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The Move 60 to 90 + refugium

10K views 63 replies 17 participants last post by  blazend 
#1 ·
We will be moving from the 60 gallon reef over to a 90 gallon drilled tank with a 30-35 gallon sump/refugium.

I currently have all equipment off the 60 gallon and i have moved all fish to 2 totes. The Corals are in my 18 gallon rescue/qt tank.

I will be moving the sand to 2 5 gallon buckets and my rock has been moved to the totes.

I will get the water out of tank and try to use about 20 gallons of water from main tank into new tank.

I have 50 gallons of RO DI Water made for the new tank. I will add 70 gallons and then wait. I will get more water and settup sump then.

This is what I'm Working with:



Also my current setup with the 60:


What i all have:
Fish
  • one spotted fox face
  • blue tang
  • diamond goby
  • velvet damsel
  • melanarise wrasse
  • BTA

Corals
  • Torch Coral
  • Bubble Coral
  • Kenya Tree
  • 3-4 small frags

Equipment
  • 2 Korila 1150 powerheads
  • HOB Skimmer
  • UV Steralizer
 
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#3 ·
Hey no problem i will keep up with updates so you can see.

The tank has been setup now and i added the 70 gallons. 20 from old tank, 50 new water i made with my RO DI system.

I then put 80% of rocks into the tank without sand. I made my aquascape and also added sand.

I have also settup 3 heaters to get my temp up quickly considering the 50 gallons were all cold i used my bath tub to put the buckets into hot water. The 20 from my tank was being heated still so temps should be just under the 78 degrees i need. I added my 2 powerheads to help move the water around. notice adding the sand made the tank cloudy wants the sump is setup that will clear up within hours.

I left 2 rocks in each tote for fishys and also put air stones in each tote. Fish seem fine i can tell my one spotted fox face is a bit stressed (color changing)

I have a buddy coming over after work to hlep me setup the sump/ref. I also need to go pickup water because i can only create so much and it wont be fast enough to create 50 more gallons as needed.

Here is my cloudy 90 filled to about 75 gallons.

 
#7 ·
The sump and refugium is all set up now. I had to make about 35 more gallons of water.

I did add some small rock to the sump and also got my uv and skimmer on there as well. I will try to add a bigger light soon using my par38. Right now just a quick LED for the time being.

The tank cleared up completely within 2 hours of running the sump. I added about a lb of rock into it and also added bio balls and carbon to the inlet of the sump.



 
#10 ·
I used that strong putty like paste that i got from my LFS to hold the rocks that are arching. The big pieces are just ontop of each other. I did give them a hand push test to make sure the aquascape would stay.

I gave the Angel back prior to the move :( She wasnt doing so hot in a 60 gallon.
 
#11 ·
So far just to show people how much work the conversion was.

*4 hours the first day. - Took down old tank and moved everything to buckets and totes. Also put up the new tank.
(The glass part of my 90 was so heavy me and my buddy struggled considering i live up quite a few steps)

*2 hours next day- Putting sand and rock in and putting 70 gallons of water in.

*3 hours same day- Finished sump setup. 40 more gallons and finished the rock.

*30 mins - Temp to tank was fine and test kit showed no ammonia or nitrite. Added fish.

I will add the corals tonight and maybe glue the rest down. If i have free time i will start my baby brine in 2 liter bottles then move them to my sump now that i have a light.
 
#17 ·
Yep, in my case i moved over my sand and my rock. Tested params before adding corals/fish. 0 Amm 0 Nitrite 10-15 nitrate.
Salinity- 1.022 (Ill bring this up a bit after first water change)

Pretty good results in a move.

I lost 1 torch coral. Other then that corals and fish made the move.

Final Tank with Corals


Started Hatching Brine this morning


For my new Arrival
 
#18 ·
Interesting. I am picking up my new 75 today and doing the swap next week (old 75 had a leak). Not looking forward to the job, but reading your thread has helped a lot. What are you going to put into your refugium? I have pretty much decided to just put the skimmer (first one I have ever had) in the sump and nothing else except maybe some live rock rubble in the center section with carbon bags on top of it.
 
#19 ·
Just to break down my sump/ref so you understand:

I have 2 filter drawers in my sump that the water goes through first before hitting the first big water chamber. There is then a bubble trap that goes to a second chamber of water. Then over a wall to the last (3rd) chamber. (which has a stand in it)

The first filter drawer i put 3 bags of carbon in. 2nd drawer i put bio balls in.

1st big chamber of water i did 15 lb of live very fine sand. 2nd chamber i put about 3lbs-5lbs of rubble live rock. 3rd chamber i had to remove the rack in it and i put my microalge in. (chaeto)

I then put the rack back into the 3rd chamber. The rack is where my pump sits on to pump water back into the tank. In the 3rd chamber i put the HOB skimmer in. Also in the 3rd chamber directly in the water i put the uv sterilizer.

Then i added my par 38 light and used a gooseneck to hit chamber 2 and 3 with light. for micro alge and rock.
 
#23 ·
Yes, it really does. I am more impressed on how clear the water is and how the corals responded by opening within hours of being in the new tank. I think that sump/ref is night and day difference. More water movement a lot happier corals/fish.
 
#24 ·
Yeah, I can't wait to get my sump made and going. I've got the tank for it, but after the holidays and the big move from the 55 to the 90 I really want to just relax. I want to give the tank a chance to rest too. I'm thinking in a month I'll start working on it. In the meantime I'm going to watch how yours progresses and hopefully learn more along the way. :)
 
#25 ·
Sounds like a good plan. Any questions feel free to ask. I had no idea how a sump/ref even worked before this. So my original move was to my 90 with 75 gallons of water in it.

I had a buddy educate me and i went from there. Its the best thing ive ever done so far with my salt water tank!
 
#29 ·
Not sure if it was just an error in your Paint drawing, but for a bubble trap, you want the water to go over a baffle, then under, then over, so something like this:

formatting on my diagram didn't work, heres a picture:

 
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