Need Advice moving to Larger RR tank

[askwines]

Hi,
I need some serious advice here.
I'm moving the 30 gal to an Oceanic 55 gal RR tank
Questions:
1. I'll need to add more LR and sand-
How long should I cycle the tank before moving the LR, Fish, corals from the 30g.
2. Sand- should I use southdown base and add LS to activate?
How much sand do I need? How much LS to activate?
3. LR- I have approx. 50#'s now, how much more do I need??
4. Sump- I have an old 20 g tank I want to use for the sump.
I'm going to use my Aqua C skimmer. I'm also think of making part of the sump a refugium.
How do I do this? Do I need baffles? can you use a submerged pump in the fuge? what size pump do I need?
Is the durso standpipe better than the pipes that come w/ the system??

There's allot of questions here.
I really appreciate any and all answers.


Alan

 

[ChrisRD]

What kind of live rock do you have? If it's a lightweight Pacific type of rock, 50# should be plenty for a 55 gallon tank as far as filtration needs. Anything beyond that would be personal preference and not really necessary IME.

If you want to section-off part of your sump as a refugium, you can silicone glass/acrylic dividers to create a partition. You may also want some baffles to prevent microbubbles from your skimmer from getting to your return pump (and thus into your main tank). I'll post a few pics that might help clarify...

As for the size pump (I'm assuming return pump) you can use - that will depend on the size drain your tank is drilled for. I'd say use the largest one your drain can handle. The Durso pipes are definitely worth the effort - they will significantly reduce noise...

As for how much sand, IMO it's a personal preference thing. I say use what you want to look at. Going with about 10% live sand for seeding (on top of the inert sand) should be fine.

HTH

 

[ChrisRD]

This is an example of a 29 gallon aquarium used as a sump/fuge...

 

[ChrisRD]

Same sump/fuge a couple of months later...

 

[askwines]

Thanks,
where does the skimmer empty into?
I'm going to use amy Aqua C- can I just position the lip where the water returns from into the next section of the sump-
Or doesn't matter that it spills into the same section as the overflow?
Do you need the little box in the corner.
How high do you make the the lower divider and upper dividers??

Thanks
Alan

 

[ChrisRD]

It doesn't really matter where the skimmer empties into - whatever you prefer. All the water is going to get processed eventually.

The pump chamber idea was just to maximize area that I could use for a fuge. You could just do a divider straight across too - whatever works for you. Basically you want to keep the sand/macros out of the pump.

It doesn't really matter how high the upper divider is since water is only running under it. As for the pump chamber walls (or last partition if you prefer) - you can just make it an inch or two lower than the first partition.

HTH

 

[askwines]

OK,
Let's get some specifics here.
The 20gal tank I want to use is 191/2" L x10 1/4" w x 12"H. How high do I need to make the lower partitions?
If I don't do the corner box, would I need a a top and bottom partition??

Thanks
Alan

 

[ChrisRD]

I'd recommend making the first lower partition at, or slightly lower (say maybe an inch) than you want the waterline to run in the sump. Make the second lower partition (by the sump pump) a little lower than the first.

Don't run the waterline too high - think about how high it should be for the skimmer you're going to use. For a Euro-Reef I think the recommendation is like 8" of water, but that's going to vary with the skimmer. Also leave yourself enough room for the extra water that will drain into the sump from the main tank when the return pump is off.

The top partition dimensions and locations aren't really critical, because they're really just bubble baffles. The idea is you want to force the water to go underneath, while the bubbles float to the top. That way, the bubbles won't make it to the return pump (and then into the main tank).

HTH

 

[askwines]

I was going to use my Aqua C remora.
The return from that is about 12 ", which is also the height of the tank I want to use.
Will this cause a probelm.
Knowing that, what would you recommend the waterline to be??

Thanks
Alan

 

[askwines]

One more question-
I only have 1 skimmer- what should I do
When I set the new tank and let it cycle w/ the new LR and LS?
Move the skimmer to the new setup and run the old tank off a regular filter for awhile??

 

[ChrisRD]

Personally, I would get an in-sump skimmer for the new setup - something like one of the budget model Euro-Reefs (the ES series). Then I'd sell the Remora. This would also solve the problem of having one skimmer (temporarily).

If you're going to use the Remora on the sump you'd either have to run the waterline high enough to use it as a hang-on (which I would NOT recommend) or somehow rig it up or modify to use in-sump. Personally I'd just get an in-sump skimmer - it's going to be a LOT more effective anyway.

 

[ChrisRD]

If you do end-up having to juggle one skimmer, I'd be running it on the curing tank more than on the established tank. The established tank should be OK without a skimmer for days/weeks, especially if you do a few water changes in the interim. The curing rock may have a lot of die-off and without good circulation and skimming ammonia levels could get high quickly killing off beneficial life.

HTH