Tank Break-Down Order

[MurphyLong]

So, I'm finding myself with less and less time to dedicate to my fishy friends, and if I can't make some adjustments, I'll likely just break it all down and sell it off. It's getting to the point where coralline is starting to haze over the glass.

With that said, I need to go ahead and plan the best course of action for doing so, and come up with an order of breakdown. My initial thoughts are:

1. Find buyers for the corals, get them all sold and out of the tank.
2. Find buyers for the fish. Catch the easy ones, and get them out.
3. Find buyers for the rock, get it gone.
4. Get the remaining fish out, and to their new owners.
5. Drain tank, and dump the sand, clean everything, and wait patiently for someone to buy tank and equipment as they want it.

I feel like that's probably the safest route for a break-down, causing the least amount of stress on any of the creatures. Any thoughts on a different order, and why?

 

[Bent]

So, I'm finding myself with less and less time to dedicate to my fishy friends, and if I can't make some adjustments, I'll likely just break it all down and sell it off. It's getting to the point where coralline is starting to haze over the glass.

With that said, I need to go ahead and plan the best course of action for doing so, and come up with an order of breakdown. My initial thoughts are:

1. Find buyers for the corals, get them all sold and out of the tank.
2. Find buyers for the fish. Catch the easy ones, and get them out.
3. Find buyers for the rock, get it gone.
4. Get the remaining fish out, and to their new owners.
5. Drain tank, and dump the sand, clean everything, and wait patiently for someone to buy tank and equipment as they want it.

I feel like that's probably the safest route for a break-down, causing the least amount of stress on any of the creatures. Any thoughts on a different order, and why?

What kind of corals and how much?

 

[MurphyLong]

What kind of corals and how much?

I'm not trying to peddle them here, in fact I don't know I'll sell much (if any of it) through the forum, because I don't have the time to ship things that are alive.

...but to answer your question anyway, a Lobo colony, 6 hear purple torch, a frogspawn, some saucer sized green monti, a small elkhorn, random shrooms, green candy canes, and some random blastos somewhere.

 

[oceanfan913]

That is the order I have gone in to shut down my tank

 

[MurphyLong]

Well, the wife and I sat down and talked it through this weekend, and it looks like it's gonna work out for me keeping it up and running.

 

[FoxFace Fish]

good to hear

 

[MurphyLong]

Almost 6 months later, just here to update... I shut the tank down, and sold everything off. I swear sometimes I still hear my return pump sucking air now and then. It haunts me.

I may return to reefing with a small tank, but only if I go about it the right way. I just don't have time for a tank that required a daily hour of maintenance.

 

[RioReefr]

I just don't have time for a tank that required a daily hour of maintenance.

I've never had a 125G Tank, but mine is 32 G (with corals/fish) and at most I spend a max of 5 minutes a day. Probably most of that time is going into my freezer, grabbing a frozen shrimp, using the cheese-grater to grind some up and tossing it into the tank. Then I take a piece of Nori algae put it on my clip for my Tang. That's basically it

Smart ATO mixed w/kalkwasser takes care of top-off. AI Prime is on a light schedule. Aqamai wavemaker is on a schedule. Heater and Chiller connected to a APEX Jr. I have a bunch of filter-socks, so it is pretty simple to pull one out and put another one in every few days.
If I go away for a couple of days, I use a cheap, battery-operated automatic feeder and it dispenses pellet food (New Life Spectrum).

I would say every 2 weeks I do a 20% WC, testing water parameters and some routine maintenance -- which at most takes me 1 h.

If I have a "guest" coming over, I might spend a little extra time with razor-blade on the inside glass and using a 50-micron polishing pad to make things "nicely presentable". That at most might be 10 minutes.

IMO, I think with the right equipment, a smaller aquarium (<60G) can be low maintenance (except the water-changes of course).

 

[MurphyLong]

I had a smaller tank before, but I wanted larger fish at the time. Now I'm over that, and I'd be content with 2 little clowns, and a sexy shrimp.