40g then, Red Sea Reefer 250 now”

[sil40sx]

Hi everyone, please bear with my long post. This is my first official post here,. I've been a lurker for a few months, and its been a great help for me to successfully cycle my tank.

Around December of last year, upon running into some shared links of a friend in Facebook, I saw pictures of very nice looking reef tanks, and it amazed me and imagined it in my living room. -- that's why I made a quick research and readings on how to build one. As soon as I understood some of the basics, I went to craigslist and looked for a small and affordable tank that I can afford.

Long story short, I have a 40g tank with HOB skimmer and a canister filled with carbon and GFO (without sump) running for 4 months now, and would like to upgrade to 90 or maybe 125 tank because my 40g is getting overstocked. I have couple concerns on transferring fish and corals to new tank.

1. Planning on transferring as much water from the old tank and all live rocks. As for the sand, I want to use new dry sand that i will thoroughly rinse. - would this plan still make the new tank to cycle? I hope not, because I don't have a place to keep the fish and corals.

^^^ That's the only thing that's holding me up on upgrading to a bigger tank.

2. I cant seem to completely grasp the overflow concept yet. I'm a little confused, there are Herbie, Beananimal, etc,.. Isn't there a simple way of just using a drain to the sump, then a return pump back to the tank? One thing for sure though, I dont want to use an HOB overflow, another reason I would like to upgrade is because I want the top/back of the tank to look clean, without any sort of HOB stuff.

Any tip on how would I proceed would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!


Pic of my tank last month with 4 x 36 ATI T5's. (replaced them with 2 x Kessil A360WE now)

 

[LetItReef]

Tank looks good!
I am on the same concern. Would like to upgrade my 29g but also looking for a simple approach to have a sump set-up.

 

[sil40sx]

Thanks. I might take a new picture with the Kessils soon.

Yeah, I hate Looking at my tank with HOB skimmer and heater inside

 

[sbash]

2. I cant seem to completely grasp the overflow concept yet. I'm a little confused, there are Herbie, Beananimal, etc,.. Isn't there a simple way of just using a drain to the sump, then a return pump back to the tank? One thing for sure though, I dont want to use an HOB overflow, another reason I would like to upgrade is because I want the top/back of the tank to look clean, without any sort of HOB stuff.

I am sure we have all battled with this in a tank design situation at one point or another. My first saltwater tank was a Marinland 65 Gallon Corner-flo. It was a simple as you can get. There were two holes drilled in the bottom; one for the drain to the sump, the other for the return line. I ran this for a few years without any major issues.

This system used what is called the Durso drain pipe. Basically an pipe with air holes to prevent a siphon. A little loud, but nothing that I was not able to get used to.

The problem with only having a single drain pipe, is that it could get clogged by an urchin, a snail, a sea cucumber, detritus, etc... I mitigated this issue by wrapping my overflow with 'plastic canvas'. Like I said, I had no problems.

But what if my drain pipe did clog? ...My return pumps would keep going until that compartment of the sump was empty (because there is no longer any water flowing into the sump). This would also mean that my display tank would fill up higher than it should and would probably start overflowing. What a mess that would have been!

If you want simple, go with a pre-drilled 'system' (like Marineland offers). Get yourself the 125 Corner-flow, it comes with the basic pluming standpipes for two drain pipes and two return pipes (I think). This will give you a simple, yet redundant system to start with. If you choose to, you can modify this system to be a Herbie, double Durso (which is may be out of box), Bean Animal, or some other variant you choose.

 

[sil40sx]

Oh I see. That makes sense. - so basically other than the noise, the only downside of a "Durso" is if it gets clogged? But like you said if there are 2 holes (drain) it is safer.

This is exactly what I was looking for just to start on a bigger tank, then maybe later on try the more advanced overflow system. Again, like you mentioned, either one can be used on a pre drilled tank.

I will research more about the Durso, and the marine land tank. And maybe lurk in the classifieds for all in one tank, which I believe are already set up for overflows (please correct me if I'm wrong).

Thanks so much for pointing me to the right direction.

 

[LetItReef]

Btw, have you seen SCA website? They sell set-up:

http://www.scaquariums.com/mobile/Category.aspx?id=100

 

[sil40sx]

Oh nice. But too bad my alloted budget for my upgrade is for used only.

I can get the one from SCA, but it's gonna be the same same I have now. Lol

Thanks for the info though.

 

[sil40sx]

Update:

Heres my new tank now, set it up last April last year:

Tank: Red Sea Reefer 250
Lights: AP700 that I retrofitted in a ATI Sunpower
Powerhead: MP10 and MP40
Return pump: Sicce Syncra 3.0
Dosing Pump: Bubble Magus
Skimmer Bubble Magus Curve 5
Reactor: Skims Chaeto Reactor
Controller: Apex Jr

My main dose is ESV B-Ionic Alk, Ca, and Mag. But I feed and dose other bunch of stuff, like KZ Pohls extra and Flatwormstop, Seachem Fuel, Kent Vit C, and Red Sea Trace Color ABCD. I also feed Oyster feast, reef roids, Hikari seaweed pellet, NLS Pellets, Fauna marine LPS pellets, Rods food, Hikari Frozen Mysis and frozen spirulina brine shrimp. There's probably a couple that I missed.

 

[sil40sx]

I'll keep adding more pics in a day or two.

 

[Ento-Reefer]

Your tank looks awesome. Great job with the coral selection!!

What is the name of the yellow zoas? They are beautiful.

 

[sil40sx]

Dont have these two anymore:

Got too big

Had to evict so I can add my baby Storm Clownfish

 

[sil40sx]

Your tank looks awesome. Great job with the coral selection!!

What is the name of the yellow zoas? They are beautiful.

Thanks, they're called spongebob

 

[pelphrey]

Nicely done!! Your sump area is awesome!

 

[sil40sx]

Nicely done!! Your sump area is awesome!

Thank you!

 

[sil40sx]

Weekend FTS

 

[ReeferMadness80G]

Very nice! Gorgeous tank, well done sir!!

 

[FredsNJReef]

HOLY.
COW.


I feel like you just opened the garage to a Lambo Aventador with custom wheels and exhaust

Insanely clean set up. I wish I had those skills.

Well done Sir!!!

 

[sil40sx]

Very nice! Gorgeous tank, well done sir!!

Thank you!

HOLY.
COW.


I feel like you just opened the garage to a Lambo Aventador with custom wheels and exhaust

Insanely clean set up. I wish I had those skills.

Well done Sir!!!

Hahaha, thank you!

 

[sil40sx]

BTW, here's more

 

[powers2001]

sil40sx, you can ask a moderator on the Forum Feedback / Help to rename the title to your build thread. That way you can include the words, "Reefer 250" in the thread title so that a thread search for those terms can easily find it.