55 to 90 upgrade ?'s

[fishog]

In march I started my 55G reef tank . I started out with a 55G package from Tampa Bay saltwater . Now I'm getting ready to up grade to a 90G predrilled tank ( tired of the overflow and no room ) I have a few questions for the pros .
#1 would it be worth my while to put my sump in the basement so I wouldn't have to listen to the skimmer ,chiller and other pumps and make water changes easier and sump could be much bigger . Has any one had problems with this ?
#2 I'm using 4 110/W VHO's now would it be worth getting a MH and adding it to my canopy to make up for the added depth of the tank . I plan on keeping mainly soft corals .
#3 I have read not to use carbon filtration and then some people say to use it to remove softy chems from the water ?
#4 some people say to cook or nuke the live rock I purchased my rock directly out of the bay . Why nuke or cook the rock seems to defeat the purpose of buying live rock .
Thanks for any help !

 

[Vauche]

I would say:
#1) If the sound annoys you yes it would be worth it. For sump/fuge bigger is better so if the basement let's you go bigger and you don't mind the plumbing go for it. Seems like the hard part is matching pump to downflow in gph considering the distance needed to push water. Never done it but my understanding is it isn't much of an obstacle.
#2) If it was me I would go for stronger lights although you could probably get away with some softies under VHO. I ended up with T5 HO set-up, pretty nice.
#3) I have read that most use carbon from time to time but not on an everyday basis. Reasons carbon once full can start leaching back some of the stuff it collected. Others say it can take out some useful compounds from the water.
#4) Most of the time I hear about cooking rocks is when there is a problem that is being stubborn or difficult to get rid of (i.e. tons of aptasia, troubling algea ect.) I personally would not cook rock I just received although there can be some die off from transportation depending on how shipped. My understanding is TBS ships rock submerged at least that's what their website says so die off should at the very least be minimal. But moving from one tank to another I see no reason to "cook" the rock.

Hope this helps, or at least doesn't hurt.

 

[fishog]

Thanks for the help . I was very happy with the Rock I recieved from Tampa Bay the cycle was short and the levels didn't stay high for long . I'm still finding new stuff crawling around the tank all the time (good or bad sometimes I'm not sure )

 

[crvz]

1) I'd stick in the basement if that's an option, a great solution to easing the setup.
2) VHOs are fine for softies, I wouldnt worry about a lighting upgrade until you get more demanding corals
3) Carbon is only really effective for the first 7-10 days... I use it from time to time. Definitely not something I worry about all the time.
4) "Cooking" the rock is just a glorified curing procedure, dark bins, high frequency of large water changes, lots of swishing the rock around to knock of wastes; it's nothing to do with heat or otherwise. The term used is deceptive, and often trips up newbies. The reason people do it for initial rock purchases is to help lower the chance of unwanted hitchhikers and other nutrient issues, but if your setup is new you'll be find.

 

[fishog]

Thanks for the input I'm a pipefitter by trade so getting the water lines to the basement is no problem and I know it will make water changes much easier .