SaltwaterSilly
Guest
Ok.. it is time. I too was one of those impacted by Ike. Pre Ike I had a 120 Reef tank and a 150 FOWLR. Not being allowed back to my house for 5 days meant that I couldn't provide any type of power, lights circulation etc... to my tanks. Therefore, all the livestock died. With the help of Scott, I did manage to save a few pieces of frogspawn, hammerhead, zoas and toadstools. Plus he transported all my sand and rocks to his house and kept them circulating and warm so they would be ready for my new set up. Scott did a lot for me and my friends and family during that time and for that we are very greatful.. Now to the good stuff...
I have since moved on...
This is what my tank looked like pre - Ike
After cleaning out both tanks I decided to sell them and just get one large reef tank. Scott again helped out. We traded tanks. So.. what you are about to see is the transformation of a 300 gallon acrylic tank.
First I needed a stand: My brother-in-law is an awesome cabinet maker and offered to build me a stand and canopy for no charge. Plus he did it in a week and a half. Here are a few of the pics:
This is what it looked like when I got to his house for the weekend to help:
making doors:
Staining:
putting it together
Now for the tank:... Ok I had LOTS of help with this. Scott, Greg, Tempset, and Jhand all loaded the thing into Jhand's truck. Prior to this Scott was going to bring it over and almost chopped his finger off... Thanks to Jhand I had another option. With this tank being 300 gallons Jhand, myself and a little help from my daughter we were able to unload the tank and get it safely set up on saw horses for the next step.
In our transaction Scott agreed to polish the scratches out of this thing and he and his family spent several long days and evenings doing just that.
Meanwhile, I am impatient... I see that dbrock12 is selling his clams and fish. I thought wow a great way to get started. So, we make a deal, he kept the fish for me, Jhand babysat the clams for me and also remember Scott still has coral that he is babysitting. Whew.. glad they didn't charge what normal babysitters charge...
Now for the closed loop.... I had lots of help with that too. Katherine, Scott's wife, and I worked really hard on the plumbing and we almost made it perfect.
Here are a few more pics:
After Scott spent many hours polishing... The tank still was a little cloudy and I was not 100% satisfied. I started talking to Minh at BAA and he told me about novus. WOW.. that was awesome. SO, I spent two more days polishing and this was the result:
Everyone deserves a break:
Now it is time to add water and leak test... Yes I had leaks.. but managed to get them stopped before I flooded my new wood floors I had to put down after Ikd flooded my carpet... So.. all was good.
I spent an entire day loading 200+ pounds of sand, one half gallon container at a time up and down a three step ladder.. LOL and the same with the rock, one at a time 300+ pounds up and down the ladder.. It was a great day!!
right side:
center, Notice the heart shaped rock in the middle... prettly cool huh??
left side:
Full tank Shot:
Video
I have picked up my coral from Scott, my clams from John (Jhand), and the fish from Don (dbrock12). I still have two fish left at Scott's, and will be getting those soon. Then I will have to start searching for lots and lots of stuff to fill this tank..
Tell me what you think.....
I have since moved on...
This is what my tank looked like pre - Ike
After cleaning out both tanks I decided to sell them and just get one large reef tank. Scott again helped out. We traded tanks. So.. what you are about to see is the transformation of a 300 gallon acrylic tank.
First I needed a stand: My brother-in-law is an awesome cabinet maker and offered to build me a stand and canopy for no charge. Plus he did it in a week and a half. Here are a few of the pics:
This is what it looked like when I got to his house for the weekend to help:
making doors:
Staining:
putting it together
Now for the tank:... Ok I had LOTS of help with this. Scott, Greg, Tempset, and Jhand all loaded the thing into Jhand's truck. Prior to this Scott was going to bring it over and almost chopped his finger off... Thanks to Jhand I had another option. With this tank being 300 gallons Jhand, myself and a little help from my daughter we were able to unload the tank and get it safely set up on saw horses for the next step.
In our transaction Scott agreed to polish the scratches out of this thing and he and his family spent several long days and evenings doing just that.
Meanwhile, I am impatient... I see that dbrock12 is selling his clams and fish. I thought wow a great way to get started. So, we make a deal, he kept the fish for me, Jhand babysat the clams for me and also remember Scott still has coral that he is babysitting. Whew.. glad they didn't charge what normal babysitters charge...
Now for the closed loop.... I had lots of help with that too. Katherine, Scott's wife, and I worked really hard on the plumbing and we almost made it perfect.
Here are a few more pics:
After Scott spent many hours polishing... The tank still was a little cloudy and I was not 100% satisfied. I started talking to Minh at BAA and he told me about novus. WOW.. that was awesome. SO, I spent two more days polishing and this was the result:
Everyone deserves a break:
Now it is time to add water and leak test... Yes I had leaks.. but managed to get them stopped before I flooded my new wood floors I had to put down after Ikd flooded my carpet... So.. all was good.
I spent an entire day loading 200+ pounds of sand, one half gallon container at a time up and down a three step ladder.. LOL and the same with the rock, one at a time 300+ pounds up and down the ladder.. It was a great day!!
right side:
center, Notice the heart shaped rock in the middle...
prettly cool huh??
left side:
Full tank Shot:
Video
I have picked up my coral from Scott, my clams from John (Jhand), and the fish from Don (dbrock12). I still have two fish left at Scott's, and will be getting those soon. Then I will have to start searching for lots and lots of stuff to fill this tank..
Tell me what you think.....
Not sure he bought it... But I tried... There did come a point in time while I was in the thing polishing it, I thought he was going to bring me my pillow and blanket and tell me to just stay there... :? ... But he didn't...
