Ideas to improve already running tank?

[BigTruck6o2]

So im contemplating reworking my tank a little bit, right now i have a 125 gallon tank with dual overflows on it. I thought it would be kinda neat to start over with some things if its worth it.

I got my tank on ebay about a year and a half ago and sorta just jumped into the hobby because it was interesting, the previous owner had it set up a little different then id like to have. So i was planning on re-doing some things in my tank here is a list.

1. Redo the PVC work because it looks horrible under the stand and is using alot of my room with unnecessary 90* turns, since there is an easier route id like to take that.

2. Get a new pump, i dont know what brand pump i have now but it is real noisy and would like to get something new and reliable that is quiet, any suggestions?

3. Add a refugium somehow to my tank, i have a sump but from how it is set up it doesnt seem like adding one in my sump would be possible, so i would get a seperate tank and have one my sump, one my refugium

4. Change how my sump is set up, it doesnt have alot of baffels or anything so im getting alot of bubbles that are making its way back into the return. Also it is filled with bio-balls, from reading on this forum it seems the bio-balls are a debatable subject and im choosing to get rid of them and replace it w/ liverock rubble which will also get rid of my filter pads that are sitting in there.

5. Change out the Crushed Coral substrate to live sand, ive never liked the crushed coral but it is what i got w/ the tank so i used it.

Now currently the tank is stocked, with 2 tangs, a clown fish, and about 5 chromis and some polyps/zoos/cup coral/ and an anenome but my brother has a 125G tank running in the basement next to mine which has just some live rock in it. So my thoughts were to take my stuff, place it in his tank while i do what i gotta do to my tank. Any ideas/comments on my plan, think its worth it or not worth it... any help is appreciated TIA

SORRY FOR THE LONG POST.

 

[SeanT]

[welcome]

Some pics would sure help us give you some ideas.

Sean

 

[ste6168]

i think you could do all that stuff without a problem while the tank is running, if you do put it in your brothers sstem though (which i probably wouldnt recommend) make sure that the salinity and other parameters are exactly the same to relieve as much stress as possible. Also some pictures could really help us give you some ideas on how to do plumbing, pumps, etc.

 

[BigTruck6o2]

Okay, heres 2 pictures of whats going on underneath my stand. I think it would be kinda hard to do everything without moving my stuff from one tank to another. I have about 150# of live rock and would have to remove it to get rid of the crushed coral and add the live sand. The plumming would be ok, but was just trying to be on the safe side. Now that i think about it, it could be risky moving it from one to the other, then back to mine again.

 

[ste6168]

hmmm... well i would say custom make a 55g into a sump/fuge for that and use a submerged quiet one 6000 or an external iwaki. i have never used flexible tubing, but i would probably change it all to rigid pvc. also i would say that you should have at least a 15g return section in you sump so you can just do the WC straight from that one section. I think that you could just remove the rock and wrap it in some damp newspaper for an hour or two while you change out the substrate: that or just move it all to one side of the tank and do half at a time. Check of Melevsreef.com for ideas on sump designs and baffel placement. Also i would think about adding some more flow to the tank somehow, i dont know what powerheads you have at the moment, but you might consider setting up a sequence dart on a closed loop or a few closed loops with SCWD's, just a few thoughts, let me know what you think and i can try and help you out some more.

 

[BigTruck6o2]

Alright, hard part about adding a tank that big is how do i get it under there? a 55 gallon tank is 48" long is i remember correctly so somehow i would have to manuever that into there. On the back there are just some small braces that run vertically i could probably remove for a little to slide a tank in there. For water movement i have the main pump which i dont know the GPH rating on it, and i have 4 Seio M620's and i have 3 cheap powerheads hooked up to a WaveMaster Pro. it says the M620's are supposed to do 620 GPH but it sure doesnt feel like they move that much water in an hour. Im going to check of that website and see what i can come up w/ for the sump/refugium setup. it would be nice to have a place to put my protien skimmer into it to, right now my protien skimmer is on a table to the left of my tank and i had to run about a 5 foot return line back to my sump for it to drain. I guess i need to do some calculations and figure out if i can somehow make a 55 gallon tank fit under there. Let me know if you have any more suggestions/ideas or anything. Thanks, your a big help.

 

[BigTruck6o2]

Also was just taking some measurments to see what i can do down there. a 55 gallon tank is 48" wide, i have 69 1/4" so im cool there. My stand is about 16 1/4 deep and a 55 gallon is 13 so im cool there. Now where i think i may run into trouble, i only have 23" in my stand from bottom to top, and a 55 gallon tank is 20" tall, that would leave me only 3" of clearance and i think thats cutting it a little close. Other then that i dont see a problem with putting a 55 gallon under there, i checked and i can remove the back brace to fit it in.

 

[BigTruck6o2]

These were my thoughts on the new sump/refugium setup. Any feedback on it, think it will work and suggestions on what to improve. I dont know how many gallons it will equal out to, but i went with what i thought would fit well.

 

[BigTruck6o2]

And here is a color coordianted version that i think makes everything easier to undestand, also i added a maxi 1200 to run my protien skimmer.

 

[gkarshens]

I have a 125 as well and I used a 30g tank for my sump/fuge. My stand is higher than yours but I think it might fit better than a 55. The skimmer runs in the intake section, then a bubble trap to the return. The return pump is teed off to the fuge section on the right which overflows back into the return. Here are a couple pics of my sump: