caren.timmerman
New member
About 5 years ago, my fish guy moved away and left me with a 400 gallon reef tank in a commercial setting. With no local vendors and a limited understanding of saltwater aquariums, I took over the upkeep on this big guy. Learned a lot and have many fish that have been in the tank for all 7 years we've had it. Still haven't had a lot of time to devote to this undertaking so feel like advice is a great idea!
We are selling the business and I get to keep the fish and equipment, however the tank is an unusual shape and size. I would like to downsize to a 180 plus sump tank and hope to reuse a lot of the current equipment. Also have a deadline of about 5 weeks until the move should be completed.
Here is current tank and equip:
400 gal hexagon: approx 36" on two sides, 60" on front and 2 short sides. About 40" deep
reef octopus xp8000 ext protein skimmer
2 metal halide pendants with single end bulbs
2 3' T5 actinic bulbs
40 gal sump
inline uv sterilizer
just killed my 3 hydor powerheads with an electrical issue, need to replace but hydor have not done well for me.
pumps for tank water cycle and for protein skimmer
reefkeeper lite
2 heaters
Also have rodi water treatment and 100 gal storage tank that feeds my auto-fill on the tank.
Use bio-balls in the sump
have sailfin tang, blue tang, 2 yellow tang, 2 gramma, 2 pajama cardinal, 1 mandarin, 5 firefish, 4 clown, 2 blenny, 2 chocolate chip stars, several really big and ugly chromis, a jumbo-sized anemone and a small one, some polyps and zoas, lots of live rock with coraline algae, snails and crabs
also many aptasia that i hope to get rid of when i do the tank change
I would like to reuse as much equipment with the tank as I can to keep the cost down but would like to know what should be added or changed to be more efficient or useful. Lighting and water movement specifically now. Also, tank purchase recommendations too.
I'd appreciate the feedback.
We are selling the business and I get to keep the fish and equipment, however the tank is an unusual shape and size. I would like to downsize to a 180 plus sump tank and hope to reuse a lot of the current equipment. Also have a deadline of about 5 weeks until the move should be completed.
Here is current tank and equip:
400 gal hexagon: approx 36" on two sides, 60" on front and 2 short sides. About 40" deep
reef octopus xp8000 ext protein skimmer
2 metal halide pendants with single end bulbs
2 3' T5 actinic bulbs
40 gal sump
inline uv sterilizer
just killed my 3 hydor powerheads with an electrical issue, need to replace but hydor have not done well for me.
pumps for tank water cycle and for protein skimmer
reefkeeper lite
2 heaters
Also have rodi water treatment and 100 gal storage tank that feeds my auto-fill on the tank.
Use bio-balls in the sump
have sailfin tang, blue tang, 2 yellow tang, 2 gramma, 2 pajama cardinal, 1 mandarin, 5 firefish, 4 clown, 2 blenny, 2 chocolate chip stars, several really big and ugly chromis, a jumbo-sized anemone and a small one, some polyps and zoas, lots of live rock with coraline algae, snails and crabs
also many aptasia that i hope to get rid of when i do the tank change
I would like to reuse as much equipment with the tank as I can to keep the cost down but would like to know what should be added or changed to be more efficient or useful. Lighting and water movement specifically now. Also, tank purchase recommendations too.
I'd appreciate the feedback.
