tjhart69
New Member
I am a complete newbie, so please don't roast me if I have made an error along the way as I am sure I have and will continue to do so as I learn in the hobby. So, I got my first tank for Mother's day 2022, a used 29 gallon oceanic biocube and I am in love. So, I went searching for a bigger tank and was able to pick up a used 250 gallon with all supplies, tank, stand, sump etc for $500! I started by refinishing the honey oak stand with "kona stain". With a little help, we were able to get the tank set up in our lower level (too much weight for the trusses in our upper level) :-( I was able to read the forums and watch some videos and I decided to plumb the tank with 2 herbies on my dual overflows. We also cut a hole through the drywall so we could place the sump in our utility room where there is a floor drain and our RODI setup next to it. The 75 gallon sump was not very accessible under the tank so this has definitely made it easier. I have rockscaped (tank came with 500 lbs of rock) and added 160 lbs of aragonite special grade from caribsea. Since the original purchase of this tank, I have lost my job, so while I have had time to work on the set up, I did not have much to spend, so I have had to be resourceful and use the supplies I have on hand. I did splurge to buy the PVC for the plumbing, but have otherwise just used the supplies I received with the tank. There are still totes full of things that I have not used and some that I don't even know what they are! I have not setup skimmers, kalkwassers, reactors, UV sterilizer, all things that were included. The tank has been up and running with water for 2 weeks. To help start my cycle I have used my nano tank: during water change from nano I added this to my 250, placed my nano filter sponge in my sump, added biomedia from the nano, and about 15-20 lbs of live rock from the nano. I also added bottled nitrifying bacteria with a fish in system. We moved our 2 ocellaris clowns and 1 golden damsel from the nano to the 250 gallon 2 days ago and so far they are doing well. I have also been working on changing the rockscape in the nano, but I do not have any photo updates yet. Here are a few photos of the progress so far.
29 gallon Oceanic biocube
250 gallon build
ates yet
29 gallon Oceanic biocube
250 gallon build
