KaceyJ Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 Hello all. This is my first question here. I currently have a reef setup in a 55g. I have a black lionfish, horseshoe crab, 2 large featherdusters, a 7lb fiji tunnel rock with about 30 small white feather dusters, a candy anemone, bar goby, lawnmower blenny, pj cardinal, and a few dammsel. Corals are mostly zoas, mushrooms gsp, a leather, and some harder pieces. I am moving to a 150gl acrylic tank with a sump. It has standard florescent lighting, and I was wondering: 1. I would love to hear suggestions for lighting as I am almost clueless as to which to choose. 2. The sump was being used for freshwater. I am going to pull out the bioballs and replace with it with live rock rubble. I am going to find a way to include a refugium with this system, but i have not been able to get a look into the sump. The tank is not currently at my house. 3. How should I go about making the switch from one to the other with my livestock and corals. Thank you everyone for looking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewT Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 Hello all. This is my first question here. I currently have a reef setup in a 55g. I have a black lionfish, horseshoe crab, 2 large featherdusters, a 7lb fiji tunnel rock with about 30 small white feather dusters, a candy anemone, bar goby, lawnmower blenny, pj cardinal, and a few dammsel. Corals are mostly zoas, mushrooms gsp, a leather, and some harder pieces. I am moving to a 150gl acrylic tank with a sump. It has standard florescent lighting, and I was wondering:1. I would love to hear suggestions for lighting as I am almost clueless as to which to choose. 2. The sump was being used for freshwater. I am going to pull out the bioballs and replace with it with live rock rubble. I am going to find a way to include a refugium with this system, but i have not been able to get a look into the sump. The tank is not currently at my house. 3. How should I go about making the switch from one to the other with my livestock and corals. Thank you everyone for looking. I made the move from a 55 to 90. Set your new tank up as soon as possible to get it cycling. Let it do its thing for a few days. Slowly start adding your rock to the tank. After tank is cycled move your livestock over and tear the old one down. Go with halide lighting, more expensive then t5 but youll be happier with the results. Also pick up a bottle of stability from aquatek itll help get your tank cycled a lot sooner, and its great when adding new fish to the tank too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooks Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 (edited) Whoa... you have a horseshoe crab? How long have you had him in there? Anyways, I'd go with Metal Halides for the lighting. I don't know the exact specifications of your tank, so just ask around and see what you're going to need as far as those go. They are more pricey than others. As for moving them, you should get your water parameters adjusted so they don't differ much from what you have now. You're going to want to add all of your sand first, then slowly add the rock, then after a week or so,arrange the corals as the tank's cycles have progressed.. As I'm sure you did with your 55g, you'll have to do the same involving all the new tank cycles. If I'm understanding right, the 150g is empty and you're basically starting over again. Except this time, you already have your livestock. Good luck. Edited February 23, 2009 by Little_Reef Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaceyJ Posted February 23, 2009 Author Share Posted February 23, 2009 (edited) the horseshoe is not big at all, main body about golfball size. I can not wait to give him more area to dig into. The lionfish is new, but he has not bother my horseshoe at all....yet. Should I move my old sand into this tank? I figured if I used already established sand/rock and rock in the sump and a bit of my water, and left the coral in fish in the old one for a short while, I should be ok. Sounds like I may be wrong. Oh, and the aquarium is 6'L x 2' W, I failed to get height. Edited February 23, 2009 by KaceyJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaceyJ Posted February 23, 2009 Author Share Posted February 23, 2009 would these be good? 2 black hanging metal halide pendant lights, 175 watts each Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 would these be good?2 black hanging metal halide pendant lights, 175 watts each For a 150, I'd go for 250's at least. What are the dimensions of the tank? Acrylic tanks are more prone to needing chillers when they are used with MH lighting so you might want to ready you pocket book for that step.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 There is a lot of debating as to the best way to do this. I have upgraded twice and I will share my experience. The first upgrade was from a 29 to a 55. I was not adding any new rock and I used new live sand. So once the tank was set up I just moved everything over and had no cycle since all that had really changed was the volume of water. Then I upgraded to a 125. This time I had to add more rock and knew I would have a cycle. So I set up the new tank and put the new rock in it along with a couple of the pieces from the 55 to get it started with the bacteria. I let it cycle and once it was done I moved everything over. Both moves were done with no losses. As for lighting I would go with 250w MHs. The 175s will not give you enough penetration on a tank that big. If your tank has a center brace you can use just 2 of them and should be fine. Be careful not to put a MH lamp directly over an acrylic brace as the heat will cause it to craze and eventually it could give out. I think it is a good idea to get rid of the balls and add live rock rubble. I have always felt that natural items in our systems are more beneficial than man made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaceyJ Posted February 23, 2009 Author Share Posted February 23, 2009 Hey everyone, Thank you for the input. I am looking at a light fixture that is 72" with 3 x 250w MH and either 4 pc or 4 t5 ho. my gf is gonna kill me, cause that will be more than i spent for the tank lol. I was thinking if i used my pieces of roxks without coral, and purchased some live cured rock locally, that i should have little of a cycle, but I guess I should be on the safe side and wait at least a week. I just have NO patience lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 Hey everyone, Thank you for the input. I am looking at a light fixture that is 72" with 3 x 250w MH and either 4 pc or 4 t5 ho. my gf is gonna kill me, cause that will be more than i spent for the tank lol. I was thinking if i used my pieces of roxks without coral, and purchased some live cured rock locally, that i should have little of a cycle, but I guess I should be on the safe side and wait at least a week. I just have NO patience lol That should be plenty of power...but be aware it will kick out plenty of heat as well so you might have tank temp issues. Are you looking at buying one new? Aquatek has plenty of MH fixtures on consignment right now..one with VHO actinics and 250W lights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Capt. Obvious Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 Hey everyone, Thank you for the input. I am looking at a light fixture that is 72" with 3 x 250w MH and either 4 pc or 4 t5 ho. my gf is gonna kill me, cause that will be more than i spent for the tank lol. I was thinking if i used my pieces of roxks without coral, and purchased some live cured rock locally, that i should have little of a cycle, but I guess I should be on the safe side and wait at least a week. I just have NO patience lol if you have no patience get BIO-SPIRA if you can find it locally....(good luck with that) or Stabality...they "cycle the tank faster"...I have no experience with them but others love the stuff.... or better yet get some patience Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisfowler99 Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 or better yet get some patients "patience" will help too. (sorry...normally I wouldn't be so anal, but I just found this little guy ( ) and wanted to use him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 if you have no patients get BIO-SPIRA if you can find it locally....(good luck with that) or Stabalize...they "cycle the tank faster"...I have no experience with them but others love the stuff....or better yet get some patients I swear by Stabilze. For $9, it works wonders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Capt. Obvious Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 "patience" will help too. (sorry...normally I wouldn't be so anal, but I just found this little guy ( ) and wanted to use him. hehehe i edited it before you got to it bwahahaha..or maybe he should become a doctor...and make tons of money...for the hobby ...or something Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisfowler99 Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 hehehe i edited it before you got to it bwahahaha..or maybe he should become a doctor...and make tons of money...for the hobby ...or something I've got the evidence in my quote of you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaceyJ Posted February 23, 2009 Author Share Posted February 23, 2009 I am interested in used parts, do you member the specs? I need to go buy some food for my mantis shrimp anyways. I have been thinking about a chiller, but I think the first thing should be an upgrade to the protein skimmer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 I am interested in used parts, do you member the specs? I need to go buy some food for my mantis shrimp anyways. I have been thinking about a chiller, but I think the first thing should be an upgrade to the protein skimmer. It was a 48" retro fit kit. 2x250W, 2x??W VHO actinics. They also had several MH 250W pendants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colektm364 Posted February 24, 2009 Share Posted February 24, 2009 This week, I made the move... I found a 175 Bow Front in Dallas that was a running system, with about 150 lbs. of live rock and the biggest Stars and Sripes Puffer fish I have ever seen. I did not use the sand or water from the 175 only the live rock. I did however use the sand, water and about 60 to 70 lbs. of my lr. from my 75. After 4 days and testing the water over and over, I acclimated the fish and corals last night. So far everything looks good except, I only have 4 fish and a hand full of corals in that big ol tank so it looks bare right now. If you have a Eheim sludge vacuum, it works good to clean the sand before you move it to the other tank. Good Luck with your move!!! Oh bye the way, the Stars and Stripes Puffer fish is at River City Aquatics.... Its about the size of football. Thanks Jake, for all your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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