jjmoneyman
RS Sponsor
I've had this 55 gal going for about 8 months now and I've been wanting an upgrade. My wife has a little flounder she had to have when we started the tank. I told her at the time that he will outgrow the tank and would have to come back to the LFS when that happens. Well she hand feeds it now and doesn't want to part with it. A while ago after hand feeding her fish she suggested I put in a huge wall tank so she could keep the flounder. Well that wasn't really an option but since that time I've been scouring craigslist for a larger tank. I wanted something wider but not much taller and figured a standard 125 gal would be perfect for the space. After some time of watching craigslist and message boards in the area I couldn't find one that was drilled.
Anyway today we were running around town and I asked if we could stop by a LFS that opened last summer just to see how business was doing. Well by the looks of their inventory they haven't grown much since they opened. Anyway I asked if they had any used RR tanks. They did have a used 210 with a sump and old PC lights and stuff but that was larger than I wanted. They did have a 125 gal on sale with stand but it wasn't drilled. They offered to order me one that was drilled but would be about $195 more. After a little number crunching he quoted my wife a number on the tank and she was interested. I told her I could just build a stand again but she insisted that we just order that in as well. To make a long story short the new RR tank and stand was over $100 less than the one they had on sale sitting in their shop.
So the tank should arrive Wednesday give or take, but in that time I need to move my 55 gal out of the way to make room for the new tank. I've decided to just get the new tank in place, find a sump or make one, and plumb everything up. Then I'll add some water from a couple of water changes and just let it cycle completely before transferring things over.
Right now on my 55 gal my sump is directly behind the DT on a siphon so this whole plumbing thing with a sump/fuge below the tank is all new to me. Any suggestions on plumbing, sump/fuge design, return pump suggestions, all that good stuff with be greatly appreciated.
Anyway here is my existing set up since this is where we are starting from:
Notice the 20 gal sump/fuge right behind the DT:
An here's the plan, drain about 70% of the water out of the tank, slide it over to the wall to the right where the desk is, add water back in, and put the new tank in it's place. The 55 gal will be going by by when everything is up and rolling in the new tank.
Anyway today we were running around town and I asked if we could stop by a LFS that opened last summer just to see how business was doing. Well by the looks of their inventory they haven't grown much since they opened. Anyway I asked if they had any used RR tanks. They did have a used 210 with a sump and old PC lights and stuff but that was larger than I wanted. They did have a 125 gal on sale with stand but it wasn't drilled. They offered to order me one that was drilled but would be about $195 more. After a little number crunching he quoted my wife a number on the tank and she was interested. I told her I could just build a stand again but she insisted that we just order that in as well. To make a long story short the new RR tank and stand was over $100 less than the one they had on sale sitting in their shop.
So the tank should arrive Wednesday give or take, but in that time I need to move my 55 gal out of the way to make room for the new tank. I've decided to just get the new tank in place, find a sump or make one, and plumb everything up. Then I'll add some water from a couple of water changes and just let it cycle completely before transferring things over.
Right now on my 55 gal my sump is directly behind the DT on a siphon so this whole plumbing thing with a sump/fuge below the tank is all new to me. Any suggestions on plumbing, sump/fuge design, return pump suggestions, all that good stuff with be greatly appreciated.
Anyway here is my existing set up since this is where we are starting from:
Notice the 20 gal sump/fuge right behind the DT:
An here's the plan, drain about 70% of the water out of the tank, slide it over to the wall to the right where the desk is, add water back in, and put the new tank in it's place. The 55 gal will be going by by when everything is up and rolling in the new tank.