Coolhandgoose's 55gal build

[parrotchute]

Coolhand, Duncans are looking great!

 

[coolhandgoose]

So I found someone today that's selling LR for 2.50/lb. So I'm gonna go pick up about 20-30 lbs and get rid of that huge base rock. I'm making water like crazy right now cuz I'm sure it's gonna stir up all kinds of crap so I'll need a major water change.

I'm thinking I may have to catch my fish and put them in a holding tank for a day just to make sure nothing too crazy is going on with the water.

 

[coolhandgoose]

I just picked up 40 lbs of live rock and a sand sifting star fish for 80 bucks.

 

[coolhandgoose]

So ran out of time so the big rock change is happening tomorrow, would you guys suggest taking the fish out during this process?

 

[buddy08]

i would if you have a quarantine tank setup. it would suck if your water parameters took a drastic change to the new rock and stressed out your other livestock.

 

[coolhandgoose]

I've got a rubbermaid container :)

 

[Sir Alex]

On liveaquaria they suggest curring the new live rock in a seperate container for a few weeks. Probably less for you since your's weren't shipped and didn't have so much die-off.

 

[coolhandgoose]

Not really expecting die off although I'll test the water it's in tomorrow to make sure. The rock came from a running tank and was back in water within 30 minutes

 

[buddy08]

keep a look out for any unwanted hitchhikers too. adding the new rock is easy to remove as well and remove whatever it is not wanted.

 

[buddy08]

derp derp with that last message. what i meant to say is, with the addition to adding new rocks, as easily as it is to put them in, its the same level of ease to remove them and pick off, destroy, or scrub away any unwanted hitch hikers. I went and watched school house rock within the hour and thought after my new gramar knowledge; i would correct myself. thank you. ;D

 

[coolhandgoose]

Holy crap this is a lot of work, that huge rock in the middle weighed a ton!!
Now the tank is really cloudy so it's gonna be a challenge organizing the rock.
Tank so far

Old rock

Fish and coral in temporary home

 

[coolhandgoose]

Yay done. Everything is back in, the rock work may need a little tweaking later but for that's enough for today.

 

[Smitty]

Looking good... :)

 

[coolhandgoose]

Todays' challenge is going to be getting the two ricordea's from one of the base rocks and attach it to a new piece of LR. Thinking I may have to chisel the rock around it to get it off. Anyone ever do this?

 

[coolhandgoose]

Here's some better photos with the good camera, although I suck at using it.

FTS.

Some other views of the corners with cool caves.

Some corlas. I did move the finger leather (it's kinda falling over in that pic lol)

Couldn't get a decent pic of the ric, but it's pissed off right now anyway.

Tried to get a pic of the coral beauty but she likes to hide.

New sandsifting star

Shrimp

 

[buddy08]

looks great! love the rockwork

 

[ErinCahir]

The rockwork looks awesome!!
And sweet duncans.

 

[coolhandgoose]

Thanks! I'm super happy with the way it looks right now, I can't stop looking at it since it looks 10 times better than it did. Way more real estate has opened up on the sand bed and the tank looks twice as bright without that huge rock taking up all the space.

 

[clownfish cj]

I really like your new rockwork, looks great!

 

[coolhandgoose]

So, redoing the sump to allow for the way bigger skimmer I bought, here's some pics.

I have to remove the right hand divider still but unsure if I want to replace it or not to separate the rocks from the skimmer.