Hi R2R community! I’ve always wanted to do a build thread but never have found the time when I was starting up a tank. I thought now would be a good time, but will be starting it in an atypical place for an atypical reason.
I’m in the military have have been for over 14 years. I move every 3-5 years and typically bring my tank with me. However, life during military moved is insane. There are movers, long waits between leaving one house and getting into your new one, getting your stuff from the movers and settling into a new job. Needless to say taking any livestock with you is next to impossible. This past weekend , I sold ALL my livestock in my 50 gal cube tank. It was my 8th tank and by far my best one yet. Every tank gets better since I have the chance to start over, learns from mistakes, take breaks from the hobby and refresh. The downsides are that about the time the tank looks awesome, it’s time to go. Here is my 50 cube when I sold it off.
I was bummed to let it all go but it went to a good home.
Now I’m starting the process of planning the next one. I got some dead, dry rock from my buyer and filled my current tank with it. It’s nice rock with amazing shapes. I’m excited about it.
The plan is to age the rock so when I set up my new one in a year, the rock will be live and ready to go. I was able to save about 15 lbs of rock from my old tank to seed the new dry rock. I’m excited to watch it get covered in corral one algae. The ugly stage is already settling in on the new rock but hopefully it’ll pass more quickly. I bought 2 converted Molly’s (yes, the freshwater fish) to keep the cycle going. They are crazy hardy fish and should do well during the move. We’ll see how well I keep it all alive.
My plan is to set up a 150 peninsula tank at my new place in San Antonio. Looking at Waterbox tanks right. If you have any insights into them, let me know!
I’m still debating lights, pumps, sumps, skimmers for the new system. I’ll be bringing over my Apex, dosing pumps, ATO and GFO from the old tank but that’s about it. Everything else will be new/ gently used.
I’ll update this thread as I go. We’ll see how it turns out a year or two from now. Happy reefing!!
I’m in the military have have been for over 14 years. I move every 3-5 years and typically bring my tank with me. However, life during military moved is insane. There are movers, long waits between leaving one house and getting into your new one, getting your stuff from the movers and settling into a new job. Needless to say taking any livestock with you is next to impossible. This past weekend , I sold ALL my livestock in my 50 gal cube tank. It was my 8th tank and by far my best one yet. Every tank gets better since I have the chance to start over, learns from mistakes, take breaks from the hobby and refresh. The downsides are that about the time the tank looks awesome, it’s time to go. Here is my 50 cube when I sold it off.
I was bummed to let it all go but it went to a good home.
Now I’m starting the process of planning the next one. I got some dead, dry rock from my buyer and filled my current tank with it. It’s nice rock with amazing shapes. I’m excited about it.
The plan is to age the rock so when I set up my new one in a year, the rock will be live and ready to go. I was able to save about 15 lbs of rock from my old tank to seed the new dry rock. I’m excited to watch it get covered in corral one algae. The ugly stage is already settling in on the new rock but hopefully it’ll pass more quickly. I bought 2 converted Molly’s (yes, the freshwater fish) to keep the cycle going. They are crazy hardy fish and should do well during the move. We’ll see how well I keep it all alive.
My plan is to set up a 150 peninsula tank at my new place in San Antonio. Looking at Waterbox tanks right. If you have any insights into them, let me know!
I’m still debating lights, pumps, sumps, skimmers for the new system. I’ll be bringing over my Apex, dosing pumps, ATO and GFO from the old tank but that’s about it. Everything else will be new/ gently used.
I’ll update this thread as I go. We’ll see how it turns out a year or two from now. Happy reefing!!