BContos
Active Member
The long awaited tank upgrade is finally T-minus 7 days away!
A little back story-
A few years ago I decided I wanted a fish tank for my birthday. I had freshwater tanks growing up and as a kid would beg my parents to let us buy the beautiful saltwater fish every time we would go to the local fish stores! They never did though and its always lingered in the back of my mind as something I wanted one day once I was settled. After discussing it with my husband a several years ago we decided it was a good time to start in the hobby. I started with a used Oceanic 70 gallon DT + 25 gallon sump with a promise from my husband that we would upgrade to something nicer later if I decided I was interested and wanted to continue in the hobby.
My Oceanic tank was set up for an Octopus. I know, crazy right? First time in the hobby and I jumped to something super advanced and quite controversial. I had some amazing mentors that had kept them almost as long as I have been alive and successfully kept 2 (one at a time). It was an amazing experience and I obsessively learned as much as I could for 6 months before we ever got one! However with their short lifespan, rising cost and issues obtaining quality food especially in the summer months it became quite the headache and unfortunately a heartache when they would pass after a year. A few months after getting the Oceanic I found a heck of a deal on a used WB 32 gallon tank and jumped on it! My husband was excited for fish and somewhat disappointed when I chose to go the octopus route instead so two tanks offered the best of both worlds. After watching the second octopus go into senescence though my heart hurt and I decided I would rather switch exclusively to fish. Maybe one day we will go back but for now I will reminisce on my memories and pictures!
So I added the fish I had in my 32 gallon to my Oceanic and started to pick up new equipment this year to plan for my upgrade.
What I have so far-
The current plan is to start the tank transfer on the 28th. I have taken off work the 28th-2nd and hoping to not need all that time to get it done. The current tank is where the new tank will go so it will be a little more tricky in the sense I can't take my time doing a little here and there.
Current Tank Inhabitants-
I am currently mixing saltwater trying to have enough for the transfer. I am unsure if I should transfer any of the water in my current tank over? The skimmer pump went out on us while we were out of town and it wasn't caught for right away so we have seen a phosphate spike to 0.5 and had some GHA pop up. I currently have 60 gallons of fresh saltwater made and 20 gallons of RODI water to mix and make more. I am not sure if I will have room to store more than that though so I may have to make more water as I go as space allows!
My current plan is the night before the transfer bring the WB stand inside and assemble it next to the current tank so that will be done. Have my tote container in place, heated and ready for the fish in the morning. I have been working with my fish to get them conditioned to the net by adding it to the tank during feeding time in hopes to desensitize them. I am debating on weather I should try and get the clown and cromis who sleep at the top of the tank near the overflow when they are sleeping because I have a feeling as soon as I start swiping the net the blenny and gramma are going to hide in the rocks and it will be a pain to get them. Morning of start trying to catch the fish, remove the rocks I am transferring over into the tote with fish, power off tank, drain water leaving enough for the LR I am not transferring over to go in a separate tote, remove un-needed rocks and then the rest of water and sand. Then remove the equipment from sump, remove biomedia and water, take apart plumbing and remove sump, then move tank/stand. After all that, move new stand/sump in, level, add new tank, leak test overflow, hook the plumbing up, add rocks, sand, water to DT, add equipment to sump and turn the tank online. I have a bottle of Microbacter7 to add to the tank daily and also plan to test to make sure everything is running smoothly. I plan to let the tank settle overnight and if it isnt super cloudy add fish back into the tank in the morning. Does that sound correct? I have never done a transfer and my nerves are getting the best of me!
The goal for the WB 110.4 is to stock with fish and some corals. I would like this to be a lower maintenance tank so I will likely stick with softies and LPS. I plan on quarantining everything that goes into the tank weather its done at home or bought from Dr. Reef done for me. I feel like I learned a lot from my previous tanks and want to make sure I avoid some of the mistakes I made the first couple years in the hobby.
Thanks for reading the start of my first build thread! I will post updates as they happen!
A little back story-
A few years ago I decided I wanted a fish tank for my birthday. I had freshwater tanks growing up and as a kid would beg my parents to let us buy the beautiful saltwater fish every time we would go to the local fish stores! They never did though and its always lingered in the back of my mind as something I wanted one day once I was settled. After discussing it with my husband a several years ago we decided it was a good time to start in the hobby. I started with a used Oceanic 70 gallon DT + 25 gallon sump with a promise from my husband that we would upgrade to something nicer later if I decided I was interested and wanted to continue in the hobby.
My Oceanic tank was set up for an Octopus. I know, crazy right? First time in the hobby and I jumped to something super advanced and quite controversial. I had some amazing mentors that had kept them almost as long as I have been alive and successfully kept 2 (one at a time). It was an amazing experience and I obsessively learned as much as I could for 6 months before we ever got one! However with their short lifespan, rising cost and issues obtaining quality food especially in the summer months it became quite the headache and unfortunately a heartache when they would pass after a year. A few months after getting the Oceanic I found a heck of a deal on a used WB 32 gallon tank and jumped on it! My husband was excited for fish and somewhat disappointed when I chose to go the octopus route instead so two tanks offered the best of both worlds. After watching the second octopus go into senescence though my heart hurt and I decided I would rather switch exclusively to fish. Maybe one day we will go back but for now I will reminisce on my memories and pictures!
So I added the fish I had in my 32 gallon to my Oceanic and started to pick up new equipment this year to plan for my upgrade.
What I have so far-
- Waterbox Marine X 110.4
- Jebao SCP-120 Sine Cross Flow Wave Maker (will end up getting a second one if needed)
- 2- Noo Psychee K7 Pro lll lights (will get another one or two if we decide to add SPS later and deem it needed)
- Kessil H80 refugium light
- Aqua UV 25 Watt with the Neat Aquatics mounting clamps
- Reef Octopus 110S skimmer (undersized but transferring from my current tank so will upgrade later when needed)
- Current USA eFlux DC Return pump 1900 GPH
- 80 lbs. CarribSea Fiji Pink sand
- CandlerRocks custom Aquascape and 20ish lbs. of KP aquatics aquacultered rock that has been in my current system from the start
- Extra Marine Pure Bio Brick (has been in current sump for 2 months already)
- Lid- Going with OctoAquatics as of now. Hoping to order in January but have some egg crate to put on top of the tank until I receive it
- Sump baffle to create refugium- Also from Octo Aquatics
- Heater- Will likely go with Eheim JAGER for now and either replace annually with my UV bulb or upgrade to a higher quality later
- RedSea ReefATO+ (for ato and temp control)
- Auto Feeder
- Feeding Ring
The current plan is to start the tank transfer on the 28th. I have taken off work the 28th-2nd and hoping to not need all that time to get it done. The current tank is where the new tank will go so it will be a little more tricky in the sense I can't take my time doing a little here and there.
Current Tank Inhabitants-
- Midas Blenny
- Clown
- Falco Hawkfish
- Royal Gramma
- Blue Green Cromis
- Serpent star
- Snails
I am currently mixing saltwater trying to have enough for the transfer. I am unsure if I should transfer any of the water in my current tank over? The skimmer pump went out on us while we were out of town and it wasn't caught for right away so we have seen a phosphate spike to 0.5 and had some GHA pop up. I currently have 60 gallons of fresh saltwater made and 20 gallons of RODI water to mix and make more. I am not sure if I will have room to store more than that though so I may have to make more water as I go as space allows!
My current plan is the night before the transfer bring the WB stand inside and assemble it next to the current tank so that will be done. Have my tote container in place, heated and ready for the fish in the morning. I have been working with my fish to get them conditioned to the net by adding it to the tank during feeding time in hopes to desensitize them. I am debating on weather I should try and get the clown and cromis who sleep at the top of the tank near the overflow when they are sleeping because I have a feeling as soon as I start swiping the net the blenny and gramma are going to hide in the rocks and it will be a pain to get them. Morning of start trying to catch the fish, remove the rocks I am transferring over into the tote with fish, power off tank, drain water leaving enough for the LR I am not transferring over to go in a separate tote, remove un-needed rocks and then the rest of water and sand. Then remove the equipment from sump, remove biomedia and water, take apart plumbing and remove sump, then move tank/stand. After all that, move new stand/sump in, level, add new tank, leak test overflow, hook the plumbing up, add rocks, sand, water to DT, add equipment to sump and turn the tank online. I have a bottle of Microbacter7 to add to the tank daily and also plan to test to make sure everything is running smoothly. I plan to let the tank settle overnight and if it isnt super cloudy add fish back into the tank in the morning. Does that sound correct? I have never done a transfer and my nerves are getting the best of me!
The goal for the WB 110.4 is to stock with fish and some corals. I would like this to be a lower maintenance tank so I will likely stick with softies and LPS. I plan on quarantining everything that goes into the tank weather its done at home or bought from Dr. Reef done for me. I feel like I learned a lot from my previous tanks and want to make sure I avoid some of the mistakes I made the first couple years in the hobby.
Thanks for reading the start of my first build thread! I will post updates as they happen!
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