New 125g build

Hi Everyone,
I am new to the forum.
I am in the process of setting up a 125g system. I am switching over from a 90g that I have had setup for many years. The 90 has been running with 200lbs of LR and about 1"-2" live sand. It has been running with no fish or corals since about 2006. It has been maintained, and there are many living creatures in there (star fish, small snails, tube worms etc.) I continued to feed the tank (very lightly) through this time to keep it all living.
So here we are today finally setting up a new system .
I plan to use the rock and maybe the sand from the 90 in the the new 125.
The 125 will sit on a DIY stand that I am in the process of building. I have a 40g breeder that I am going to make a sump/refugium with. My lighting will be a ATI 6x80w T5 fixture and I have a AquaC EV-180 skimmer on my 90 that will be used in the new system.
There are few things I could use some advice on.
Do you think I should use the sand from the 90g in the 125g? I would also add some new sand with it.
I am planning on using all new water since my current water hasn't been changed in a while and nitrated are pretty high.
Well thats it for now. I pick the tank up tomorrow. Hopefully the stand will be done in a week or so. I will post some pictures after the stand is done and I start putting it all together.

Bob

 

Salt creep - welcome to 3 reef

I would not want to use all that sand to be honest, especially as its been in the tank over 2 years
I would want to use some of it , a couple of rice bowls full in order to seed the new sand I would get for it

other than that the plan sounds great to me
if you use the old rockwork, then IME it will be fine with new water, as the bacteria you have on the rocks will help start the cycle on the new set up

Steve

 

Welcome to 3Reef Bob! Sounds like a good project, as mentioned above I would use some of the old sand to seed the new sand. If you have to use all the old sand, after taking out a few scoops to seed the new, I would rinse out the rest before adding it to the new tank. Sounds like your got some parm issues already, don't want to bring that over to the new tank if it could be avoided.....sand is probably one of the cheaper things you'll buy for the new tank anyway.

 

Thanks for the advice.
I will happily get new sand for the new tank. I know it is good to add established sand
to a new tank. With my sand being so old I was unsure if I should. Adding just a little to new sand sounds like a good plan. Is Southdown play sand still around?
My next hurdle is designing my sump. Does anyone know how much volume I need to leave to account for overflow water when the pump is off? The tank is a AGA 125 with dual megaflow's. The sump will be a basic layout. Intake/skimmer section, fuge section and return section.

 

Today was a good day. I went and picked up the tank and overflow kits. I received my light fixture, bulbs and 2 Korialia Evo 1400's. I also stopped at Lowes and picked up the acrylic sheet for my sump baffles.
I still have a good amount of work to do on the stand. Hopefully I can get it close to done this week. After that will be the sump, which I can use some input on. I plan to have my input on one side, the fuge on the other side, with the return in the middle. My question is about how to feed water to the sump. I have seen it done a few different ways. Please let me know if there is a best way to do it. I have seen some where one of the overflow's drains into the fuge, with the other feeding the intake w/skimmer. I have see people get water to the sump using a powerhead in the sump, and lastly t-ing off the return with a ball valve to adjust flow to the sump. All seen to have there positives,
but I'm not sure which way to go. Your input would help a lot.

Thanks!

 

Melevsreef.com - Welcome!


Hi SaltCreep

the above site is full of excellent information on sumps
example - Melevsreef.com - What is a Sump?

but if you click on site map, you will find lots of different sump scenarios and will be able to plan yours based on tips found there

Steve

 

Thanks Steve,
I have visited that site before, but definitely missed some of the information there.
I have the sump planned out except for how I want to feed water to the refugium.
I am thinking of placing a "T" on one of the overflow lines and running it into the fuge with a ball valve to control the flow going in. The line will then continue into the skimmer section. It seems if I dedicate one of the overflow's just to feeding the fuge it would have to be throttled back considerably, not making full use of the overflow.

 

here is a few pics of mine. I came off the overflow of one side and teed off to the fuge. the other end goes to the skimmer side. working pretty good so far. Hope it helps.

 

You want to have enough spare space in the sump to handle up to 2 inches of display tank water depending on how close to the water line you make your anti siphon holes in your returns. Measure length and width multiply them together, multiply that by the depth of water that will siphon back into the sump. Do the same measurements and multiplication for the sump width and length and divide that into the final display total to get inches needed available in the sump.

 

Welcome to 3reef BTW.