Ron Reefman
Active member
Saturday morning about 4:30 my wife and I woke up to the sound of water that happens when the power goes out and the 400g aquarium system siphons a few gallons into the sump. The seam between the back glass and the bottom of the tank had separated slightly and it was spraying water (and a small amount of sand) out the back of the tank onto the wall and down into the stand and on to the floor. Most of the water in the 180g tank ran into the sump and the shower pan liner in the stand. I'd guess only about 40 to 50 gallons made it to the wall and floor. But I can't move the stand until the 75g tank and the sump/refugium are emptied, so the drywall soaked up a lot of water. Even the bathroom cabinet behind the wall has some water damage and may need to be replaced.
Six years of building and tender loving care of this system goes down the dumper!
I now have a 180g sump/refugium, a 75g hexagon tank, a 65g shallow tank, a 25g frag tank, a spare 20g tank all holding colonies of coral, fish and other inverts. Not to mention 3 brutes full of live rock and two 7 gallon buckets full of sand.
I need to tear down the 75g as it's on the same stand, and the 180g sump/refugium under the stand so I can remove the stand to do drywall repair. But I need to find places to put the fish and corals that are in the 75g hex and 180g sump!
I was giving some thought to downsizing the amount of saltwater in the house. Four tanks and 2 big sump/refugiums was more than I want at this stage in my life. And having that many tanks make vacations a bit more of a problem. But I considered it a long term goal and would just as soon it hadn't been dumped on me by the failure of a tank.
So now I'm faced with keeping fish and coral alive while I finish the tearout of the old system and figure out what to get for a new one. If I had my way, I'd like a tank of 5' or 6' long, 30" thick and 18" to 20" tall. That's a 140 to 180 tank and I'd like it rimless and without a canopy. But that would be a custom tank and I'd be building a new stand and on and on. I'm also considering the easy route, which is to buy a Rea Sea system.
My EverGrow/ReefBreeder Photon 32 lights are 4 years old and a bit rusty, they still work OK but wouldn't look good over a new tank without a canopy (and the have no legs). I have a couple of WP40 wavemakers, a gyre, 2 crossflows, 2 DC12000 pumps, a DCT15000, an Ocean Motion with 3 Revolution heads, 2 Sea Swirls, a 1hp chiller, a full Apex, an AquaMedic turbo 5000 skimmer and good dosing equipment. I'll sell the 75 hexagon tank and the 8'x2'x18" sump/refugium as well. So does buying a Red Sea System make any sense? Of course I could sell off a lot of the hardware and on the used market I might get around $2000 to $2500 realistically. And I could use some of it even in a new Red Sea tank.
Anybody have any ideas or thoughts? I'm still wrapping my head around the loss of my main system and how to keep everything alive. But the quicker I get moving on a new system, the sooner I can get the livestock back in a tank!
This is the 180g I lost and the system that will be going away.
Six years of building and tender loving care of this system goes down the dumper!
I now have a 180g sump/refugium, a 75g hexagon tank, a 65g shallow tank, a 25g frag tank, a spare 20g tank all holding colonies of coral, fish and other inverts. Not to mention 3 brutes full of live rock and two 7 gallon buckets full of sand.
I need to tear down the 75g as it's on the same stand, and the 180g sump/refugium under the stand so I can remove the stand to do drywall repair. But I need to find places to put the fish and corals that are in the 75g hex and 180g sump!
I was giving some thought to downsizing the amount of saltwater in the house. Four tanks and 2 big sump/refugiums was more than I want at this stage in my life. And having that many tanks make vacations a bit more of a problem. But I considered it a long term goal and would just as soon it hadn't been dumped on me by the failure of a tank.
So now I'm faced with keeping fish and coral alive while I finish the tearout of the old system and figure out what to get for a new one. If I had my way, I'd like a tank of 5' or 6' long, 30" thick and 18" to 20" tall. That's a 140 to 180 tank and I'd like it rimless and without a canopy. But that would be a custom tank and I'd be building a new stand and on and on. I'm also considering the easy route, which is to buy a Rea Sea system.
My EverGrow/ReefBreeder Photon 32 lights are 4 years old and a bit rusty, they still work OK but wouldn't look good over a new tank without a canopy (and the have no legs). I have a couple of WP40 wavemakers, a gyre, 2 crossflows, 2 DC12000 pumps, a DCT15000, an Ocean Motion with 3 Revolution heads, 2 Sea Swirls, a 1hp chiller, a full Apex, an AquaMedic turbo 5000 skimmer and good dosing equipment. I'll sell the 75 hexagon tank and the 8'x2'x18" sump/refugium as well. So does buying a Red Sea System make any sense? Of course I could sell off a lot of the hardware and on the used market I might get around $2000 to $2500 realistically. And I could use some of it even in a new Red Sea tank.
Anybody have any ideas or thoughts? I'm still wrapping my head around the loss of my main system and how to keep everything alive. But the quicker I get moving on a new system, the sooner I can get the livestock back in a tank!
This is the 180g I lost and the system that will be going away.
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