TMY880 150 Tank Diary

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tmy880

Guest
Thought I would start a diary of my new (to me) upgrade from a 55 Glass FOWLR tank to a 110 Acrylic with 40 gallon sump. I am thinking of making it a soft coral tank. The new tank was in horrible condition but had very good potential. This is a huge step up from my canister filter tank.
I sold my old 55 gallon tank for $400 dollars and bought the new 110 with sump for $450.
The following equipment is in my new tank:
110 Gallon Tru View acrylic middle overflow tank.
Top Fatham TF 200A protein skimmer.
2-900 Maxi Jet powerheads.
Sump I believe is around 50 gallons made by Tide Pool Marine.
I have 2 Little Giant pumps running the system thru the sump and back into the tank.
It should be an experience changing the tanks out.
Here are some before pics:


More to follow
 
mike22cha

mike22cha

Active Member
Looks like the tank needs a scrubbing down, but sweet deal! I got my 125g for 500$ including filters, pumps, misc., and everything but lights. Of course I upgraded filtration, but still, I thought I got a good deal too. Can't wait to see your tank up and running.
 
T

tmy880

Guest
Some updates after cleaning.
I had a few leaks in the sump from a the previous owner but about 15 bucks later they are fixed with help from this forum.
Took about a day to clean everything......basically took the whole system apart and put back together after a good scrubbing.
The next plan is to empty old tank, move fish and rock into buckets with water from existing tank and move old tank.
Replace with new tank.......fill with new saltwater and new sand.....then add existing live sand and live rock on top of new sandbed then let settle.......finally add fish.
Crossing my fingers

Here are some pics after the cleaning: Will add more later.

 
trigger11

trigger11

Member
Congratulations on the new tank. You were right. It definitely had potential and I think it will look pretty sweet when you are done.
One suggestion I might make would be to get like a 40G transfer tank. Unless you have a good size QT that you always have to put your fish in. It is amazing how long it takes to get everything out of the 55G and get the new tank set up in it's place. If you have the 40G transfer tank you can put the LR, water and fish in there. Then you can put the sand from your 55G into a bucket or two. I think this is less stressful on the fish as well as they still have the rocks they are used to with them in the transfer tank.
Best of luck on the upgrade and keep the pics coming.
 
T

tmy880

Guest
Originally Posted by trigger11
Congratulations on the new tank. You were right. It definitely had potential and I think it will look pretty sweet when you are done.
One suggestion I might make would be to get like a 40G transfer tank. Unless you have a good size QT that you always have to put your fish in. It is amazing how long it takes to get everything out of the 55G and get the new tank set up in it's place. If you have the 40G transfer tank you can put the LR, water and fish in there. Then you can put the sand from your 55G into a bucket or two. I think this is less stressful on the fish as well as they still have the rocks they are used to with them in the transfer tank.
Best of luck on the upgrade and keep the pics coming.

I wish I had a transfer tank.........but I dont. Gotta use big laundry buckets with the rope handles to transfer stuff.......luckily I only have 7 fish to transfer. I sure loss is inevitable.
Will post more pics during the process. Thanks for looking.
 
hefner413

hefner413

Active Member
I see you already have water in there, but I was able to clean the used acrylic I bought using a palm vibrating sander with a soft cloth and Novus #3, #2, and #1. It took about 2 hrs, but buffed out 90% of the scratches. Maybe something to look into if you haven't gone too far yet. They use the stuff to buff out scratches on airplane windshields, etc. It was very inexpensive ($20 for the 3 bottles). I have a couple pics of before/after if you want.
 
T

tmy880

Guest
Originally Posted by Hefner413
I see you already have water in there, but I was able to clean the used acrylic I bought using a palm vibrating sander with a soft cloth and Novus #3, #2, and #1. It took about 2 hrs, but buffed out 90% of the scratches. Maybe something to look into if you haven't gone too far yet. They use the stuff to buff out scratches on airplane windshields, etc. It was very inexpensive ($20 for the 3 bottles). I have a couple pics of before/after if you want.
Actually I used some water in the tank, and used a credit card type card (Smiths Values Card) and scrubbed the tank. Believe it or not it only took about 3 hours, not bad but rough on the shoulders and arms.
Thanks for the tips on the buffer.
It had very minimal scratches thank God, I thought it would have been worse with all the scrubbing I did.
Thanks for looking
 
T

tmy880

Guest
Originally Posted by TriGa22
Great buy! Tank looks nice after you cleaned it. Now your going to let that cycle right?
I just filled the tank to check for leaks and get the sump and pumps working properly......its just fresh water.
My next plan is to drain my current tank and move all the critters and water into temporary containers. Then I will move my old tank out of the way to make way for the new monster.
Move the new tank in, and set up.
Have premixed water to begin filling the new tank. Add new sand.
Add old sand on top of that from old tank, and then add old live rock.
Let new tank settle and check perameters daily for any spikes for about 2 days. Hopefully shouldnt cycle much.
If all is well then add old fish into tank with acclimation and walaaaaaaa.
Crossing my fingers.

Any suggestions on modifying this let me know..........trust me all the help I can get I will probably need.
 
T

tmy880

Guest
Update:
The tank is in its new home and up and running.........here are some pics.



I added the majority of sand from my old tank, and the majority of the water.
All of the live rock went in the new tank.
When should I do my first water tests.......so I can move my fish from my 5 gallon bucket.
How will I know when I can add my fish from their temporary 5 gallon bucket home?
 
hefner413

hefner413

Active Member
sweet! nice plumbing too. I've heard when you transfer to just wait a few days to make sure there's no spike from stirring everything around like crazy. I'm not sure though. I would just wait til it clears, then watch parameters for a couple days.
 
T

tmy880

Guest
9/22/07 Update:
Just started my aquascaping with all the old rock I had from my other 55 tank.
The fish were added today with all my pirameters seeming to be ok. PH was a little high at 8.4.
Fish were acclimated and seem to be doing well. They look so much smaller in this huge world.
Pics:



Still have alot rock to add and more importantly I can add more fish.

More to follow.
 
T

tmy880

Guest
Update:
Added about 60 more pounds of Fiji Live Rock I got from a guy across town for $200 bucks. He also gave me my first soft corals, a blue mushroom and a tiny frag of pulsing xenia.
Pics below.



Here are the frags:


Now to just add better lights and start the softie frags coming in.
O ya, some fish also.
 
T

tmy880

Guest
Anyone know what lights would be good for this tank to run some softies?
I have two coralife 12000 K 24" bulbs on it right now and need to add more........
 
T

tmy880

Guest
Well went and got some used MH's from a guy on another board.
One worked and one didnt, so I shipped them back.
Decided to go with 2 250watt 14K Hamilton Bulbs made by IceCap.
I will post some pics when I get them up and running.
I will probably have to build a new canopy to get more clearance for the MH's.
I was thinking 8" above the water height..............is that enough?
 
T

tmy880

Guest
Well held off on the lights and bought a RO/DI unit from Air Water Ice.
Figured water quality was more important for the time being.
Gonna pick up two 250 watt Icecap ballasts with 20K MH bulbs from a seller locally for $300 bucks.............

Will post more when I get it.
Its kinda fun keeping a diary!
 
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