Moved the 125 gallon tank I bought - now comes the fun stuff.

Steven Goff

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Hello All,
Got the 125 tank home safely. Here is all the stuff that came with it.

The tank - which was really dirty.
The Stand - which I am going to do minor repairs and strengthen.
4 fish - which are safely at my LFS (I got 22 dollars credit for three and I get the single clownfish back). The other 3 where: 2 cardinals and 1 squirrel fish (He was kinda homely)
3 AI Prime LED lights with nice support frame.
All his test equipment and misc stuff.
ALOT of live rock. 200 pounds. I put the live rock in containers and fill with existing water from tank. There were remains of coral on rock - some that looked like tiny mushrooms. I'm doubt that any coral will survive this move.
1 protein skimmer that needs cleaning (the pump is working but no bubbles?)
1 six chamber AWS sump
1 heater - I would think this needs an upgrade
2 return pumps
1 wave mover
1 chiller

Here is my plan:

1. Repair/work on stand
2. clean tank out with fresh water and vinegar (let it sit there soaking for a few days)
3. move tank and stand in place
4. plumb the tank/sump - it looks very straight forward.
5. use Fuji pink sand
6. Go get 55 gallons of fresh salt water from LFS.
7. Fill tank with 55 gallons.
8. Arrange live rock in tank (this will be a challenge because I am NOT artistic!)
9. Top off tank with either fresh salt or water that I had with live rock?
10. Wait and be patient!!

Here are my questions as I go forward.

1. Should I use any of the old water?
2. The return pipes for the sump is adjustable - I don't know exact adjustment - I am hoping I can tell from the pipes (from yellowing) how they were .
3. I am going to get a water test from my LFS from the water in the live rock (listen to him on what I should do from reading)
4. Is there anything I am missing or should watch for?

I will get pictures and post soon.
 

Ron Reefman

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Here is my plan:

1. Repair/work on stand
2. clean tank out with fresh water and vinegar (let it sit there soaking for a few days)
3. move tank and stand in place
4. plumb the tank/sump - it looks very straight forward.
5. use Fuji pink sand
6. Go get 55 gallons of fresh salt water from LFS.
7. Fill tank with 55 gallons.
8. Arrange live rock in tank (this will be a challenge because I am NOT artistic!)
9. Top off tank with either fresh salt or water that I had with live rock?
10. Wait and be patient!!

Here are my questions as I go forward.

1. Should I use any of the old water?
2. The return pipes for the sump is adjustable - I don't know exact adjustment - I am hoping I can tell from the pipes (from yellowing) how they were .
3. I am going to get a water test from my LFS from the water in the live rock (listen to him on what I should do from reading)
4. Is there anything I am missing or should watch for?

I will get pictures and post soon.
Don't sweat the rockscape as you can change it easily during the first few months.
Your #10 is CRITICAL! Take your time.
I probably wouldn't use any of the old water (by old you mean water that came with the tank?)
Get test kits for ammonia and nitrate at least. Add nitrite if you want to be extra observant during the nitrogen cycle and it's in the budget (API test kits are cheap and work well for start up testing).
Pink sand? OK, beauty is in the eye of the beholder... Just teasing! ;)

What are your plans for the tank?
 
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Steven Goff

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Old water means water that was in the tank before move.

I read that Fuji pink was the best - I would rather have black but I want some inverts that need to dig into that. I read that wasn't a good choice for that (and it gets dirty)

My plans are very peaceful, easy care fish with lots of fun CUC, here is my list:
2 ocellaris clownfish
1 tailspot blenny
1 royal gramma
1 yellow watchman shrimpgoby
1 blue tang or nasa tang or yellow tang or flame angel
clam
emerald crab or some crabs
maybe a cucumber
lobster
shrimp
bumble bee snail
britle starfish or linckia sea star
one urchin

Slowly do some corals as I get smarter. Maybe start with one frag that is for beginner.
 

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Everything sounds good. If you are going to store your rock in the old water, don’t use it again. Also, when you store it, put your wave makers and heater in or you’ll have lots of die off. You will be able to tell if you have a lot of die off because it will really stink.

Use all new water. Fiji pink is pretty. I use it.

Lobsters will eat anything they can catch including crabs, snails and fish. Not a great mixed reef critter. Go to reefcleaners.org and check out their cleanup crew offerings. IndoPacific Sea Farms is another great source.

Angel fish, either dwarf or full size, are hit or miss with corals. For many, corals are part of their regular diet. Choose with care, and even so, be wary of the potential outcome. Your other fish are great choices with the possible exception of the naso tang. They get huge... really huge. Get tangs but consider powder blue, powder brown, yellow, blue, purple, etc. I love tangs. I would fill a tank with them. But carefully and with their adult size in mind. If you have a public aquarium nearby, go check out what a full grown tang of any species looks like then picture it in your tank. They are big fish.

Clams and corals, except for soft corals, mushrooms, and zoanthids, require a well established tank at least 9 months old. Once you dismantled the tank, you can scratch the “well established “ idea. Now you have a new tank with well cycled live rock, new sand and new water. It’s the same as setting up a new tank and buying your live rock from the fish store except you already own the rock. Expect a cycle, even is it’s a small one.

Be careful about mixing crabs and snails. Hermits get bigger fast and will want a new shell to live in. If the shell they want is occupied by a snail, they’ll just eat the snail. Green mithrax crabs are good herbivores. I have two. Starfish are great... at least the ones you mentioned. Many people like the little white ones. I don’t as I’ve seen them eating my corals.

Good luck!
 

Ron Reefman

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If you use any old water have your LFS do a full slate of tests, but I wouldn't use it. You have no idea what use been in that water. It's far cheapper to buy more water than use the old and find out later it had copper or some other unwanted contaminate in it. Also consider buying an RO/DI filtration system for yourself. It will pay for itself in less than a year and you'll know exactly what's in your water... nothing!

I don't know about the Fuji pink being the best, but black sand is too course for some critters that want to spend time in the sand.

Be very careful on the lobster. I had one and he liked to eat fish!

Serpent or brittle stars are fine. Don't get a Linckia as way too many reefers get one and in 2 or 3 months they die of starvation. They have very specific diets and don't do well in aquariums... especially ones less than a year or two old that have matured.

Clams require quality lighting.

Urchins are cool, but can be a bit difficult to keep and they are bulldozers among the corals. And they are always picking things up and carrying when around. Mine would pull frag plugs with corals on them out of the rock and haul them around on their back!

I have a yellow cucumber and it's been a good citizen in my tank, but I have lots of sand for it to use it it's search for food. My 2'x2'x20" tank has almost no rocks sitting on the sand.


Once you have passed the nitrogen cycle you'll enter the 'Uglies' stage where some film type algae and maybe even a bacterial bloom will make the tank look awful. You can clean it off the glass and rocks, but don't try to add chemicals to stop it. It will bloom, grow like crazy, use up all the food and then die back to mature tank levels. After that, corals are OK to add. There are lots of very easy and fast growing corals. Even Rock Flower Anemones are easy and very colorful although not cheap for the really colorful ones.
 
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Steven Goff

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Everything sounds good. If you are going to store your rock in the old water, don’t use it again. Also, when you store it, put your wave makers and heater in or you’ll have lots of die off. You will be able to tell if you have a lot of die off because it will really stink.

Use all new water. Fiji pink is pretty. I use it.

Lobsters will eat anything they can catch including crabs, snails and fish. Not a great mixed reef critter. Go to reefcleaners.org and check out their cleanup crew offerings. IndoPacific Sea Farms is another great source.

Angel fish, either dwarf or full size, are hit or miss with corals. For many, corals are part of their regular diet. Choose with care, and even so, be wary of the potential outcome. Your other fish are great choices with the possible exception of the naso tang. They get huge... really huge. Get tangs but consider powder blue, powder brown, yellow, blue, purple, etc. I love tangs. I would fill a tank with them. But carefully and with their adult size in mind. If you have a public aquarium nearby, go check out what a full grown tang of any species looks like then picture it in your tank. They are big fish.

Clams and corals, except for soft corals, mushrooms, and zoanthids, require a well established tank at least 9 months old. Once you dismantled the tank, you can scratch the “well established “ idea. Now you have a new tank with well cycled live rock, new sand and new water. It’s the same as setting up a new tank and buying your live rock from the fish store except you already own the rock. Expect a cycle, even is it’s a small one.

Be careful about mixing crabs and snails. Hermits get bigger fast and will want a new shell to live in. If the shell they want is occupied by a snail, they’ll just eat the snail. Green mithrax crabs are good herbivores. I have two. Starfish are great... at least the ones you mentioned. Many people like the little white ones. I don’t as I’ve seen them eating my corals.

Good luck!

I don't think I need a heater in the live rock - the temperature of water is around 80. Should I put the wave maker or the return pumps in the live water. I have 3 large bins that are holding the rock now
 

Ron Reefman

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any kind of pump to move the water around is a good idea.
 

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I don't think I need a heater in the live rock - the temperature of water is around 80. Should I put the wave maker or the return pumps in the live water. I have 3 large bins that are holding the rock now
Doesn’t really matter which pump goes where. The goal is to keep the water moving. Otherwise it will be more like a cesspool. As for the heater, not necessary as long as the water stays from 77-80 degrees.
 
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Steven Goff

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Oh. How much sand do I need? It’s 72 inches by 18 inches.

I was thinking 100 pounds
 
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Steven Goff

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Oh. How much sand do I need? It’s 72 inches by 18 inches.

I was thinking 100 pounds
 

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Oh. How much sand do I need? It’s 72 inches by 18 inches.

I was thinking 100 pounds
If you go online, you can find an aquarium sand calculator. It’s depends on how thick you want it and the dimensions of your tank. But, I have found that the calculator over shoots sometimes. There are few online. Check multiple ones. Just my opinion. As for pumps, what you need is circulation not necessarily air. Air bulbs will help where they are, but not all over the bucket, if that makes sense. The goal is to avoid stagnant water as much as possible. The idea is to move water, not necessarily aerate it although moving will also help gas exchange. Remember too you have to top off the buckets as water evaporates. Check the Salinity every few days.
 
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Steven Goff

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Here is a picture of tank being brought home. It looks dirty to me. Also look at it after I cleaned it.

966.JPG


974.JPG
 
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Steven Goff

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Does anyone know about this skimmer. It was not foaming when I got it. I cleaned everything and now it has bubbles coming up. Does that mean it's working?

977.JPG


978.JPG
 
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Steven Goff

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Does anyone know about this sump? It says it's made by Aquatic Lifesystems. Model RU-2 Berlin sump

RUBS-150

Would like instructions?

979.JPG


980.JPG
 

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