Tank upgrade

[lionguy]

Been lurking for a while and finally decided to get posting

. just bought a 150G tank with 40G sump. going to upgrade my 55G with 2 lions in it. They've long outgrown it and been needing something new for a while and just finally found a steal on a tank and couldn't resist. Huge tank and hoping all is going to go well. Read a lot and learned a lot thanks to all of you on this forum

and will keep you all posted on the upgrade as well as im sure going to be asking many questions as I learn more about this hobby that I thought I knew much about until I started to actually learn how things should be done

will get some pix up of the tank when I pick it up tomorrow. starting setup this weekend if I can manage the money for the salt to fill the sucker after buying the tank.

 

[skate020]

nice i will be looking forward to this one

 

[lionguy]

ok so trying to plan my weekend out and decide how to start the cycle on this tank. Tank was just broken down yesterday and had half the water in it still as well as about 100# sand and snails and all sorts of goodies. I was told that theres probably tons of eggs left in the sand. If tank sets till sun when I fill and start will everythign die in there by then? and if nto will shock of new water kill anything thats left in sand? and my other question for now is what do you all recomend as far as starting the new tank? I was thinking about doing a 30% water change on my 55G tank and putting all old water in new tank and when I change media on filter (fluval304 for the 55) just put all old stuff in and finish filling with new water. also I have CC in 55G and its more than Ive needed in there. should I put several #s in new tank and just mix in to get as much bacteria as I can to start? I know that these small anounts goign into a 150G (190 w sump) tank is probably nothing but anything helps right? Havnt picked up tank yet but im assuming that hes leaving enough water in bottom to cover sand. Should I use old tankk water (his and mine) or just start totally new?

 

[kylev]

Im not real knowledgable yet but IMO i would use your own water and scrap the sand as well unless you personally know the guy your buying the tank from. I just wouldnt want to start off on the wrong foot with a new set up by using sand/water with bad critters or parameters

 

[lionguy]

ok so I got it set up and filled yesterday

need to go buy a heater today as the ones I thought I had are gone and my light for my sump went out last night too. sump is making a ton of noise and I gotta figure out how to cut down on that. Much to my surprise when I got up this morning there is stuff that is still alive in there despite all the temp changes and lack of water and water mixing. there are snails crawling up the tank walls and all in the tank. over 20 that I can see and I haven't dug through the sand yet to see what was buried. And the few rock frags that are in there seem to be full of stuff still too

once I get a heater and my lights sorted out im going to go get live rock to put in there. im hoping that the algae that was in the sump will come back too.

 

[lionguy]

These are the guys going into the tank once its done. I just had a recent outbreak of algae so it doesnt look the best.

 

[salt210]

more than likely there will have to be fresh made water added along with the old. good luck with the conversion

 

[lionguy]

Ok so now that my tank is up im thinking about stocklist for once cycle is finished. I have the 2 adult lions that are goign in there for sure. I was thinking about getting maybe a SFE and a zebra in there as well. If i do that the eels should be ok to add later after lions are setteled in right? as long as they're decent size adn i get them both at the same time. Still thinking about what else I want but those are a for sure for the time being. any other thoughts on what you would get in addition to the 2 lions and 2 eels?

 

[saxman]

if you're really planning on adding two eels, i'd say you're pretty much done. a SFE in captivity will grow to about 30" (i kept one for 15 years) and a zebra to about 4', so you have 6.5' of eel + 2' of adult volitans, which is a pretty hefty bioload, as all of those fish have a lot of body mass and produce a lot of waste.
if you stock one eel, that would give you some "space" bioload-wise for another fish or two, depending on what you decide to keep.
i suppose it really boils down to how much maintenance you want to do in terms of WC's and cleaning the tank.
also, i'd find eels that are around twice the length of your lions, as a hungry volitans will see a smaller specimen as so much spaghetti and slurp it up.
JM .02...

 

[lionguy]

ok maybe ill go that route. Just get the SFE and figure out what else ill get. something else that probably wont hide most of the day. My son was asking aobut startfish. These should be ok with lions and eels in the tank right? provided its somethign decent sized. ill have to read up on them before I get one. thanks all for the help so far.

 

[lionguy]

ok so I'm a bit confused... Decided to measure my levels on sat (day 6 set up) my lvls were ph 7.8 amm .25 nitrite 0 nitrate 20. Figured all was going ok. Decided to throw a shrimp in there just to help things along. Well aside from my snails going nuts for it it just blew around and slowly decayed. So last night it was still in the tank. Now today (about 9 days) looked at the tank tonight and I can't find the shrimp anywhere and I looked everywhere. And I mean everywhere. Only a few pounds of LR in the rank so I can see the entire bottom. Decided to measure levels again to see if anything decided to spike. Ph 7.8 amm 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 20. Access to computer now... I'll finish post in a few.

 

[lionguy]

Ok much better than typing on a phone. So I don't think I got my full cycle did I? there should be something more than that right? I Did keep in there what water I had from when I got the tank and took over 10 gal from my established 55G and rung out filter and everything in there, transferred a bit of my CC from the 55 and 2 rocks. I know that in a well established tank with high flow something dead can decay almost instantly but this hasnt been set up but just over a week. Any thoughts? I did put in another 3 shrimp tonight and goign to see what happens with them and see if I can get something to happen with my levels. I'm getting about 80# LR sat night and another 100# Sunday so i know that it will probably spin the tank again. I just found that all odd. any thoughts?

 

[lionguy]

oks o been a while since ive updated and a lot has gone on since then. In my hunt for LR I found a guy that was breaking down a reef tank and was just a bit more to take everything that he had and not just the rock that was not occupied.... So now I have a reef pred tank. Tank only had a 2 week cycle but the guy had to get this tank out. My levels were great like I had said before but I was still iffy about it but I took the chance. Picked stuff up on a sat night after work. 8pm-10pm pack up. hour and a half drive home it was about 1130. didnt go to bed till about 530AM. it was a long stressfull night. But all is well. I had figured that everythign would take a few days to open up and look decent again from the move but everythign was great the next day. everything was colorful and active. Im new to the reef scene but learning a lot as I know and reasearching non stop now. And I still need ID's on most of the stuff so if you all know please feel free to chime in. I think i've figured out what most things are but not all and not 100% on the things I think i know what are. Reef has been in the tank for exactly a week now and everything is still looking great. Just tested as well and everything is at 0

Lions are goign in tomorrow. let me know what you think

 

[lionguy]

 

[lionguy]

 

[lionguy]

ohh and the heaters are goign in sump tomorrow. The yellow tang went back to the guy I got the reef from. He was hiding in some on the rock as we were breaking the tank down and came home with me but I'm thinking about getting another. The other fish the guy didnt want so I said why not. extra indicator that tank is healthy before my lions go in. Blue damsels will probably get eaten. Black ones have been jerks to all the little ones. I dont think they will be an issue with the lions but if they are away they will go.

 

[lionguy]

Lions are in

got my heart rate up getting them out of the 55 but didn't get stung and all is well. been in for about an hour and just kinda hung out in the corner so far. I think my more adventurous one was discouraged because as soon as he started to look around he floated over the anemone a few times then just hung out on the side. im sure they be happy though as soon as they finish adjusting.

 

[subie41ife]

very nice upgrade sir! enjoy!

 

[madhatter9382]

those lions don't go after the chromis?

 

[lionguy]

Yes, those were gone after about 3 days. It was expected. The guy that I bought all the rock and corals from didnt want them so I said why not. If they lived good for them, if not ohh well. Even with feeding the lions more than they normally get they still got them.