Tips For Upsizing your reef tank

[SeymourDuncan]

So! in my wildest dreams would never have thought I could trade a 200 dollar guitar for an 1100 dollar aquarium. The beast (to me it is a beast) is 150 gallons and is a low sitting tank. Perfect for chilling out on my couch.
The stand and canopy are a beautiful solid wood that matches the house I am moving into in a few months.

Now, my setup was a 75 gallon FOWLR (and some hitch hiker corals), with a 55g sump, and that also fed my jelly fish tank.
The stand was a ghetto-fabulous eyesore. My girlfriend hated it And so did I, thus making this new tank that much better. not to mention I sell frags and would be embarrassed that I have such an ugly stand haha.

WELL, we decided to put the new tank across from the old one (funny, thats where I first put my reef tank long ago). This made the day (or 3) go much easier.

The FIRST THING YOU SHOULD ALWAYS DO WHEN TRANSFERRING LIVESTOCK TO A BIGGER TANK IS; Write a battle plan.
Here was mine:
1) drain the water down to the top of the rock into buckets.
2) put the rock in the buckets with water.
3) Fill the rest of your buckets until your fish are almost sticking out of the water.
4) catch the fish
5) add water to the new tank, about 4 inches.
6) add the rock (the 4 inches of water is enough to draw any snails, crabs, stars, etc, down to the water.
7) Remove the sand from the tank and put it in you new one.
8) remove the rest of the water.
9) fill the new tank and let the sand settle.
10) add the fish

Ok, so now that I have emptied my old tank, I still have my 10g jelly tank and my 55 sump.
The jelly tank was just a simple, WHERE TO PUT IT?
The sump was just a matter of sliding it across the room.

I have found out that my return pump will fit perfectly in one of those MAGNUM 350 Carbon containers...thus making a giant powerhead/carbon filter. This helped SOOO much with clearing the water and dealing with the sand being stirred up. in fact I have decided to leave it as a powerhead and use a small return pump. this is just an experiment to see what my prams will be.

Also!!!!
This purchase was SO random. I did not plan ahead and premix water or anything...Which really isnt necessary unless you really need ur sump on. I actually just routed the return line in the sump to give it circulation while the new 150 was slowly filling up. i guess in a way that was a good thing as I did not have any die off from doubling the water volume too quickly.

 

[revsgirl]

Nice tips.. Thanks for sharing!

 

[SeymourDuncan]

Well I got overstocked in my Frag tank, Now My FOWLR is going full blown PREDATOR REEF. I am sure this will be an interesting battle.

I have since had no die off and the water is even more clear than before. (mainly due to the double the water volume) My Girlfriend traded me her coarser grain sand filled with spaghetti worms for some of my fine grade sand filled with...the same stuff. It is just less visible. you know chicks! haha. Anyhow, we are both finally happy to sit in our living room. THe old tank was smaller, but took up more room due to the eyesore stand that could hold up a semi truck.

I cannot wait to get the led upgrade for my canopy. I am charging my recently found again camera battery so I can Take a Video of my whole system.

 

[steamer51]

Thanks for a clear, simple description of upgrading. I think sometimes people go to unnecessary extremes moving a tank. I have used your basic procedures several times when buying and storing live rock and sand for future tank builds. I have not had any losses or minicycles in my storage tubs due to keeping everything wet during transfer and transporting but have not moved any sensitive livestock that may need gentler handling.

 

[Reef Breeders Verified Sponsor]

I usually set up all the plumbing, and make a ton of sw the night before an upgrade. I moved a 90 gallon into a 125 with a sump, and had to store 100 gallons, and make about 50. One of the tips I have is to buy those $5 15 gallon tubs from walmart, they are cheap fr the water they hold, and they work well when moving tanks.

 

[SeymourDuncan]

haha, In a planned situation yes...pre mixing water is always good. This was more like an eviction notice for my old aquarium and had the pressure of my ever so loving girlfriend. She learned what kind of PITA this approach was and when we move soon, she will let me do it the way that makes sense lol. IT took 3 days to fill the tank with my 5pgd RO and Random water purchases at walgreens.


AS FAR AS TRANSFERRING FRAGILES:
Luckily I have a separate frag tank that I manually swap water between so I dont have to acclimate in situations like these. It is STRONGLY URGED that you at least make a quarantine to store them during the move. If it is a simple in home move, than keeping the corals close is great. When u move to a house in the same time, try to work out a deal with the LAndlord or the sellers...see if u can get a head start on making a quarantine for corals and ALL THE INVERTS YOU CAN CATCH.

IT is very important because a starfish could easily wind up in ur car becasue he tried climbing out of ur box of rocks. Another good thing is to but ur rock in shallow water and the life forms will go to the bottom EVERY TIME. gotta love instincts!

And when u cant find ur Wrasse...hez probably in a cave drowning in air, so try to keep an eye on who hides where. <--oops im a poet and I..took creative writing so I darn well knew it.

The funny thing was that I did have enough containers to pre mix. I just didnt have the advance notice. it was a yardsale weekend for my block so we were busy bsing with strangers