70 Gallon Break Down...Rebuild Thread

[plyle02]

New job, re-location forces my 70 gallon cube to come down... Not a bad thing though, my recent sps dominated cube was stricken with AEFW, and bad bubble algae. I found out 3 weeks ago my company decided to re-locate me to Daytona Beach, I will be living in Ormond Beach, a block from the beach...sweeeet... I have decided to make a build thread because in my haste of always putting my previous tanks together on the fly, I have never taken the time to carefully plan and do things right. So, here we go... I will be re-building a 70 Gallon Marinland 30x30x15" corner overflow cube with their low-boy stock stand which I have touched up. The tank will be sps dominated with minimal liverock for colony growth and fishes room to swim...

Here are my fish in holding:
1. CBB
2. Pair of Perculas' one black and one orange
3. Orchid Dottyback
4. Sixline Wrasse
5. Yellow Watchman Goby

I have several sps colonies, a few lps, and softies, all in holding as well. The tank will run a VERY shallow sandbed, perhaps 1" maybe less. I will be using dead sand rinsed very well in RO/DI water. The liverock was from my old tank that went through a bleach bath, 2 muriatic acid dips, 3 days of RO/DI soaking, and now in saltwater seeding with liverock.

Pics coming soon....

 

[plyle02]

Here is a pic of the tank, I have decided to paint the back with a satin black paint, and all plumbing in a flat grey paint. Given that my skimmer and zeo reactor have grey trim and plumbing, I figured all my plumbing should match.

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Here is the finish on the back of the tank

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Using unions this time for quick disconnect so the sump can easily be removed for maintenance... They are also painted in grey...

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[plyle02]

Here is a pic underneath, I have taken the time to plumb the return using pvc and again painting in the grey color, keeping things as tidy as possible.

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A pic of my DIY sump with 3 baffles, I made the return area large enough to easily fit my skimmer, and also 25 micron sock, if I have enough room, I may add some liverock... Notice the books holding the baffles, still drying...

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I-Tech 100 Cone Skimmer in a plastic bin with the liverock that will go in the tank, using MB7 and Bio-Fuel to seed as I have it laying around and don't want to waste zeo products to seed my rock...

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I-Tech Zeovit Reactor that is out of sump

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Eheim 2262 return pump, thing is super quiet...

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[plyle02]

Box of goodies... AC JR, DC 8, Aquamedic Doser, probes, and ESV for 2 Part dosing, and Tunze Multi-Controller

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Mini-Chiller that doesn't really run, but I have it connected to the ACJR to keep temp with 1/2 degree. I also have a 300 watt heater too, not pictured....

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2 tunze 1055 which are controlled, and not pictured I have a Tunze modded 1025 and a stock Tunze 1045.

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And finally, my tank when it was setup only 2 weeks ago...

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[deangelr]

looks like you have planned this move well, where are you "holding your fish"?

 

[plyle02]

looks like you have planned this move well, where are you "holding your fish"?

Thanks,
I have them all in a 32 gallon Rubbermaid bin with corals and some liverock. I took my old, and mag5, Bubblemaster 160 that were collecting dust as well as an external overflow to create a makeshift reeftank. I dipped my corals in a very harsh TMPCC bath followed by a RO/DI bath for 30 seconds, I did lose a few sps, but AEFW died instantly.
I plan on moving the holding tank over to my new place and keeping it running for a few weeks until I am 100% that I am as AEFW free as possible before placing any sps back in the dispaly.

 

[Metal Man 1221]

wow now you gotta make it better than before

 

[plyle02]

wow now you gotta make it better than before

And that is what I am worried about lol... I was getting some nice coloration with zeovit, still plan on running it, but my corals are really not fully happy like before, I am just hoping they hold on for a few more weeks

 

[deangelr]

how will you move your corals? separately in bags or all in the tank of buckets..?

 

[plyle02]

I will use plastic bins with a little water, and float ziplocks and other misc baggies from LFS... The drive is 2.5 hours away, so I think I should be ok. Luckily, I can move in a week before move date, so I will try and sneak a few things over before the move. Either way, I feel the hardest part was the breakdown, transport is really not fun either, but futher down the list to tank breakdowns. The sulphur smell of an old sandbed, water on the floor, breakers going out, nearly electricuting yourself, cleaning the tank, soaking powerheads and pumps in vinegar, all those thing just plain suck!

 

[dogstar74]

These are awesome to move your livestock. I moved my 90 gallon with some mushrooms and several fish from Des Moines to Utah in the back of a Ryder Truck. I drilled a hole through the cup holder on top, and ran a battery powered airstone in the cooler. You'll need to anchor it to a piece of LR so it gets deep in the water. The Sloshing and the Airstone cause plenty of motion. You can put a couple of pieces of LR in there too to keep some nitrogen cycle going and to minimize the sliding of the rocks.

My temp didn't deviate 1 degree the whole way across nebraska.

You can use some saran wrap type packing wrap that's about 6 inches and wrap several times around the lid/bottom interface, and you'll get a couple of drops but nothing too bad. Put the cooler on a towell to catch the inevitable drips, and you're good to go. All the other LR went into buckets with lids. And then Drive like hell to get where you're going! We even spent the night at a hotel in western WY and the tank ran in the truck all night. Again no problems, and no losses.

Here's the packing tape to wrap the top.

Here's the battery powered air pump.

HTH
Aaron

 

[plyle02]

These are awesome to move your livestock. I moved my 90 gallon with some mushrooms and several fish from Des Moines to Utah in the back of a Ryder Truck. I drilled a hole through the cup holder on top, and ran a battery powered airstone in the cooler. You'll need to anchor it to a piece of LR so it gets deep in the water. The Sloshing and the Airstone cause plenty of motion. You can put a couple of pieces of LR in there too to keep some nitrogen cycle going and to minimize the sliding of the rocks.

My temp didn't deviate 1 degree the whole way across nebraska.

You can use some saran wrap type packing wrap that's about 6 inches and wrap several times around the lid/bottom interface, and you'll get a couple of drops but nothing too bad. Put the cooler on a towell to catch the inevitable drips, and you're good to go. All the other LR went into buckets with lids. And then Drive like hell to get where you're going! We even spent the night at a hotel in western WY and the tank ran in the truck all night. Again no problems, and no losses.

Here's the packing tape to wrap the top.

Here's the battery powered air pump.

HTH
Aaron

Awesome,
I really appreciate that, I will see if I can get some of these items in check in the upcoming weeks.
Many thanks!!!

 

[plyle02]

Forgot about my lighting....

I will suspend my Aquatinics 2xt5 and 250 watt SE halide with PFO hqi ballast over the tank.
I will also be using 3 nova extreme 2xt5 units over the tank, this will give me a total of 8t5's and 1 250 watt halide which will be a radium bulb.

All t5's are 24watt 24" bulbs

This will light the tank from side to side and from front to back without a shaded area. This is the same lighting as pictured in the full tank shot above.

Thanks,

 

[plyle02]

I have not updated in some days now, my move is happening this Tuesday, so hopefully I will be able to get the tank up and running with limited causualties. Here is a pic of the structure I will be using, I may add some additional rock in various places, but so far, I am liking this layout....
Regards,

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[Reefobsession]

You had a really nice tank before. To bad you got afew. I have never experienced them before and hope i never do. I have the 93 gallon version of this tank and I love it.
Good luck with your move, you shouldn't have a problem what so ever traveling 2.5 hours. I love your new rock structure. Keep us posted.

 

[plyle02]

You had a really nice tank before. To bad you got afew. I have never experienced them before and hope i never do. I have the 93 gallon version of this tank and I love it.
Good luck with your move, you shouldn't have a problem what so ever traveling 2.5 hours. I love your new rock structure. Keep us posted.

Thank you Reefobsession!!!
I have the luxury of so much extra equipment, that I do not have to worry about cramming corals into my tank right away. I will continue to quarenteen and observe corals. I plan on a revive dip when arriving to my new place on Weds. I will move all LPS, softies, montis, and all other non acros to the tank once established. I am running zeovit, so the cycle will be very quick, will also be seeding with fresh liverock, and using cycled water instead of all new water. Hopefully by Friday fishies and non acros will have their home back

 

[spllbnd2]

Very cool looking rockscape so far.

 

[krak256]

hey pyle, i just got the same tank. what made you go with the 20L for a sump? it sticks out an inch in the back, no? i was thinking of doing the same thing you are. i like the 20L since it gives enough room for skimmer, a large return area, and good sized fuge.

 

[deangelr]

pyle02 can you explain your "quarantine" process for your corals?

 

[plyle02]

hey pyle, i just got the same tank. what made you go with the 20L for a sump? it sticks out an inch in the back, no? i was thinking of doing the same thing you are. i like the 20L since it gives enough room for skimmer, a large return area, and good sized fuge.

Hello,
I have no problem with the sump sticking out the back, I have to reserve room for my zeovit reactor which sits out of sump, behind the tank. I partitioned the 20 long with 3 baffles, 1 of which broke during the move, really no big deal, it was the 1st baffle, and given I run with a 25 micron sock on the return, no bubbles to speak of. I do not run a fuge, but suspect more than enough room, if you plan properly for space. By doing this, you will still have tons of room underneath the tank, I have a small skimmer and 10 gallon standard tank for RO/DI topoff. I will have to post some pics of the new setup and what is underneath, coming soon...