check this out

[saltnmyeye]

i showed this idea befor and i rethought it and im gonna try again. the 55 is established about 10 months old. the 30 gallon will only have crushed coral bed about 2 to 3 inches. when i start the pump it will be just like doing a 60% water change. can someone experienced tell me why or why not this will work. i know someone who has done it and they say no problem. the only thing that bothers me about it is the bacteria. could i use something like "cycle" at the start? and will this scenario trigger a cycle with ammonia and the works. basically turning a 55 into a 90 gal. system. i have a skimmer good for 100 gallons. please send feedback. thanks. raymond

 

[psiico]

I don't it would be much different then a 50% water change. Unless you add a lot of uncured rock. Add the rock slowly if you are worried about it. I'm doing something similar, going to run an existing 29g and a 35g side by side sharing a sump. But I'm stocking the 35 very slowly, just water, sand and dead base rock to start, adding live rock 5 or 10 lbs at a time.

 

[Anonymous]

As long as you are not adding any new livestock or live rock I don't think there would be any kind of spike. Make sure the water in the new tank (a refugium, right?) is matching in salinity and temperature.

Crushed coral is pretty poor since all kinds of food and stuff will fall down into it. I would go with sand.

 

[melanotaenia1]

I would not use any type of supplemental bacteria, since the exisitng tank is seeded, it would be more like a water change.

I have made moves with my tank where I have only been able to take about half the water and I have found that as long as everything is done slowly and accurately, and as long as parameters are constant, it should be fine.

And I would go with sand or aragonite, crushed corals sucks IMO.

Hope this helps.

 

[saltnmyeye]

you have given me the courage and the "permission" once again to move forth. i will post pics when i get it set up.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry for picking math, but this is the calculation for the water change:

30/(30+55) = 35%

It looks good, and only thing that you need to make sure is to have the overflow in the refug. that can handle the output of the pump *at all time* (otherwise, flooding will result).

 

[saltnmyeye]

i plan to put a pump the will pump 200 gpm and a 1" overflow. if that isnt enough i will go with 2 - 1" overflows. thanks for the input. full steam ahead. i pick up my 30 gallon today. :lol:

 

[Bobzarry]

I have done something simular in the past with 2 55gal tanks, except I did not use gravity feed. Instead I used several U-tubes to connect the tanks. I put the intake and return from the sump in separate tanks, and it worked fine for years.

However I would 86 the crushed coral.


Bob

 

[tazdevil]

Sorry for picking math, but this is the calculation for the water change:

30/(30+55) = 35%

7E, now I'm kind of confused about this. That formula indicates the 30 is already cycled. Its a brand new 30 connected to a existing 55, so to me the formula would be 30/55; not 30/(30+55) as that would be a new 30, hooked up to a system with an original 30 and 55 connected together already. So then the percentage becomes 54.545454.....% (never ending 5454 repeating for the math types). Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[tangir1]

>... That formula indicates the ...

Nope, don't put words in my formula, buddy

See, the way to read the formula is to think of the total amount of water (30+55), and how much of it is new (30). If you do a 10% water change on a 100 gal tank, you essentially take out 10 gal of old water, and put 10 gal of new, freshly made saltwater, right?

100-10 = 90 gal (amount of water after 10 gal is removed.

10/(90+10) = 10% same formula as mine, but to illustrate my point.

 

[saltnmyeye]

i do plan to ditch the crushed coral and go with an aragonite sand bed. the gravity fed system is the easiest imo. and it will be simple enough for my needs. see instead of having a fuge at the bottom, i will have it up top at eye level. i will post pics when i get it going in about a week. :lol: thanks again to all who replied. what are the odds that i will see any kind of cycle at all??

 

[tazdevil]

7e pic which damn person your gonna go by, you messin with my head!!! :lol:

 

[tangir1]

Well, just keep in mind what was said, instead of who says what.

 

[billyzbear]

I just put together something like this. Put a small hole some where at it's highest point for a siphon break on the intake and return. If you don't, the intake will siphon back into the tank when the pump is off and the return won't flow unless you create a siphon. Use a ball valve on the intake to help regulate water flow and one on the return if ever you want to stop flow. Have the return line close to the surface of the tank, you'll get more flow.

For refuguim I got a rubbermaid container about 17g above and to the left of main 32g tank. At first I had a seperate pump but now I tie'd it into my sump return pump. I put a bulk head in and return goes to main tank.

 

[saltnmyeye]

this is just a simple loop system which will for one create more volume, and for two, allow me to separate more delicate animals with the agressive ones. i understand many people hide their "sump" underneath the main tank and put all the gadgets in this so they are not seen in the main show tank and so forth, but for my personal use, i want everything that is going to be living at eye level or there about. :wink: