looking for some opinions...

[r00onmac]

So i found my apartment for the next year... the only major problems are that this will be my first off campus apartment where i pay for all my utilities... and its on the third floor with no elevator...

mostly as a result of that last part, no elevator, im thinking of downsizing my setup in a few ways...

#1 is to ditch the sump to get rid of extra pumps, and unnecessary water volume and extra LR...
#2 is ditch most corals to save on lighting time.. all SPS, LPS, and the beautiful new rbta i just got from jeff... I wanna keep the tank by the window area to view my new semi-reef setup and run my MH for about 2-3 hours a day for the xenia, mushrooms, and zoos that i leave in the tank...

the way i figure it the 20 gallon will be enough for the two clowns and the flameback to live with just a heater and a nanostream or two for water movement... but do you think a couple hours of MH each day plus indirect sunlight will be enough for the xenia, mushrooms, and zoas to survive? i havent checked to see if i have any south facing windows to get good light, but when we checked out the apartment today there was some decent light coming in from the sliding door.

the other reason for this slight downgrade is that i am gone from may 1st to the 28th and my finace, who only knows that she loves our fish, will be taking care of the tank... the fish are priority #1 for me and i figured they will be fine in slightly dirtier water - along with the more hardy corals like zoos, mushrooms, and xenia...

any tips on what im thinking about doing?

 

[ReefWreak]

I don't really get why you're downsizing... If it were me, I would keep the tank setup as it is now, just move it, and as for worrying for the month you'll be away, maybe see if someone locally had some room to "babysit" your important/precious corals instead of giving them all away. I know I ran my 24g with SPS and everything in a little dorm room, and would go away for weeks at a time and they would be fine. Only problem was evaporation, which either my roomate could do, but I didn't have too big a problem with it because I only had PCs.

I havn't been able to do maintenence on my 120g tank in 2 or 3 months now because I'm at school. My parents just clean the skimmer once a week, feed the fish every few days, add top off water, and take a peek every now and then since it's in the living room anyway. It's been doing well all year with me being there on and off.

I can see with a smaller tank how it could be seen as being more difficult, but my suggestion is to keep everything as it is, then just ask her to add water (draw a fill up to line on the sump) and feed the fish (use a premeasured spoon) on a set schedule, then have the lights on a set schedule. Ask her to take a peek every now and then, and call and get a description, maybe pictures now and then.

Maybe someone could do a WC for you halfway through the month, someone from the club (PM me if you'd like me to, I'll be around and go down to miami now and then) just to be safe..

Big questions are why you don't want the full volume in the apt, and why you want to cut the lighting schedule down so much? Those will help figure out what will work best for you.

 

[r00onmac]

i am not only thinking about the move (which will suck to move the original water up three flights of stairs with ~80lbs of LR, etc..) but i am thinking of future water changes, as well as the electric bill for running a return, two heaters, a MH 10 hours a day, a phosban reactor pump, a skimmer pump, etc...

ive been living rent and utilities free for 3 years as a Resident Assistant and i dont think i am prepared for a $100+ a month power bill..

 

[r00onmac]

like i said above, i posted to get some opinions on the situation...

im all for keeping my whole reef, etc.. but i really have no way to get it all up 3 flights of stairs by myself... the only other thing i can think of that may work is to get like 5 - 10 five gallon buckets with lids and use them to transport all the rock and stuff, because anything bigger than that will be pretty hard to carry up the stairs... but i worry about the temps inside the buckets, etc.. really its only a 15 min trip from my current place but if there is traffic in Kendall (which isnt unheard of) it could be more...

If anyone is interested in helping me move the tank,,, feel free to let me know... i wont refuse... but if we are moving the whole setup i am going to have to get a real tank for the sump/fuge... the plastic bin was meant to be temporary, but it worked so well i never went out and got a new tank...

 

[45commando]

Hi,
I would move the tank using the 5G bucket method.It sounds like you are moving close by,so the temp should not even be a factor.Also you're moving it before the summer heat has really set in.I would just pre mix about 10 or 15 gallons of water & have it sitting at the new destination.Then use that combined with your old tank water.I would also not try & place the tank near a window,especially south facing.It will act like a greenhouse & could really cause some temperature swings in your tank.You could probably cut down your current MH photo period to about half of what you have now,with no ill affects.Just do it gradually.There are very few corals,on a reef,that are subjected to a full day of direct sunlight,due to cloud cover/shading by other corals,position of the sun etc.HTH & good luck.

 

[r00onmac]

ive never mixed salt in my life but i get the idea... i get NSW from the LFS, and i could easily get about 10 gallons of new salt water ready and in the apartment by the time i re-stock the tank..

not near a window is kinda tough as the apartment is a 1/1 with a living room... both the bedroom and the living room have sliding glass doors... but i think the bedroom is where the tank will go...

 

[jessp]

my tank is in same room w/ sliding glass doors. I just have blinds. I agree w/ darcy. Have lots of extra water ready. I think i'd have 20 gallons ready just in case.

 

[r00onmac]

The fiance gave the green light for project "save the tank"... she realized that as much as i love the tank,,, she loves it too and would miss it if i had to get rid of everything...

So, Henry at reef aquarium is drilling me a 29 for my new display and ill be making the 20 long my sump... i just need to measure for glass baffles and stuff and we'll put them in on friday... and i need to figure out exactly where to tell him to drill the bulkhead by tomorrow..

right now the idea is to drill the 29 to get rid of the damn HOB overflow that is so huge... i like the look of long/thin overflows so right now im thinking of having him drill the 1" bulkhead 2" below the black trim 15" from each end, how does that sound? should i tell him to put the top of the hole 2" down or the center of the hold 2" down? or should i move it lower?... then putting a 6" wide (left to right) by 2" deep (front to back) overflow around the bulkhead so it doesnt take up so much real estate in the tank... the HOB i have now is like 6-8" top to bottom, 4" front to back and like 6" left to right... it just takes a big block out of my display... and i figured with the 6" in height that i gain going from 20 long to 29 for my display 2"-3" of glass overflow wont make a huge difference...

Can i use a diamond dremel bit to smooth the edge of the overflow so i dont cut myself every time i put my hands in the tank? and recommendations on bits?

i bought a masonry drill bit to drill the rocks... 1/2" bit so i guess i need to find 1/2" acrylic rod to put the rocks together with... anyone know where i can get some locally? and if anyone with experience wants to help me do this next friday it would be GREATLY appreciated...'

another thing: ive always heard that if the drain bulkhead is 1" you should use bigger tubing, but is it really necessary? i bought 1" fittings and i have 1" tube laying around and figured i could use that...

ill be swapping my skimmer pump with my return... i think the reason my skimmer doesnt pull as much gunk as i would like (or as much as it used to before) is because im running ~600gph through the return but only 300gph through the skimmer... meaning the dirty water doesnt stay near the skimmer long enough to be skimmed... i think once i do this switch ill skim much better and have cleaner water as a result.

i need to order starboard for the bottom of the tank... i was considering adding sand again, but im still a little skeptical about keeping it clean, etc... ive heard US plastics is a good place to get it... anyone around here have any experience with them? or does anyone have a spare piece that may be big enough? the tank dimensions are 30x12 on the bottom... but we all know thats outer so how much smaller should i cut the starboard? 1/4" glass on each side makes it 29x11 but i assume ill need a little bit of room to wiggle it in there... 28.5x10.5 sound good?

god i feel like im typing 1000 questions... im sure ill come up with more..

 

[jeffbrig]

So, does this mean you're keeping the corals and RBTA? I hope so!

As far as rock drilling, I wouldn't use 1/2", that's going to be a HUGE hole. 1/4" is plenty, and the acrylic rods are much cheaper in that size. I bought some from a plastics shop on Ebay, but you can probably find the locally at somewhere like prospect plastics.

Also, after trying both, I found that a standard drill bit was actually easier than a masonry bit for drilling porous LR.

 

[r00onmac]

hmm okay i can get a 1/4"... the 1/2' didnt look huge, but maybe it will once i drill..

jeff do you have any rod left? i dont think ill need much.. i have about 5 or 6 main rocks in the display and i think only like 3-4 need to be rod connected (i made an arch with some rocks and if i bump it too hard it will tumble down so i want to rod it together)

i am indeed keeping EVERYTHING... so im excited.. and i didnt even have to buy her any shoes ;0) i told her the new 29 gallon tank was going to cost $55 and she was like "thats not bad, anythign you need"

and ive already locked her into a deal... she said if i never go diving again i can get a tank as big as i want when we get a house... i made sure to ask if diving in the tank to clean it counts as diving... she said "nope"...

 

[jeffbrig]

lol, I was thinking 1/4" for pegging corals. I just drilled every piece of LR in my tank and I've prepared frag/coral mounts with 1/4" rods so they can easily be dropped into the holes.

If you're assembling a rock structure with it, I would go with something bigger than 1/4" for strength, especially if you're thinking about an arch.

 

[ReefWreak]

You gave up the right to ever go diving again (while she's around) for the right to get a larger tank?!? Either you must not care much for diving anyway, or she's absolutly horrified by the idea of you diving, or something in-between, because I'm sure for a lot of people around here, never diving again is a pretty big chip to play. Even if you only dive every few months (like I do) it's still awesome to go diving now and then.

I've got the g/f on the "we can bring up your dog/get a dog/get a hypo-allergenic cat for our house if we can have a nice big tank that we take care of and care about"

 

[r00onmac]

she is horrified.. after the steve irwin thing (which i tried to explain was a freak accident) she got scared... shes willing to let me dive, but i figured i could give it up to have a monster tank... and then once i have the tank i can "get sad and miss diving" and im sure she'll let me go again.. lol

i havent been in almost a year, mostly because i dont own equipment and i hate using other people's equipment (kinda nasty IMO) but i do miss it

and i dont need to stop diving until i get the monster tank...

 

[r00onmac]

another question:

my current apartment has a GFI built into the wall... and it has saved my life at least once so far...

would it be pretty easy to wire up a GFI by removing a standard wall outlet? should i just get the plug in type?

where does everyone get those fancy DJ stations? currently i use my GFI to turn off my in tank pumps for feeding... i just hit the "TEST" button and they go off.... after feeding i push "reset"

 

[jeffbrig]

The plug in types generally have a poor reputation for tripping needlessly. Putting one in-wall is as easy as replacing a receptacle. I have several in-wall GFCIs left over from my tank, and I'll happily give you one if you want to try. Be warned, they tripped with icecap 430 ballasts (some weird electrical interference), that's why I'm not using them. None of my other equipment caused them to trip.

 

[r00onmac]

Jeff, that would be awesome... think you could toss one in a USPS priority envelope tomorrow so i could try putting it in some day this week before i move the tank on friday?