200+ B or not 200+ B

JamesFitch

JamesFitch

Member
:smack: ok iam getting this itch i have a 48 qallon running succsefully for about 4 months now including the cycle phase time. I have spent about 2 grand on it but its as great as i can get this one so iam wondering if i have gained enough expeirence in getting and maintaining a 200+ reef tank i want the more colorful fish but a peaceful reef community since the 48 is a species only tank with the ponnies and i got lucky with some peaceful pajama cardinals. Plus i love the TB live rock and all the wonderful critters in it and would love to get 250 ibs of he most beautiful rock ive seen (Only pics 0f though) all suggetsions welcome. Am i movng to fast or am i god to go.
 
JamesFitch

JamesFitch

Member
the tb live rock is uncured can i cure the rock in the tank during yhe cycle phase ( i beleive that it will only increase the cycle time ) but not sure where or how i can cure 250 ibs but inside the tank that would be alot of containers and power heads
 
saltwaterfarm

saltwaterfarm

Well-Known Member
If you have the time, and the patience... it will work. A lot of people do it. I don't know the up's and down's since I've never done it.
I agree that 250+ lbs of rock might get a little tricky...
 
bluespotjawfish

bluespotjawfish

Well-Known Member
Cycling it in your tank is the best way, as long as you don't already have stuff in your tank that would die from it. The first set of rocks you will get from TB comes with stuff to help the cycling process. Just remember to take everything slow. You will get another spike when the second set of rocks come, but what has already cycled will help that cycle too. Just remove all hiding bad critters. I'm still finding some after a month in my sump! I'm glad these didn't go in my main tank, but I added rock when I was fully stocked, so your's will be different.

I'm not sure if two tubs and my 125 is anything like what you will have with the 2 tanks, but keeping track of what each needed and how each was doing was tough work. It probably wouldn't be as bad if the one system was very stable. I'm glad I am down to one system. Of course I had my eye on a 45 gallon tank in the LFS yesterday to hold all the stuff I can't have with my 125 gallon setup.

Keep us posted.

PS - The fact that you mentioned the money you have invested in your existing setup may be an indicator that you aren't quite ready for the 200. That amount is nothing compared to what you will invest in the 200 by the time it is stocked.
 
lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
If you have the money and the patience and the space, I say go for it. You may want to consider doing what I have done and have the two tanks linked as one system. It helps keep the water parameters in line and you can use one sump, one skimmer, etc. It all depends on how close the two tanks are to each other. Mine are right next to each other on the same stand so it was pretty easy to do. Just a pump to pump water from one to the other and a siphon to move it back.
 
JamesFitch

JamesFitch

Member
well i have a 3 bedroom home i share with my wife 2 empty rooms rather they could be emptied LOL the 48 gallon is in the living room but my 200 would go in the study i have researched the cost and not a problem iam only worried if iam ready to take that jump. but i would like to keep the two tanks seperate and i am doing my water changes with live salt water on the 48 gallon but i wouldnt be able to afford doing that with a 200 gallon so iam looking into installing a big RO/Di filtration unit if i go to the 200 gallon
 
JamesFitch

JamesFitch

Member
with the pump to pump and siphon return how do you manage or keep the pumped water at the same speed with the siphon and whats the ratio your using just looked and measured i could get the tanks next to each other
 
A

apjunky

Member
JamesFitch said:
the tb live rock is uncured can i cure the rock in the tank during yhe cycle phase ( i beleive that it will only increase the cycle time ) but not sure where or how i can cure 250 ibs but inside the tank that would be alot of containers and power heads
Click to expand...

I just cured 550 LBS of LR in my sump . The aquarium wasnt ready or I would have cured it in there . I swished the rock around in a bucket of SW then put it in the sump . It took less than 10 days for amonia and nitrite to test off the scale and return to 0 .
 
TNT_Tile

TNT_Tile

Member
Just a mention, but before anything you may want to determin if your foundation can hold the weight of a 200+gal tank. I first set up a 125 and didnt think of which way the supports in my house were running. The tank was only on one cross support causing the sub floor to buckle, had to move the tank to a perpendicular wall so it fell on 4 supports to hold the weight.
 
blue_eyes53813

blue_eyes53813

Well-Known Member
Like some have mentioned already.. Money will be that major factor on how and if your tank will turn out good. My tank needs constant updates or something always cost alot of $ (if that makes sense) A reef will need more lights, bigger filtration like skimmer. and all around maintenance supplies like salt of course.You can do what I did like get supplies slowly. But you dont wanna jump in and say oohh shoot I dont have enough $ for a water change this weekend and so on.. Try to figure out the cost before hand if possible. Im sure it will look nice when you do ,do it.
 
lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
We have a small pump in the back of the pony tank that puts water from there to the overflow of the reef. Then we just have a U tube to gravity feed from the reef to the pony tank. This keeps the water level in both tanks equal so I don't really have to worry about how much or how little the pump is pumping. We used to have problems occasionally with an air bubble getting in the U tube, but Phil gave me a fix for that in chat one night. We just put a small hole in the top of the U and a small airline from the top of one of the power heads in the reef to the hole. Kind of hard to describe but it has worked perfectly since we made that addition. It's kind of hard to see in pics because of all the other stuff in the reef, but here is one.
 

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JamesFitch

JamesFitch

Member
ok that makes sence and i can see the airline in the u tube what a clever idea using the the gravity feed iam not sure that either tank is going to be shorter yet since the 48 is a tall i suppose that it will make a difference in the stand of the 200+ but i may custom build the stand and the canopy anyway
 
lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
Oh I forgot that part. We did have to put the pony tank on a little platform because it was shorter. I totally forgot that.
My husband came up with it and Phil helped us refine it. The only problem I have is algae growing in the tubes. I have to replace some of them every couple of months, but not the U tube. For some reason that one is fine, but it is a bigger tube anyway so I could probably clean that one instead of replace if it ever became necessary. I have netting over both pipe ends to keep out the fish and the bigger snails. Sometimes a small snail will crawl through, but that is fine with me. Maybe that is why I don't have an algae problem there. Just thought of it.
 
deaclauderdale

deaclauderdale

Well-Known Member
Cost doesn't have to be totally porhibitive if you know how to DIY! But I would suggest you do it right the first time. Large volumes of water are good to have, when their not on the floor.
 
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