75 gal upgrade

[rgasco1]

I currently have a 55 gal set and am moving to a new house. In the process I will be upgrading to a 75 gal because I wanted a deeper tank anyway and figured this would be a good time to do it.
Should I set up my new tank and let it cycle for a few weeks in the new hose before breaking down the 55 gal in the old house or is it possible to set up the new tank and break down the old tank all at the same time? Either way works for me I am just worried about my fish and corals durring the transplant. Thanks in advance.

 

[wjhuie]

That would be a good idea. You could use some water from water changes on your 55 to help fill it.

 

[rgasco1]

I thought about that too. I guess I could store the water in a new trashcan? That would def. help out when I fill the tank. Thanks.

 

[Blown 346]

I would get everything setup and ready to go for the 75 first. Once you are ready to move, do so and use as much water from the old tank as posssible. In doing so you will not cycle and can enjoy a full tank immediatly.

 

[rgasco1]

Blown 346
I think this sound like a good idea. I will save the water from my water changes in the 55 also to help fill the tank. Also I will buy some more sand and mix with my live sand before putting in the tank. Thanks for the help.
By the way... Christmas came early... my sump, pumps and skimmers came in. Now to figure out all the plumbing and order the lights.

 

[ouiskariverdude]

Louisiana Reef Club

Louisiana Reef Club

In case you aren't a member yet, we've got a club.
www.lareefclub.com

 

[rgasco1]

ouiskariverdude - thanks i will go check that out

 

[rgasco1]

Im going to try and get some pictrues of the stand to see what everyone thinks and see if anyone has any ideas or worries. I finished it lastnight so i should get some pics tom. Me and a buddy built it and for once I was happy w/ the final result.

 

[Bippus]

When I did my upgrade from a 55 to a 75 I kept 100% of my old water then had 20g of fresh salt water made up ready to go. It is almost like doing a big water change. It worked well for me and everything made it just fine.

 

[rgasco1]

this is what i am going to try to do. exams are taking most of my time right now so progress is slow.

 

[rgasco1]

well... stand is complete and so is the plumbing. But now I have a problem. The pipes for the return in the canapy look like they are going to interfere with the lights. The lights are 46.5" long and the inside of the canapy is about 48" long so I thought they would fit. But now the pipes are in the way. I can either leave the pipes where they are and put the lights 12.5" off the water (only way to not have the pipes in the way) or cut the pipes and drop them down and have the lights about 8" off the water. Does anyone see a problem with the lights being this high off the water. Also, in both solutions the lights and pipes are going to be very close... will this cause a heating problem. If it will could I solve it by reflecting the light off the pipes by using aluminum foil or something like that?

I was also able to get some pics... I am going to try and upload them tommorrow afternoon.

 

[wjhuie]

post some pic's

 

[rgasco1]

i havent got my light in yet so im really not sure if they are gonna fit or not. I got 46.5" vho lights. Does anyone know the actuall length w/ the endcaps. I look and the description said 45.125" long minus the pins.

 

[rgasco1]

Here are a few pictures... does anyone see a problem as far as support... or any other observations. Sorry for the wierd reflections... everything is out of focus and there is no light in the tank right now so I got a lot of reflections. Best I could do for now. And no this is not where the tank is going to stay so there will be no mounted fish in the background.
<center>
<img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d135/rgasco1/3.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com"><br><br>
<center>
<img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d135/rgasco1/2.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com"><br><br>
this pic is before the plumbing but u can imagine 1" plumbing on the right inside of the canapy. This is what is causeing problems with the lighting
<img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d135/rgasco1/1.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com"><br><br>
</center>

 

[MdM31]

sweet. you should post some more on LARC.

ww.lareefclub.com

-Mike

 

[engagg]

Nice Canopy! Did uou build it?

 

[rgasco1]

Yea, me and a buddy took a day off work and built it. Well... he did most of the cutting and I did most of the staining and poly.

 

[rgasco1]

Does anyone see a problem with putting VHO lights 12" abouve the water... this will get them out of the way of the plumbing.

 

[MyMonkey]

Very nice Canopy and stand BTW. As far as the VHO's off the water. Not certain. I have a 58 with VHO's about 9 inches off the water. All seems well.

 

[rgasco1]

another question... do i need to make reflectors for the lights even though they have internal reflectors? If so where can I get some thin aluminum... this stuff is harder to find than I thought