Upgrading...Need some help

[Dasani]

Ok, so my 20H has been running for a lil over 5 months now and I am loving it

sooo I was thinking about upgrading in the next year. I am a poor teen so it will take me a while to save up the money. Sooo some questions.
I am going to transfer everything from my 20g to the new tank. It will be a 35g shallow cube

(24inx24inx14in) Where could I get this made?? Or would I have to do it?
So what order do I need to transfer stuff? Take out corals and fish 1st, then rock, then sand?
I will need to add some more sand. Will that cause a new cycle? Does it have to be live?
So for equipment, I was thinking this:
Light: Selling my 70w viper and get a fishneedit 150w mh pendant. That any good?
Stand: Sell my 20H stand and build a stand
Filtration: Proly gonna do a 10g sump and stick my ac70 fuge down in it. I am nervous about all the plumbing and stuff. I may get a HOb overflow box instead of drilling. What will I need as a return pump? MJ1200? Also I have 15lbs of Live rock in my 20g atm. I will add about 10 more lbs to it. Then when I upgrade I may add 10 or so more for the display and sump. I also want to make this an SPS reef. What skimmer would you reccomend?
Flow: I have a koralia1atm and I will proly add another. I MAY upgrade to an mp10 eventually.
Heater: I have a 50w marineland and my water stays around 77-80 during winter, and 79-82 in the summer. Would I need to upgrade heaters? I live in North Alabama so it get to about 90 (average, today it was 98 lol) during the summer. During winter it is about 40 on average.

Thats about all I can think of right now.
Thanks!

 

[meisen]

Glasscages in TN makes tanks like that. They arent known for their jewel-like finishes on their tanks but most hold water and look decent. I like both of mine from them though can see some inperfections. They are hard to beat on price coming in about half of what many other builders charge. Miracles in glass also does customs like that but is much more expensive in general. Elos also makes a beautiful but pricey cube style tank though not that shallow (not custom). Local aquarium professionals also sometimes make customs and can be all over the place price/quality so ask around.

I am sure folks on here cna chime in with other companies they have worked with, just noting the ones who's work I have seen in person or done business with. Oh and I just assumed glass but with acrylic being easier to work with, you might even find a local hobbyist to build it for you or acrylic shop.

Most definitely get a drilled tank. Be more nervous about the HOB overflow as they are prone to issues (even the CPR type "failsafe" designs). Find a local hobbyist to help you with the plumbing, its quite easy once you have seen it done once or twice and cheaper once the tank is drilled than HOB solutions. The tank manufacturer can often drill it for a reasonable fee. I prefer this route even though I am perfectly comfortable drilling tanks. If they mes it up they arent going to ship you a broken tank. If you mess it up, you are out of luck.

You'll probably find that you barely need a heater, I'd see how that 50W does first. You can always add a 2nd one later and two small heaters are better than one large one for safety. All depends on how much heat your pumps and light put in and your ambient temperature in your house.

I like the Aquamedic or Geissman pendants for user friendly and quality mh pendants, no experience with the one you listed though. As long as its got a safe, reliable ballast and housing your more significant choice is the bulb you choose.

 

[reefer916]

When you upgrade:

Obviously, prep your new tank with all of the fun stuff and get it plumbed. It's much easier to make changes and adjustments with an empty tank. Trust me, I had to empty out my new 95 gallon after tranferring over 50 gallons from my old tank because the fuge wouldn't fit in the door or in the back. Had to empty the tank and place the fuge through the top of the stand...lol

Two days before: Mix some fresh SW and make sure the SG and temp match your tank water.

Transfer over as much of the clean water from the upper half of the tank as possible. Avoid taking water after the sand has been stirred up because it's full of nasty stinky stuff.

1st: Take out the rock and corals first and place them in 5 gallon buckets with some of your tank water.

2nd: Get your fish,CUC, and inverts out: Place them in a separate bucket

3rd: Place your rock in the new tank prior to adding the sand. Placing the rocks on the sand will cause die off underneath the rocks

4th: When removing the sand I use a strainer and rinse the sand with the remaining tank water. You'll still have beneficial bacteria in there, but you want to remove as much of the detritus as possible.

5th: Add the sand around the rocks

6th: You'll get some displacement of the water, so it should be about 30-40% full of water. Maybe less because your upgrading, but just add your freshly mixed saltwater.

7th: Add your livestock and leave the lights off for a few hours, so they have time to adjust.

You'll end up tinkering with the aquascape for a while, but you now have a transferred tank. You could add dry sand that you get at your LFS, but I prefer to have 3/4 inch-1inch sandbeds in my display. You'll also want to add more LR or DR to add to the biological filtration, but I wouldn't recommend throwing in 20 lbs of LR at once. Add maybe 5 lbs or so every week. It'll reduce the chance of having an all out cycle.

Lastly, you will probably have at least a mini-cycle, but it's fairly simple to keep your water parameters in check. The mini-cycle happens because of the moving of the sand and the different placement of the LR. There will be some die off because there are sponges and other animals that will die because of the change. It's normal..

Be prepared to do a soft cycle. I have a 30 gallon Brute trashbin that is always mixing water, but you could do a temporary setup. Be prepared to do daily 2 gallon water changes and a 5-10 gallon water change once a week. It's always good to have extra water around just in case of a ammonia spike or something. Do the soft cycle for 3-4 weeks and check your parameters. It actually works so well that I've been doing a soft cycle on my 24 gallon nano for over a year now..haha

Good luck and hope this info helps..

 

[chaostactics]

Add sand slowly, rinse first, and don't cover huge amounts/ %'s of your sand bed at a time and you'll be fine

 

[smokenax]

+on adding sand slowly .i did a transfer and added 30% of it at a time ,mixed with some new sand and everything went well.

 

[Dasani]

This thread is old haha. I have decided to go with a 40B instead of the cube. I am going to do diy LED light. I will get more sand, but not use all my old sand. What do you mean by rinsing the sand with the tank water? How do I do that? So your saying transfer everything, then add some sand, then add more and more each day until I get it all in? Also, should I use a 10g as a sump or will that be to small? I could use my 20g. But then I would have the fish in a 5g bucket for 24 hours for the silicone to dry. Would they be ok? Would I have to acclimate them to the new water? I will have some of my 20g water in there, but not much.

 

[saigon]

can't wait to see diy LED light.

 

[FishyFarr]

a question

I am upgrading from a 55 to a 120 drilled (woohooo)
anyways at the end of this week I would like to set up the 120
because I am increasing in size I was going to add new sand plus and extra 50 lbs of live rock. it is the dry type very cheap stark white.
I have 60+lbs of very cycled rock in my 55 gallon tank

I was reading your post above and wondering if I should set up the new tank with all new water +new sand +new rock and wait a few days.
I can make sure the water params of new= water params of old.(or close)

If I follow your procedure above for only the existing tank since one tank is literally around the corner would I not just put the rock in a 5 gallon bucket of water walk it over to new tank and set it in carefully until all the new rock is moved.(after acclimation with new tank water say over 30 mins ?)
(yes I will remember to cyphon out say 20 gallons of water off the top first.)

anyways then catch fish + CUC put them in another 5 gallon bucket walk them over and
acclimate them by dropping in some of teh new tanks water say 1 cup at a time(remember they are in a 5 gallon bucket of old tank water)

I have been advised to use old sand very sparingly and only after sifting it as you suggested above

I am setting up a new sump as well so was hoping to have the whole new tank up and runnning for a few days then just slide stuff from one room to the next
acclimating corals and fish of course.

thanks