What did you buy now?

[RhodeIslandReef]

My tank has begun to get very overcrowded and I've been thinking about thining it out a bit. Getting rid of the softies, mushrooms, yumas, leathers, etc...

Been thinking about it the last couple of weeks now and having a hard time grasping the concept of getting rid of corals that I've been collecting for several years now.

Instead I came up with one of my bright ideas... I should go out and buy a bigger tank instead... So I thought it was a bright idea until I told my wife :furious: what I went out and bought. :uzi: :hmm4:


I'm definately going to need some expert advice on how best to set this one up.

http://www.fishometer.com/reef/e39bf445.jpg

[darkwaterdevil]

i thought she liked the hobby and she helps you with it

[RhodeIslandReef]

lol she won't even add water if the overflow is making a racket.

[darkwaterdevil]

lol ok i guess i thought wrong al least the lill girl likes it lol "frog toes" got to love that

[gary greguire]

what size is the tank 120? how many overflows?

[RhodeIslandReef]

It's a 90 oceanic. Not sure about the overflows yet. I have to pick it up tomorrow. Probably going to buy a bunch of acrylic sheets today for the fuge and find a design on the net that I want to try. Looks like I may be spending some $$ here.

[NYBen]

Looks great, keep us informed.... take lots of pics!

[upstatedave]

nice tank!.....a reef tank isn't anything more than a glass box full of money...lol

[RhodeIslandReef]

Did I mention I had to drive to Boston to go pick this sucker up? It poored all the way there and back.
http://www.fishometer.com/reef/90/1.jpg
http://www.fishometer.com/reef/90/2.jpg
http://www.fishometer.com/reef/90/3.jpg
http://www.fishometer.com/reef/90/4.jpg
http://www.fishometer.com/reef/90/5.jpg

[darkwaterdevil]

i told you i was getting the 150 stand hood tank filtration base rock EVERYTHING for 200$

[saltfishlover06]

i want a 75 gal of bigger so i can get a small shark but i only have a 30 gal . i only can put 4 of the fish the i want in it and no shark .
i want a eal but i can only get a small 1 and a lion fish and 2 more.
thats going to be fun reading up on the fish before i get them .

[darkwaterdevil]

i had a snowflake eel there not hard to take care of and there friendly. i wanted to get a shark and ill i got for info is no shark in anything under a 300g tank even though some say they can be in a 180g they realy cant

[saltfishlover06]

thats true some of the sharks get 5' how can anyone put a tank that big inside . i want a sting ray and i need to get a small 1 . thats if i can have it in the 30 gal tank .

[darkwaterdevil]

there are small fresh water stingrays

[saltfishlover06]

nhot in salt water they are from 10" to 3' long. and i dont think i can get 1 . experts only and thats not me im good but not that good.

[gary greguire]

nice tank when you going to start setting it up?

[RhodeIslandReef]

I'm going to work on getting everything together before I actually set it up. I'm going to build a sump first.

Here's some of the equipment i'll be looking for if anyone in the area has it laying around.

1. VHO ballast/end caps/bulbs
2. 250-400Watt dual MH ballast/Reflector
3. 20 gallon long tank for sump (might just build one)
4. 300-400watt titanium heaters
5. 2-3 Maxijet powerheads
6. Misc stuff.

I just bought a pump for the return. How much flow would you say would be adequate Gary?

[darkwaterdevil]

are you getting rid of any of your 46 gal equpment???? i would be interested in your hood and stand and sump

[RhodeIslandReef]

I won't be getting rid of anything for awhile until I have everything I need to get the 90 going.

[darkwaterdevil]

thats ok just let me know first if you decide to sometime

[RhodeIslandReef]

Update

Been working on getting the tank running so I can pull down the 46 gallon.

I decided to continue the tradition of using a plenum on the 90 since it has always worked well for me. Here's a picture of the plenum I put together before placing it in the tank.
http://www.fishometer.com/reef/plenum.jpg

Another view after I installed it in the tank.
http://www.fishometer.com/reef/plenumintank.jpg

After putting a half inch of crushed coral over the screening.
http://www.fishometer.com/reef/crushcoral.jpg

A picture of my little helper.
http://www.fishometer.com/reef/kyliehelp.jpg


Have done a bit of work getting the pluming in and creating the sump out of a 20 long tank. Had to order new bulkheads since the ones that it came with weren't exactly what I wanted to use.
Spent some more $ buying a quad light for the fuge and an in sump skimmer.

Picks of the sump and skimmer before I got the baffles in.
http://www.fishometer.com/reef/fuge.jpg
http://www.fishometer.com/reef/skimmer.jpg

Filled up the tank with water a couple days ago. Takes forever to make 90 gallons of RO/DI water!! Tank was a huge milkshake for the first two days but has cleared up nicely now.

The lights should be delivered today and I hope to get them installed tonight. Bought a full setup off of ebay. 2-250w halide ballasts w/XM 10k bulbs included. 1 440w VHO ballast w/2 110 actinic bulbs. Hopefully it won't be too hard to wire together.

Will update tonight.

[gary greguire]

looks great can't wait to see it with corals....

[NYBen]

For sure! Looking great... Keep us informed.

[RhodeIslandReef]

Got the lights installed last night. Went pretty well. I still have to clean up the wires and get them out of the way. I hate seeing electrical wires all over the place, plus I have a 3 yr old who is pretty curious.

Here is a pic of the tank with the lights on. The glass is covered with a film of dust from the sand milkshake I had after adding the water.
http://www.fishometer.com/reef/light.jpg

Picture of the sump after adding the baffles/sand/water.
http://www.fishometer.com/reef/sump.jpg


I hope to be able to add the livestock from the other tank on Monday. Got a few questions that maybe some of you might be able to answer.

I'm going to take about an inch of the live sand from my tank to add to the new one. Any benefits to adding a few gallons of water from the old tank to the new tank?

Also, I plan on acclimating the fish, anemones, crabs, shrimp, etc... How should I add the live rocks/corals that I have? Should those be acclimated too some how? I will try and get the tank parameters to match as closely as possible. ie. temp, salinity, Ph.

[gary greguire]

I would mix the water from the two tanks that way it is the same...

[RhodeIslandReef]

Down with the old, up with the new

I must have climed up and down the stairs 300 times moving everything from the 46 to the 90.

Finally, the tank is setup and livestock moved in. Looks like I might be buying a few more pieces of live rock. Although I like the extra space for sure.
http://www.fishometer.com/reef/new1.jpg
http://www.fishometer.com/reef/new2.jpg
http://www.fishometer.com/reef/new3.jpg
http://www.fishometer.com/reef/new4.jpg

A couple pictures of the old tank after removing some of the live rock.
http://www.fishometer.com/reef/old1.jpg
http://www.fishometer.com/reef/old2.jpg


And this was lots of fun to pull down and clean up:)
http://www.fishometer.com/reef/nasty.jpg

[darkwaterdevil]

how now your tank looks empty