D-Monics 65G upgrade diary!Help along the way! hehe

[d-monic]

Ok,so starting tonight and hopefully ending this upcoming Tuesday,im upgrading my current 45 G tall FOWLR,to a 65G tank which will be a noob reef! Ive never swapped tanks before so im sure this is gonna be fun

hopefully i can keep everyone on here updated as i go and if im doing something terribly wrong you can warn me lolthis is the new tank:

Its going to not have that black canopy on top though,instead will be this light standing on legs:

Its got 260 watts w/lunar lights *so excitedddd!!!* lol
ok,plans for tonight goes as follows:
-rearrange room to put tank in place
-do 5 gallon water change on current tank,take the 5 gallons removed from it and put it in the new tank,along with a fresh 5g and a powerhead,totalling 10 gallons in the new tank.
-Put 15 pounds of new sand into the new tank.
-Put black background on tank.
Random pic!:
My first corals!! i bought these zoos for $20 from an LFS that went out!

 

[renogaw]

nice little upgrade if i can offer some advice...take the lights back and get either t5's or metal halides. those are the same lights i have and you won't be able to have the "nice" corals. not only that, but the replacement bulbes are near $40-50 each every 6-8 months

 

[d-monic]

Originally Posted by renogaw
nice little upgrade if i can offer some advice...take the lights back and get either t5's or metal halides. those are the same lights i have and you won't be able to have the "nice" corals. not only that, but the replacement bulbes are near $40-50 each every 6-8 months
Thanks much for the info!! Unfortunately though i bought the new setup off a local guy,nothing was actually straight from the store so the lights arent returnable lol ! I never really intend on keepin hard corals, id just like to do alot of polyps,mushrooms and softies but in the future when i get some money ill probably upgrade when that reefer bug bites even harder!!

 

[renogaw]

that light will be perfect for softies. The color won't show up as nicely (personal experience...) but they are a great way to start
If you're able to get it, i found A PocketExpert Guide to Marine Invertebrates: 500+ Essential-to-Know Aquarium Species (Paperback) to be a good beginner book to look at some corals (and other inverts).

 

[reefkprz]

well if your going to go PC coralife is the way to go. IMO they have the best color and are brighter than some other bulbs .

 

[renogaw]

Originally Posted by reefkprZ
well if your going to go PC coralife is the way to go. IMO they have the best color and are brighter than some other bulbs .

yup, they work great for pc's, but i've picked up zoos at the lfs under t5's (maybe mh's, not sure) and the color was a lot brighter in the store than in my house.

 

[d-monic]

Thanks for all the info about the lights,i do wish i could upgrade...but right now i dont really have the funds,and i dont plan on gettin any "hard" corals soon so hopefully i can make it for awhile hehe
heres my first inquiry though! Im taking the tank up to a LFS tommorow, to possibly get it cut/drilled on the top,since its acrylic, unlike a normal glass tank which is all open up top,it looks like this *from memory,ill look again when i get home*:

this gives me NO room for HOB stuff,other then the slot in the middle for the overflow...im thinking of having it cut to look more like this:

or even instead of the one big opening,two big openings on either side of the overflow slot in the original....i wanted to have an opening because i have a HOB fuge by CPR i wanted to use,i also have a bak pak...would i be better off trying to put a fuge under the tank with my wet dry? *Right now i have a gigantic pro clear aquatics wet dry...id have to downgrade it a bit to try and even fit a 10 gallon in there* or should i get the top cut like shown above? :notsure: ...i knwo this is confusing...if anyone has any idea what im talking about id really appreciate input,if you need pics,more explination,let me know too!!

 

[d-monic]

ok,forgetting about the whole filtration situation right now,heres the tank in its new home:

i just now put a black background on it,and put in some live sand that was from a LFS that closed down about 4 days ago,this was used in their tanks:

My question is now,i was gonna take 5gallons from the current tank *water change* and 5 fresh gallons,and let it mix in there with the new sand...should i not do that? I dont plan on making the big switch until tuesday,but i just thought doing that might met me make sure the new sand isnt gonna have die-off and cause a spike...grrr...if anyone sees this,let me know what you think!!