Here we go again - 125 Peninsula restart

[Matt Dean]

I've had some nice tanks over the years and was generally happy with all of them. My last one had some problems, but it was only after I tore it apart that I discovered ( someone else that is ) that i had planaria flat worms and that kept me from keeping SPS and some other corals. My LPS did fairly well, but I just wasn't able to do what I did in the past. That, combined with my busiest year, professionally, 6 months of home renovations and planning a month long destination wedding, to say I'v been preoccupied would be an understatement!

Of course, that meant the tank was neglected and suffered. I was over run by majona anemones, which i thought were just aiptasia and finally, a sand sifting goby I bought had something and died as soon as I put it in the tank, which then infected my fish. I lost 2 gorgeous leopard wrasses, bengaii cardinal, stunning blond naso and a couple more.

SO! I decided to throw out all my rock and sand, clean everything and start from scratch! THAT was not fun. Took me two days of nastiness to clean everything. I forgot how much work it was!

Here are older pics of my tank over the last few years:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4499/26190121069_efbd591cfa_k.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/FUkdxx)tvsideoct2011 (https://flic.kr/p/FUkdxx)

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4452/26190121369_c4097ad01b_k.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/FUkdCH)tvsidesept2013 (https://flic.kr/p/FUkdCH)

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4509/37934898582_603cbf78eb_h.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/ZNbgHy)tvsidejuly2015 (https://flic.kr/p/ZNbgHy)

I am now aquascaped, filled and ready to go! Oh wait...not so fast....once I got everything running again, my Red Dragon return pump started overheating and bringing my tank temp up to 87 degrees! *sigh* I had hoped it was a simple repair but alas, had to order a new pump. Red at Coral Reef Shop was great in getting the pump looked at and ordering one quickly - but it takes two weeks to get it here, so just running powerheads and circulating a few hours a day to keep the water healthy.

I've attached pics of the aquascape, ready to go.I used Marco bonding kit - cement - to put everything together. I had to support the pieces while it dried and found it flimsy to work with, but when it dries, it's very solid!

I have a 60 X 24 X 20 starfyre peninsula with a 55 gal sump. The powerheads sitting in the sump are just until the new return pump arrives. It's going to be a slow process, but once I am settled I am looking forward to getting back to my former glory!

The stocking list is similar to what I had before with great success. couple of tangs, 2 wrasses - leopard for sure, possibly a lineatus, bengali cardinals, 2 black ice clowns (see my other post), goby/blenny and orange filefish. I'm open to suggestions of really colourful fish I might substitute , but no anthias. My wife doesn't like them and I haven't had the best luck keeping them, although i quite like the square spot!

Cheers

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4464/37912072396_94c9e5f727_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/ZLahhC)2017 tank restart-5 (https://flic.kr/p/ZLahhC)

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4473/37912072336_d49886cd88_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/ZLahgA)2017 tank restart-6 (https://flic.kr/p/ZLahgA)

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4444/26190009849_a89064497f_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/FUjDtX)2017 tank restart-7 (https://flic.kr/p/FUjDtX)

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4508/37965464871_214dbc09d1_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/ZQSW1x)2017 tank restart-8 (https://flic.kr/p/ZQSW1x)

[Matt Dean]

Hmm. no responses at all. Maybe not enough pics :)

So, the first three fish are in! My yellow-bellied blue tang which is the only fish to make it from before. A super male pink margin fairy wrasse and a female japanese swallowtail angel.

Next will be a small yellow tang. hard to find a nice fat one right now, so need to snap it up before its gone!

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4559/26619451279_3a74d95fb3_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GygDsx)Pink Margin Wrasse (https://flic.kr/p/GygDsx)

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4544/26619463419_db68999742_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GygH4R)Pink Margin Wrasse2 (https://flic.kr/p/GygH4R)

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4547/26619457789_89d6ce7484_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GygFoM)Japanese Swallowtail2 (https://flic.kr/p/GygFoM)

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4515/26619455039_b6017136ca_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GygEzn)Japanese Swallowtail (https://flic.kr/p/GygEzn)

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4565/26619469139_be479cb191_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/GygJLt)Yellow-Bellied Blue Tang (https://flic.kr/p/GygJLt)

[RobZilla04]

That sump organization (or lack of) has my OCD flaring up.

But seriously, very nice job!

[Matt Dean]

That sump organization (or lack of) has my OCD flaring up.

But seriously, very nice job!

Oh don't i know it! I HATE how unorganized it is. Mind you, I had to throw a few powerheads and stuff in there to keep the water aerating while I waited for my return pump to come in. My return pump overheated right after I got it going again. So it's not as bad as it looks in the pic.

That being said, when i originally set the tank up, i had it plumbed for a different set of pumps and had to redo it afterward. The stand is too small to give me the room to do it the way I wanted but not willing to redo the stand. It serves the purpose.

[jda]

I have seen a lot of pretty stands and sumps with ugly tanks. If only can get one right, then you choose well. :)

It is looking good. Well done.

[Jekerry]

All the wires going everywhere would send my husband into an anxiety attack too, lol. Beautiful fish! Sorry about your last tank.

[Matt Dean]

Thanks. It kinda bugs me too, but as said above, I would rather have the display be amazing with a hectic sump :) If I were to restart everything from scratch it would be much nicer underneath!

[nereefpat]

Previous tanks look amazing! Following this one...

Closed loop looks useful and interesting...couldn't care less about the cords in the sump area.

[Matt Dean]

Thanks. The closed loop really helps giving me absolutely no dead spots combined with the MP40 and return.

[Matt Dean]

Yellow tang is in and seems happy

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4545/37644589585_e702020a7b_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/ZmwmY2)fish tank 2017 (https://flic.kr/p/ZmwmY2)

Picked up a few corals. taking it slow but had to add some colour

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4540/38476301616_19f8fd6573_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/21C26YC)fish tank 2017-2 (https://flic.kr/p/21C26YC)

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4579/38476302106_5b9b6651cd_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/21C2785)fish tank 2017-3 (https://flic.kr/p/21C2785)

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4533/38476304336_b52585a019_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/21C27Mw)green lobo copy (https://flic.kr/p/21C27Mw)

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4546/38476302936_c5c1bd6805_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/21C27no)fish tank 2017-4 (https://flic.kr/p/21C27no)

These two are old corals from the tank before the restart that I couldn't give up.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4557/24660857798_79896d994d_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/DzckRq)brain coral (https://flic.kr/p/DzckRq)

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4540/37817692714_e6528784b5_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/ZBPyuJ)fish tank 2017-6 (https://flic.kr/p/ZBPyuJ)

[Matt Dean]

So, I was soooo excited that Red from Coral Reef Shop got his hands on the most perfect pair of Black Ice Clowns to replace the ones I lost - which was devastating. I couldn't wait to get them and bring them home.

Then...BAM! Ich!:( I think the last addition - the yellow tang - introduced ich into the system and all my fish have it. To say the least I was ticked! It was flawless when i put it in and it was almost a week after that it happened. Weird thing is there have been no signs of stress and all the fish seem to be getting along well.

So, I am feeding them like crazy with garlic guard and VitaChem and trying Ruby Reef Kick Ich. Well I'm happy to say it seems to be working! Ich is almost gone after just 5 days and everyone is eating like pigs and active. I think I may have dodged a bullet there. All the corals are doing well so no adverse effects.

I had bought a 38 gallon system just in case I needed to quarantine them but I don't think I'll need it now. Of course I still have to wait quite a while before I can bring the clowns home.:mad:

[fishresponse]

Looks like your new setup will be as great as your ones previously. Nice corals!