August Posted May 23, 2010 Share Posted May 23, 2010 OK so where to start.... I guess its not really an emergency so I didnt post there, but my 75 gal ran water all over my carpet lastnight... In order to save my carpet we had to drain the tank and move it so we can dry the floor.... turns out that the system got shut off (I think my dog pulled the electric cords.. seriously!) and so my tank over flowed my sump and water went everywhere... Well I had already talked to Mark about upgrading this tank... EX bigger stand, better filtration, better lights... all that.. well its my good tank and I was actually hoping to move everything over into it instead of in my 46gal.. Guess everything will be stuck in the 46 instead because the hubby isnt wanting to set up the tank again until we have ALL the upgrades done... which will take about a yr or so... Our youngest has all kinds of medical bills so as all you parents know those come first along with the family life.... I bought this tank because I had dreamed what I wanted it to look like... it just seems like its getting farther and farther from that dream.... I know have to decide what to do with my 80-100lbs sand bed from my big tank as it needs to be kept alive.... hubby says sell it... but that will mean even more I have to buy... mixing it with the bed in the 46 is out of the question because its CC and I really dont like it... definately dont want it mixed together... plus it already has everything in it and I pray I havent stressed some of the fish or the few corals I do have too bad. anyway guess I am just at my stress point with these tanks.... sorry to bug everyone with my tank issues when I know there are others out there that have real issues!!! Chrispar no need to cry on demand lol I have done that out of frustration already... Thanks to all who care.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted May 23, 2010 Share Posted May 23, 2010 Well where do I start....I guess with sorry that happened. I'm pretty sure most of us have been there overflowing the tank. Honestly I think that I KING of this, since I have 3 tanks plumbed together it took a minute to learn how to make them work together. Seriously I have overflowed my system for different reasons at least 10 times, luckily for me I have stained concrete but it still sucks. Before I got smart enough to put some egg crate underneath all of the electronics (in my office) I lost a fax machine and a modem and had my PC got wet on the enough times that its rusty on the bottom, it actually gave me a shock before trying to dry it off. The modem actually caught on fire but again luckily we have stained concrete. I HAVE BEEN THERE! Why does this always happen at night??? Whenever you are ready I can help you setup your 75 in a way that it won't overflow again unless your tank overflow gets clogged (I haven't had this happen yet), its all with plumbing, nothing expensive. Also I would recommend a water alarm, I actually saw one at Lowes yesterday for less than $20. What equipment are you missing to get hubby to let you set it up again? Maybe we can all pitch in to get you up and running again, I have some stuff you can use for as long as you need to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
August Posted May 23, 2010 Author Share Posted May 23, 2010 well it needs a bigger stand... the stand on it has NO room under it to do anything... the sump on it is TINY bout 20gal max I would say... has Bio balls in it which I have heard is alot more trouble then its worth...and the protein skimmer just recently quit working... I mean we can buy stuff slowly and Jake had looked online about building a stand (that way we can save in some cost) it definately needs more lighting it had only one T5 double corallife fixture and even it was only 36 in long.... Mark definately recomends a reactor too... I just want one of those tanks that I see everyone else has... and I know it will take time and am willing to go the distance... so I guess Mark is the better one to really say exactly what I need that is the most important stuff... I know a stand, protein skimmer, and better sump were firsts on his list.... thanks so much for the help if we werent renting this place from my mom I would consider pulling up the carpet and staining the concret underneath.. I thinki t looks nice and you can always use rugs haha.. those can either be hung outside or thrown away I just know that Jake and I stayed up till like 2am trying to get fans on the carpet.... then he had to get up to go move stuff with my brother in law @ 5.. so I am sure he is just in a wonderful mood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted May 23, 2010 Share Posted May 23, 2010 That sucks! Like I said, it always happens at night or when I'm out of town, or both. When your ready if you need some help on the stand let me know, I have all the wood working tools needed to build a nice stand in case he wants to come use them. Could probably knock it out in a day. If you are just wanting to paint the wood then it wouldn't cost that much money to make it out of pine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
August Posted May 23, 2010 Author Share Posted May 23, 2010 Thanks I will run that by him when he gets home... (depending on mood of course) he may not even want to think about it at the moment... I just dont want to lose my sand bed or the setup I bought it with ideas about where I wanted it to go and what I invisioned it looking like one day.... ya you do good stands and set up I can tell by your most recent work thanks again means alot to have people that understand haha... yeah I would be afraid to go out of town without someone here to watch the stuff... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted May 23, 2010 Share Posted May 23, 2010 A...you are actually is a great place because you are wanting to transition between two types of tank personalities that I talk to people about. Right now, you want a great looking tank, but you don't have the time/money/resources to do it. In tank personality terms, you are a tank dabbler. The great news for you is that the tank you have is great for a tank dabbler. You can keep your current setup and fish just fine w/out any upgrades and everything will be fine. The fish you have are very hardy so you won't have to watch fish die and wonder why. In fact, you could even start adding certain fish to get more color/personalities while you are building up your resources to become a reef enthusiast. You can do all of this w/out changing a thing or spending a dime on your tank. Since you know you want to be a reef enthusiast eventually, you can take the time you have now to gather pieces of equipment you need, to read about different types of corals so you can plan your reef enthusiast tank. You'll be saving yourself the headache of trying to keep a reef enthusiasts' tank while you are a tank dabbler. I call this tank confusion and leads to frustration (as you outlined above) and lots of money spent on corals that die and equipment that isn't needed. It sounds like your big tank is already broken down (?) so PM me about what to do with the fish you had in there b/c they won't play well with what you have in the 46. I know its hard to see everyone else's tank and feel like yours is never going to get there. But if you use the time you have now wisely, when you get to set the 75 back up, you'll be way ahead of where you think you could be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lamont Posted May 23, 2010 Share Posted May 23, 2010 Hey August, sorry to here about your woes but i was wondering do you use a canopy on your 75g? i also have a 75 gallon, and i was going to tell you that i have a light fixture you could use but you would have to hang it from the ceiling. It would be just two tiny holes into studs.(you could paint over the holes when you take it down) I have a canopy on mine but i took the top boards off so the fixture would sit inside or above. Its 1x250w HQI Metal halide with 2x96wactinics and blue moonlights. I just switched it out with a 2x250w Metal halide with 2x65w actinics. You would have to buy/borrow the MH bulb and hanging kit. The hanging kit was 27.00 at RCA. The actinics are still in there and less than a month old. I dont want to sell it because i may start a new tank soon. The fixture looks exactly like the one of the picture i posted. LMK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
August Posted May 23, 2010 Author Share Posted May 23, 2010 thank you Lamont I will have to consider it.. no my current set up doesnt have a canopy but when we build the stand we will build one to match... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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