Major upgrade (29 to 75) need help

[Jarred Darque]

OK, I am having to do some massive tank rearranging.
So, I am downgrading my 75 FW to my empty 55.

Upgrading the 29 Salt to the 75,

making one of hte 10s a SW as well

Make the 29 FW and convert it to SW over time (thinkin about getting a GSP)

Anyways

The 29 --> 75 gallon.

The 29 has 130 watts of PC lighting, decent filtration...well had..the powerhead crapped out on me a few days ago...a skimmer, blah blah blah.

The 75 has 2 T5 lights over it, I don't think this is enough for a 75 SW huh? I need a 4 strip light, 50/50 actinic/10k of T5 correct?

The 75 is not drilled for an overflow, and the stand it is on is not designed to be able to fit an overflow tank, so...I am having to do a 75 gallon without an overflow.....pita imho. What is the best suggestion for filtration then? and how much? I have a seriously strong powerhead for the 75, an extra power filter or two of decent size, and a cannister that is weaker then advertised

I have to move the 29 over in less than 2 weeks, the plan is this weekend to move the 75 to hte 55, and get substrate and water into the 75. hopefully get lighting in the next week? I will not be filling the 75 up as far as live rock or coral or fish for months, if any time in the foreseeable future as it is....

any tips, suggestions, requirements, etc. please help me out.

BTW, when I am out of town for 2 weeks on vacation, how do I keep the water level from dropping so low that it kills the tank? (this was the case withteh 29..I lost alot of stuff over X-Mas break) and the tank has glass tops...I lost like 5 inches of water.

 

[Ziggy953]

Ok. I'm going to answer the last question first. When you are gone on vacation you are going to have to either have an auto top-off system setup or someone is going to do it manually. Glass tops are not a good idea for a SW tank.

From the beginning:

Has this 75g tank ever had any copper based treatments done in it? If so scrap the idea of using it as a reef or having any inverts.

The T5s you talked about are they 2x54w x 2 fixtures? If they are that is enough light for your tank and you could house several corals.

Filtration:

1.5 to 2lbs of LR per gallon of water ie. 113lbs-150lbs of rock. I do not like canister or power filters on a SW tank. That is my preference. I would rather do things as naturally as possible with the use of LR and a refugium packed full of macro algae. My tank is not drilled either and I use an overflow to get the water to my sump and pumps to get it back to the tank. Are you planning on a FOWLR or a reef setup? The types of things you will need depend greatly on that choice. If you have a desire to do a reef in the future I would suggest setting yourself up so that the transistion is easy.

The most important thing to do is read a lot of information and the article section of this forum is a great place to start!

One last thing, I would not setup the 10g as a SW tank. They can be a lot more work then you think. The general rule is the larger the tank the easier it is to maintain. More water volume means less temp swings and more room for error when getting started due to cycle.

Remember, please don't cycle your tank with fish.

 

[Jarred Darque]

Ziggy, the 10 gallon was a salt water before, I up'ed it to a 29. I have done the nano tank thing before.

Um, the 75 has never had any meds in it at all, much less anything copper based.

the T5 lighting over the 75 right now is 2 54 watt lights. I am guessing I need 4 lights correct? i.e. 216 watts

Reef tank. not doing SPSs or any of the very high light requirement stuff.

Can you point me in the proper direction for the overflow set-up you use, and a refugium to put on this thing?

 

[Ziggy953]

That is good news that you have delt with a small tank before. I said what I did because a lot of people think a smaller tank is easier and I just don't believe it is.

I think that 216w (T5) would be just fine for corals and even some SPS as long as they are higher in the tank.

As for the overflow a lot of folks like the CPR series of overflow boxes. (http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_AquariumPage~PageAlias~overflow_boxes_cpr.html) I don't have one of them but they seem to work very well. Mine is just a standard 1200gph overflow with 2 drain lines. A siphon is created through the "U" tube, water flows into the portion of the overflow that is in the tank then up and through the "U" tube and into the portion that is outside the tank and then down the drain into your sump/fuge. I have a lot of different tanks plumbed into my system. I have my main that is 72g a 55g frag tank, a 20g tall (that I use as my fuge) and a 10g that is my return tank. All of the other tanks flow into the 10g that has my return pumps in it. The water is pumped from the 10 back to the 55 and the 72. My skimmer is plumbed into on of the drains from the overflow and dumps directly back into the 10.

The refugium can be anything from another tank to a rubber maid tub.

 

[Jarred Darque]

would a 5 gallon hex be too small for a 75? I have one sittin inside the stand in the open area so that I can see it under the 75...if I could get decent lightin for it, it would be in a perfect place for me to keep an eye on it as well or would the 5 gallon work for the overflow?

I am a bit confused on the proper way to plumb a larger SW tank...both the 10 and 29 were filtered with power filters and power heads, and the 29 also has a skimmer on it which is I beleive big enough for the 75 as well

 

[Ziggy953]

I'm going to dig up some pics of my tank that I have posted to show you what I'm talking about. The overflow box hangs on the back of the tank similar to how a power filter does. The part that is in the tank sets the water level in the tank. Water flows over into the overflow box and then up and over the edge of the tank in the "U" tube and into the part of the overflow box that is outside of the tank. From there it goes down to a sump or what ever you have set up.

 

[Ziggy953]

Ok So I just took new pics.

This is the overflow box on my tank. This is the top view looking at it from above showing the water flowing into it from the tank.

This shows the portion outside the tank and the plumbing leading down to my sump/skimmer and return area.

This image shows the portion of the overflow that is inside the tank.

An under my cabinet look of the plumbing and the last pic is of my fuge.
The first one shows the 2 drain lines, the right side goes back and to my skimmer and the left goes over to the fuge.

The Fuge

I hope this helps you a little bit.
http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_AquariumPage~PageAlias~overflow_boxes_cpr.html

 

[melosu58]

Nice pics there Zig. Nice looking fuge

 

[Ziggy953]

Thanks Mike. That fuge was the best thing I have added to the tank so far!!! I just pulled a ton of Macro out of it to prune things back a bit a week ago. I have an equal amount of cheato in my frag tank too. The stuff is going nuts!!!

 

[Jarred Darque]

thanks for the pics.

I will be upgrading only to a 55 now and not the 75, I am gonna keep the 75 FW since I am lookin at a ray for it.

would this work for lighting over a 55?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ODYSSEA-48-260W...ryZ46314QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I cannot drill the 55 cause of wehre it is sitting, but something like the setup your using I could possibly make work, I have room under the 55 to put an overflow tank like a 10 gallon.