GOING BIGGER: Are you planning a reef tank UPGRADE?

[harley32907]

75 to 210

 

[cassilyn]

Hi all. I'm relatively new to this forum but very excited about the quality information and friendly vibe. I'm in the process of cycling a new Waterbox 5526 peninsula after using a 55 gallon "poof of concept" tank. Having been a fresh water aquarium guy, I used my knowledge from that genre and applied it to salt water. My biggest fail is using a canister filter. I have been struggling with nitrates and phosphates for months. The Waterbox is a 170 gallon total system volume (130 gal DT and 40 gal sump). I am following the BRS 4-month cycle with lights off and fish in. The pic is how the tank looks today after a little over one month (lights on but only for the picture). I used dry rock, Reef Crystals for the salt, RO/DI water, and Caribsea live Fiji Pink sand. In my rock-scape I left many nooks and passages for the fish and was careful not to build too high so the Tangs have plenty of open space to swim free. Current live stock inventory is:

Fish:
Purple Tang 1
Yellow Tang 1
Ocellaris Clown x2
Red Head Solon Fairy Wrasse 1
Royal Gramma 1
Yellow Longnose Butterfly 1
Purple Firefish 1
Flame Angel 1

CUC:
Halloween Hermits 2
Conch 2
Red Leg Hermit 3
Cleaner Shrimp 1

To start the cycle I used Fritz TurboStart 900 and dose additional after each water change (30 gal every 2 weeks). Nitrates and Phosphates are now starting to appear so I may soon be able to add macro algae to the refugium. All the fish seem fine (Purple Tang chased the Butterfly for about 30 minutes but everyone is happy now). Most of the livestock were purchased from TSM Aquatics (https://tsmaquatics.com/ ). I favor them because they do a 30 day+ quarantine/medication on all livestock before releasing for sale. This saves me a lot of trouble and worry.

Any questions or advise I’m all ears! Thanks for reading.

Hi!
I'm new here too. My husband is pretty active on the site, he has a 28-gallon nano cube reef. I'm planning a 42-gallon seahorse tank. I was just curious about the BRS 4-month fish-in cycle. Being new, I've never heard of it. I was planning on using the Dr. Tim's method with my tank and doubt I can use the cycle you are using with my ponies, but it sounds interesting. And your tank is looking great! What, if any, corals do you anticipate adding, or are you going FOWLR? Where can I learn more about this method? My hubby has a 54 corner coming next month and he may be interested. Does anyone have any more info about the process? Successes? I'd like to tell my hubby about the procedure?

Great tank!

Cassi

 

[Arabyps]

Hi!
I'm new here too. My husband is pretty active on the site, he has a 28-gallon nano cube reef. I'm planning a 42-gallon seahorse tank. I was just curious about the BRS 4-month fish-in cycle. Being new, I've never heard of it. I was planning on using the Dr. Tim's method with my tank and doubt I can use the cycle you are using with my ponies, but it sounds interesting. And your tank is looking great! What, if any, corals do you anticipate adding, or are you going FOWLR? Where can I learn more about this method? My hubby has a 54 corner coming next month and he may be interested. Does anyone have any more info about the process? Successes? I'd like to tell my hubby about the procedure?

Great tank!

Cassi

Thank you for your reply. The 4-month cycle may be found here:



In fact, there is an entire playlist from BRS with a tremendous amount of useful information which I highly recommend. BRS has many videos of interest.

Not decided on corals yet. I plan to attend MACNA 2020 in Phoenix (August) as my tank will have completed the cycle. Hopefully while there I can be educated enough and select appropriate corals for my set-up.

 

[cassilyn]

Thank you for your reply. The 4-month cycle may be found here:



In fact, there is an entire playlist from BRS with a tremendous amount of useful information which I highly recommend. BRS has many videos of interest.

Not decided on corals yet. I plan to attend MACNA 2020 in Phoenix (August) as my tank will have completed the cycle. Hopefully while there I can be educated enough and select appropriate corals for my set-up.

Thanks! MACNA 2020 sounds great...wish I could go. I live in a small city in New Mexico and cannot travel that far. Maybe you can post some pictures after you go. Keep posting pictures of your tank too. I'm very interested to see how your build goes.

 

[Vette67]

I have a 6 foot 180 gallon tank. And of course, it’s never enough. Unfortunately for me, the area of my house where my tank is, can’t accommodate longer than a 7 foot tank. So I can go 12 inches longer, and maybe 6 more inches front to back. I have a 24” tall tank now, so I could either do 30” or 36” deep. At 36” deep, I think I lit would be 390 gallons. That would be the best I could do. It’ll be a while because I would need to double the floor joists to support the extra weight...

 

[cassilyn]

I have a 6 foot 180 gallon tank. And of course, it’s never enough. Unfortunately for me, the area of my house where my tank is, can’t accommodate longer than a 7 foot tank. So I can go 12 inches longer, and maybe 6 more inches front to back. I have a 24” tall tank now, so I could either do 30” or 36” deep. At 36” deep, I think I lit would be 390 gallons. That would be the best I could do. It’ll be a while because I would need to double the floor joists to support the extra weight...

I would love to have such a large tank. As you say, it's never big enough. Unfortunately, right now we are stuck in a mobile home. So, along with tight quarters, we are limited in what the floor will hold. We're adding a 54-gallon corner tank next month and I think that's pushing it. But as soon as we get our house, I know my husband and I will go much bigger. It's just a matter of time. Right now I can't imagine having 390 gallons! That would be wonderful (and very, very time consuming - which is great!)

 

[Gidsreef]

Have a 125 aqeon now going to upgrade in new house this upcoming year to a 310 planet. Cant wait

 

[CPC Reefer]

I am currently completing the building of my new see through tank with a porthole on one end in my office from a 25 gallon all-in one Fluval that I got for christmas this year as an experiment. In the middle of the no fish cycle period at the moment and cannot wait until I can turn on the lights and put the fish and corals in. I think I'm am becoming an addict.

. Upgrading

350 gallon

 

[InvaderJim]

Purchased my tank this week. Going from a Fluval 13.5 to a Sepora 80g shallow. So much room for activities.

 

[carbene]

Mine is already a 500, can't upgrade anymore.

 

[Zionas]

My first system will be 180 gallons, 6 foot.

In the future, if space, time, and finances allow, I might consider a tank up to 300 gallons. It would allow me to keep some of the truly large angels (Koran, Maculosus).


Maculosus gets to a foot long (30cm).

Koran gets to 1.3 foot long (37.5cm).

 

[KeyloBeatz]

I actually just posted a build I’m currently working on atm. I have a 110 tall tank and I just plumbed a 75 gallon cube into my sump and did a bunch of upgrades to the overall system. Go check out my build page in the large tank build section of the forum. Happy reefing!

 

[KeyloBeatz]

I plan on upgrading at some point. I'm simply going to out grow my current space in the next few years. The goal is to upgrade to are 250-300 gallon display with 3-4 raceways for growing.

Beautiful setup!!

 

[Coastie Reefer]

Beautiful setup!!

Thanks!

 

[Fieg19]

Going to be pulling the trigger on a major upgrade for myself. Current tank is a 29 gallon all in one lagoon. I am pretty set on going with the new mode aquariums 75 infinity series. The sump quality is better than any other manufacturer for the price and the aluminum stand is unbeatable. If anyone has a mode aquarium I am very interested in hearing your current experience and feedback.

 

[BryanJ]

150 gallon tank is ordered and partially finished. I am upgrading because I am building a new house and my frag tank needs to retire. Here is a photo of the tank waiting for the silicone to cure.

Updated photos. Hoping to have it all up and fully running this weekend.

 

[Oregon Grown Reef]

I'm currently having a custom tank made by Glass Cages. It's the largest tank I'm willing to get with my current living situation. I upgraded because of the stimulus, honestly. I could be happy with what's already there, but I'm tired of having my main tank be all hang-on-back. I'm tripling the water volume with a 48"x30"x24" tank. It's going to add 15" front to back, which I thought was super important. There's a whole different dimension fish swim in when you have a deeper tank. I'm looking forward to that.

 

[Jody Rockwell]

I have a 72 gallon bow front right now and want to upgrade to 100 gallon plus, I am looking at the Waterbox 135 or redsea reefer 525xl.

Will you be selling the 72 when you upgrade? I am looking for one. I am in Wisconsin

 

[HughJazz]

I just downgraded my office tank. Since I was stuck at home during COVID I set up a 120 in my office last year, but it was just to much for the space. So a few weeks ago I swapped it out for a 60 cube and much better.

 

[fishybizzness]

I have plans... Gonna go from the current 240 to about 550+/- 144x36x25
Have a few house projects that take precedence though...