I have been talking about upgrading my current tank a 29 gallon to a 45 gallon in many of the other posts. I thought I would do a thread on it. I would like to do it next Saturday if everything goes as plan. I am going to use the current stand and canopy for the new tank. So it should save me some moola. However here are a few things I need to look into:
-Will my current light be powerful enough for the 45 gallon. It is a 2x65 PC. I am not interested in spending 200 to 300 bucks on a replacement. So if it isn't then I probably won't upgrade.
-How much more live rock do I need to buy. Currently I have about 35#'s in my current tank.
Any input would be great.
Thanks for the motivation Rob, since listening to your pod cast about doing this I realized it is alot easier than I had anticipated.
__________________ Tony K.
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75 Gallon Reef Tank
Livestock: 6 Chromis, Atlantic Blue Tang, Yellow Tang, Flame Angel, Pair Maroon Clowns, Bristal Star
Corals: Bubble Coral, Toadstool Leather, Star Polyp, Zoo's, Mushrooms, Clam
Rob and everyone,
I wanted to continue our discussion on my upgrade in a more appropriate forum since Rob asked me to post this in the tank upgrade forum.
Great news... and good luck with the upgrade..
please feel free to start a thread in the Tank Journals forum to track progress and post pictures for us all..
now for your questions...
Quote:
Originally Posted by tdkarl
-Will my current light be powerful enough for the 45 gallon. It is a 2x65 PC. I am not interested in spending 200 to 300 bucks on a replacement. So if it isn't then I probably won't upgrade.
is it enough? thats a very relative questions... is one hamburger enough for dinner??
well if its one person eating and they dont have a large appetite, then yeah probably.
but if you are feeding a person with a huge appetite then probably not...
it all depends on what your needs are. if you are planning on keeping soft coral that arent very light needy, then you will be ok. but this probably wont be enough for most stony coral (LPS or SPS). you will probably be fine for what you already have, since they are used to it, but if you have anything that needs a bit more light you will want to make sure its up high in the tank since the 45 is going to be taller. Not as much light at the bottom... then in the future you can re-evaluate your lighting, maybe look at some T-5s or a MH retro.. but thats all in the future.
Quote:
-How much more live rock do I need to buy. Currently I have about 35#'s in my current tank.
i would go with another 10-15 Lbs.. you can save some money here by doing it all in base rock. you have 35#'s of LR already, so LR will seed the new base rock and you will be all set and your wallet wont feel so light...
if you do this just remember the base rock still needs to be seeded and mature before it can actually filter anything.. this can take a few months.
Well this will bring me to about 2.8 watts per gallon, currently I am at 4.4 with the current light. I would love to upgrade in the future to a MH light, I am not familiar with the T5's. I hear the MH run pretty hot and temp can be an issue. Are the T5's and cooler on the tank?
My current coral situation is as follows:
Finger Leather Coral, Xenia, Bubble Coral, Star Poylps, and another one I can't think of the name right now.
__________________ Tony K.
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75 Gallon Reef Tank
Livestock: 6 Chromis, Atlantic Blue Tang, Yellow Tang, Flame Angel, Pair Maroon Clowns, Bristal Star
Corals: Bubble Coral, Toadstool Leather, Star Polyp, Zoo's, Mushrooms, Clam
watts/ gallon is a good rule of thumb for newbies, but not all that relevant. I don't see a problem with those lights on the 45 gallon- just stick to softies and the same corals you have now. I would keep the corals positioned in the same distance from the light as they are in the 29 gallon.
Upgrading would be awesome! Sorry but I don't know anything about T5's, but I'd love to hear a podcast about them. *hint hint*
I am sooo depressed the 45 won't fit on my stand. I was mistaken last time I saw it in the store. The only thing that will fit is a 37 gallon and I am just not sure it is worth all the trouble to swap tanks for 9 more gallons. What do you all think?
__________________ Tony K.
------------------
75 Gallon Reef Tank
Livestock: 6 Chromis, Atlantic Blue Tang, Yellow Tang, Flame Angel, Pair Maroon Clowns, Bristal Star
Corals: Bubble Coral, Toadstool Leather, Star Polyp, Zoo's, Mushrooms, Clam
The more and more I think about it I may just go for it and upgrade to the 37 gallon. I think it will look a little better to have 4 inches more hieght. Because that is really the only difference in the 29 and 37 gallon, 4 inches. It still is a bummer the 45 would have been to cool. Oh well...
__________________ Tony K.
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75 Gallon Reef Tank
Livestock: 6 Chromis, Atlantic Blue Tang, Yellow Tang, Flame Angel, Pair Maroon Clowns, Bristal Star
Corals: Bubble Coral, Toadstool Leather, Star Polyp, Zoo's, Mushrooms, Clam
personally i would hold off and when you can do the biggest you can..
if the 37 will be the biggest you can do in the long run, then cool go for it...
but if you plan on going bigger in the future, like the 45, or a 55 or bigger, i would wait till then...
no point in the extra work and stress on the fish and coral if you are just going to do it all over again...
but thats just my 2 cents...
__________________
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ya thats what i am thinking, but you know how that little reef voice in your head says, "ya do it, it will be 4 inches taller and look that much cooler". But logically it is alot of work for just a little payoff.
__________________ Tony K.
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75 Gallon Reef Tank
Livestock: 6 Chromis, Atlantic Blue Tang, Yellow Tang, Flame Angel, Pair Maroon Clowns, Bristal Star
Corals: Bubble Coral, Toadstool Leather, Star Polyp, Zoo's, Mushrooms, Clam
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wow those are quite some dreams Rob!! You could always wish to wake up as Bernie Marcus too.
