Day One - Water, Sand, Rock and... Fish???

Yesterday was a busy day.  I spent most of the time cleaning the rock and trying to figure out what pieces were worth putting back in the tank. 

Not many. 

So, I chose the best that I could, scrubbed them down, dipped them in fresh water and moved them into the empty tank.  Next came the sand.  I put in about 150lbs of aragonite and crushed coral.

Then I took the green (barely salt) water that made the move and filled the tank to about 2 inches below the overflows. Next came the new lights (Outer Orbit Pro) and the flow (2 Vortechs with wireless controllers).

No plumbing right now.  The plan is to plumb everything into the  basement.  Here is a picture of how the plumbing will work (if I can ever find a plumber to help me out.)  I was going to buy a premade sump and a premade refugium from That Pet Place, but they were each $300 and the guy at the store convinced me to buy glass tanks and build them myself.   UGH...  I am not a DIY guy when it comes to this sort of thing, so now I need to go find a glass guy.

This set-up will have many benefits once complete.  First, all of the noise and a lot of the water will be downstairs. That means no pumps to listen to, no protein skimmers, etc. in the living room.  Second, the basement is much cooler.   When fully operational I will have about 180 gallons of water in the system and 60 of it will be down stairs where it is about 65 degrees.  Lastly, and this is the best part, water changes are simply a matter of turning 5 valves.  No siphons, no buckets, no time drain!!!

And, for those of you keeping up, here is a shot of the tank right now.

As the title of the post says, yes there are fish in there.  The tank came with about 6 fish and they have been living (and dying) in the garage.  No one bit the dust yet, but the water in that tank was horrible and the stress on them was terrible.  So, my wife and I decided that they will definitely die in the old water and they have a better chance of surviving in the big tank.  We will see.  I am hoping that they are tough enough to withstand the cycle.  (Nitrogen cycle)  It couldn't be worse than the conditions they were in back in their old home...