Upgrading a 72 gal. to a 180 gal.-Fish Tank-3reef Forums

packagerat · 05-13-2008, 06:55 PM

I finally convinced my wife that we needed a bigger tank. I have been doing SW for 2 years now and went from a 20 to the 72 now the 180. I am still a newbie at this and have plenty of questions so I hope everyone is patient.
1) Will the sand in the 72 be useable in the 180 ?

2) Sump and refugium will be in basement it will be about 10 feet of head on the pump, any recomdations ? (sump is drilled with a 1" bulkhead)

3) Tank is drilled with a 1.5" bulkhead and with the plumbing running down from that height will I have to do somthing like a sink "s" trap to slow it down when entering the sump ?

4) Will the new tank have to cycle before adding anything from the 72 ? LFS has at least 200 lbs of LR that is fully cured and the 72 has 120 lbs in it.

This past weekend I started on building the stand and will start posting pictures soon. In the basement under the tank on the wall is where the sump and refugium will be. The structure they will be in will also add some extra support to the floor above. The floor currently is supported with 2x4 floor truss's. I want to do this with the least amount of stress on all the inhabitants
I am sure I will have many questions as I go forward and all your opinion will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance ! John

lunatik_69 · 05-13-2008, 07:08 PM

Great job on the convincing part, you gotta let me know what you said

1. Hell ya, just syfone it in the 72 before you put it in the 180g
2. I dont have much exp. in separated systems like yours, but magdrives are very powerful. You might need to go with an external pump that is strong enough for the job.
3. As stated above, exp. you would either have to make a smooth flow or a J shape trap. You may want to pm Tangster about Q's 2 &3.
4. Your new tank has to go through a cycle, thats just normal. Luna

luvreefs23 · 05-13-2008, 09:01 PM

good luck with your new project, i wanted to do something similar with having the sump in the basement with my current tank but just put the whole thing in there. Look into those rubbermaid horse troughs as a sump, i hear they work great as a sump.

nemo1991 · 05-13-2008, 10:54 PM

yeah if you do it in the basement, then you could, like it said above, just use one of those huge black rubbermaid stuff, there like 150-300 gallons or something, and if you have it in the basement it would work, and it would give you so much more water mass for the tank, and it would help keep the tank more stable and such.

omard · 05-14-2008, 06:48 AM

Great job at convincing wife (wish you could talk mine into a larger system...

)

Use new sand...but using existing water and rock, and if LFS rock is "fully cured" - (you may want to get some and "test" out first...) - should not be much of a cycle if any. --- expect you would be fine moving everything over right away.

Have fun...

And of course share some pics of new baby.

APC · 05-14-2008, 08:13 AM

When I upgraded mine, I started with new sand as well...was worried there might be "stuff" trapped in my old sand that I did not want to release into the new tank.

I did use all of the water from the original tank, and the live rock of course.

As for the new live rock...can you slowly add it to your exisitng tank while you are building out the new tank? perhaps 10 lbs here and 10 lbs there...that way it can truly cure in your existing tank, which might be better suited to handle any potential spikes. Just a thought.

My new tank never really cycled after the upgrade - thanks to the water and rock from the old tank I think. I doubled my volume from 45 to 90 gallons by the way. I did notice that even though I did not have the spikes...the reef was not as vibrant as it was in the older tank for about 60 days (It looked good mind you...but not as full as it typically does)....eventually it caught up though...and now the coraline algae is back on the glass, etc. and it looks great. Also, for the first month, I did weekly 20% water changes just to be safe. Typically I do them b-weekly.

packagerat · 05-14-2008, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Great job on the convincing part, you gotta let me know what you said

Lots of begging!

Ill be wearing bandages on my knees for a week!
Just kidding I feel very lucky too have her understand me and this hobby. She also has her own 20 g SW in her classroom.

Quote:

Hell ya, just syfone it in the 72 before you put it in the 180g

The current sand is 2 years old should I worry about too many nutrients ?

lunatik_69 · 05-14-2008, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by packagerat

The current sand is 2 years old should I worry about too many nutrients ?

As long as you clean out the debrie, you should be fine. Luna

packagerat · 05-14-2008, 04:11 PM

Thanks Luna, I thought about putting it in a bucket then rinse it with SW and suck off the crappy water then add it to the 180

packagerat · 05-14-2008, 04:24 PM

Quote:

As for the new live rock...can you slowly add it to your exisitng tank while you are building out the new tank?

The 72 already has about 120lbs in it not a lot of room left, so I am taking his word that it is cured but once it is in the 180 I will check it often before adding anything.