75 -> 150G Upgrade - New Methods and Transition Advice Needed

[InDashMP3]

Hi everybody. I've been a Reef Central member since June 2001, but have been unable to reset that account (e-mail vs password issues) and e-mails to Reef Central webmaster have remained unanswered. Nonetheless, I've setup a new account and trying to get caught up with advances in the hobby as I plan out my 150G. I've had my 75G up and running for 11 years, in which the tank itself has seen one major move between houses. The current setup is a DSB with about 100LBS of live rock. I have a Euro-Reef skimmer in a 20G sump. The display tank is on the main floor of our house, but the fish room and sump are in the basement. Fish consists only of a yellow tang, green chromis, and bristle tail file fish. I had a mated pair of clowns since Sep of 2011, however, the male died about 4 months ago, and the female jumped out of the tank 2 weeks later! They were in the tank for over 10 years!!! I have quite a few zoos, and plan to mainly stock the new tank with softies and fish. I have a Pan World return pump, a couple maxi-jets, and T5 lighting. What I believe I have settled on for the new tank is this:

1.) Bean Animal style external with coast to coast weir.
2.) 50 Gallon Sump
3.) ReeFlo Snapper (already purchased)
4.) LED lighting (DIY) - not sure if wanna go 3W or MultiChip!

My biggest questions are these:
1.) What's the general consensus on Deep Sand Beds now? I like them, but not sure if they're the way to go. If they are, is there danger in disrupting my existing sand bed from my 75, so I can put it in the 150?

2.) Live Rock - I have a problem with aiptasia, but I am trying to solve it before I move rock to the new tank. Looking at drummereefs's 180 build thread, there doesn't seem to be a lot of rock going on. Should I move all of my exiting rock, or start with dry rock? Any way to rid the remaining aiptasia easily without killing the good stuff in/on the rock when moving it to the new tank?

As mentioned above, my fish room is in the basement. I am planning on finishing our basement this spring and intend to build the 150 into the wall of the fish room. I intend to start a build thread, but wanted to get some preliminaries addressed before I get started. This community is awesome, and I thank you in advance.

 

[gpd124]

I have had success with peppermint shrimp. Joes juice also seems to work.

 

[RRaider]

You can't move your deep sand bed to the new tank unless it's very new, in fact I would disturb it as little as possible. Most people don't use them now but some do and are successful with them.

 

[InDashMP3]

gpd124 - thanks....I've got some peps in there....I think they are slowly addressing them.

RRaider - I had a hunch that was a no no. I do not want a bare bottom for sure. Is it safe to say I can't reuse any of my sand? The sand bed certainly is not new (11 years). I suppose I have to start with some dry sand all over?

 

[RocketEngineer]

Not a bad setup. I'm also in the process of upgrading from a 75g but in my case am going to a 125g. For my new setup, I plan on having an internal overflow box which feeds into an external box with the plumbing. The snapper seams like a lot of flow through the sump but that depends on what else you run off the return pump.

DIY LEDs are definitely catching on. Check out the DIY forum, there are a bunch of good threads for Q&A as well as several very successful build threads.

I would reuse the sand AFTER I washed it. When transferring, take a plastic cup and scoop some of the old sand bed into the new tank. Once everything else is out of the old tank, scoop the rest of the old sand bed into buckets. Rinse each bucket until it runs clear. This will remove 99% of the gunk trapped in the sand bed that you don't want in the new setup. Once it has been properly rinsed, you can transfer it into the new tank.

The problem with transferring sand beds isn't the sand itself, its all the crud trapped between the sand particles. When you stir it up, the stuff can release nutrients into the new tank which in turn causes an algae bloom because the new tank can't handle the released bioload. If you transfer some of the old sand, you get a limited amount of nutrients plus all the good critters you want. The rest of the sand is essentially the same as new and will be colonized from the scoop you transferred.

HTH,
RocketEngineer

 

[ldallen95219]

When I switched from a 55 to a 75 a year ago, I used my old sand. I took a little more than half of it, put it on the bottom of my 75 gal tank and then bought some new live sand (enough for about 2 inches) and put it on top of the old sand already on the bottom of my tank. By keeping some of your old sand it helps your acclimiation process. The res of the sand from the 55 gal. I just dumped as you will see when you are scooping it with a cup there is a lot of junk that has accumulated.

 

[tangtang clown]

Switched from a 75 to 125 two years ago. Moved all sand and rock and fish.
Everything turned out fine.

 

[InDashMP3]

Thanks all. Hey rocketengineer, I was just peeking at your 75g thread and see where you are going with your 125. Very cool. I think I will take a bit off the top, wash the rest, and go with it. How deep do you intend to make your sand band on the 125? I know with the jawfish you gotta have some depth. I was considering one myself. Are you using eggcrate under the rocks only at the ends of the tank? When I upgrade to my 150, I was trying to decide how much rock to bring over. It seems that the qty of rock has gone down over the years. I was thinking I needed to buy more, but perhaps what I have on my 75 will be just fine on the the 150?