Moving to new house and new tank. Any suggestions?

[Jretzer]

I currently have an established 110 gallon reef tank that I've had for 10 years. Building a new house that we move into on April 15th and I've decided to upgrade to a 250 gallon tank, the project is starting to seem overwhelming.

Questions I have:

-Got some gear from a friend, it may seem that some of it is overkill for my new setup, primarily a Bubble King SuperMarin 300. Is it possible to have too big of a skimmer? I am not going crazy with a ton of fish. I also have a HO UV Sterilizer - 80 Watt. Seems maybe unnecessary?

-What I'm most concerned about is making sure that I get a great sump set up. Ideally I'd use a 75 gallon or so glass tank and make it out of that but I don't know where to start. Any suggestions or pointing in the right direction would be helpful.

-Suggestions for moving one tank to another? I should have time on my hands and it's not far away. Do I fill the new tank and start introducing rock from existing tank? When to put sand? Suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Sk8r]

a 300 gallon skimmer on a 250 is not too large. I don't use UV and won't use it on the koi pond since it twice caught fire. Not same system, obviously, but it does mix water with electricity. As for the sump, an entry chamber, a flow-over wall, a paired over-under wall set within an inch of each other, to S curve (think of it as a sideways S) the water flow and keep plants out of your pump; and finally a pump chamber. That's all I have. Works well.

 

[thegrun]

I agree with Sk8r on her comments. As far as the move and set up here is my stock reply:
Assuming you are going to be adding more rock to your new larger tank I would try to cycle the new rock before you make the move if you have the time. When in a hurry you can use Dr. Tim's One and Only or one of the other quick cycle products on the market and usually have a full cycle in a week to 10 days. If you don't have the time to cycle the rock before the move you could add cycled rock you your system after you set up the new tank since your old rock should be able to handle the bio-load of the livestock. Theoretically if you use dry rock you could add it right away without cycling it since there should be no die off, but I always feel safer cycling even dry rock before adding it to a system. I would not reuse the sand from your old tank, it will contain a lot of trapped detritus that if released could start a new cycle, killing off all your livestock. Start fresh with dry sand. Be sure to wash the sand well before using it. To wash the sand place 5 pounds or so at a time in a 5 gallon bucket. Use a garden hose at full flow to agitate the sand. The finer grains of sand will overflow the top of the bucket, leaving the larger grains behind. Continue to agitate the water until it runs clear. I would not use "live" sand as it can contain more dead than live organisms and has the potential to start a new cycle (and cost more to purchase since you are paying for water). Try to reuse as much clean water from the old system as possible to lessen the shock of new water chemistry on your livestock. Once the water from the old tank starts to get murky from stirred up detritus, don't reuse that water. Have plenty of new premade and preheated saltwater on hand to make up for the lost water. I would plan on pre-making 70% of your display tank's volume and have it ready for use. 5 gallon buckets with lids are your best friend for a tank move. Anything larger becomes very heavy to move, although for longer moves ice chests work well at maintaining water temperatures. You can use bubble wrap to help keep your rock with corals attached from being smashed against the sides of the buckets during transport. Start by filling three buckets 1/3 with water from the tank and then add the rock from the system to one of the buckets. Continue filling buckets first with water, then rock until you have removed all the rock. Save a couple of half full buckets of clean water from the tank for the fish. Once all the rock has been removed, the fish should be easy to catch. Some fish will burrow into the sand to hide so if you come up short on your fish count you may need to sift through the sand to find the missing fish. Once you have everything back at your new home and the tank in place, first set up your rock. Try to minimize the amount of time the rock is out of the water. If aquascaping the rock takes you awhile, pour some of the saltwater from the old set-up on the rock to keep it wet. Once the rock is set fill the tank with all the old water and whatever new water is necessary. You can just dump the fish directly from the buckets into the new tank to prevent injuring the fish or adding stress to the fish by netting them. Then start circulating the water, get the heaters running and the rest of the equipment. Tank moves take much longer than one would first suspect. Plan on a very long day. Best of luck and keep us posted with your results!

 

[Jretzer]

Thanks for the feedback. The skimmer I have is actually rated for 350-1050 gallons. Thinking a 75 gallon glass tank for skimmer may be the way to go, the footprint on this skimmer is crazy big.

 

[biecacka]

Yeah that supermarin is way too big for your tank. That rating is for a heavy stocked tank too. I have the double cone 200 which is rated for a 250 gallon heavy stock tank. I have a 240 with 30 fish and and the skimmer is doing the job easy.

Corey

 

[Jretzer]

thanks. Anyone looking for a Super Marin 300?

 

[CoralBeauty0103]

thanks. Anyone looking for a Super Marin 300?

You can use that skimmer. Why people think oh this skimmer meant for a 200 gallon tank wont work for a 100. Umm from my experience. And yes my main tank in my home is a 100 gallon Reef. My cone skimmer is meant for a 200 gallon tank. I bought it for 120 compared to 280. only reason i bought it. works great and doesn't cause an issue for anything else in my tank. Its better to go over on filtration then go for something that will just barely cover your system.

Hint it also helps keep a stable system.

 

[TimeConsumer]

You can use that skimmer. Why people think oh this skimmer meant for a 200 gallon tank wont work for a 100. Umm from my experience. And yes my main tank in my home is a 100 gallon Reef. My cone skimmer is meant for a 200 gallon tank. I bought it for 120 compared to 280. only reason i bought it. works great and doesn't cause an issue for anything else in my tank. Its better to go over on filtration then go for something that will just barely cover your system.

Hint it also helps keep a stable system.

If your skimmer neck is too large for the amount of organics you will have an unstable foam head. A properly sized skimmer will pull out organics at a steady rate whereas the oversized ones will be more likely to idle (drop the foam head), while still having organics in the water, just not enough to sustain a head in the large neck. Furthermore, we're not just talking about tank size, but rather we're discussing bioload, and as the OP stated he does not intend to have a lot of fish, so his 250g may be more like a 150g or 200g.

Your 200g skimmer on a 120g tank may be a proper fit, as most manufacturers overstate the ratings. But as others in this thread have stated, Bubble King does not overstate the ratings, rather they understate them (going off the experience of others, I have never used a BK, too poor).

Everything I've looked at for skimmer sizing in the past (neck diameter, air draw, etc) are all out the window on this BK. They have 3500 lph on a 6.5" neck sitting on a 12" body. I'm dumbfounded.

However to the OP. I'd at least give the skimmer a try. If it doesn't work well, trade down.