175g Bow-Front + many beers and tears (many pics)

scmountain

Administrator
Staff member
M.A.S.C Club Member
M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
B.O.D. Member-at-Large
#82
Well disaster strikes!
When I first started the "fish shed" build I was between jobs, so there was a many parts of the project that I had to accept as is. Removing the sheds carpet and putting in rubber coin floor and a drain would have to wait.... well today was the day I was going to start that particular upgrade....
I will let this pic speak for itself....


The floor and subfloor are both completely rotten
over 70% of the joists are rotten (the joist above her shoulder in the pic has rotted
the wooden frame side boards are rotten...

so much for a quick upgrade!
 

SynDen

Administrator
Staff member
M.A.S.C Club Member
M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
M.A.S.C President
M.A.S.C Webmaster
#83
Yikes! You got your work cut out for you there
 

Dr.DiSilicate

Great White Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#85
Well disaster strikes!
When I first started the "fish shed" build I was between jobs, so there was a many parts of the project that I had to accept as is. Removing the sheds carpet and putting in rubber coin floor and a drain would have to wait.... well today was the day I was going to start that particular upgrade....
I will let this pic speak for itself....


The floor and subfloor are both completely rotten
over 70% of the joists are rotten (the joist above her shoulder in the pic has rotted
the wooden frame side boards are rotten...

so much for a quick upgrade!
Looks just like my shed did! Grrr


Sent from my iPhone using MASC mobile app
 

scmountain

Administrator
Staff member
M.A.S.C Club Member
M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
B.O.D. Member-at-Large
#87
Bummer. Are you going to have to move everything to fix the stuff below too?
would have been ideal, but I have around 300lbs live rock in that tub so we opted to reinforce the beam that is underneath the sump. The existing joist was in decent condition.
used my car jack to lift the tub and subfloor and slid a 2x6, then screwed it to the existing joist.

We then built an internal frame to replace all of the side walls and allow the shed to sit on good solid pressure treated 2x6's. A lot of car jack, pry bar, and mallets were needed to lift the shed and position the fresh joist.
Next added all new joists on 16" centers


Followed by Ground contact rated plywood sub floor with a sealed OSB floor



I then planed and sanded the "swell" of the old OSB to level the floor and to eliminate most of the rotted edge. The swell is extreme enough that there is a bit of an edge where the old meets new, I used an "epoxy filler" to try and help. I had to remind myself this is just a fish shed that adds no value to the house haha

once floor was cleaned, primed, glued.... we added our new vinyl floor (prepare yourselves)
With such a small square footage and on a very "she has that look in her eye" budget. We used the cheapest vinyl flooring that still had a high traffic and waterproof rating. $ .39 cents a foot!

Check this floor out!


aligning the pattern was a nightmare and definitely pushed her over the edge. It might be a shed, it might be cheaper flooring but
I WOULD NEVER BE OK WITH THE PATTERN BEING OFF!

another look, Still need to add the barriers around the sump to seal off spills.


I dont have pics of the drain we added to allow any massive spills to exit, but due to slope of the old driveway and the hydrophobic nature of the vinyl, water exits quite quickly.
A project that would have been 1000 times easier if done before the build, but I am glad that now we know the shed is sturdy and can handle spills all for under $275
 

neil82

Sting ray
M.A.S.C Club Member
#90
Good job putting in work to the floor. You'll be better off moving forward. I know that feeling when 'she has that look in her eye' haha.
 

scmountain

Administrator
Staff member
M.A.S.C Club Member
M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
B.O.D. Member-at-Large
#93
Well Sorry, I have been a ghost here lately. (I will add pics later)
The wife and I got married on November 11th in Maui, where we spent most of our time snorkeling and wishing we could have all those beautiful fish at home!

before we left I added an Ehiem auto-feeder. The best purchase ever at $40. I cannot recommend this enough for helping maintain nutrient levels and happy fish. I still feed frozen mixes every 3 days, but all were eating dried pellets.

all fun and yay, until we came home to a very neglected tank. Tank sitter did nothing... no idea what feeding schedule they went with, ATO was bone dry, all numbers were off, Salinity was 1.034!!! Live-Rock in the sump was exposed and dried most likely killing a large chunk of good bacteria.

Just mayhem... and the tank looked like it, plus a new large cyano bloom along with GHA.

Some of the fish lived (1 Atlantic blue, 1 Nasso tang, and a Copper banded BF) 5 anthias and 2 clowns died, coral looked miserable
(not long after we returned the CBB died.)

I came to peace with my tank sitter being a complete moron and focused on getting the tank back to being stable.

My total system is around 330 Gallons... so you can imagine it took forever to get the salinity back to normal without stressing the fish beyond what they already went through. It took a little over a month of doing daily RO additions plus WCs to finally get in front of the 8ball.

burned through all the carbon and Phosban I had too

We added a 2nd Nero5 on the opposite side to help combat the algae as flow had to be wrong. this helped a decent amount, but not enough.

Then we headed up to Idaho for Christmas with her family, for 1 week. The tank was better off but it did slow my recovery of salinity.

Chris hooked me up with a Reef Octopus SRO-5000 he had with shipping defect.
We already had a used RLSS skimmer body from when I bought the tank, we had no idea its model or age and had no pump. The cost of a new pump wasn't far from the cost of the new blemished skimmer, and why not treat-yo-self?
the amount of skimming this bad boy does... is insane. It was a spendy purchase but wow was it worth every $$$

the tank has been looking great since!

Next tasks:
set up Dos
clean up Neptune wires and mounting
add a lagoon frag tank in the shed to help with grow out and frag collecting!
 

flagg37

Anthias
M.A.S.C Club Member
#95
Well Sorry, I have been a ghost here lately. (I will add pics later)
The wife and I got married on November 11th in Maui, where we spent most of our time snorkeling and wishing we could have all those beautiful fish at home!

before we left I added an Ehiem auto-feeder. The best purchase ever at $40. I cannot recommend this enough for helping maintain nutrient levels and happy fish. I still feed frozen mixes every 3 days, but all were eating dried pellets.

all fun and yay, until we came home to a very neglected tank. Tank sitter did nothing... no idea what feeding schedule they went with, ATO was bone dry, all numbers were off, Salinity was 1.034!!! Live-Rock in the sump was exposed and dried most likely killing a large chunk of good bacteria.

Just mayhem... and the tank looked like it, plus a new large cyano bloom along with GHA.

Some of the fish lived (1 Atlantic blue, 1 Nasso tang, and a Copper banded BF) 5 anthias and 2 clowns died, coral looked miserable
(not long after we returned the CBB died.)

I came to peace with my tank sitter being a complete moron and focused on getting the tank back to being stable.

My total system is around 330 Gallons... so you can imagine it took forever to get the salinity back to normal without stressing the fish beyond what they already went through. It took a little over a month of doing daily RO additions plus WCs to finally get in front of the 8ball.

burned through all the carbon and Phosban I had too

We added a 2nd Nero5 on the opposite side to help combat the algae as flow had to be wrong. this helped a decent amount, but not enough.

Then we headed up to Idaho for Christmas with her family, for 1 week. The tank was better off but it did slow my recovery of salinity.

Chris hooked me up with a Reef Octopus SRO-5000 he had with shipping defect.
We already had a used RLSS skimmer body from when I bought the tank, we had no idea its model or age and had no pump. The cost of a new pump wasn't far from the cost of the new blemished skimmer, and why not treat-yo-self?
the amount of skimming this bad boy does... is insane. It was a spendy purchase but wow was it worth every $$$

the tank has been looking great since!

Next tasks:
set up Dos
clean up Neptune wires and mounting
add a lagoon frag tank in the shed to help with grow out and frag collecting!
I read recently that fish are completely fine with drops in salinity it’s raising it that should be done slowly. I don’t know how it effects coral though.

Was this tank sitter a professional that you paid or like the neighbor down the street?
 

scmountain

Administrator
Staff member
M.A.S.C Club Member
M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
B.O.D. Member-at-Large
#96
I read recently that fish are completely fine with drops in salinity it’s raising it that should be done slowly. I don’t know how it effects coral though.

Was this tank sitter a professional that you paid or like the neighbor down the street?
Good to know on fish and salinity drops, just paranoid of the tangs being stressed and ich explosion (shouldn't be in the tank at all, but being paranoid)

Was a non professional sitter. lesson learned
 

SynDen

Administrator
Staff member
M.A.S.C Club Member
M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
M.A.S.C President
M.A.S.C Webmaster
#97
I read recently that fish are completely fine with drops in salinity it’s raising it that should be done slowly. I don’t know how it effects coral though.
Actually I believe its the other way around. Raising it is not much of an issue, but a sudden drop in the salinity can rupture cellular walls in many marine animals, so lowering it should always be done slow and carefully.
 

flagg37

Anthias
M.A.S.C Club Member
#98
Actually I believe its the other way around. Raising it is not much of an issue, but a sudden drop in the salinity can rupture cellular walls in many marine animals, so lowering it should always be done slow and carefully.
Here’s where I read it (https://marinecollectors.com/why-us). It’s about a quarter way down the page, and says, “Not many people know this, but saltwater fish can actually be moved to lower salinity water with out acclimation. This is done with minimal to almost zero stress and can actually alleviate some strain on the fish’s body. However, the said can not be said for the other way. A saltwater fish’s body, has the function to maintain osmotic pressure while in solution. What this means is, the body of the fish is constantly working to keep salt out of the body. By moving a fish from low salinity back up to regular levels, the fish can go into shock and on rare occasion even die.“
 

scmountain

Administrator
Staff member
M.A.S.C Club Member
M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
B.O.D. Member-at-Large
Added some shelving to the fish shed from craigslist, picked it up NIB $100
the plan is to get rid of the old 60g and get a frag rack on the middle shelf. I have 2 unused MH light setups. Ideally I would be able to find a 4' x 2' lagoon tank/trough. I would want to insulate it as the shed is somewhat climate-controlled, but would rather be as efficient as possible.


Added some much-needed fish:
  • Magnificent Foxface
  • Melanurus Wrasse
  • Standard Foxface
  • Chocolate (mimic) Tang
shot of where the tank is now:
Nem Rock is growing like fire. you can see the baby that spawned on the bottom right of the tank.


Finally, all getting along.... the Atlantic blue showed his true colors with the new tank mates. Never seen him this aggressive but wow was he mean.
 
Top