Dipping Into The Salty Side

[Boundava11]

Begining the take down of the 38 gallon.

First move the supplies I won't need downstairs. Then bring up supplies for the move.

Then start breaking stuff up...or down

Got all the fish out except for 1 blenny. Almost got him when a chalk bass zoomed by and spooked him. This probably made him dive into the substrate.
Waiting for some painkillers for the knee to kick in, then I will start sifting through the sand with a colander I bought a while ago for a similar purpose.

 

[Boundava11]

Well, it's ready to go downstairs and I hope the re-set up is going to be faster than the break down. I didn't see the blenny so I'm hoping he reappears once everything clears up.

 

[WhistlingBadger51 6]

Hope it all goes smoothly. I advise removing all roller skates, greasy rags and ball bearings from the stairs prior to the move.

 

[Boundava11]

Believe it or not I am still working on it.

Oh, you forgot the furry beasts that lurk on stairs only when you are carrying buckets of water, liverock and substrate.

Still have to finish the liverock and move more water and the fish, urchin, anenome and corals

 

[Boundava11]

Well, I'm 98% done...the tank is 100% but I have to wipe down the lights, set up a new powerstrip surge protector as the salt tank needs to share an outlet with the 33 and with the 2 lights plugged in, it will be a fire hazard lol.
Also have to clean up the family room and straighten up the basement.

Very happy the fixture my Dad made for the lights fit with the low basement ceiling.

 

[Boundava11]

Well I'm done in more ways than one. Don't have any photos right now. I did loose 2, possibly 3 of the 5 fish. My excavating goby, my yellow tail blenny and possibly on of the chalk basslets. My mushroom corals are on walkabout, my urchin is (hopefully) pouting and my gorgonian coral is acting like nothing happened, ditto with my flower anenome. The coral mushroom family (I call them my happy family) are recovering and haven't decided to look for a new home, unlike my three red mushrooms and my 1 blue which have not committed to a home since the tank was set up. This is mostly due to the urchin picking them up and trying to accessorize with them.
I will be feeding the tank in an hour or so, will grab some photos then.

 

[Boundava11]

Took the frozen food downstairs and am absolutely jumping for joy as I can exuberantly say that I have 4 of my 5 fish alive and eating; my damsel Doot, my blenny BB, and my 2 (un named) chalk basslets are alive !!!! Only lost my excavating goby Garfield, which is sad. Now Garfield and BB can't team up to hunt down and tear apart bristle worms in my tank.

Blue light doesn't photo well, but here you are...
The one chalk on the right, the damsel Doot in the center and the other chalk behind Doot by the intake for the Fluval.

Happy Family: 8 mushroom corals that are usually the size of a silver dollar.

My Urchin, perking up with the chum in the water, lol. The red behind him are my other red mushrooms. They are looking for new homes.

The flower anenome.

The whole shebang.

A happy bonus, my box turtle Hippie, woke up from her brumation today. She is eager to climb to great heights and ready for food.

 

[WhistlingBadger51 6]

Doot lives!!!

 

[Boundava11]

So not sure what happened overnight but the fish and urchin are gone. I will move the corals and anenome either to the 13 or see if Aquatics Unlimited wants them and will break the tank down.
It was just too big of a move for an un- experienced person.

 

[Boundava11]

I will be keeping the 13 gallon with Chestnut. I have moved my gorgonian coral, the 3 red mushroom corals and 4 of the happy family mushrooms (because I couldn't get the other 4 off the rock) to the 13 after an iodine dip as the last thing I want/need is for me to introduce something to the 13 and harm Chestnut. I also tried to remove the anemone from the rock, but it is very firmly attached and I don't want to damage it. I will be poking it to encourage it to move itself and if that happens I will try to put it in the 13 after an iodine dip.
38 will be running for the week and then if I have the stamina and mental capability I will break it down this weekend.

Chestnut (in the 13 gallon) will be the only SW tank.
He has (finally) started to accept cut shrimp- well has for the past 5 feedings (yay!), he continues so I don't have to keep minnows for him. I have 3 minnows left in the 5.5 gallon which will be an enrichment for the juvi orange parrot fish in the 120 (Kraft Single).

 

[Boundava11]

I had tried to encourage the flower anemone to walk off the rock by focusing the current maker flow in it's direction two days ago to no avail, so the anemone's new name is Donkey . I was going to give the tank another day at least to finish moving things, but last night I went downstairs after work and became aware of the horrible smell emanating from the 38. The tank was undergoing a massive bacterial bloom, hence the stink which was like bad fermenting cabbage and (actual) rotting snails.
Apparently anemone love this sewage so my flower anemone still didn't want to move, reveling in the yucky nutrients. I also (sadly) had a considerable population of wild anemones that were also loving the funk in the tank, but I couldn't save them as they were pencil eraser to dime size and I wasn't going to search and pull them off rocks to move them from that horrible, retching stank of the tank.

Since I could not continue to leave the tank running and risk the stench permeating the whole house and not just the basement. I made the choice to just take the flower anemone with its giant rock. Fortunately I had just enough of the iodine dip left for it and the rest of the happy family corals. There were a couple tough snails desperately screaming for help so I rescued them too. Surprisingly there were a lot of bristle worms- a couple as wide as my pinky, looking for an exit route...sorry, not happening.

Fortunately I was able to cram the rock and anemone into the 13, I don't think Chestnut liked it but he didn't attack me, he just did his jig leaping side to side to remind me he wants to be fed (he always wants to be fed, the little glutton!)

So while the critters I was moving to the 13 gallon were sitting in an iodine dip, I started emptying the 38 gallon of its foul water tank and finding disposable containers suitable for the weight of the substrate and live rock and able to contain the stench of it all.
Fortunately the floor drain wasn't more than 5' away so I set up a siphon just long enough (and short enough to be able to sterilize (did I mention the SMELL...)
When there was only 3-4" of foul water left in the tank I started the absolutely vile, retching and repulsive job of emptying the (I am sure now dead) rocks and placing them into disposable buckets, then moving onto scooping the horrid substrate out using a fish-only dustpan. I had thick cleaning gloves on and a N95 mask on, but still had to stop several times to avoid throwing up as I stuck my head in the tank. There was still about 3" of water left after I got the rocks and sand and other (cringe) stuff. So Sis and I had to tip the tank to pour the sludge into a bucket to get it outside ASAP.
Once empty I just took some white vinegar and poured it on the sides and bottom of the tank to kill the smell as I was exhausted at that point.

Fun wasn't over as I had a Fluval 207 hooked up to the tank and could not leave the filter stewing with the tank water and fouled media. Got some garbage bags and emptied all of the sponge and ceramic media, as well as the tubing, intake and output. Then spent another 40ish minutes scrubbing the plastic parts that hold the media, the inside of the canister, the motor and impeller. Not sure what the hard spots were, but they look like a mix of nerite eggs and calcified sand. There were some calcified mini-tube-worm housing on all of the filter housing that was also fun to get off because the space was tight you have to scrub hard to get it to release from the plastic.

I was smelling that all night long and after scrubbing myself red I put my face in a carton of coffee to try an neutralize the smell in my nose. Didn't work because if I sniff or cough hard I can taste it today.

So after all that work I still have to clean the tank out, but that will have to wait till tomorrow as I will be going to a fish club meeting in Milwaukee tonight after work. First time and unlike the other club in Alsip, IL this one has actual speakers.

Sorry for the novella

 

[Boundava11]

In case anyone was interested, all of the corals from the 38 gallon died, the flower anemone also died.
The 13 gallon with my scorpion leaf fish (Taenianotus triacanthus) Chestnut, and the misc snails and possible emerald crab is the only SW tank I will have. This tank will be a FOWLR (fish only-live rock) tank for perpetuity. Dipping into the salty side was an expensive endeavor. Mixed feeling about it, but glad I tried.
The 38 is going to turn into a lake Tanganyika cichlid tank. I know freshwater, lol.

 

[WhistlingBadger51 6]

Sometimes you don't know your limits of time and money until you try something. Your experiences have helped me decide to stick with fresh water. I have enjoyed going along with all of this with you.

 

[Boundava11]

Thanks Tom, my experiences have also let me decide freshwater is my comfort zone; mentally and financially. Thanks for following my escapades