125g reef tank busted!

hallzy

hallzy

Member
I just wanted to share this story with everyone, as I feel for the guy. I got a call from my dad this morning, saying his buddy from work took a vacation day because his 125g reef gave way in the corner where the silicon is. Luckily they were sitting right there when it happened, but there wasn't much they could do, and about 100 gallons of water ended up on his living room floor. As bad as a feel about this, I did benefit from their misfortune, because he needed someone to take all of his coral and fish so they wouldn't die. He said after 30 some odd years of aquarium keeping, he was ready to give it up after this incident.
Long story short, I ended up with about 50 lbs (maybe more, not really sure) of rock covered in mass amounts of Coraline, as well as numerous leathers and colt corals. The amount of colt he had was staggering. It was literally forests of it.
Now since I had never seen his tank before, im not sure what all he had before, or what all has survived, but just in transferring the rocks to my tank, I have noticed a few mushrooms, and even a frogspawn. A few others that im not even sure the names of as well. The leathers and colts seem to be holding up ok so far, and the frogspawn is showing signs of life, but everything else I will just have to wait and see, since I just out all this in my tank today.
He also had a few fish. He had what appeared to be a yellow angel, and a yellow tail damsel, which I already gave to a buddy of mine who has a 30g. I also sent him home with some colt because there is just so much of it! Lol He also had a yellow tang. Now I love the yellow tangs, but with a 65g, I just wont be able to keep him. I didn't know anyone with a big enough tank to give him to, so I had to unbag him into my tank, but I really would like to find someone to give him to. Anyone on here in Ohio that would like a very healthy and nice looking yellow tang? Im not asking anything for him obviously, since I didn't pay anything for him in the first place. I just want to find him a home big enough to suit him. And if u wanna throw in a frag or something, well that's all up to you. ;) lol Anyways, if anyone would like to rescue a yellow tang, let me know! :)
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Wow, what a shame to see a fellow reefer give up. I read Yellow tangs get real mean over territory. I only have a 48 inch tank so it isn't suited for him...hope you find him a home.
 
hallzy

hallzy

Member
I will get some up. I havnt even arranged all of the new rock yet tho. I work 3rds, and so when I received this call, I was actually trying to sleep. But when u receive a call asking if you want that much free stuff, you don't turn it down! Lol But by the time I got home with all the stuff and got a heater put in the buck to bring the temp up, it was so late in tue day that I just sat all the rock in where ever I could so I could get to sleep. I guess I can take some just to show all that I got, but it looks like a wreck right now. Lol
 
hallzy

hallzy

Member
Sorry for not posting any pics yet. I took some on my phone, but it wont let me post pics from my phone for some reason so I will have to send them to my email and post them using the computer. I've just been so busy latly that I havnt had time. Working 7 days a week on 3rds while trying to remodel my bathroom is taking a toll on me. Lol So far everything seems to be doing ok tho! The leathers have me a little worried because they havnt opened up much, but I don't know much about them so who knows.
Im still looking for someone to take the yellow tang. So far he has been a model citizen, but I don't want to make my 65g his permanent home. He will eventually get stir crazy. If anyone knows of anybody around Ohio that wants a nice sized, beautifully colored tang, let them know please!
 
hallzy

hallzy

Member
Ok, I finally got all my rock arranged, and I got some really good pictures with my good camera, but still havnt put them on the computer in order to upload them from there, so I did some searching and found a mobile site that will HOPEFULLY let me post some pics on here from my phone. They arnt as good of quality, but I can at least show u how it looks now, some of the new coral that I saved from the broken 125, and some that I wanna show to see if you think they are going to be able to pull thru or not.
First things first tho, im going to do a test pic with just a full shot of my tank now with all the new rock and coral. If it actually works, then I will do another post with some of the other pics I was talking about. Here goes nothing....
 
hallzy

hallzy

Member
Its not a 90, its only a 65. Like I said right now he is doing great, getting along with everyone, continuously picking off the rocks, and seems very happy. But due to personal experience, and story I read on here, im afraid after some time, he wont be as happy, and begin to stress becausethe limited swimming room due to the length of my tank.
Oh and since that pic worked, im working on getting more uploaded now. Bear with me as I am at work right now too. Lol
 
hallzy

hallzy

Member
Ok, here is the first piece I am hoping will pull thru. When I first pulled this out if the bucket o goodies that the guy gave me, I could see most of its skeleton, and could only see a slight bit of green still left. I almost didn't even put him in because I thought it was already dead, but I figured what would it hurt, so I put him in anyways. Now today he looks way better than day 1, but still doesn't look great. I wish I would have taken a pic when I first put him in. Do u think there's a chance he will pull thru?
 
hallzy

hallzy

Member
And here is the 2nd one im worried about. This im a little more worried about for a few reasons; they look worse off than the plate, they have showed no improvement since day 1, and there is alot of it on many different rocks that he gave me. I've never dabbled in leathers before so I don't know a thing about their behavior or anything like that, so maybe this is normal for them during stress, I don't know. I know my colt coral sometimes has a habit of shriveling up and looking dead for days and then opens right back up one day like nothing was wrong! Haha anyways, I appologise for the terrible pic, but it is the best I could get on my phone. If you need to see a more clear pic then I can get one on my nice camera tomorrow.
 
hallzy

hallzy

Member

Wow, what a shame to see a fellow reefer give up. I read Yellow tangs get real mean over territory. I only have a 48 inch tank so it isn't suited for him...hope you find him a home.
Well its not that he's giving up because of this incident alone. He said he has kept tanks for more than 30 years, he is beginning to get up there in age, and is also going to he retiring soon, and would love to travel with his wife. He said this isn't exactly the way he pictured getting out of the trade, but he feels like the time is right to move on. So I can understand that. And as far as the tang, my tank is only 36 inch, which is why I want to find him a home soon. It'll really suck since I've now had him in there and am beginning to really like having him, but I know he will be better off in a much bigger tank. I pm thinking about starting a separate thread dedicated to finding him a new home. Im sure there has got to be SOMEBODY out there willing to take a perfectly healthy yellow tang for free. Lol
 
hallzy

hallzy

Member
And per Erics request (oh who am I kidding, I woulda posted these anyways, lol), here are some of the nice pieces that I picked up in this killer deal.
I think this is my favorite, but I need some help ID'ing it. When I first pulled it out if the bucket, it was so shriveled that I almost didn't even realize it was Cori. As you can see it recovered quite well. At first glance, I thought it was a frogspawn, but it looks slightly different than the frog I already have, so I did some searching and thing it could possibly be a torch?

This is my other favorite. I've never had anything like this either, so maybe someone could learns me on placement or any special care these might need. Im assuming by the pic on this site that this is a green eye brain coral. You can also see some pretty cool small shrooms on the rock to the right. I didn't even realize they were on this rock until it was already in the tank. The one closest to the brain is really neat. You can't tell by the pic, but he is a cool green color, with very bright blue speckles that show up under the blue acentics.

Now this next one I will definetly need an ID on because I don't have a clue. When I first pulled it out of the bucket, it just looked like a piece of rock with a green slime on the end. (I actually almost tried scraping it off before I put it in!) But after it was under the lights, all these little heads popped out! Lol You can also see a little bit of the massive amounts of colt coral he gave me in this pic as well.

And here is just a pic of just one of the bigger groups of colt he gave me. I couldn't believe how much there was as I was pulling it all out. It was like a forest! Lol you can also see a few of the mushrooms that I already had, and some of the leather that I have a feeling isn't recovering well.
 
deton8it

deton8it

Member
I could be wrong but I think those Colts are actually Kenya Trees. They look like Kenya Trees to me at least. That would explain why he/ you have so many.
John
 
hallzy

hallzy

Member

I could be wrong but I think those Colts are actually Kenya Trees.  They look like Kenya Trees to me at least.  That would explain why he/ you have so many. 
John
I kinda wondered if it was something other than colt. It looks a little different than the little colt that I have. Are kenya trees similar to colts?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top