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Steve's Re-Re-Build

9supratt4

9supratt4

So as many of you know my tank sprung a leak about a week ago. This was the second time something like this has happened. I've decided to build the tank again and I will document my success...or failure...for all to see :eek:

Because this has been the second tank that this has happened, it came down to the conclusion that it was either the floor or the stand causing the failures. JCurry aka Jeff said he would help me out. He stopped by and checked the floor which is concrete and said that was pretty level for a basement floor and then he checked the stand................:nightmare:

He pointed out that there are really no supports for the tank except very small ones in the corners and one in the rear middle. He also pointed out that the rear verticle support was bending about 3/8" which also caused the only top support to bow up. Hence the stand was giving under the pressure of a fully stocked 180. Extremely bad designing by AGA on the stand.

So Jeff was kind enough to take the tank back to his house and reinforce it. Here is a picture of the reinforcing he did to the bottom of the stand...stole the pics from him ;)

img00189-20120708-1616_small.jpg


Now all my rock is dried out....was dried in the blazing hot sun last week. Next is to nuke the rock with bleach.

The new tank is in, so I have to find a van to pick that up and return the old one.

I am probably about a week or two away from starting to rebuild the rockwork....so stay tuned....
 
M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
No more bryopsis and no more tanks leaking, I think you are going to have some fun with this build.
 
falconut

falconut

NJRC Member
Good luck with the new one. When I setup my 90, I was looking at the original stand and couldn't believe how small the wood was on the thing. I worked for years with fresh water. For my reef, I made a stand and used double 2x4's as legs and 2x6's across the top. I figured it could never be too strong. The reinforced stand is looking good.

If you're still nervous about it. You could do a quick test outside with the new tank (filled w/fresh water) and the reinforced stand and check around the bottom of the tank to make sure it's not flexing causing any gaps.
 
9supratt4

9supratt4

Ok...so after 3 weeks of going back and forth trying to decide whether to just give up and sell everything or continue my re-build, I have decided to continue the build. It was not an easy decision though since this is the 2nd time this has happened to me.

But Jeff really turned this stand into a monster so I hope this doesn't happen again!!

I received the new tank through the warranty with Aqueon (All-Glass)...I painted the back and now I just need to pain the inside of the stand and level it on the floor. I will then add the tank to the stand.

I will be buying bleach tomorrow to start cooking my rock and making sure all the bryopsis is dead.
 
9supratt4

9supratt4

I bleached my rock with 4 gallons of bleach in a garbage can with water and circulation. I let it sit in the bleach for a week. Wow are these rocks white again!! Going to have to get some coraline from somewhere to seed the new tank with.

I will be stopping at the store for 4 gallons of vinegar in the next day or two so that I can soak them in vinegar for a few days.

If the bryopsis comes back after all this...I will be livid!!

The fish seem to be doing ok...except the loss of my Bellus, which I'm royally po'ed about. The corals...they've been better, but they are hanging in there.

Hopefully I'll have everything up, running and cycling by the end of the month.
 
Sunny

Sunny

NJRC Member
Article Contributor
LMK when you need coraline :D. I can scrape off when you are ready ;)

Sunny
 
9supratt4

9supratt4

So....dried out the rock for about a week....now just put them back in the can with water and 4 gallons on vinegar....

WARNING: the following photo is explicit!!

2012-08-20150743.jpg


I'll leave them soaking for about 3 days....I'll rinse them again...dry them and then soak them in fresh water for a couple days then let them dry again....then they will be ready to be put together in the tank.

I'm figuring that I should just put the dry rock and dry sand in the tank and let it cure/cycle in the tank with the new salt water. Any objections?
 
Fish Brain

Fish Brain

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
How are you liking the smell of that bucket of rocks, make you want to gag doesn't it?

Once you are done with your soak/dry/rinse cycle there is no reason you couldn't cycle the rock in the tank. But be aware if the rocks still stink, so will your house. Have some carbon on stand by to help out with the odor in the water.
 
9supratt4

9supratt4

I have plenty of carbon...I bought a bunch of it from brs...but then decided to stop running it on my tank since some research as shown it possibly and a stress possibly contributes to hlle.

I don't remember anymore, but do I run the skimmer during the cycle? What about the biopellets? I would assume no on the pellets as they would strip the water of what is needed for the cycle.
 
9supratt4

9supratt4

dan_k said:
Bump any up dates how did the rock turn out
Click to expand...

The rock is nuked and WHITE!!

I haven't had a chance to work on the tank much...been super busy with the NY TV Festival stuff. But hopefully this coming week I'll be able to get the tank on the stand, plumbed and rock in.

Still have to figure out where and what kind of sand to get. I'm also contemplating going FOWLR instead of Reef. Not sure yet.
 
9supratt4

9supratt4

Ok...so I finally got the foam and made a mess in the basement. Little foam balls EVERYWHERE!!

2012-09-28182021.jpg


The foam is finally on the stand!!

2012-09-28182002.jpg


Next is to move the stand back into position, level the stand and get the tank up onto the stand.

I hope to have the rock in the tank by the end of the week!!
 
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