Back in the game looking for advice

diablo243

diablo243

New member
Hey fellow CT reefers, after a very long hiatus I'm getting back into the reef game! Just picked up a 90rr tank with a halide T5 combo light, 20ga sump, older Kent skimmer, pumps and plumbing. I realize the skimmer and lighting are older for sure but the tank was setup and established when I looked at it and was thriving as is so for the price thought it was a great place to start.

Where I plan on setting it up at home I have the ability to drop straight to my basement and this is of great interest to me. Some of my questions are, once down there I have no limits on sump size. Would love to reduce water changes and things like that so what would people recommend for sump/fuge size down there? I don't want to waste anything I am getting with the tank so it comes with a 20ga (no baffles or anything) can I or should I add let's say a 40ga to it? Any suggestions or help here would be greatly appreciated! To add that as well would love to get ideas on how to integrate a water change system into that so when I do have to do them I can be as self contained as possible without buckets and siphons and whatnot (understanding the need to vacuum sand from time to time.

If anyone has the bug to design a remote sump room and would like to hold my hand I would love to get under someone's wing ;) looking forward to getting back in and being a contributing member here!

Tank as it sat prior to purchase:
79875b6f78789135cfd0e4d83be55a74.jpg
 
Welcome back. Good luck on the build. My best advice would be to do as much research on here as you can nefore making purchases.
 
Thanks guys sage advice and trust me, I'm a researcher!

So primary question and this is more opinion based than researchable. I have the option to take the sand, rock and as much of the water as I want to move. As you can see in the pic it's a clean established tank, but well it's not my tank and I don't know the history or what lurks within. What you all suggest, start fresh with new clean components and go through full cycle or take everything and try to reestablish the existing cycle? Thanks all
 
IMO, (and just one mans opinion as you say), I would start fresh by cleaning everything in vinegar and add new sand and rock. Get the bagged live sand, and look into Walt Smith 2.1 Dry Rock and seed with a small piece of clean established live rock from a buddy or store. Then cycle
 
Waiting on that answer but the tank is 2 years established. I kind of feel like I want to start over with sand bed, take the live rock and keep that in a container while I set up and then deciding on what to use if any at aquascaping time. I guess I should premise all of this by saying I would rather do things right than cheap and have waited to get back into this until I was financially free to do things right. Granted I accepted a certain level of risk by buying a turn key solution based on older tech but it was very important to me to see a functional tank than buy a broken down setup. I don't have money to burn but I do, do well enough to invest properly and if new sand and rock and whatnot are a better starting point then I wouldn't hesitate.
 
Tweaked said:
IMO, (and just one mans opinion as you say), I would start fresh by cleaning everything in vinegar and add new sand and rock. Get the bagged live sand, and look into Walt Smith 2.1 Dry Rock and seed with a small piece of clean established live rock from a buddy or store. Then cycle
Click to expand...


I agree with Pat start out fresh and take your time. In the end you should have much better results.
 
Welcome back in! I am very close by so if you need an extra set of eyes or hands to help out, let me know.

Good Luck with everything!
 
Thanks JerSaint will keep that in mind for sure!

So to circle back to my original ask as this weekend is initial tank setup stages. If I plan on running my sump/fuge remote in basement am I better off just setting that up and staring the tank that way. Of starting with the existing setup of a 20L under stand, get tank cycling while I take the time to build out a bench and design what I will do for sump and water storage and whatnot? Thanks all appreciate the feedback thus far!!!!
 
If you go with the 20l make sure you use unions on the plumbing so when you change the plumbing to the basement it will be a breeze to pull everything apart
 
If there isn't cause for concern in the presentation of the tank I would just move over the existing stuff rather than waiting months for cycles and such. Reuse half the water and flush the sand. if you want existing water to get started you can have 65 or 70g out of my 300 for a water change. my first tank I bought the same way and went to the Charlestown breach way in January for the extra water I needed. I am a little different than most on here, been at it 10 yrs or so, sps dominant and most of the time do water tests by eye. I use nsw I gather off the boat in the summer and don't strain it or nothing. never had a crash from water, only from a broken bulb or jammed reactor. I would sump under the stand, why spend extra for more pump head from basement?
 
welcome aboard Diablo I would agree with kyman and just go with what's in the tank already if it hasn't had any history of problems or medications save yourself the cycle time. use the existing sump and if you really need one in the basement you could always do that later Unless you can get kyman to drop off a barrel of salt water on his way home from the beach I would set up a mixing station under the tank in the basement and use that to pump up into your tank. I don't have it designed for that but if you find a good one I'll be watching. You didn't mention what are you looking to stock your tank with
 
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