Floyd R Turbo
Aquarium Advice Addict
I started working on this tank about the same time I started working on the 125 FOWLR (incorrectly labeled a 135) in these threads:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f11/tank-journal-135-fowlr-124418.html
Tank Journal - 135 FOWLR - Reef Central Online Community
Tank Journal - 135 FOWLR - Reef Sanctuary
So I thought it was about time to chronicle my work on this tank also! I’m breaking this initial post up into several for purposes of limits on pictures per post, and timeline of work.
This is the tank that really got me thinking about diving into the aquarium maintenance business. I purchased a 92 corner bow off Craigslist for $200 (full reef setup) and in talking with the seller, I found out that he had a tank at his office and was very unhappy with the maintenance person. You’ll understand why in a minute.
It’s a 125 acrylic reef with an Oceanic 3 sump (30 long) located in a dentist’s office. Effectively 140g system water. It houses a whole lot of live rock, and has been up and running for several years. It has been maintained by 2 different people before me, both associated with local stores, and neither of which apparently gave a rat’s patootie about the health of the system – just in it for the money IMO.
The reason I say this is that the sump was filthy, the Nitrates were off the scale (over 200 ppm), the light fixture (Coralife 4” w/ 10,000k & Actinic CFL/power compact) had failed and a temporary one (4’ T5 2 bulb) had been on there for 6 months while the maintenance guy took forever to find a replacement ballast, and during all this time the corals all died off, and fish were dying off (mainly smaller Green Chromis). It was also overstocked, mainly due to one fish, which we got out of the tank and sold. Here are some pics of the tank.
From 9/30/09, before I did anything
Full tank shot
Sump
Skimmer
Return side
Next, the fish & corals
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f11/tank-journal-135-fowlr-124418.html
Tank Journal - 135 FOWLR - Reef Central Online Community
Tank Journal - 135 FOWLR - Reef Sanctuary
So I thought it was about time to chronicle my work on this tank also! I’m breaking this initial post up into several for purposes of limits on pictures per post, and timeline of work.
This is the tank that really got me thinking about diving into the aquarium maintenance business. I purchased a 92 corner bow off Craigslist for $200 (full reef setup) and in talking with the seller, I found out that he had a tank at his office and was very unhappy with the maintenance person. You’ll understand why in a minute.
It’s a 125 acrylic reef with an Oceanic 3 sump (30 long) located in a dentist’s office. Effectively 140g system water. It houses a whole lot of live rock, and has been up and running for several years. It has been maintained by 2 different people before me, both associated with local stores, and neither of which apparently gave a rat’s patootie about the health of the system – just in it for the money IMO.
The reason I say this is that the sump was filthy, the Nitrates were off the scale (over 200 ppm), the light fixture (Coralife 4” w/ 10,000k & Actinic CFL/power compact) had failed and a temporary one (4’ T5 2 bulb) had been on there for 6 months while the maintenance guy took forever to find a replacement ballast, and during all this time the corals all died off, and fish were dying off (mainly smaller Green Chromis). It was also overstocked, mainly due to one fish, which we got out of the tank and sold. Here are some pics of the tank.
From 9/30/09, before I did anything
Full tank shot
Sump
Skimmer
Return side
Next, the fish & corals