OK I know some of you thought it was sacrilege that I tore my 450-gallon system down. Numerous issues compiled and aided in the decision.
First off was the system itself. I think anyone who builds their first dream system will tell you that a lot more thought went into building it than effort in building it
I was no different. There were a few corners that I cut and a few things that I didn’t even think of. The problems with the tank were:
1. Plumbing. I had a few hurdles to overcome and overcame them fine. What I didn’t account for was noise. The display room was not that bad, a slight trickle was noticeable as the water fell 8’ from the overflow, under the tank and into the crawl space before traveling about 21’, up 3’ and into the sump/fuge portion of the tank. The other issue was where the water came back up 3’… It was rather loud in the downstairs bathroom and at night could be heard in my daughter’s room. The sound of water was also noticeable in the master bedroom when all was quiet, but I didn’t mind this much.
2. Humidity… Yeah we’ve all heard this, but I live on the outskirts of the desert. We have low humidity and people actually run humidifiers in their homes during the winter to curtail the bloody noses… No go, on really cold nights, humidity hit 60%, my windows were completely watered over, mold grew in the window sills, my daughter’s room was right above the tank and had mildew growing on the ceiling near the sofet of the roof line. Vent fans were not enough for the system.
3. Equipment: I should have taken more time with the initial equipment purchases, but money was a factor. Basically anyone who wonders how big tanks are managed can just refer to the phrase “you can go as big as your checkbook”. So after getting things going, I wanted to tweak things a bit and found out that my flow wasn’t going to work and the lighting was sub-par as well. A whole lot of watts was spent lighting the top 20” of water and didn’t do anything for the bottom.
4. SNAILS! OMG, never gain will anything ever get plunked into my tank. I have no idea where the vermetids came from, but they certainly learned how to breed. Enough on these guys, I’m trying to forget them!
Other than that, the tank was doing really well. I can say that numerous hours was spent learning about chemistry and as far and that aspect goes, it was a very healthy environment for my critters.
So with the tank issues, my wife just bouncing back from cancer and the passing of my father I found myself swimming dangerously low on co-co puffs! It was time for the tank to come down. I transferred everything into my 125 and began selling the parts I wouldn’t need.
I had hoped that I would be able to reserect the 450 and add another display to bring the total volume up to around 800 gallons, but more life issues thwarted that idea
So recently I decided that I would completely remove the infrastructure for the big tank in my office and concentrate on my 125 gallon tank. As luck would have it, I strolled into a deal with a 190 gallon tank that with some work, will slide right into the same place my 125 sits.
Initially I wasn't going to make a build thread until after it was completed, but with recent events I need an outlet and well, this takes my mind off things.
So away we go!
