Advice moving from nano to bigger tank

Gribbles · Jul 16, 2023

Moving from a 20g aio to a 75 DT w/ 50g sump and want to hear any suggestions or recommendations or things to keep in mind.

Such as, is Kalk still doable this size or am I going to need to supplement with something else?

For those that moved to bigger tanks, what surprised you about the upgrade?

blaxsun · Jul 16, 2023

First and foremost, you can cycle any new rock you want to add beforehand - this will allow you to "insta-cycle" the new tank with the newly-cycled rock and any existing rock from your 20 gallon AIO. I also recommend some Instant Ocean Bio Spira for the size of your new system when you perform the move.

Yes, kalk is still doable on pretty much any size tank - although you may need to look at a different dispensing setup with the larger system (not sure how you're currently doing it).

What surprised me most (or maybe it didn't) was how much I hated AIO tanks! Honestly, having a sump where you can run whatever equipment you want and not be limited to (mostly) ineffective "nano" versions is a game changer.

Gribbles · Jul 16, 2023

Gosh yes, my nano skimmer works fantastic 6 days of the week.

I dose kalk with an apex + dos and I just picked up another dos to setup an auto water change - 1% a day sound good? I'll turkey blast and manually clean rocks as necessary.

What about reactors? Calcium? I do currently have a co2 scrubber feeding my skimmer. Outside air > co2 scrubber > skimmer.

I plan to also add a refugium on reverse daytime.

blaxsun · Jul 16, 2023

Gribbles said:
Gosh yes, my nano skimmer works fantastic 6 days of the week.

I dose kalk with an apex + dos and I just picked up another dos to setup an auto water change - 1% a day sound good? I'll turkey blast and manually clean rocks as necessary.

What about reactors? Calcium? I do currently have a co2 scrubber feeding my skimmer. Outside air > co2 scrubber > skimmer.

I plan to also add a refugium on reverse daytime.

Haha, yeah - 6/7 days is pretty much par for the course... 1% a day is probably plenty, yes. I run a reactor for carbon and GFO as well as zeo. In lieu of a refugium I run a lot of bio media.