Taqpol's 120 gallon All in Stand Reef Build

[dailydriven911]

Nicely done! I love the aquascape and the natural/clean look!

 

[cclarksea]

Very nice tank, good luck with the move

 

[Taqpol]

Wow! Thats awesome news! I wish you nothing but the best in your new adventure!

congrats Alex!!

Very nice tank, good luck with the move

Thanks for all the comments! It was a rough year, with the economy as it is schools are seeing a record number of grad school applications as opposed to getting a job. In this department alone they got well over a hundred applicants and only interviewed twenty five of us (including international students), and then on the last day told us they only had ten spots open. I'm quite a lucky man!

As far as moving the tank goes I would like to start getting all of your opinions. My current plan involves having a local fish store hold all my corals and fish until I get situated in North Carolina and ship them to me overnight once everything has stabilized. All the rocks will be put into a 45 gallon brute trash can and once they are loaded into a uhaul/moving whatever I will pump saltwater back over them and seal the lid. During the ~5-7 day drive to NC the rocks will not have heat or water flow, but it will be during the summer so they should stay kind of warm and I hopefully won't lose much of my bacterial life. I will ditch all of my sand (except for a few cups) and start over new at my destination. Everything else will be cleaned and packed normally for the drive across the country.

Am I missing anything? Does this sound like it will work?

One last thing, part of me is trying to kick around the idea of selling the entire tank/stand/hood combo locally and using the money to upgrade to a 180 gallon that I would purchase in NC. I have put a lot of work into the tank so I think I could get a decent price for it.

 

[cclarksea]

Wet newspaper works very well for wrapping live rock for shipping and easier than seeing how much spilled durring the trip. I used to recieve shippments of live rock this way. You might keep a few more things alive with the water, but without H2O movement youll lose most anyway.
Sounds like a great plan for the livestock though

Again good luck
C

 

[Myteemouse]

You wont get out near what you got into the tank and stuff..

 

[Taqpol]

You wont get out near what you got into the tank and stuff..

I know, but if I can sell my tank that has a beautifully working BeanAnimal overflow along with all the plumbing and sump, oak stand and hood, and 4 T5 bulbs with individual reflectors and ballasts for ~$800 I can get a brand new 180 gallon tank and DIY the overflow, stand, and the sump how I like with minimal extra money. My goal is to get as close to breaking even as possible on this one aspect, because I already know this move is going to cost me an arm and a leg.

 

[Taqpol]

As of right now I am in Durham, NC house shopping, but I have some pretty exciting news after only one day. My fiancee and I have found two houses we really love and both of them have near perfect set ups for a fish tank WITH a fish room! Our favorite hous has a large walk in closet for the fish room with walls that border the bathroom, garage, and the outside so it would have easy access to 1.) cold water for RO, 2.) a place to pump waste water from water changes, and 3.) fresh air for the skimmer, respectively. The other houses location wouldn't fit a six foot 180 perfectly (it would stick ~6" into the hallway, but that has me considering a Marineland Deep Dimension 250 which has a 5'x3' foot print.

To say I'm excited now would be an understatement.

 

[estanoche]

LOL- you know you are a fish nerd when you are shopping for houses that will fit your future tank!! Go get 'em!!

 

[Taqpol]

We made an offer on a house today and the seller accepted! I will be living in here in a few months!

Through the kitchen you can barely see this room in the back:

You guessed it, where the book case and bed are is where my new fish tank will go, and I will be punching a hole in the wall to pass all the pipes into my dedicated fish room (large closet to the left)!

Inside shots of the closet:

The area between the wall and the edge of the door molding is only 26", so for a 24" wide tank to fit nicely I will have to have an internal overflow or set the tank up peninsula style but still have it pressed against the wall:

This is the same room we will be using as an office, so my desk will be situated right by the tank to facilitate my getting distracted:

The office and fish room also share outside walls and a wall with the garage, so I hope I can set up some kind of water change system that involves gravity draining the "dirty" WC water out the garage or out the side. This also means I can easily pipe in a source of fresh air for the skimmer and/or connect some type of window AC unit to help with any moisture problems.

I'm so excited about this house, I think it was an absolute steal!

 

[sandswhitson]

Exciting news!! House looks like it is really nice and I am sure that you will set up another great tank there.

 

[iroll253]

That house is sweet! Awesome place for the tank and dedicated room too!

 

[Taqpol]

Well, I would like to let everyone that has been following this thread know that I plan on selling pretty much my entire setup in preparation for my move and tank upgrade in North Carolina. As of right now the only things I do not want to sell are:

-Skimmer
-Pair of Vortechs
-Small cube tank
-Sargassum Triggerfish
-Picasso Clowns
-Chevron Tang

ANYTHING else, go ahead and make me an offer on. I plan on tearing the tank down at the end of April/beginning of May.

Here are the links (with some pricing) to my two For Sale threads:
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=536094#post536094
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=536096#post536096

 

[Taqpol]

One of the sad parts about selling off a system is selling the corals fish you like but know that it would not be smart to ship them/you don't really need them. On the plus side, you can make a lot of money selling coral frags! I'm definitely going to need it as I am upgrading to an APEX controller and contemplating a new skimmer at the same time!

This birdsnest never really colored up the way I wanted, it was supposed to be hot pink yet it almost looked like a faded Birds of Paradise with a greenish body and purplish polyps. Still, in one year it grew from a frag the size of a quarter to this:

 

[Taqpol]

Probably the last FTS's you will ever see of this tank.... Its a good thing but sad at the same time.

Oh, I also figured out how to automate a border/watermark with Photoshop. I think it looks pretty snazzy.

 

[slim_jim989]

Looks good I love that Trigger though I want to get one later on when I get my tank up and running well, how does he act with your tangs? and does he go after your shrimp at all.

 

[iroll253]

Good luck with selling everything you need to. That is an amazing tank and shot.

 

[Taqpol]

Chevron Tang:

He has had this one spot of HLLE siunce I got him months ago and can't seem to shake it. I have no stray voltage and he gets fed vitamin enriched food, so I have to believe its coming from my activated carbon I run 24/7...

Half-Black Mimic Tang:

Spotted Mandarin:

Christmas Wrasse:

 

[Taqpol]

Picasso Clowns Hosting:

Cool shot of one of my Tailspot Blennies favorite perches:

Birds of Paradise:

Spongodes encrusting like mad:

Pagoda cup coral:

Platygyra:

Various Zoanthids:

 

[Taqpol]

Since this was a special occasion I even broke out the underwater enclosure again!

 

[Taqpol]

Last set of pictures, my favorites!

Another underwater shot.

Porcelain crab filter feeding in a carpet anemone.

Peach Digitata:

Monti Cap:

Sunset Montipora: