Upgrading to a 120 gallon

[Lmecher]

Did I mention this is not a store, It is his personal system at his home.
I am going to talk to my brother too. I am going to fish all the crabs I can find in my 40 today, maybe run out and grab more. I'll run some tests in a few days and make the decision on transfering the coral covered rock accordingly.
I found one rock that screams octopus den, it has some large holes through it. I plan to rearrange to create a nice enclosed cave behind it. When I say I stink at aquascaping you have to believe me. This will be my biggest challenge, making it look good and still be functional. (from an octopuses pointof view)

 

[DWhatley]

When I say I stink at aquascaping you have to believe me. This will be my biggest challenge, making it look good and still be functional. (from an octopuses pointof view)

MY LONG LOST TWIN!!!!

 

[Lmecher]

MY LONG LOST TWIN!!!!

You too, oh brother aquascaping is impossible
I am determined to do it myself without my brothers help, wish me luck, I am going to need it. I have one fanastic rock with holes that I am hoping to use as a cave entrance. I have lots of ideas now to imlplement them.
I ran out this morning and got 45 hermits to get the ball rolling, tonight all is well. I will do a couple tests tomorrow but still rather early to expect anything remarkable. I hate my cabinet doors thinking about remaking them.

 

[DWhatley]

Arrangements of any sort (flowers, collections, etc) are always a major struggle for me. Rockwork drives me crazy.

I buy unfinished doors that come close to what I am trying to match (most have been extensions to add cabinets in or near our kitchen) or have a piece of tempered glass cut and buy glass door hinges for most projects requiring doors. I did pull off a couple of panels and found some picture frame to made doors for two sides of the bar (the toasting picture does not show them well enough for me to point them out but there was this huge amount of space that was wasted and is now easily accessed). They turned out looking unhomeade but the construction was klugey trying to reuse the panels and I have one that needs repair.

If it is just the outside edge that does not look quite right, try looking into finding picture frame (either by the stick or in a ready made in - some hobby shops have odd sizes but bring a door to see how close the fit is) that has a deep enough inset to come close to sitting flush. Mirror frames are another option if you can find the right size or can cut them to suit.

Oh, and I have that same ladder but with one more step to be able to clean the largest tank I had planned to paint it black (the color of the furniture in the dining room) but decided to wait until it needed repainting ... it is time.

 

[Lmecher]

The doors are just wrong, should have had a recessed center pannel. These are ok but not quite right, If I add more wood, they'd stick out. These are going on for now untill we can get to it. I need to work on fuge, my Fiji reef mud is arriving today. I also need to got the fuge light figured out. Now that the majority of heavy work is done, this will be fun. Until it is time to arrange the rocks than pure aggrivation.
I should think positively....wow, can't wait to arrange my rocks, it's going to be a hoot!

 

[SabrinaR]

....wow, can't wait to arrange my rocks, it's going to be a hoot!

I feel your pain. I thank God that HP is small and doesnt move the larger rocks around. My rock work always comes out looking like well just a pile of rock. I tried drilling with rods and stuff but the bond didnt hold... I guess thats what I get for going cheap.

I will probably retry my hand at rock work lol I dont think a larger octo would be safe with all the loose rock I have.

 

[Lmecher]

In the 50 everything is rodded and epoxyed together and Diablo moves those. In the new tank, I am leaving them loose, just going to pile them. If I start drilling it will release the bacteria inside. In my 50, after it was cycled I drilled and rodded the rocks, I got a big amonia spike so better to leave them alone.

I added a bunch of rock from my 40. It is loaded with blue clove polyps. it will be alright. I still have the 40 so can remove it if need be. I know it's early but I checked for amonia this morning it was 0. My arrangment is bloody aweful. I would post a photo but am too embarrassed. I think I will put most of the smaller rocks towards the bottom and the larger ones on top, will look better. I guess anything will look better than this. There is still several rocks in the 40w/2 rbtas.

 

[DWhatley]

I would post a photo but am too embarrassed.

... so you are afraid someone might say something like, "move that rock slightly left"?

 

[Lmecher]

More like "what an ugly pile of rocks"
Instead of just putting my reefmud and sand in the bottom of the fuge, I made containers of plexiglass. I have 2 so when the time comes to replenish with new I can replace 1 at a time so as not to disturb it inside the tank I can remove it first. This was my brother's idea and I thought give it a try. I still need to get a bit more sand but have the Fiji reef mud, funky reef sand and some sand from my 40 in them so far. I will post a photo tomorrow. It is my 22 year olds birthday and we did a couple shots to celebrate. Thinking it was not such a good idea now.

 

[DWhatley]

It is my 22 year olds birthday and we did a couple shots to celebrate

Isn't that a 21 year birthday ritual or is it just every year after 21?

 

[Lmecher]

Isn't that a 21 year birthday ritual or is it just every year after 21?

On both boys 21st they took their dad out, not saying where

This is not a tradition I'd like to continue, I don't really drink often and wish they would not either. My biggest fear is drinking/driving. Thank got they have been responsible and take cabs or call. I've gotten calls in the middle of the night to come pick them up and am happy to. Give them a holleration the next day though

 

[Lmecher]

This is what I made last night. These will sit in my fuge (I am picking up some very fine sand to fill them) above I'll grow cheato to export nitrates. I will attach a light to the outside of the tank. It's going slow but steadily.

 

[Lmecher]

Quick update: I keep testing for amonia, nitrite and nitrate keep getting 0 on all tests. I have 45 hermits and (for the past week) 4 fish. I threw almost 1/2 a oyster in last week and I have been feeding heavily (frozen mysis) hoping to see something on my tests. I have not added any cheato to my fuge, will once I see nitrates. Everything, corals and fish look great so far. Poor Diablo is growing and anxious. She can hardly contain herself when we talk about her new home.

 

[rryyddeerr]

aahhhh. the cycle that wasnt.

 

[DWhatley]

Transferring El Diablo will be the hard part. I agonized over moving OhToo and it turned out to be anticlamatic but I don't know that moving another would be as easy. I do recommend the device in the video (shown in the link) for any kind of fish transfer IF you can get them into it. It is listed for small fish but I have moved several fairly large animals with it.