Manny Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 Seems like everything is coming together nicely and I have much of the needed equipment so I said to myself, it's time to start your new tank build thread. I hope to guide you guys along every step that I take and share with you the excitement of upgrading to a bigger better aquarium. First off, what am I leaving behind? Well, I have a very basic 29 gallon setup with only the required minimum components. You can see the build thread here, http://www.austinreefclub.com/topic/29655-29g-basic-setup/ . All in all, I think I have payed enough attention, did enough maintenance, changed my mindset when I realized I was wrong, and most importantly, listened to other's experience to have been able to keep a fairly successful tank for the last 5 months. I definitely owe a lot of thanks to Jonathan (Bpb) for all the mentoring he has given me. I know I am by no means a reef guru yet but I feel confident enough that I am in the hobby for the long run that I decided to spend the money and buy an upgrade. So without further due, here is what I am now getting into: 75 Gallon Oceanic Tank w/internal overflow with with Oceanic Stand and Canopy (courtesy of Niko's Reef) 48x18x24 Swapped the smaller Oceanic sump for a basic 20 gallon long with baffles EuroReef CS6-2+ Protein Skimmer Rated for 125gallons 8 wavepoint T-5's all different colors Mag 7 return pump JBJ ATO w/aqua lifter pump. Bought a back up pump as well BRS Dual Media Reactor for use with carbon and GFO 15 more lbs of pukani dry rock, 2 tonga branches, 2 tonga flat plates (going to glue sps here) Got a TDS meter for my RO/DI unit 40lbs of arag-alive special grade Things that will be transferring over will be about 30lbs of fiji premium rock, a bunch of DIY rock, wp25, ebay 800gph powerhead, cobalt neo-therm heater, 40lbs of sand, and of course all the livestock. The tank will be delivered here this Friday. Unfortunately I will not be setting it up that same day. The stand needs a new paint job before it comes into my living room so first thing I will do is give that thing a new paint job. I am rinsing the dry rock in salt water right now and will leave it in there for probably a total of two weeks. I think I will do a slow transfer from my 29 gallon over to the 75 gallon. I followed JeeperTy's thread and might try and mimic the way he did his. The first thing I need to get into the new tank is going to be the sand. I want the new stuff to be the top layer so the sand has to go first. After that, I will some of my live rock along with all the new dry rock. Then of course, over a few weeks, the fish will all then go into the new aquarium. My 29 gallon will be used a a QT until all my fish purchases are done. After that, the wife wants me to buy her a dwarf lionfish and a trigger fish so she will probably be getting those guys into the 29 gallon. I will attach some pictures so you can see what all i have so far and take a look at the tank. I will keep you guys posted. Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted February 26, 2014 Author Share Posted February 26, 2014 rubble pieces My new BRS order. That box has a broken bucket of 175g Red Sea Pro Salt Mix My son wanted to photobomb the picture Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonzo59 Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 Looks awesome! If you want your old sand to be on the bottom; does this mean that your 29 g will be bare bottom whilst you are transferring fish and live rock? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted February 26, 2014 Author Share Posted February 26, 2014 Yep! The rock will come out slowly. Not going to take out the biological filtration all together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonzo59 Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 Sounds like a good plan to me. Love the photo bomb picture btw Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonzo59 Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 Sounds like a good plan to me. Love the photo bomb picture btw Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted February 26, 2014 Author Share Posted February 26, 2014 Ha thanks. He does that to just about every picture so i take a lot of doubles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Thanks for the shout out. Lol I just regurgitate most the solid advice I get from the fine folks on here and what I've sifted through the jerks on reef central ha ha. Excited to see this come together. I'll have some sps on hand as soon as you're ready! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted February 28, 2014 Author Share Posted February 28, 2014 Jonathan and that is exactly what I plan on doing when I am in your seat and someone new is in my position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted March 1, 2014 Author Share Posted March 1, 2014 Totally stoked. I just had my tank delivered today! I already started sanding the furniture and should be staining it tomorrow if the weather permits. I will post pictures tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted March 2, 2014 Author Share Posted March 2, 2014 Ok so I have been sanding all day. I started staining the stand but not liking the color so I might be giving it a whole new paint job tomorrow. I will post pics later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 Saw your new tank at Niko's. That new tank build is going to be great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted March 5, 2014 Author Share Posted March 5, 2014 Unfortunately mother nature has been PMS'ing hence the lack of pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted March 11, 2014 Author Share Posted March 11, 2014 Well the weather has not been favorable and I got tired of waiting. So what did I do? I waited for the wife to fall asleep and I brought the stand into the kitchen, pulled an all nighter, and finished painting the son of a gun. We tried two different stains and did not like the color so I decided to just paint it all black. I like this much better now. I set it up in the living room and have slowly started filling it up. I took all my dry rock and aquascaped that. I found a design I liked. I then put in my new sand and started filling with water. I did not do the entire aquascape because I don't want to keep the live rock from my current system out of the water for too long. I will be using the same scape from my current setup so once it's ready, aquascaping the rest will be easy. I took advantage of the stairwell behind the tank. I can use this to get into the tank a lot easier and have been filing it with water from the stairs. I take a 5 gallon bucket, create a siphon with a hose, and let it drain into the tank while I enjoy a tv show or what not. Anyhow, here are the pictures. Enjoy: Again Photo Bomb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 I always have a little helper too I like the black, and what a great idea about using the stairs for water changes! What'd your wife say when she got up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted March 11, 2014 Author Share Posted March 11, 2014 Well lets just say the good thing is that I was finished and I let her know that no matter what she said, the deed had already been done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 looks good manny. did the little helper learn that four-letter gesture from daddy's frustration with the stand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted March 12, 2014 Author Share Posted March 12, 2014 Ha no new words for my little man. He didn't see much frustration being that Tue only frustration was not being able to work on the stand. But anytime I worked in it, he was there helping me. He made it to about 2am before he gave out and I had it finished by the time he woke up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmvanness Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 I like the black too. I'm a bit concerned about the dwarf lion/ trigger combo though. Triggers are supposed to be bad about nipping lion fins. Maybe a fairly peaceful trigger like a blue throat? But I'm really not sure. I know I really like my dwarf fuzzy and loved my dwarf zebra. They have great personalities and are fun to watch. Also, your little helper is ADORABLE! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted March 15, 2014 Author Share Posted March 15, 2014 I like the black too. I'm a bit concerned about the dwarf lion/ trigger combo though. Triggers are supposed to be bad about nipping lion fins. Maybe a fairly peaceful trigger like a blue throat? But I'm really not sure. I know I really like my dwarf fuzzy and loved my dwarf zebra. They have great personalities and are fun to watch. Also, your little helper is ADORABLE! Thank you! He is a great little helper but does get in the way alot. I don't mind. He means well. I think he will be a handy man when you he grows up. As far as the trigger and lionfish combo, I just heard about that yesterday. I don't mind not getting a trigger. I am more about a lionfish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmvanness Posted March 15, 2014 Share Posted March 15, 2014 Can't wait to have my own kiddo. For now I just borrow other peoples'. Have you decided which dwarf you want? The fuzzy seems to be the hardiest by most accounts if you can get them to eat. Mine took live for several weeks but refused frozen. I got him on frozen by pulling off the heads and sliding the krill over the ghost shrimp's head to make a double tailed wiggling shrimp snack. A few days later he was taking frozen like a champ. I'm sure it would work on the others as well. You might also look into ghost ribbon eels it you like the oddballs. I really like mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted March 15, 2014 Author Share Posted March 15, 2014 Definitely the fuzzy dwarf. It will actually be my wife's fish. She wants a predator tank. And about the kids, all in time my friend. I waited 4 years to have my first and we had our daughter at 6 years of marriage. They sure are a blessing. You get a particular feeling when the little man wants to be just like daddy. No better feeling then having him help me with the fish tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmvanness Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 I'd be nice to have someone to help. lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted March 18, 2014 Author Share Posted March 18, 2014 So things have been going well. I moved over half of my rock and added some food for 10 days while monitoring ammonia. I saw zero ammonia for those ten days so I decided to bring over my pair of clowns. I have been checking my ammonia every day since then and have come to the conclussion that the live bacteria on my old rock was enough to support the new tank as long as I stuck with the same bio load. A few days after I added my clowns, I brought over my royal gramma. Still everything was looking good so two days later I brought in my yellow and tomini tang. By then I had realized I would not be seing a cycle so I brought over my goby along with my last piece of rock and shut down my old tank. The wife was really nagging about seeing a near empty tank in the living room so I think that kind of influenced my decision to bring everything over all of a sudden. I brought most of my coral over when i transferred my clowns. I really don't have any coral that are super amazing or really hard to maintain so I was willing to take the risk. Everything still looks good and I have yet to see any signs of a cycle. There has been water in my aquarium for about 18 days now. I will take some pictures later this week when I am not so busy with school and update you guys on what this is looking like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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