Okay, I'm ready!

[NateDawg]

Hey reefers, I have been posting many small threads ust to learn about live stock, lights, etc. This will be my first saltwater tank, and I felt like I know enough to start. I found the perfect setup on craiglist for me, a 100 +40 gallon setup with a chiller, 3 250w 20,000K metal halides, moon lights, phosphate reactor, live stock/rock, CUC, nems, corals... everything. I hopefully will get this in 2-3 weeks but I would like to lay my whole plan out so you guys give me some feed back, and I don't screw anything up, as this is living life we are working with. Here it goes..

I will save 40% of exsisting water, and put that into jugs. Live rock will go into many 5 gallon buckets, and fish will go into separate ones. The 4" sand bed will be taken out too. Load everything up, drive 1:30 hours back home. Everthing will be setup. Sand will be washed thoroughly in saltwater to rid toxins. Fish, live rock w/ corals, and inverts (except snails) will be put into my friends mature 225 setup. I am giving her the fish, but the coral will be in there for a bit while I get the tank stable.

I will setup everything up, use RO water, and let the tank sit for a week with nothing in there except the snails. This is correct right?

After a week, I will put a raw shrimp in there to have an ammonia source. At this time I will set up a 20 gallon QT. The filter will be 2 sponge filters rated at 20g each, the sponges will be seeded in my friends 225 for 2-3 weeks. I will leave fishes in there for 2 weeks, unless the show signs of disease. The QT will have this in it, just to see if there is an ammonia spike, but I will still be testing every day- 2 days.

My live stock in this order will be added to QT, tan to DT.
2 O clowns and this CUC (is it ok?)
1 week later or same time as clowns- blue/green chromis
corals added back at this time.
2 weeks later- Lawn Mower Blenny
2 weeks later- 1 Banggai Cardinal
2 weeks later- 1 fire fish
2 weeks later- Fox face lo
2 weeks later- Yellow tang
And when I get more experience, and tank matures- 3 Carbarryi Anthias (maybe), a mandarin, a clam, and a RBTA.


The tank will have a Apex computer, controlling lights, heater, power heads, temperature probe, what eles? The tank also comes with a 1/3 chiller. I will have it at around 80 degrees. Now here's another question. I know for sure the tank has the 3 MH's and moon lights (I don't know what kind,) what should me light schedule be?

Fish will be fed new life spectrum 1mm pellets 2 times a day, along with frozen mysis shrimp occasionally, and frozen brine shrimp. The salt I will use will either be reef crystals or red sea pro reef salt. Another big question I have is how much of a electricity increase should I see? I don't think my chiller will be running to often. We pay around $150 now, I hope it doesn't raise it to much.

OKAY! For those who are still reading, thank you so much! Any feedback is greatly appreciated! Have a great day!

[NateDawg]

Oh yes, I have another question, and some stuff I forgot to mention. The tank has a powerful skimmer. Anyways, our power has been going off a lot recently, at a few hour intervals. What should I do when this happens. I have heard people mentioning air pumps, but have no idea why these are needed for if the power goes out... were do I put it? Thanks

[pkirby]

I would probably replace the sand... or replace 90% of it with dry sand and keep 10% of the existing sand to seed it... You may have a bit of a cycle because of the move, but your cycle should be really short considering the live rock in the tank should be well established and die-off from the move would be minimal if any...

The fish you are adding are coming with the tank purchase correct? If so, QT is kind of pointless IMO. They've all been in this tank together up until now and have likely been in the tank for a pretty long time. If they were diseased fish, they'd already be showing the effects from it or would be dead.

There is a calculator here on RC where you can put in your tank's usage and the rate your utility company charges and get a good idea of how much your bill is going to go up.

Good luck with your new tank!

[thegrun]

The sand can be reused if cleaned. You may want to check the tank for phosphates before the move. If the phosphates are high, I would skip reusing the old sand and go with new. I prefer to not use a deep sand bed (4"-6"), just a 1" layer. Read up on deep sand beds and decide if you want to keep one or not. Three 250 watt MH lights is a lot of light on a 100 gallon tank if it is 4' long. If it is a 5' tank, three lights are good. When I had MH lighting, I ran my MH lights for 7 hours a day and my actinics lights for 12 hours (2-1/2 hours before and after the MH lighting. You don't mention actinic bulbs, if you don't have them you may want to add them in the future. Actinics bring out a lot of color in your corals and fish. The moon lights may work for you in place of the actinics if they produce enough light. Since your live rock is from an existing tank (fully cured) you should not have a new cycle as long as you clean the sand or use new sand. I would add a pinch of flake fish food daily to feed the existing bacteria. If you don't see any ammonia or nitrites after a week, consider the tank cycled and start your clean-up crew, coral additions and a couple of fish once the clear QT.

[blt]

Originally Posted by NateDawg

Another big question I have is how much of a electricity increase should I see? I don't think my chiller will be running to often. We pay around $150 now, I hope it doesn't raise it to much.

FWIW, I estimated about $20/month for my 75 Gal with 2x150W MH, a 250W heater, return pump, 2 power heads and a skimmer. But your cost per kW/h may be significantly different than mine - all in (including the electricity, delivery charges, time of use cost differences, taxes, etc) I'm averaging just under $0.12 per kW/h.

[NateDawg]

I will actually be leaving the live stock the tank comes with in my friends tank since she is upgrading to a to a 500, I figured it would be a better home to those fish (Blue tang, purple tang, etc.) So all the live stock I will get will be purchased from the store or online. I want a DSB because of the denitrification factor. Why should I change most of the sand out, the tank has only been running for 2 years. I am going to ask the owner about the atinics, I think he mentioned them.

[pkirby]

sand can become a big trap for things you don't want...especially DSB. If you clean it before adding it to the new tank, it can be reused... If it were me though, I'd keep part of the top layer from the current tank, and replace the rest.

DSB can have a lot of advantages... but it can also lead to a massive crash if disturbed. With a good skimmer and good live rock, you can completely skip the sand all together and still have a successful tank. I prefer the look of sand though, so I did like @thegrun and have a 1-2" sandbed

[NateDawg]

Would I still have the same benefits if I do 1-2" inches, and get a HOB refugium, how about if I build on a separate refugium? with a DSB? Now that I think of it, I will probably get bio pellets.

[NateDawg]

Anyone?

Sent from my DROID2 using Tapatalk

[lacosta28]

Originally Posted by NateDawg

I will setup everything up, use RO water, and let the tank sit for a week with nothing in there except the snails. This is correct right?

After a week, I will put a raw shrimp in there to have an ammonia source.

That doesn't make sense to me. Are you attempting to cycle the tank again? If you do a good job you shouldn't have a lot of die off during the transfer of the tank. You will probably have a very small cycle, but I wouldn't put snails in there and then add a dead shrimp.

[starshrike]

I'm glad you've done your research and pre-meditation of how you're going to move the tank. Honestly from my personal experience of moving an established 60gal + 40galsump in a day you won't be going through the entire cycle again. Nothing was removed from the tank and most of the water was saved and re-used. The DSB in the refugium and the sand in the DT were moved as well. I got the tank from a friend who was moving out of the country and had no prior saltwater expereince before... but now I know there are plenty of threads about moves that may help!

Due to lack of foresight about keeping all the disturbed sand without PROPERLY washing it, I lost a clam and percula in the first two weeks and am still battling algae as well (it was already an issue before I got the tank). I learned that clams are incredibly sensitive to moves and that the percular probably had brookynella as it died within 24 hours... the 2nd perc was successfully QT for 8 weeks with treatment and is now thriving again in the DT.

Parameters have now stablized and corals as well as the other inhabitants are now noticably happy and active. I hope to be able to frag corals as well as re-aquascape soon, but I learned from this hobby that nothing good comes out of it when you are too rash!

[NateDawg]

I will add the raw shrimp in there after the dye off so I can have an ammonia source until I add the 2 clowns.

[saltysailor2329]

I'm pretty new to this but agree with lacosta28...I don't think it would be necessary to add the shrimp to get your NO4 up. I essentially did the same thing you are talking about. I bought a new tank but found rock, sand and water from the same guy. I picked everything up, drove an hour and then placed it all into my new tank. I used half his water and half new water and had a short, short cycle...3 or 4 days tops. Just my $.02 though.

[papagimp]

I agree on the shrimp comments, seems a waste of time honestly. And even if it was a new setup, why wait a week to put a shrimp in? Also, attempting to cycle the tank with snails in it already, probably not going to go over well for those poor little guys.

[childofgod]

I agree I don't see why you would need the shrimp. If your using live sand and live rock your tank will almost be done with the cycle when you putting it in. Even if it was a new tank I would use fish food not a shrimp. It does the same thing. The fox face lo is a very hardy fish I would put one in a little sooner than a lawn mower or a fire fish. I have seen one survive a couple tank crashes. Be careful with the fox face and yellow tang they might not be friends. Just my $.02

[NateDawg]

Thank you for all your input. I will just wait for all the die off to occur, and wait until all ammonia and nitrites are 0, than put the 2 clowns in right away, instead of waiting. Can someone please answer my question regarding the refugium. If I build on a refuge, or get a HOB one and have a DSB, would I have the same denitrification benefits as having a DSB on my main tank? Thanks

[NateDawg]

Oh yea, I will take the snails out, and house them in my friend's refugium, until I get up and going.

[childofgod]

Yes people do the sand bed in the refugium. I have kids that can't seem to leave thing alone so I don't use a sand bed because I am afraid the kids may mix it up on me. Mainly the 3 year old. I found peanuts in the sump once.

[NateDawg]

Haha, thats funny. I am buying this aquarium from a man who has 3 little ones, who keep messing with the aquarium, so he is selling it. Do you find that the DSB in the fuge does a good job in reducing nitrates? Do you have anything in there other than sand (mud?)

[childofgod]

I don't use one I hear that they work good. I use macro algae and live rock.

[NateDawg]

I know this thread is kinda dead now, but I have a question. When I get my 2 clowns, I am going to have them do QT first for 2 weeks, should I add fish food in the tank these 2 weeks to have an ammonia source?

[blt]

Yes, you'll need some source of ammonia or the bacteria that feeds off of it will start to die out.

[floydpackard]

I didn't see if you have a rodi unit. For a system that big it will be easier that buying water.

[NateDawg]

I didn't like the fact that it takes so long to make the water, and me being... well myself, I know I would forget about it. My tds meter arrived a few days ago, and I tested a few water stores next to my house, and I found a good place that has 0-1 tds. 30 cents a gallon, or if you buy a one time fee $20 membership, its 18 cents a gallon. I'm actually picking the tank up this Friday. I was wondering if anyone can tell me a good lighting schedule. The tank has 3 250w MH's, 4 actincs (2 bulbs are burnt out, will eventually replace,) and moon lights. I don't want to run the MH's for to long of the day. Thanks

[NateDawg]

Bump