The last photo of my 112 and the beta test of my 180

[corpusse]

While I have been a member here 7 years I never really posted that much. I was mostly on AP but given how dead it is there I'll post here instead.

I've been running this 112 gallon tank since 2006 it has survived many crashes, I lost far far far too many beautiful corals and fish. Then I lost a few things to neglect but nothing as nice as the old days. MY naked clownfish was purchased in 2006 my Chevron tang in 2007 and recently just lost my xmas wrasse (vanished) who was also from 2006-2007 era. Even after all the crashes there are still a few random red mushrooms that I believe might be the first coral I purchased in 2005 which predate the 112. I had brown jelly wipe out so many acans back when the Aussies were new. Epoxy kill so many wrasses and went through a million of the original koralia powerheads. They used to exchange them for free when they started to leak electricity and after losing many turbo snails to stray voltage I finally figured out it was the pumps. All this is in the past. What is in the future is a move and a new tank.

The last FTS of 112, it's not a great photo but alright which pretty much sums up the tank.



Initially I was just going to move this tank, it's on the carpet in the basement which is pretty salt incrusted. It needs to be replaced before I move. I briefly toyed with the idea of getting the dream tank now, but it's a good thing I didn't. I picked up a 180 reef ready tank for $250 It has some minor scratches that don't appear noticeable when filled with water. The guy only ran it for about 2years and stored it the rest of the time (stamped made in 2011). I had a hell of a time getting this tank down to my basement. Getting it home was easy the guy already had it outside. Just took me and one friend a 90 min van rental from HD. After struggling with 2 people getting it downstairs no one was able to lift half to get it up on the stand. Finally I grew frustrated and just flipped it on by myself. Of course that was just the start of it. The floor without carpet is VERY unlevel. I used more then an entire pack of shims. Foam under part of the stand and almost a week of getting it level. It's actually pretty level now, and I only plan on running this tank here for 3 months to 1 year.

The first island was very easy to make. I have tons of extra live rock I've stored wet for a couple of years. I also have a 90g garden eel tank but it was at one time filled with live rock now just has the one island. This rock has no algae or corals and was very easy to work with. No fear having it out of the water but damp for 20+ minutes. My goal was 3 separate islands with a larger center one with an arch and not having all 3 islands the same height. I wanted the rock to be secure but light enough I could put them in and out myself. I also want them to fit in a 55g barrel so when I transport them when I move I would have the option of having a similar aquascape. That's probably not going to happen but it's a good idea in theory. I really didn't like having the rock from the DT out of the water too long as there are tons of sponges and other stuff growing on them. Unfortunately I do have a lot of hard hard turf algae. It's a slow grower but very hard to get off, basically needs to be pulled with tweezers or in some cases chipped off.

Here's what I've come up with so far :



Love the island on the left, not crazy about the center and the one on the right will be raised to be able half as tall as the center. I still have more rocks and fish and most of the corals in my 112 which will be transferred over today. I have seen 3 peppermint shrimp which seem to have made the move over undetected. I also have one small zoanthid island in the tank which I will add in to the aquascape.

I need another kessil light. Currently I have one A350w and one A360w, so I'll get the new 360WE and all 3 will have slightly different lights. I can almost match the 350 and 360 so I don't think the new one will be a problem. You'll notice the tank is not filled up all the way I'm missing one 1" to 3/4 reducer which I hope to go pick up today then I will move my existing sump over, fill the last little bit with old tank water, move the corals and lastly the fish.

I would like to keep the tank barebottom but I have a leopard wrasse. I can either do a thin sandbed and give him one area to sleep, try the sand bowl method, or move him to the garden eel tank. The tank is in the furnace room so there is not much space for viewing. There is a sink a couple of feet away which will make water chances a breeze. I had to take down my QT tank to put this tank here which means no new fish until after I move. Basically this is just the 112 in a larger volume of water. Having this tank is making the transfer easier and I already have a nicer tank for the new home whenever that happens. I decided against painting the back. I always do blue backgrounds. I was thinking about trying black but I want to leave the option open for running the tank peninsula style in new house. 24" wide and corner overflows don't make that ideal, but it could still happen and remember this tank only cost me $250 $100 in plumbing most of which can be reused and 50$ worth of wood for a stand. By tonight I hope to have everything fully up and running less the one light I still need to purchase.