The Red Sea tank is gone!
Yes It’s been way too long lots has happened in a short amount of time. That small little Red Sea project took off running. It ran out of room actually. It hit a sweet spot of a perfect balance. Water perameters were so good everything just bloomed. I had a suggestion from a very wise friend. Instead of cutting everything down smaller... why not go bigger? Hmmmm... move the discus out and the reef into the bigger tank. Why not? It was a salt water set up anyway. Built in corner flow... Eshopps sump.. all I needed was another Aqua HD light and a bigger skimmer. However... what to do with the discus? Sell them? I considered it. I was really tired of the water barrels in the living room and constant water changes. It all worked out... That’s another thread waiting to be put up in the discus section...
I had thought the move would be an easy one until I considered the effects of a move on my newly acquired acropora corals. They are pretty sensitive to changes... even small ones. So I wandered in to the local reef shop for advice. These guys know their stuff and have been really helpful. They had been featured on the show “Tanked” when they came to town to make a baby grand piano aquarium for a local mall. They were chosen to stock the tank for the show. They told me how to go about moving mine and then pointed out that they would come and do everything for around $100. Well that was a no brainer. The day of the move they pulled up with buckets, hoses and coolers in tow. In just two hours they had moved everything, set up the new equipment and got it running like a finely tuned engine.
I was a bit worried when they looked at my tank and said it wouldn’t be an easy move. They pointed out I had a beautiful, mature tank with many high end delicate corals. A huge compliment considering the source. They pointed out they see a lot of tanks and they were not like this one. That was sweet... but they said there would be some losses. It was inevitable. In the end, they did such a fantastic job my losses were minimal. A tiny sps frag, one small emerald crab and unfortunately one of my favorite rock anemones lost the battle. However, I would say the move was a huge success. The 75 gallon with the 20 gallon sump is built in between two rooms and is a beautiful addition to our home. It allowed me to add a few bigger fish that add color and interest to the tank. Another lesson I learned was to get fish that work for you. I get that... you want an ecosystem.. but many of the hardest workers are not all that attractive. I compared them to the sensible brown flats of the shoe world when what really looked better were the pretty high heeled ones. I found a nice balance. A medium grade worker with a more serious one to pull the load. Attachment 119751 Attachment 119752 Attachment 119753 Attachment 119754 Attachment 119755 more pics to follow... I keep freezing up and having to start over. :p
Re: The Red Sea tank is gone!
Hi Jenene.
Sounds like you had a carefully thought out plan and ran with it. Im curious to see where your discus ended up, hopefully not too far away and somewhere they can be enjoyed. The last time you updated your Red Sea Tank thread everything looked like it was thriving, so i can see how you could have run out of room quick.
With the move to the larger tank I'm sure your pieces will look even better and with more free space to grow, not to mention all the new additions. sorry to hear about your losses, but i'm sure the new additions will make up for that
The pictures you downloaded can't be viewed, and i hope that one of the mods can rectify...or maybe you can have another go at downloading them?
Good luck with the upgrade, and i hope you're enjoying the view
Re: The Red Sea tank is gone!
I tried to recover the pictures but no clue. Sorry. Jenene, could you please upload the again or email them to webmaster@simplydiscus.com and I will fix your first post.
Pat
Re: The Red Sea tank is gone!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Second Hand Pat
I tried to recover the pictures but no clue. Sorry. Jenene, could you please upload the again or email them to
webmaster@simplydiscus.com and I will fix your first post.
Pat
Thanks Pat....i'm sure you're just keen in seeing the pics as i am :)
Re: The Red Sea tank is gone!
Your saltwater tank is beautiful. Did you add more rock and corals to it? It looks to be filled in nicely. I expected it to be kind of sparse. Really beautiful, but I admit I was a little sad for the discus. I’m waiting for your, “Where are they now?” thread. Looking at that tank though, I have to say you made a good choice. It’s spectacular!
Patty
Re: The Red Sea tank is gone!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
two utes
Hi Jenene.
Sounds like you had a carefully thought out plan and ran with it. Im curious to see where your discus ended up, hopefully not too far away and somewhere they can be enjoyed. The last time you updated your Red Sea Tank thread everything looked like it was thriving, so i can see how you could have run out of room quick.
With the move to the larger tank I'm sure your pieces will look even better and with more free space to grow, not to mention all the new additions. sorry to hear about your losses, but i'm sure the new additions will make up for that
The pictures you downloaded can't be viewed, and i hope that one of the mods can rectify...or maybe you can have another go at downloading them?
Good luck with the upgrade, and i hope you're enjoying the view
Thanks so much Joe,
Yes, I did have an image of what I was hoping to attain by the move. I must admit I was happier with how things looked much faster than I had thought. New tanks look... well.. new. This one with its older inhabitants and coralline coated aged rock looked mature from the first day.
The new pieces are doing well. The hardest part now will be restraining from adding more. It’s so hard to visit these frag swaps and not return looking like you’ve attended the biggest sale at Macy’s... ever.
I’m sorry I left everyone hanging with the discus. Having a full house for the holidays means less time for the things that don’t revolve around the kids. Was meaning to get to it this evening but instead found myself held hostage playing Boggle with my daughter. Never mind how that turned out... :mad:
Thank you for letting me know about the pics. I’ll try to find some free time to fix them soon. :o
Re: The Red Sea tank is gone!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Second Hand Pat
I tried to recover the pictures but no clue. Sorry. Jenene, could you please upload the again or email them to
webmaster@simplydiscus.com and I will fix your first post.
Pat
Thanks for trying Pat, I really appreciate it. It’s very odd. Sometimes when I went back in I could see them and the next time not. It looks like Patty hit it at the right time as well. I did it through my phone. When I have time I’ll do it through my computer. Maybe I’ll have better luck.
Thanks again though! Happy Thanksgiving! :D
Re: The Red Sea tank is gone!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Pices
Your saltwater tank is beautiful. Did you add more rock and corals to it? It looks to be filled in nicely. I expected it to be kind of sparse. Really beautiful, but I admit I was a little sad for the discus. I’m waiting for your, “Where are they now?” thread. Looking at that tank though, I have to say you made a good choice. It’s spectacular!
Patty
Thank you so much Patty, your notes are always so sweet. I was thinking we go back to the earlier days both having started at the same time. I’ve met some really wonderful people here over the years. You are one of the first. I think you’ll agree with my decision on the discus. I won’t keep you hanging much longer. As you can see I’ve been having some technical issues. I had written a really long update and lost it. The back up copied the blank page before I could back out. So that one update got a bit frustrating or I would have gone right on with the discus chapter. No fault of the forum but all on my side. I’ll do my best to get it up soon.
Yes, you are spot on. I did need some new surfaces to attach the overflow corals from the other tank. I had just attended Rochester’s first Flower City Frag swap and just stuck them on the sandbed in the Red Sea knowing everything was about to be moved again anyway. I wasn’t crazy about introducing more live rock at this stage. You just never know what’s hiding in there and I didn’t really need it to start a cycle. I’m still finding new creatures in my tank that must have hitch hiked in on live rock. Bristle worms, starfish.. weird looking zoa polyups... there’s enough there for an entirely new thread. I was bringing all the established rock and the sand bed from the old tank. I looked around and found a few pieces of dry rock I had never used and also some old decorative coral that I had in the sunroom that my husband and I had acquired years and years ago. One of them is perfect for sticking single heads of assorted torch corals in. It makes an interesting little garden.
It looks like you were able to view the pics. I’ll go in soon and reload them so the others can have an idea what you saw.
Thanks again Patty. It was great hearing from you. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
