210 Gallon Used Tank Upgrade

[cdnco2004]

I am relatively new to Saltwater (under 6 mo). I have 3 SW tanks up and running and was working on a 4th but it shattered while drilling. One 4mo old 75 Gallon LPS/Softie 20G sump, One 50 Gallon 3mo AIO tank that is still dark while nitro cycling no live stock but cleanup inverts and pods, and one 6mo old 20G Long Macro Display tank with 6 SW acclimated Mollies and cleanup screw + pods. I planned to put a few of the molies in each of the other tanks. They are pretty awesome as both cleaner fish and good for enticing shy fish to come out. The 4th tank was another 75. I was going to use it as an SPS tank. Well it turned out to be tempered and not marked so it shattered while drilling the overflow. I decided to check CL and look for any used 75s or 90s instead of buying a new one again and I came across an amazing deal for a 210gallon with 75g sump in great condition and not that old for $1k for $4K of equipment includes everything but the fish. Guy decided the hobby was not for him. So I decided to get it and instead of doing a SPS tank I would do a mixed reef and move all the livestock form my 75g LPS tank to this new tank once its ready and use the 75 for some species specific tank. I guess I will keep all the equipment for my 2nd 75gall as spare for the current 75.

As I said it comes with everything evidently in working order so I do not need any more gear other than live rock as it looks like they used slate stone in the display tank. He said it has 200lbs of crushed coral LS. I also have all the CaribSea OceanDirct LS and CaribSea LR that was going to go into my 2nd 75. So I will need more of the dry LR. I was planning on taking the live sand and rinsing it well with salt water and mixing it with my OceanDirect LS.

I plan on doing heavy LS and LR and upgrade the Skimmer to allow for heavy bioload. My current 75g is maxed with fish currently. Some of the ones in it were supposed to go in the 50 gallon but I decided to run the cycle a lot longer and keep it dark. So everyone is in the 75 gallon right now. It consists of 8 Blue Green Chromis, 2 Clowns, 1Coral Beauty Angel, a cleaner shrimp and misc cleanup crew inverts. I have 4 Octospawn Frag heads, 2 small zoa colony plates and 1 small yuma colony plate that are sitting on the sand currently acclimating. I just got them this last weekend at a coral show.

Anyone have any advice or gotcha's I need to watch for when doing this upgrade for my 75 gallon currently? Also what fish do you guys recommend I stock in it?

Once I get the tank setup I will start working on the aquascape and I am sure I will have more questions that I will be posting in here as I go. Thanks for any tips or advice/criticism.

Pics are from the CL post. I don't have it setup yet.

 

[cdnco2004]

I got the tank and equipment. Its a beast like 400lbs empty. With all the equipment it was for sure a heck of a deal. I decided to not take the live sand or the slate flagstones. It was a heck of a deal for a 2 year old setup.

 

[N1tew0lf1212]

Looks awesome man excited to see this progress.

 

[cdnco2004]

Thanks its a beast. I am trying to decide if I want to retro fit the stand it came with and remove the book shelf in it and the doors so it can hold the 75g sump in the stand or if I want to just start a new stand from scratch that can hold the sump and DT. The existing stand looking at it, it should not be hard to remove the bookshelf section and doors. It has 4x4 for the 4 corners so it has plenty of vertical support. It just has no horizontal cross supports on the floor. So I just need to add some 2x4's along the bottom to support the 75g on. Otherwise I am thinking about building a stand frame like the one bellow which I could add the sump into pretty easy as well. Just not sure what route I want to go down. I am no carpenter, and I think retrofit might be the easiest way.

Diy 210 Gallon Stand

Hi guys i'm building stand for my 210 oceanic tank measure of 72 x 24 x 29. I've sketch up a design and i would like no brace in center anyone with experience can help me see if this is strong enough? Total weight with water would be around 2000 lbs. With rock/decor/live stock I would like...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Saltysecondsreefing]

so when I build stands, I want as much room underneath as I can get. for me the taller the better. brings the tank up to eye level and gives you more room under the stand. for maintenance

 

[cdnco2004]

Yeah I was considering that in building a new stand that I may make it a bit taller, but the existing is pretty tall as well, almost counter height already. I already need a ladder to do anything in the dang tank with current stand. I want the stand to have enough inside room that I could slide it in and out of the stand with the equipment still in the sump and have clearance to do work inside when I need to.