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Tank Upgrade and i have questions..

M

MCWarhammer

Currently, I have a 20L and I'm upgrading to a 46 Bow.. and I have some questions.

First my new equipment list:

46 bow, glass top.
HOB CPR Refugium
2x Seio 620s
Tek T5 4x39
200 watt heater

I have 50 lbs of lr cycling in the garage right now, and I filled the tank with fresh ro/di water last night to heat up. I'll mix salt in there tonight. Once the rock is cycled, I'm going to drain the tank a bit, and aquascape with the new stuff. Since I'm cycling it externally, once I move it in, can I then move the rock,corals fish etc from my other tank at the same time? or should I let it sit awhile before breaking down the old tank?

Also, I figure its recommended to use the sand from my old tank and add some more to it. Is that correct? or use all fresh sand?

Should I use all the fresh RO/Di water.. or should I use some of my old tank water too? If so, how much?

And I think my last question is.. does it make sense to put the rock in first, and then carefully lay the sand around it (in my head this seems more stable) OR should I lay all the sand down, then put the rock in?

Thanks a bunch in advance!

And if you have any other recommendations, based on equipment, etc, feel free. Rumor has it you can keep SPS/clams with the T5's So I'm thinking about trying that eventually, once all my params are stabalized and I feel everything is doing well. I'll place them near the top and see what happens, any recommendations on easier SPS would be great.
 
malulu

malulu

NJRC Member
I am no expert... i just tell you my point of view, and let other pros to answer all your questions...  ;D

  • i use 2 heaters (in case one broke, the other one still work), one in tank, one in sump (see explaination below)
  • i paid an employee from a LFS helped me to setup my tank (1.5 years) ago, i don't know anything better then, and trusted him...  :mad:  I asked for about 2" of Live Sand, and he lay all the sand first, than put the LiveRock on top of it...  now, my platform are sort of distored, cause those lovely animals move round the sand, and then the LR are off positioned...
  • I brought more LRs and they are now sitting in my sump and my quantine tank... (not because they are bad, it is just convenience for me to do so...) am waiting for a long weekend to redo all my Aquascape! (by lay the rocks first, then the sand afterward...
  • i have a small emergency recovery related wiring...  which have these main-parts an UPS (Uninterrupt Power Supply 1500W), a dial timer (DIY), a special switch (DIY), an airpump.  When feeding time comes, i just turn the dial-timer to 20 mins, my main pump then automatic shutoff (will automatic back up after 20 mins), during this time, the air-pump will started pumping air, and have a air tube ties to a powerhead, so the air is blowing out in this period (while the main pump is out.)
  • this setup also featured - when the main power goes out, the air-pump, power-head, plus a heater will then automatic kick in by using my UPS's power... I tested it @ one time for about 30 mins, and it is still good... i will do more longer time testing later on...

hope this info help...
thx
 
M

MCWarhammer

Thats exactly what I was thinking about placing rock down first. Thats how i did it in my other tank, but I just assumed.. but I've seen other sites and books put the sand in first.. so I figured I'd ask.. I'll have to look into a ups back up.. and the other ideas.. thanks a bunch!
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
If your system has been up and running for a short period of time I don't see a problem reusing the sand. If you've had it running for a while you may want to trade it out for new.

We went from a 30 to a 65 by moving the contents of the 30 into the 65, soup to nuts so to speak. The 30 had only been setup for a few months when we upgraded. We added more rock as time went on. Since the bioload on the 65 was essentially the 30 with more water and it was already holding its own with the current bioload we didn't have a problem. We added new fish slowly over time.

Make sure to mix the saltwater either externally or before you put in the sand (expect a sand storm if you do it this way) otherwise you'll have RO/DI trapped in your sand bed that will slowly leach into the water column and cause a drop in your salinity.
 
M

MCWarhammer

I'll be mixing the water in my tank, I'll get over the sand storm :) My tank has been running since october/november.. so its about 5 or 6 months old.. maybe I'll use all new sand.. its not much of a price difference. and It'll be nice and clean.

Once my new rock is cycled, itll be my current tank and the new rock, and ill watch params like that before i start adding anything crazy. But I do have a few fish I want to add :)
 
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