Researching upgrading to 240G, looking for ideas

Trekkie · 01/31/2008, 02:17 PM

On my 75 I've only used HOT skimmer + Tampa Bay rock I put in back in 2004. I've kept one or two fish in it since I got it, but as winter came something collapsed my filter of live sand + live rock and I had a a massive loss, everything in the tank died. everything meaning my snails, my crabs, my starfish, and my sole occupant the Blue Tang. 'Dory' as my children called it had been with us for about three years so it was quite a shock to find her one afternoon.

Near as I can tell what happened is my water circulation SEIO pumps, the suction cup failed and the lower pump titled downard overnight and blew the sand bed that it either A) killed the bio filter or B) stirred something up nasty that was under the surface of my sand bed causing a major crash. I was changing water daily for a while, 15 gallons per day or so, but it wasn't enough to save the inhabitants. I was pretty upset about it and have been keeping the water changed / updated and watching the water chemistry and it appears I cycled again. However now it's a rock tank, and I've been trying to decide what I really want to do.

I'd like to move my existing investment in live rock over to my new tank, and then add some more rock for the larger tank. My plan was to drain the water from the 75 gallon into a large rubbermade tub and move the rock to it to transfer it to a new tank however recently since I have no janitors currently there is a red algae growing, almost a carpetish like. I've been changing water/scraping it with the siphon tube and sucking it out but without something that eats it, it keeps coming back. It's not everywhere, just near the top of the tank on top of the rock. It comes off quite easy and without a picture my best description is it looks velvet-y. I can take some pictures if anyone needs something visual to help me decide if I have something i don't want to move to a new tank. I didn't have this pre-crash so I'm wondering if I still have some decaying going on in the water that i can't find/get too that is possibly feeding this as I'm not putting any food into the tank other than the light from my 48" Coralife Aquasun.

I've always wanted a larger tank, and something with a sump, so I first thought about adding a sump to the existing tank. But I didn't want to go to the world of tubes with overflows and all sorts of stuff hung on in a retro fit attempt. We've gotten a significant tax refund and some savings and it's feasible now for us to invest in a larger tank, so I started looking in the 240G range.

My water source is a 60 GPD Kent Marin Hi-S filter. TDS shows 0.01 on the output, 130 on the input, so it's doing its job.

So because of the algae growth I'm hoping I don't have an issue that can't be 'solved' as I upgrade, and reintroduction of a janitor crew but wanted to get opinions on that before I start.

As far as moving to something of this size I would continue the live rock method of filtration with a protein skimmer in the pump. I've always wanted to move to a real reef instead of FOWLR type tank and my biggest question is on the lighting. The tank i'm looking at will have a canopy and if I understand it right I want a 'retrofit' light to mount into that canopy.

However, I can't remember the rule of thumb for lighting when it comes to corals. I'd obviously want to start with the 'easier' corals but don't want to do something that would keep me from going to something more involved as I gain experience.

Skimmer wise I already have a Mag 18 pump, and was looking at the AquaC EV-240 the lights I currently were looking at was the 72" Aqualight retrofit kit that has 3x150W HQI Lamp + 4x96W CF Lamps Sq. Pin + 4x1W LED and would control it like I have been with my neptune Aquacontroller Jr.

Any opinions? My sump would be 65 gallons in size.

01/31/2008, 02:17 PM	#1
Trekkie Premium Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Wake Forest, NC Posts: 284	Researching upgrading to 240G, looking for ideas On my 75 I've only used HOT skimmer + Tampa Bay rock I put in back in 2004. I've kept one or two fish in it since I got it, but as winter came something collapsed my filter of live sand + live rock and I had a a massive loss, everything in the tank died. everything meaning my snails, my crabs, my starfish, and my sole occupant the Blue Tang. 'Dory' as my children called it had been with us for about three years so it was quite a shock to find her one afternoon. Near as I can tell what happened is my water circulation SEIO pumps, the suction cup failed and the lower pump titled downard overnight and blew the sand bed that it either A) killed the bio filter or B) stirred something up nasty that was under the surface of my sand bed causing a major crash. I was changing water daily for a while, 15 gallons per day or so, but it wasn't enough to save the inhabitants. I was pretty upset about it and have been keeping the water changed / updated and watching the water chemistry and it appears I cycled again. However now it's a rock tank, and I've been trying to decide what I really want to do. I'd like to move my existing investment in live rock over to my new tank, and then add some more rock for the larger tank. My plan was to drain the water from the 75 gallon into a large rubbermade tub and move the rock to it to transfer it to a new tank however recently since I have no janitors currently there is a red algae growing, almost a carpetish like. I've been changing water/scraping it with the siphon tube and sucking it out but without something that eats it, it keeps coming back. It's not everywhere, just near the top of the tank on top of the rock. It comes off quite easy and without a picture my best description is it looks velvet-y. I can take some pictures if anyone needs something visual to help me decide if I have something i don't want to move to a new tank. I didn't have this pre-crash so I'm wondering if I still have some decaying going on in the water that i can't find/get too that is possibly feeding this as I'm not putting any food into the tank other than the light from my 48" Coralife Aquasun. I've always wanted a larger tank, and something with a sump, so I first thought about adding a sump to the existing tank. But I didn't want to go to the world of tubes with overflows and all sorts of stuff hung on in a retro fit attempt. We've gotten a significant tax refund and some savings and it's feasible now for us to invest in a larger tank, so I started looking in the 240G range. My water source is a 60 GPD Kent Marin Hi-S filter. TDS shows 0.01 on the output, 130 on the input, so it's doing its job. So because of the algae growth I'm hoping I don't have an issue that can't be 'solved' as I upgrade, and reintroduction of a janitor crew but wanted to get opinions on that before I start. As far as moving to something of this size I would continue the live rock method of filtration with a protein skimmer in the pump. I've always wanted to move to a real reef instead of FOWLR type tank and my biggest question is on the lighting. The tank i'm looking at will have a canopy and if I understand it right I want a 'retrofit' light to mount into that canopy. However, I can't remember the rule of thumb for lighting when it comes to corals. I'd obviously want to start with the 'easier' corals but don't want to do something that would keep me from going to something more involved as I gain experience. Skimmer wise I already have a Mag 18 pump, and was looking at the AquaC EV-240 the lights I currently were looking at was the 72" Aqualight retrofit kit that has 3x150W HQI Lamp + 4x96W CF Lamps Sq. Pin + 4x1W LED and would control it like I have been with my neptune Aquacontroller Jr. Any opinions? My sump would be 65 gallons in size.