Starting to put plans for my new tank together :)

[Hella]

So after alot of reading and looking at the wall that the tank will go on it looks like a 120-150 Gal is going to be in my near future. I was really thinking of a 75 but if im going to do it I might as well go big. Im looking at a foot print of 48x24 and the hight will be 24in(120Gal) or 30in(150Gal) im leaning more to the 150 for the simple reason that after alot of reading im thinking of going with a DSB in the new tank and the 6in extra I get with the 150 will be sand leaving me the same amount of room as a 120.

Other then that all I know is that the fuge and most of the rest of the filtering will be in the basement of the house to make water changes and top offs easier.

So it looks like ill be getting rid of some of smaller pumps that im using in my curent setup also , so keep yours open for that post in the coming months

 

[kass03]

If it were me I'd go with the 120 between those 2 choices.

My 150 is 28 1/2 inches deep by 6 ft and it's a pita to pick things up off the bottom. I have to use a stepladder and still cant touch lol. I also have 5 or 6 inches of sand in that tank.
Plus the deeper they are the more light needs to travel to the bottom.

Just my 2 cents. My 55 is alot easier to work in.

kass

 

[jandlms]

Hella,
Go with the 120. The size is great. Bulb length for supp. actinics is not a prob when shipping. Depth isn't too bad to reach the bottom. Great tank. Just make sure it isn't too big for the room or too heavy for the floor....

 

[Hella]

I think it will fit the room really good and the wall it will be on is right where the basement goes to a crawl space so there is lots of extra suport there and its also rather nice to have a instant "table" to place the fuge and skimmers and what not.

After talking with a few others im really leaning to the 120 for the reasons that Kass was talking about . I will probly have to get something to stand on to reach the bottom.

Kass with your DSB bottom have you ever had to change it out or use those "restocking" kits that are out there? Im new to the whole DSB to im a little worried about them.

I cant wait to get it all going and have a meeting here and get some frags to get her going

 

[kass03]

Ive only had it that deep for about 3 yrs now. I used to have about 3-4 inches.
I talked to Leroy from garf at the time and he said to add more sand to try to help with nitrates so I did. Also at that time I added some garf grunge to both my tanks but dunno if it did any good.
I always vacuum my sandbeds when I do water changes no matter how deep they are lol. To me if you don't you'll just have a ton of detritis build up which I have anyway. I just do the top layer and if I see anything like starfish or spaghetti worms I stop it and let them out lol.
I know some people say not to vacuum.
It's hard to go by my tanks cuz I don't have all the new fangled closed loops and such. I could really use more flow in my 150.
I'm just now taking the media out of the wet/dry cuz I was always afraid to lol.

Oh and to answer your question I had sand in the 150 for 11 yrs and in my 55 for something like 15 yrs or more (I once took it out and went BB before that. Hated it so put sand in again after like 6 months).

I only had a problem once with hydrogen sulphide building up a little when the power went out for 14 hours. A few snails died and that was it.

I only added more sand to both tanks about 3 yrs ago just to try to help get nitrates down.

kass

 

[BryanJ]

If you have any questions about the tank, I have one set up with a basement sump. I will be happy to discuss it with you and show it to you if there is something you want to see.

 

[Hella]

I would love to come by and have a look at your set up.

Rob