it down was an absolute chore. Now working up the stairs was heavier then one could describe. So I initially just chose the garage as a placement because where else do you put a large leaky tank? Focus is to replace that bottom glass on the overflow box (thank the stars, I went with an external). That being said I’m really starting to like that the oversized garage in or new place has a huge offset which the tank doesn’t impede...oh and lots of room to expand to a fish room ahaha. The wife hasn’t complained about it being in the garage either. Little water on the epoxy floor...doesn’t bat an eyelash.ob and there is in floor heating so that should take away from the Alberta winter cold, one would think.

Originally Posted by Dash

Gosh sorry things were a bit bumpy. Hope it’ll work itself out now that you’re settled in. Do you still have plans to bring the tank inside the house?

ya it was nerve racking experience. I’m so happy no fish were lost and it was only the overflow box plate. Surprisingly my water parameters didn’t change and all my sps look great (other then majority of the branches broken off my colonies). I’m exploring the idea of taking it downstairs however I’m worried as the whole house has hardwood floors including the stairs. Really worried about damaging them with the big tank going down the stairs. I may explore removing one of the large windows (day window) in the basement. Then just replace with a new window but not sure how expensive that will be.

[davej]

Originally Posted by DKoKoMan

The Bad! The fish were transferred in 5g pails and put in Rubbermaid’s at the new house. Now, the darn mp40 would not stay running for more than 5 mins for some reason. I tried moving it a bunch of times but it didn’t seem to work.

Is it possible having the mp40 on the Rubbermaid, that the dry side and wet side were too close together? Did you use it with proper spacer to make sure the 2 parts are the right distance apart. Might have caused mp40 to shut down.

[DKoKoMan]

Originally Posted by davej

Is it possible having the mp40 on the Rubbermaid, that the dry side and wet side were too close together? Did you use it with proper spacer to make sure the 2 parts are the right distance apart. Might have caused mp40 to shut down.

I would definitely say that I think it came down to the thickness of the Rubbermaid compared to my glass. It would just tumble and eventually turn off after 5 mins. I put it back in to my tank and wham-o, runs like a dream again.

[DKoKoMan]

On that note... my Frags came in 2 days ago from Jess and they are gorgeous. I’m getting angry at the various things from the move that are taking up my time. Right now they just sit on my frag rack looking oh so colorful and all I want to do is get them secured o my rock work. On top of all that I am on nights this week. First world problems!!

On another note my wife and I are going to Cabo at the end of October and my in laws booked me a couple dives as a birthday present. So I’m super pumped for that. I’m just debating g if I should tackle the overflow box before or after our week vacation? I just don’t want a disaster to come home to. The leak was slowed as much as I could with silicone (1/4 of a 5g pail) in 24 hours.

Anyone have a good idea on how to cut the bottom plate out without jeopardizing the remainder of the sides. My goal would be to get the bottom out as clean as I can so I don’t have to do a whole bunch of new silicone work (not my strong suite). Also a pain in the but is I will have to cut my drain pipes to get the bulkheads out and replace them. Got to love finding sch 80 1.5” fittings, unions and pipe. Open to any suggestions, tips, do’ and don’ts

[lastlight]

Sorry to hear of your tank-moving woes. I'm picking my tank up tomorrow and I've got a sick feeling about it already. As for cutting that pane out I would use the smallest guitar string. use a blade to make a hole or just push it through. Then saw up and down with the string. I cut apart my 400g this way and that had inner eurobraces in the bottom. Would have been nearly impossible without the guitar string!

[DKoKoMan]

Originally Posted by lastlight

Sorry to hear of your tank-moving woes. I'm picking my tank up tomorrow and I've got a sick feeling about it already. As for cutting that pane out I would use the smallest guitar string. use a blade to make a hole or just push it through. Then saw up and down with the string. I cut apart my 400g this way and that had inner eurobraces in the bottom. Would have been nearly impossible without the guitar string!

That’s a pretty good idea! I know they use wire to cut pvc so that would definitely work. My goal is to try and get the bottom panel out without compromising the rest of the overflow box.

[gregzz4]

I cut apart a 90g with an Olfa L2 and multiple passes until the blade went all the way through.