Hey! Researching tanks and the required commitment to a larger one. I have a 15 gallon mixed reef tank and I’m looking closely at something like the Red Sea reefer 250. A few questions for those willing to help. 1. What do I need to know about going out of town for a week? 2. What do I need to know about if we decide to move to another house, in another state? Thanks everyone!
Questions about going bigger.
- Thread starter BeckyW
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Albertan22
Well-Known Member
If you are going out of town, make sure you have a big enough tip off reservoir to last the trip, or have someone filling it. I just wheel a brute full of water to my tank when vacationing and temporarily use it as an ATO reservoir. Of course I still have someone checking it. With a bigger tank you will have more invested in livestock so more to lose. It can be a bit more stressful but manageable if you have people you trust around to help when you have to leave.
If you move then it’s a lot of work! You can break it down and start over at the new place, or try to move the tank with you. There is a lot of logistics in moving a tank, I’ve done it successfully though just between houses about 45 minutes apart.
If you move then it’s a lot of work! You can break it down and start over at the new place, or try to move the tank with you. There is a lot of logistics in moving a tank, I’ve done it successfully though just between houses about 45 minutes apart.
Peach02
Valuable Member
1. you'll need an ATO to manage evaporation and depending on the tank dosing and AWC and an auto feeder or a trusted friend to feed the tank
2. Many LFS will help move a tank but moving the livestock is the hardest part, generally its just a battery air pump and a few styrofoam boxes
2. Many LFS will help move a tank but moving the livestock is the hardest part, generally its just a battery air pump and a few styrofoam boxes
F i s h y
2nd In Command.
First 
bigger is always better.
That being said, bigger tanks are less prone to large fluctuations in my opinion and are easier to keep stable if you are say heading out of town for a week. Also if you hire a tank sitter and they make a mistake, alarger tank may be more forgiving until you can get home to fix it.
Moving shouldn't be terribly difficult. Know what items you will need when you are tearing the tank down (holding containers for livestock, aeration, transport for water, and water stability (temp mostly). Have a plan for what setting back up looks like, including plumbing. Have extra water on hand. And make sure the tank is well protected in transport. It should be the last thing you tear apart at the old house and set back up as soon as it arrives at the new house.
bigger is always better.That being said, bigger tanks are less prone to large fluctuations in my opinion and are easier to keep stable if you are say heading out of town for a week. Also if you hire a tank sitter and they make a mistake, alarger tank may be more forgiving until you can get home to fix it.
Moving shouldn't be terribly difficult. Know what items you will need when you are tearing the tank down (holding containers for livestock, aeration, transport for water, and water stability (temp mostly). Have a plan for what setting back up looks like, including plumbing. Have extra water on hand. And make sure the tank is well protected in transport. It should be the last thing you tear apart at the old house and set back up as soon as it arrives at the new house.
IamJoHo
Active Member
I have the 250. The ato that comes with it only lasts a few days. So if you are leaving for a week you will need a larger ato. But also would recommend a Apex to auto feed and monitor the tank. Y I u can go small or big with the apex from monitoring the basic tank parameters to leaks, water levels, power, alkalinity, calcium, magnesium and all kinds of things. Also with a apex you can setup a doser and auto feeder. Make sure you have someone local that can respond incase the apex starts to alert you of a situation.
IamJoHo
Active Member
Also moving really depends on how far. If its not going to be to far then try to keep all of your aquascape able to be broken down easily into 5 buckets, brute cans or something else you can seal. Otherwise the livestock is just bagging up and transporting. Be ready at the new place with plenty of water.
Peach02
Valuable Member
also I forgot to mention this, depending on how long the trip is, fish in bags will run out of air if its not pure oxygen in the bag. in this case if its over an hour-2 hours depending on the size of the bag and the size of the fish id recommend a box with a battery air pump
IamJoHo
Active Member
Right. Good point. I'm thinking livestock will last 24 hours+ during shipping from a dealer but I believe most are filling the bag with straight o2.
Peach02
Valuable Member
yep pure o2 can last a fish a while I'm not sure on the limits though, I've worked as a casual at my LFS, and even if we tie the bag perfectly without pure oxygen most things will die in 2 hours, corals and plants can be a bit different though.
IamJoHo
Active Member
What about all of the online fish/coral dealers and overseas wholesalers? They are all shipping around 24 hours. Sometime more or less. They are having success. Not sure the exact method they are following though.
Peach02
Valuable Member
I can almost garentee they are using pure oxygen or somthing surperior like airaited bags / boxes. A way I’ve seen to tell is if the bag is ‘stapled’ shut it’s pure oxygen, if it’s rubber banded it’s regular air
IamJoHo
Active Member
Yeah this is exactly what I was saying(or I thought I was. Probably didn't explain well).
If you are transfering far then try and get ahold of pure o2 or work with a lfs.
Hugh Mann
Valuable Member
Not much to contribute that hasn't already been contributed.
For moving, have the man power to move. Big tanks are very heavy and require several strong people to move, same with the hundreds of pounds of rock. The sand can be discarded and replaced or thoroughly rinsed prior to Reuse. Those vacuum handles for moving glass can be super handy, and are relatively cheap.
For moving, have the man power to move. Big tanks are very heavy and require several strong people to move, same with the hundreds of pounds of rock. The sand can be discarded and replaced or thoroughly rinsed prior to Reuse. Those vacuum handles for moving glass can be super handy, and are relatively cheap.
I’ve been building my current system to handle me being away for 4-6 weeks. I’m frequently out of town and sometimes gone for a month or two.
Spending money on automation is key. I bought a Neptune Apex which both controls everything from ATO to automatic feeders. Plus it monitors your parameters and equipment and it can be accessed from your phone anywhere you have internet access, which is great for piece of mind.
I also bought a bunch of cheap webcams for $25 each from Wyze. Their app is very straight forward and again, you can access it anywhere with your phone. I currently have one watching my display tank and another mounted above my sump. I think I’m going to buy two more to get more coverage. Here’s what their app looks like.
Installing a second return pump is also a good idea. If you’re away and your return pump dies, you still have the other one running and you’ll be alright until you get home.
The last thing I’m doing is figuring out a plan for a 2-3 day power outage. I’ve had a few of them over the last 10 years, mostly due to fluke storms. When you have thousands of dollars worth of corals and fish and years of growth and work invested, it sucks to lose them in a day or two if you don’t have any power. To mitigate that, I’m going to get an inverter/charger and a bank of 2-4 batteries. With running only the essentials (i.e. everything but lights and heaters) I’ll have up to 2-3 worth of power. With heaters and lights running, I’ll have enough power to go about 12-18 hours. I’m planning on buying something like what I have pictured below.
I’m also using an iPhone 6 to provide the mobile hotspot to connect my apex and webcams. I have that plugged into the battery banks as well, just in case. So far, I’ve been using the hotspot like that for about two months without and issues.
Lastly, I’ve made friends with my LFS and one of the guys there does aquarium maintenance as well. The guy is familiar with my system and he knows what he is doing. He charges $40 an hour for home visits.
Everything else I do has already been mentioned. Nothing in this hobby is cheap, especially something like disaster mitigation.
Spending money on automation is key. I bought a Neptune Apex which both controls everything from ATO to automatic feeders. Plus it monitors your parameters and equipment and it can be accessed from your phone anywhere you have internet access, which is great for piece of mind.
I also bought a bunch of cheap webcams for $25 each from Wyze. Their app is very straight forward and again, you can access it anywhere with your phone. I currently have one watching my display tank and another mounted above my sump. I think I’m going to buy two more to get more coverage. Here’s what their app looks like.
Installing a second return pump is also a good idea. If you’re away and your return pump dies, you still have the other one running and you’ll be alright until you get home.
The last thing I’m doing is figuring out a plan for a 2-3 day power outage. I’ve had a few of them over the last 10 years, mostly due to fluke storms. When you have thousands of dollars worth of corals and fish and years of growth and work invested, it sucks to lose them in a day or two if you don’t have any power. To mitigate that, I’m going to get an inverter/charger and a bank of 2-4 batteries. With running only the essentials (i.e. everything but lights and heaters) I’ll have up to 2-3 worth of power. With heaters and lights running, I’ll have enough power to go about 12-18 hours. I’m planning on buying something like what I have pictured below.
I’m also using an iPhone 6 to provide the mobile hotspot to connect my apex and webcams. I have that plugged into the battery banks as well, just in case. So far, I’ve been using the hotspot like that for about two months without and issues.
Lastly, I’ve made friends with my LFS and one of the guys there does aquarium maintenance as well. The guy is familiar with my system and he knows what he is doing. He charges $40 an hour for home visits.
Everything else I do has already been mentioned. Nothing in this hobby is cheap, especially something like disaster mitigation.
