upgrading to a 75 gal reef

[robertmc]

I currently have a 55 gal partial reef setup running a ecosystem filter and 6 NO 48 inch flourescents. The tank has around 80 lbs of live rock and a 3inch live sand base, but I keep losing livestock. I have some green button polyps which are growing well and some yellow star polyps which are slowly dissappering. I believe they are being eatten by another inhabitant. There are two peperment shrimp and a single coral banded shrimp, lots of red and blue legged hermits and some snails. Then there is the eater a brittle star. This is not making the move. The coraline is begining to grow nicely on the live rocks(deep purple spots slowly appearing and growing on almost all the rocks. There are tiny feather dusters everywhere and the snails are begining t multiply. So why did I just lose a perula clown? My chemicals are all perfect according to 2 different LFSs. But the real question is that I am being forced to move in four weeks. How do I do it? I am planning on getting a bunch of rubermaid containers and taking all the water and liverock with me. Then I will leave 3-4 inchs of water to cover the stand and move as fast as possible. Will this work? Once I move I am going to transfer into a 75 gal reef setup with 240watts of PC lights, a 20gal sump, a 25 gal refugium, and a new skimmer. I will post drawings of this proposed system soon. Basically I am planning on using a spare 55gal tank to build both the ref. and the sump. I will split it down the middle with a piece of glass that is an inch shorter than the tank. ref on one side overflowing the middle glass to the sump on the other. I might end up using colored acrylic for the divider to smooth the cut edge and help block the light from the ref. What is the best way to set up the 75gal? I have had nothing but trouble with the 55 and am almost ready to throw in th towel but I love to veg out and watch the organisms in my own little ocean.

Despritly needing guidance.

 

[Len]

If finances allow, I'd personally start from scratch if your current tank is driving you nuts. I'm not sure what sorts of problems you are having with your 55 (other then clown death and yellow polyps dwindling). If it's just those to problems, then moving the tank is a worthwhile idea. If there are lots of other problems, it might be best to start all over again to avoid transfering problems from your 55 to your new tank.

Your sump/refuge idea has one problem that I can foresee. If I'm not mistaken, you plan to feed the overflow water to the refugium first, which would then overflow into the sump portion where the skimmer is located. Generally, it's not a good idea to skim refugium water since you'll be extracting a lot of useful plantonic foods that refugiums are useful for. One idea is to have two seperators in the 55 gallon, one on one side reaching 2" below the top of the tank (for the refugium) and the another 6-8" one on the other side for the skimmer. Split the overflow to feed these two sections. Both of these sections can then spill over to the center section where the return pump is located at. This way, you don't skim your refuguium water.

Personally, I don't like the Ecosystem method. For your 75g, I'd stick with just a skimmer and a standard refugium (no "mud", rather aragonite sand).

Clowns die for many reasons, sometimes diseases (internal or external) and sometimes because they were cyanide caught

Hope this helps.

 

[Anonymous]

I would just like to add that you should be testing your own water. No offense to LFS people, but in my experience, there are all too many of them that don't know wtf they're doing, nor how to properly diagnose test kit results...

Buy yourself some decent test kits, test your water regularly, and KEEP A LOG of all test results so that you can see trouble coming.

Which tests did they peform? Alk? pH? nitrate? ammonia? nitrite? phosphate? what? Do you have enuff circulation? what is the water temperature? salinity?
What are your exact readings? Did they tell you, and if so, please list them when requesting help

Sorry to be such a stickler, but understanding water chemistry is half the battle, and I'm a real freak for water testing.