Upgrading tank size

[Jarred Darque]

The time has come!...actaully, it is on sad news, the freshwater 29 gallon got a major viral infection that annihalated the tank. So, I am using this opportunity to upgrade my 10 gallon nano tank to saltwater..in the next month or two I will start the move I believe.

The 10 gallon tank has about 15-20 lbs live sand (the real fine, white stuff) around 20 lbs live rock, a few nassarius snails, about 7 hermit crabs, an banded clinging crab, a green emerald crab, a small (VERY small) rock crab, a camel shrimp, and a domino damsel. And some beautiful ricordia and various mushrooms and some orange ball anemones on the LR. I have 2 80gph power heads and a 40gph power filter (the power filter is stayin on the 10 gallon tank) The tank has been running ifne for a while, with only a diatom problem (brown algae)

Everything in the 10 gallon except the power filter and the 40 watts of lighting is able to be moved over (there is already sufficient heating on the 29 gallon (2 100 watt heaters) The 29 gal comes with about 200 gph filtration between 2 HOB filters, and vastly insufficient lighting (like 20 watts of T5 lighting)


So, the quistion is, what all will I need for the tank that I dont have? I imagine about 30-40 lbs live sand, 20-40 lbs live rock, I am thinking about a HOB refugium and possibly a canister filter. Doing a sump is simply not possible atm, and I really dont want a sump on this small a tank. I know I need better lighting, how much? The stipulation for this tank is taht it can keep some of the soft corals, mushrooms, polyps, and a few others at least, and an anemone, so how much lighting at least? I was plannin on 96 watt upgrade on the 10 gallon, but since I am upgrading that iwll not be happening, but that is an idea of the type of lighting I dont mind having.. Um, anything else that I need, please let me know so I can start making a list.

 

[Ziggy953]

I think that the HOB Refugium is a great idea! Adds water volume and provides a place for natural biological filtration. I'm not a fan of the canister filters as they are a lot of work, what with cleaning them frequently to keep nitrates down. As for the lighting if you are going to add some more light demanding corals to the tank I would recomend somewhere around 150w total. You could use PCs or even a MH.

 

[Devilishturtles]

I have the Coralife 2 x 65 watt PC lights on my 29 gallon and I really like them. I'm growing everything from zoos to lesser light demanding sps in there.

I am using a AC500 modded refugium for now. So far so good, but haven't had it running long enough to see if that small a water volume makes a difference in nitrates and water quality.

 

[Jarred Darque]

AC500 aquaclear? Canyou post the link to the mod sites for those please?

Do you run any other type of filtration? or just the refug and power heads? and as far as PHs, what are you using? I also have a 250gph PH (maybe more, maybe like 350gph+ but it is in my 75gal and I think it is too much for a 29)

 

[Ziggy953]

Have a look at this 29g tank and all that is in it. It may give you some ideas of what you can do with your tank.

http://www.melevsreef.com/29g.html

HTH

 

[Devilishturtles]

Melevs page is really awesome. I keep going back to it for reference everytime I get stuck with my 29 gallon.

AC500 aquaclear? Canyou post the link to the mod sites for those please?

Do you run any other type of filtration? or just the refug and power heads? and as far as PHs, what are you using? I also have a 250gph PH (maybe more, maybe like 350gph+ but it is in my 75gal and I think it is too much for a 29)

Here is the best link I found:

http://www.oc-creative.com/reef/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1331&PN=1

It's pretty easy to set up. One thing not included in that post though is that I found it neccesary to trim down the impellors on the intake. If you don't, the AC just puts out waaaaaay too much flow to act as a proper refugium. Again, we're talking about 1 gallon or less of refugium space, but it's worth a try and a fun experiment.

As far as other filtration, I run an Aqua-C Remora skimmer (I love it), the AC 500, though it isn't really filtration, 2 powerheads (one Penguin 550 at 145 gph and an AC30 at 174 gph). I'd ideally like either another powerhead or stonger powerheads in my tank, but I'm thinking about upgrading tank size so I've sorta held off on that idea for a while.

You can see pictures of my tank in my gallery.

 

[melosu58]

Skimmer and LR is all the filtration you need. As far as your sand I would not transfer alot of it over as it will have alot of nasty stuff in it. Maybe just a cup for seeding the new sand. Congrats on the upgrade even though I`m sorry about what happened to the original occupants.

 

[Jarred Darque]

So dont transfer sand from old tnak to new? right now I only have a 1.5inch deep sand bed in the 10 gallon.

 

[melosu58]

IMO I would not transfer all of it but maybe a cup for seeding purposes. Sand is pretty cheap and it aint worth all the trouble.

 

[Ziggy953]

I agree....pain in the sump I mean rump....

 

[Jarred Darque]

OK, on the liverock, in my 10 gallon, I simply have the liverock pushed into the sand to keep it secure, or leaning against other peices.

I will have prolly 3 times as much LR in the 29 gallon, and it will be stacked ALOT higher. Is there anything special I should do to help secure it.

Also, because of theh ow the LR is buried in the 10 gallon, I lost a few sponges that where on the bottom of the LR, is there any special way to support the liverock off the bottom of the tank (this is also to help for when I get the pistol shrimp and pistol goby)

 

[Ziggy953]

I have seen some use PVC pipe to hold their rock about even with the top of the sand bed. It takes a bit of planning but it can work. I would also suggest a bit of epoxy to hold your rocks together. I use a prduct called AquaScape construction epoxy, its purple so it helps blend with the rockwork and it hardens nicely. http://cgi.ebay.com/DELTEC-AQUASCAP...7927230QQihZ020QQcategoryZ20757QQcmdZViewItem

It works great or at least I think it does.!!!

HTH!

 

[Jarred Darque]

ok thanks much, that is exactly the reply I was lookin for That should do nicely.

 

[Ziggy953]

Glad I to help!!!!