Seth's Hurricane Irene 300g tank re-build

[Wheel of Time]

Hurricane Irene hit Fairfield CT pretty hard. But it devastated my 300g mixed-reef. It was turning into quite a tank with several lrg colonies. No power or generator for over a week killed just about everything in the tank. What a tragedy! Here are some shots of the tank prior to Irene










Surprisingly, after 18hrs all the fish were dead. Its unusual, since we had been w/o power for multiple times for that long with no ill effect. Regardless, w/o a generator, a week plus would have killed them anyway. After two days the smell of death and decay was HORRIFIC. Had to seal off the downstairs. It made teh wife and kids gag. Pretty awful.

 

[Wheel of Time]

It has been over a month of hard work ridding the tank of all the death and decay. Draining the swamp basically. Took most of the live rock and dead corals out. Tried scrubbing most of the rock to no avail -- it still stunk. Ended up filling a 32g Brute with bleech and water.
Here are some of the coral skeletons remaing, rock and garbage bags filled with other corals from the tank. I hate looking at these rememebring what I once had...




Tho now Im in rebuild mode...time to build out the tank like its new again...

 

[Wheel of Time]

Now that I have tank most of the tank apart, Im left with a sump and mangroves and a very very few zoas. Considering everything coral related died, the lone living creatures were a few snails and a lot of ceriths. Everything else in the sand bed seems to have perished.
Here is the protein skimmer working overtime:


Ive spent the last several weeks filtering water, cleaing the sand bed, and totally re-landscaping the tank. Ive decided to go with additional supplemental blue lighting to the (4) 400w MH Lumenbrights I use. Nicely, Scolley (from this club) REALLY REALLY hooked me up. He gave me two supplemtal light rigs to add under my canopy. Thanks so much my friend!!
They are going to go to great use...

 

[Wheel of Time]

I decided to go with three distinct islands in the new reef architecture. Im going to underpin it with a pvc pipe support and then create caves and an open middle for the fish and critters to swim through and provide MUCH more ability for water to move through the entire tank and not be 'trapped' with so much rock on the sand bed. I know I had teh old tank up for years, but I was SHOCKED at how much filth / detritus was in under the first layer of sand. I have decided to place three koralias attached to rocks just above the sand top keep the flow moving across the entire undercarriage this time, and have the loc-line returns up top.

Here is the new re-worked landscape. Please let me know what you think, and any suggestions.






I have recently added a few fish to get the bacterial load going and start working on new 'live rock and sand' I was able to not bleech all of the live rock, so some of it remains to seed the tank Im hoping, but not much.

 

[Wheel of Time]

Next up is time to get some frags.
Still have some work to do on the rock work and landscaping, but its a start.

I am now in the market for frags to re-populate the tank. Any and all cuttings would be greatly appreciated!!!

:love1:

 

[rjinct]

Seth -- So sorry to hear about your tank! My wife and I were actually just talking about your tank last weekend and she was saying how she loved the variety of everything in it and was hoping to see it again sometime (i'm sure it will be up to its former glory, if not more, in short order). I don't have much in way of corals...been trying to get my tank under control...finally turned the corner and things are starting to finally grow out. I definitely have some of the corals you had generously given to me a little while back (and more) and they are ready to help you bring your tank back.

 

[Wheel of Time]

RJ

Thanks so much for the kind words. Tough loss. But that would be cool to get back a frag or two from my orignals that were in the tank.
Thanks a ton!!

 

[RTMA]

Seth - Its crazy looking at all those skeletons, I know what it takes to get them to grow, so I feel for your loss there. I can't stand the smell of acros out of the water, so I can't imagine what the smell was like for you.

As for turning the page, I like the new scape and great idea for flow in the back.

I have a colony of those nuclear green trumpets, from the frag u gave me, So I'll give some back on Saturday, among others if you are ready. No doubt it will come back bigger and better then ever!

 

[scolley]

Great to see you rebuilding! What happened was tragic. But today is a new day, and I'm thrilled to see you rocking and rolling with it! Great stuff!

But now the part you're not gonna wanna hear...

The skeletal reef is a great idea for multiple reasons. It will be a great refuge for fish and inverts, and will not accumulate as much detritus. But IMO what the pics seem to show is an infrastructure that's a bit too high. Not too high now, or next year even. But when things really grow in - as you've proven you can do with a tank - I looks like everything on top is going to be banging the surface.

Also, maybe consider pulling one of those center towers out completely, creating some more open space.

Aesthetics are the toughest thing to do in this hobby. Especially when there are no rules, just opinions.

Hats off on trying something new. Certainly guaranteed to be more interesting than a pile of rocks!

I'm sure the frag raffle will be good to you this weekend! Great to see you climbing back in that great big saddle!

 

[Wheel of Time]

Steve,

I think you made a good point about the grow-out, especially in the middle section. Hmmm, Ill have to think about that area. But that is the fun part about starting over from scratch basically. I can re-aquascape easily. Thanks for the suggestions

 

[Wheel of Time]

Mangroves

Mangroves

Forgot to also mention that one thing did survive w/o power very well...
The Mangrove plants in the sump are thriving as if nothing happend (no real surprise there...)


Scolley's lights: Im still trying to decide how to mount the T-5 / actininc supplemental lights in the canopy I built for the MH...whether I run them lengthwise on the back side of the tank or between the fixtures. But here is a shot:


In the end, its a darn (expensive) shame about the losses, but at least Im having fun re-building.
-- Seth

 

[RTMA]

I'd mount them length wise. Let me know if you ever want to add some LEDS, we can build a long strip of just blue dimmable LEDs on u channel. I can help ya. You'll get the cool led blue glow. I'd recommend blues + royal blue with some optics. I'm getting good growth in my nano with those two combos.

I also agree on lowering the rockscape to allow the sps some room to grow. I did something very similar on my 75 at the beginning and eventually ripped it all up for a lower rockscape. My Oregon tort has to be pushing 7 inches tall now.

 

[tank o tang]

Wow that sucks, your tank was so beautiful but sure starting over after such a long time will give you the chance to tweek everything the way you want it. If theres anything I can do to help just let me know.

 

[Wheel of Time]

Good points about lowering the middle portion to allow for growth. Ill do that this weekend assuming we dont lose power from this big storm I hear comign (uh oh).

Tank o Tang....been a long time. Im really bummed about losing the blue zoas in the tank crash you gave me -- they turned into a sweet colony. Uggh. Got another few polyps I can grow out again?

 

[tank o tang]

Sure just let me know when. I moved up to the ct/ma/ri border but can drop them when I'm down that way or send them back with my mother when she visits.

 

[scolley]

How's the rebuild going? Any progress?