New project idea?

[Vaesive]

Some background:
I recently started up a 6g nano reef at work and things are working smoothly, so far. We've just received word that we will be moving across town to a new building in January-ish. We don't know the kind of notice that we will be given to move our stuff or if it will occur during the workweek. As you can tell, this causes some issues when moving a nano reef. If the move occurred during the workday, I could have the tank move and reset up in an hour. It it occurs over a weekend, the "tank" would essentially have to be taken down and put in a 5g bucket for a couple days with the lights, filters, etc. which would cause a lot of stress to the inhabitants.

Now, for the project idea: I have a 28g tall bowed front aquarium just sitting at home doing nothing. In the worse case scenario of having to house my nano reef at home over a weekend, having an established SW tank at home could alleviate some of the issues. I could get this set up for some hefty $$$ and have a home tank but the Nuvo Fusion 30L has caught my eye. I could use the 28g tall as a sump, maybe. Also, I've heard talls are a little more finicky when it comes to SW. I'd want to have a primarily reef for home as well with a few fish.

I'm trying to get a good grasp between not spending a lot of money but also having a viable home tank. I haven't used sumps or protein skimmers yet and I'm sure they are needed for a 30g tank.

If anyone would like to provide some input or help on the matter I'd greatly appreciate it. Kinda like setting up a tank but not having to spend any money by living vicariously Should I throw together equipment for the 28g tall piece-by-piece? Or would going the nuvo route be slightly more expensive but worth the expense?

I realize I haven't set a $$ limit and that's because I'm not fully aware of what this endeavor could cost. So, I leave it up to your fine judgement as to what you find would be "reasonable" or not.

 

[toothybugs]

Keeping the contents of a 6 in a 28 kind of eliminates the need for a sump or skimmer, your bioload has so much water that weekly water changes would be more than enough to keep things in check. Space out building up the tank you want at home and just use it as a QT of sorts. And a lot of folks run sumpless systems with HOB gear. While a sump is ideal they make do without them for a variety of reasons.

Also, if you don't have fish or a sandbed full of crud in the 6, I wouldn't really worry about it except heating over the weekend (my building has the bad habit of turning off the heat and sometimes the power over the weekend; I have a 15 full of yumas, LPS, and nems...). Have you asked for a more certain move date?

 

[Vaesive]

Also, if you don't have fish or a sandbed full of crud in the 6, I wouldn't really worry about it except heating over the weekend (my building has the bad habit of turning off the heat and sometimes the power over the weekend; I have a 15 full of yumas, LPS, and nems...). Have you asked for a more certain move date?

That is wonderful to hear. I was stressing about what kind of adverse affects would come from moving the tank. I don't plan on having any fish before the move but if it gets pushed out again, I may. I will have a CUC in place though. If I do take the tank home for a weekend, I'll immediately set up the heater and filters.

Unfortunately, all we know is we will be moving sometime January-ish. No set dates or even weeks are in place -.- They will give us a couple days notice though so we can move our personal stuff.

 

[toothybugs]

That works. To give you some ideas, let me tell you my setup and evacuation plans since I may or may not have to move as well (upstairs, but still):

I have a 15 on my desk and a 20H as a sump holding ~15 gallons.

I keep 6 buckets in the corner of my office and a 7th for my ATO reservoir (haha, can never overflow the sump!!)

1 bucket will hold the corals not already adhered to rocks, plus 5 gallons of water or so (in case of rock collapse - the rocks stay in the DT since it's easier to carry them that way, actually)

1 bucket will hold the fish, plus 5 gallons

4 remaining buckets each get 5 gallons of water. Sump and DT go on a cart, come back for the buckets of water, re-set the ATO, fire up the return, give it all 20 minutes to stabilize, and put the fish back. I figure I can have it all done, take-down to re-build, in under an hour.

But most important in my opinion: my DT is barebottom so there is nothing to disturb and annihilate the tank. I suck the crud out of the DT in to the sump on Mondays and on Payday Fridays I do a water change, sucking the crud out of the sump. Helps having a monster RODI system in the basement here so I don't have to haul water but a gallon for a 6 would be easy to store in reserve.

 

[Vaesive]

That works. To give you some ideas, let me tell you my setup and evacuation plans since I may or may not have to move as well (upstairs, but still):

I have a 15 on my desk and a 20H as a sump holding ~15 gallons.

I keep 6 buckets in the corner of my office and a 7th for my ATO reservoir (haha, can never overflow the sump!!)

1 bucket will hold the corals not already adhered to rocks, plus 5 gallons of water or so (in case of rock collapse - the rocks stay in the DT since it's easier to carry them that way, actually)

1 bucket will hold the fish, plus 5 gallons

4 remaining buckets each get 5 gallons of water. Sump and DT go on a cart, come back for the buckets of water, re-set the ATO, fire up the return, give it all 20 minutes to stabilize, and put the fish back. I figure I can have it all done, take-down to re-build, in under an hour.

But most important in my opinion: my DT is barebottom so there is nothing to disturb and annihilate the tank. I suck the crud out of the DT in to the sump on Mondays and on Payday Fridays I do a water change, sucking the crud out of the sump. Helps having a monster RODI system in the basement here so I don't have to haul water but a gallon for a 6 would be easy to store in reserve.

Awesome, thank you so much for the info! Looks like I'll need to get another 5g bucket then