Pratt Reef Project - The Transition

[bad coffee]

Now why in the world would I keep a beauty like this to myself?
(the one of russ sleeping on the couch will come later!)

B

 

[simike]

what time did you guys finish up?? got the fourth light working i see.

looking very nice, wished i could have stayed to see the livestock go in.

good job guys:givebeer:

 

[House of Laughter]

Holy cow, skimate already!

House

 

[masterswimmer]

Wow, looks great. Amazing transformation.

Uncanny what a group of friends can accomplish......:grouphug:

swimmer

BTW Brett, :irked:

 

[prattreef]

Wow !!! That is about all I can say right now. I concur with all that has been said before and find myself unable to express my gratitutde appropriately. After hosting the swap and seeing this project materialize and finally come to fruition, I am convinced that MR can pull off pretty much anything they choose to. Awesome, just awesome. I couldn't be happier. I'll post pics when BC gets 'em to me.
Thanks again to all who participated, especially Frank and Tristan who truely do spectacular work.

Randy

 

[cali_reef]

Nice tank, sweet couch to sit for hours, or sleep on for some:lol2:

Randy, will we see an article about this change over in a future issue of a reef mag?

 

[masterswimmer]

Nice tank, sweet couch to sit for hours, or sleep on for some:lol2:

:smash:

 

[bad coffee]

Okay, one more!

 

[masterswimmer]

I don't see Eugene's Arc de Triomphe. What's up? :biggrin:
Looks awesome.
Now who could those two profiles be? My guess, R & E. :lol:

R

 

[prattreef]

Lol Russ. the arc didn't quite work out though it was spectacular.

Cali, you will indeed be seeing an article

RD

 

[digitalreefer]

Tank looks amazing... everyone was awesome, great meeting all of you that I hadn't met, great seeing those of you I have. My tank is zoolicious now!!!

P.S. Gordon... I win!

 

[bad coffee]

And a pic from one of the other tanks there:

 

[alrha]

all i can say is WOW!

 

[ezee]

Russ,

I don't see Eugene's Arc de Triomphe. What's up? :biggrin:
Looks awesome.
Now who could those two profiles be? My guess, R & E. :lol:
R

The arc was great but after all of the rock went in, there really was not enough room, so I scrapped it. Can you believe there was not enough room in a 240? lol

I still have the one from my tank, I will get some pics soon.

E

 

[jhale]

great job all, I can't wait for the full thread of pics

 

[Dace]

Okay, one more!

Looks Like R & E at the movies. lol

 

[scarf_ace1981]

MR rocks. you guys did a great job. wish i could have been there!

 

[prattreef]

Just a little next day update. The tank has cleared considerably, and looks totally awesome. BC is coming by later so we'll post some photos then. The corals all look very good-- polyps opening, no sliming etc Very encouraging.

Now the bad news, my fish are in very bad shape. I've already lost a coral beauty and a yellow tang, and my blueface angel is not long for this world. The clowns are unaffected though, and I caught a glimpse of one of my hippo tangs and it surprisingly didn't look bad. All other fish are AWOL.

My ammonia tested (on a very old kit) at 0.25 and this is the likely culprit. My running theory is that by removing the entire very well established sand bed and starting with completetly sterile sand, I initiated a mini cycle that the rock couldn't completely handle. There are so many possible variables that I can't be sure, but this seems the most likely.

I knew there would be losses, though I didn't really consider the fish. I'll keep you updated. All in all I am very happy though.

Randy

 

[alrha]

sorry to hear about the losses randy.
but happy to hear everything is doing well otherwise.
cant wait for the updated pics....

 

[masterswimmer]

Randy, the losses are very disturbing. I'm so sorry to hear that. Would it benefit the system to do daily water changes, taking water from your established system, adding it to the new tank and replacing the fresh SW into the established system? Seems to me you'd be adding nicely matured, cycled water to the new tank and exporting NH3 & NO3.

Just my thoughts. Please keep us posted.
R