Dashylock
New member
Picked up a used 125g rr tank yesterday from a local RC member, as well as a new stand. I'm going to be upgrading from a 40 breeder to this standard 6' 125g.
Have a couple questions regarding the plumbing (drilling the stand and sump setup), tank transfer, reinforcing the stand, sealing the stand and making nsw.
The stand I bought is not rr, what kind of bit do I need to drill the Holes for the corner overflows? Are there any diagrams out there that depict where I need to drill the stand? Willing drilling or sawing the stand decrease the integrity and load bearing ability of the stand? The way it sits, doesn't seem like this stand can support 1200 lbs, its an R+J stand.
I want to seal the inside of the stand with watertight sealant, like Krilz2 and then paint it white for visibility. I assume any latex based sealant should do the job, but what about paint "“ do I need marine paint?
The existing plumbing used 3/4" soft tubing, I want to hard plumb the return and drain as well as incorporate an emergency drain. Should I bump up the PVC size to 1" so that I don't restrict any flow? Do I need a gate valve for every return/drain line?
There is one check valve w union fitting and ball valve on the return right after the pump...should I have an additional check valve after the T and before the opposite overflow? What other fittings would I need to hard plumb this system? Do I need to replace these bulkheads? The return looks like its primed and has barbed connections "“ how would I attach hard pvc to this fitting if I can't remove the barbed connection?
Here is a pic of the 35 gallon acrylic sump and mag drive pump that came with the tank. It has four chambers, from right to left (drain, skimmer (fuge), baffles, return.) Does that seem like the right orientation?
Tank Transfer Plans (let me know if this is a good plan), I will not be adding any new livestock so bioload will be the same or less "“ not anticipating a major cycle, a mini cycle yes:
1.Set up all dry equipment and plumbing on 125
2.Remove live rock from 40b and place into totes
3.Remove 50% water from 40 and place into 5 gallon buckets
4.Remove livestock/corals from 40 and place into buckets
5.Take few cups of 40b sand to seed 125
6.Travel 5 miles to new tank location
7.Fill 125 with ~ 50% nsw
8.Add existing live rock (~40 lbs) to 125
9.Add 100lbs new dry aragonite sand and 2 cups live sand from 40b
10.Fill 125 with remaining % of nsw and existing 40b nsw, don't know how or where I can get 100g of nsw "“ don't have the ability to make that much nsw in advance?
11.Turn on pump/powerheads and cross fingers
Will use my existing Vertex 130 skimmer which was overkill on my 40 and my bioload is low enough where I think it can handle the 125g. Will also use 2 (wp25) and if needed a Koralia 1000 gph "“ is this enough flow for the 125?
That's all I can think of for the moment, just want to get this upgrade going! Thanks for reading!
Have a couple questions regarding the plumbing (drilling the stand and sump setup), tank transfer, reinforcing the stand, sealing the stand and making nsw.
The stand I bought is not rr, what kind of bit do I need to drill the Holes for the corner overflows? Are there any diagrams out there that depict where I need to drill the stand? Willing drilling or sawing the stand decrease the integrity and load bearing ability of the stand? The way it sits, doesn't seem like this stand can support 1200 lbs, its an R+J stand.
I want to seal the inside of the stand with watertight sealant, like Krilz2 and then paint it white for visibility. I assume any latex based sealant should do the job, but what about paint "“ do I need marine paint?
The existing plumbing used 3/4" soft tubing, I want to hard plumb the return and drain as well as incorporate an emergency drain. Should I bump up the PVC size to 1" so that I don't restrict any flow? Do I need a gate valve for every return/drain line?
There is one check valve w union fitting and ball valve on the return right after the pump...should I have an additional check valve after the T and before the opposite overflow? What other fittings would I need to hard plumb this system? Do I need to replace these bulkheads? The return looks like its primed and has barbed connections "“ how would I attach hard pvc to this fitting if I can't remove the barbed connection?
Here is a pic of the 35 gallon acrylic sump and mag drive pump that came with the tank. It has four chambers, from right to left (drain, skimmer (fuge), baffles, return.) Does that seem like the right orientation?
Tank Transfer Plans (let me know if this is a good plan), I will not be adding any new livestock so bioload will be the same or less "“ not anticipating a major cycle, a mini cycle yes:
1.Set up all dry equipment and plumbing on 125
2.Remove live rock from 40b and place into totes
3.Remove 50% water from 40 and place into 5 gallon buckets
4.Remove livestock/corals from 40 and place into buckets
5.Take few cups of 40b sand to seed 125
6.Travel 5 miles to new tank location
7.Fill 125 with ~ 50% nsw
8.Add existing live rock (~40 lbs) to 125
9.Add 100lbs new dry aragonite sand and 2 cups live sand from 40b
10.Fill 125 with remaining % of nsw and existing 40b nsw, don't know how or where I can get 100g of nsw "“ don't have the ability to make that much nsw in advance?
11.Turn on pump/powerheads and cross fingers
Will use my existing Vertex 130 skimmer which was overkill on my 40 and my bioload is low enough where I think it can handle the 125g. Will also use 2 (wp25) and if needed a Koralia 1000 gph "“ is this enough flow for the 125?
That's all I can think of for the moment, just want to get this upgrade going! Thanks for reading!
