Tank Move/Build thread

[Nace]

I always enjoy reading about other's build threads so thought I might as well post my recent tank move/rebuild.

The tank is a 40g breeder and has been setup in my laundry room for close to the past year. (sorry forgot to take a pic of it setup before I started) The wife finally allowed me to get rid of our spare bedroom and turn it into a home office for me as I now get to work from home once a week.

I am wanting to upgrade in a year or so; so I didn't want to spend a lot on a stand (tank was just on counter top in laundry room) and while I have built stands in the past I decided to go the easy route with cement blocks.

I cleared the wall where the tank would be positioned.


Then I went to work on the blocks and wood with spray paint. Just used the $99 cent flat black, didn't need to be fancy


While the final coat was drying I went to work on emptying the tank and moving the livestock to temporary holding. The empty tank is where it originally was.


Fish, Coral and Clean Up Crew in the Rubbermaid.


LR in buckets. I also had been "cycling" some dry base rock that I had never used. I had it running for about a month in a Rubbermaid. I knew when I moved the tank I would want more rock in it.


More to follow quickly...

 

[Nace]

I took the tank outside and washed it out. I also took the chance to spray paint the back black.

While the tank was drying I setup the stand in the room.


I went ahead and moved the tank in and hung the lights at this time. 24" ATI Sunpower. the picture looks like the lights are way off, but their not.



The paint was dry so I went ahead and moved the tank onto the stand.


I then filled it up with water and added salt. In a moment of clarity I realized that I should have pre-made the saltwater and had it heated and ready to go. Silly me. Time to add multiple heaters and lower the lights to help warm it up!
(I also did the entire move in one day and definitely could have planed better)


It was also at this time I decided to clean my MP40 and MP10. Well after cleaning the MP40 I couldn't get it to run without crazy grinding noise. It was already getting noisy, which is why I wanted to clean it. Well long story short I just couldn't get it to work without making a loud racket no matter how often I took it apart and put it back together. I went ahead and shipped it off to EcoTech for service and will just use the MP10 for the time being.
The Mp40 was originally a MP20 I bought forever ago, gave it to a buddy when I moved, he upgraded it to a MP40Wes and then gave it back to me, so I am not too upset it started to give up the ghost.

The water was still a mite cloudy but the day was getting late and I needed to get it done. So I went ahead and started to aquascape.


Here is the final result, minus the piece of LR that was still in the Rubbermaid with the livestock.



And fast forward with me not taking pictures because it was late and we have the finished product!



And a full tank shot. Sorry for the quality, using iPhone camera.



I will follow up with specs and list of inhabitants and what not.

 

[Nace]

Tank is SPS dominated. There are 3 LPS that I originally purchased 10 years ago that I got frags back from my friends simply for sentimental value. The clowns host the frogspawn which I love, would get an anemone but have had bad experiences with them roaming and stinging. There are also red mushrooms that I will need to eradicate eventually and some zoas, not sure what type. As far as types of SPS the largest "colony" is a Red Planet, I also have Tricolor Valida mini colony, 2 mariculture acros that I got for cheap because they were browning out the LFS, and frags of Oregon tort, Monti Setosa, Ora shortcake, Ora Borealis, monti undata, green/yellow milli, neon green acro, random red acro, and a couple no name pieces that were at the bottom of LFS tank that rescued.

I have a bonded pair of black ocellaris clowns, tank bred from ORA I believe, an ORA yellow assesor, and a blood/fire shrimp. I haven't decided what else to add, perhaps a wrasse if I get a netted top.

As mentioned above light is 24" ATI Sunpower. Currently running 4 blue plus and 2 purple plus. I am happy with the way the tank looks but I ordered a few new bulbs and will be trying out some new combinations just for kicks.

There is no sump/refugium so I have a HOB Octopus BH 100F. I have used it on a couple different tanks in the past couple years with decent results. I have my heater in the return section.

I use a Tunze osmolater nano for my ATO.

As mentioned in an earlier post I am currently using an MP 10W while my MP40 is away for service. I will more than likely use both of them once I get it back in sync/anti-sync mode.

I also have a reactor that I run GFO in that will be added if I see phospates rise and become a problem.

Thanks for looking. I plan to start taking weekly shots of the tank to measure growth and color change and will update here.