Upsizing my TBS tank

[DruidsLaughter]

My job being what it is, I sometimes find myself working out of state. This go round was for two months. Well my house sitter was not very good with the tank. Tank was hyper saline and there were many losses. Oh well....

The fun part of this is that I picked up a ~55 gallon eurobraced aquarium for 65 bucks with light fixture and circulation pumps (yay craigslist). The tank overflows to a sump built in the back. Makes for a very clean setup.

Well I ordered an undersized part 1 to go with the rock and sand I already had. The shipment arrived in perfect shape today and is in the tank. Hopefully the cycle will go smoothly.

I ordered dry rock too, so I can pick and choose a bit with the aquascaping. Any extra will go towards a 12 gallon pico-reef for the mantis shrimp and a couple crabs that are behaving badly.

I will post some pics when things clear and I get some aquascaping done.

john

 

[noahm]

Is that all I have to do to justify a bigger tank.....?

 

[DruidsLaughter]

Yup...

work out of town and let someone kill off half your tank. Pretty simple actually. The cheap Craigslist tank helps alot! With the dry rock I ordered I am definately going to have extra. Will definately have to start up a nano tank too.

 

[divemonster]

John
If you are out of town for days at a time you may want to rethink setting up a nano tank.

My 6g nano tank is ALOT more work than my 55g. Because the water volume is so small there is very little room for error, water changes MUST be done on time, parameter checks must be done constantly to maintain a healthy reef, etc.

If it weren't for the quality of the TBS liverock, I think my nano reef would've ceased to be long ago.

 

[lionbacker54]

druidslaughter-
you and i are pretty much doing the same thing. i'm building a 55g peacock mantis shrimp tank, but really want it very sparse so there's lots of room for the little guy to swim and run around. so i'm ordering an undersized 20g package, and adding an additional 20lbs of richard's dry rock. just looks so amazing.

 

[DruidsLaughter]

This is the first year I have had to go on the road in nearly a decade. Hopefully I am good for a while again. You are correct about the small tanks Teri, definately have to pay attention. This will be 12 gallon and low bioload. Pretty much the mantis a small cleanup crew and any naughty crabs that need new a home.

I am really liking my craigslist third hand tank. The look is so much cleaner than my 30. I am getting excited for the cycle to finish.