My current 120 has been up for a little over a year and a half. I think it was finally getting to the point where it was really starting to settle in and do well. Despite that I've had the upgrade bug for a while. A few months ago I mentioned to Spotter that I was looking to jump up to a tank in the 200 to 300 gallon range at some point. Thankfully he remembered that and about a month ago offered me a great deal on his tank when he decided to move. It was an opportunity that I couldn't pass up.
The first hurdles were figuring out if would fit into my basement, how to get it out Steve's basement and into mine and most importantly getting approval from our home zoning officer ie wife. The tank measures 72 by 36 by 28 with an additional 6 inches for an external overflow and weighs in at 650 pounds so it took some planning. Some carpentry work, a great moving company, and a little marital bribery resolved those issues and it was delivered a few days ago.
Now the fun of planning and setting it up begins. If all goes as planned I expect to transfer over my fish and corals in about 4 to 6 weeks. I'm going to keep my rockwork more open this time. I have about 80 pounds of pukani rock in my current tank and another 50 to 80 pounds of pukani cooking. I'll start with that and see if anymore is needed. I'm also going to try a very shallow sanded this time with just a few deeper areas for leopard wrasses.
I bought most of my equipment with the thought that I'd be jumping up to a larger tank in the near future. My skimmer and calcium reactor should be Ok for a while until my bioload really increases. I have a pair of WP40s on their way to provide flow along with 2 MP40s.
I've really been struggling with how to light it since the 36 inch width poses some challenges. I'm currently running a pair of Apollo leds and t5s. I was fairly happy with that setup especially once I added the t5s. I was really considering going with LEDs for this tank but have been really hesitant to invest in them at this point. It's not that I don't think that the work but that there still seem to be a lot of changes going on with them. In the end I've decided to start with a pair of 4 X 80 watt ATI sunpower fixtures. I'll see how that works and consider supplementing them with LEDs.
Hopefully in the next week I'll be able to start plumbing the tank to the sump closet and start filling it. Also need to figure out how I'll skim the stand.
The first hurdles were figuring out if would fit into my basement, how to get it out Steve's basement and into mine and most importantly getting approval from our home zoning officer ie wife. The tank measures 72 by 36 by 28 with an additional 6 inches for an external overflow and weighs in at 650 pounds so it took some planning. Some carpentry work, a great moving company, and a little marital bribery resolved those issues and it was delivered a few days ago.
Now the fun of planning and setting it up begins. If all goes as planned I expect to transfer over my fish and corals in about 4 to 6 weeks. I'm going to keep my rockwork more open this time. I have about 80 pounds of pukani rock in my current tank and another 50 to 80 pounds of pukani cooking. I'll start with that and see if anymore is needed. I'm also going to try a very shallow sanded this time with just a few deeper areas for leopard wrasses.
I bought most of my equipment with the thought that I'd be jumping up to a larger tank in the near future. My skimmer and calcium reactor should be Ok for a while until my bioload really increases. I have a pair of WP40s on their way to provide flow along with 2 MP40s.
I've really been struggling with how to light it since the 36 inch width poses some challenges. I'm currently running a pair of Apollo leds and t5s. I was fairly happy with that setup especially once I added the t5s. I was really considering going with LEDs for this tank but have been really hesitant to invest in them at this point. It's not that I don't think that the work but that there still seem to be a lot of changes going on with them. In the end I've decided to start with a pair of 4 X 80 watt ATI sunpower fixtures. I'll see how that works and consider supplementing them with LEDs.
Hopefully in the next week I'll be able to start plumbing the tank to the sump closet and start filling it. Also need to figure out how I'll skim the stand.
