I Recall....

[Ethos]

I recall someone on here with a beautiful 125G tang tank.
I read his topics, and he said he estiamed he spent about $4000.
Thats alot of money.....Incase you didn't know
I was wondering if you could set one up more in the range of $1000? I mean, I think he had oodles of corals, and such, but I'd rather do a fowler, atleast in the beggining.
That is, if I do it at all, which is highly doubtable, so don't get all excited or anything. My mom fell in love with the Blue (regal) tang, so she looked it up and she found a few websites that said they only need a 70G at the minimum.
So ok, maybe a pair of clownfish and a blue tang, woohoo. Exciting tank, lol.
I figure I could get my hands on a used 125G set-up for around $500...that how much I spent on my 55G...but, ok.
Then I could slowly build up my stock, getting bigger and better......

This thread is more just thinking out loud, its pretty much me just thinking/dreaming a loud.
But can a blue tang really live its full life in a 70-75G tank?

 

[superman]

Ethos, I commend you for your research! You are correct in your assumption, A tang of ANY kind will not be as healthy as it could be if housed in anything smaller than a 6 foot long tank. They are straight line swimmers, and shortening the distance of "sprints" does hurt the health of the tang.

$1000 for a 125 gallon, no it can not be done, unless you have things donated to you, or sold to you at a drastically lower price. If you get a 125 gallon, I'd be willing to drill it (make it a reef ready tank) for you for $30 a hole, I have drilled many tanks, and it is quite easy, just let me know.

You can get a good price on an ASM skimmer, (same as a EuroReef basically less expensive) I love my ASM G4X.

Lighting is where you have to make some tough decisions, do you want to just get by with lighting suitable for only fish and live rock, or do you want to plan for the future and get lighting that would be suitable to grow some if not all corals.

Flow can get expensive to, with or without a sump, in a 125 that is housing a tang, I would go with somewhere around 30X turnover.

I can help out where I can, I do have some equipment laying around that I would be willing to sell for a fair price, I do have an AquaC Remora Pro that I am not using right now, a 150 watt HQI metal halide with ballast, RODI unit (needs new membrane and filters) some beginner corals, and also some fish that I was holding for someone, but then got stuck with permanently. Let me know if you are interested, just thought I would mention that I have a lot of extra equipment, especially since I just consolidated to two tanks now. Let me know and you can just stop by whenever since you live so close.

 

[Opcn]

Fowlrs are alot cheaper, If you got araganite sand in a thin layer you could do that for 60 dollars, three 45 lb boxes of figi LR would cost you 450 say 300 on powerheads 100 on heat, 100 on lights (in a fowlr you dont need expensive lights) 50 on salt 60 on water 100 on cleanup crew if you get one (live aquaria turbo and margarita snails are huge some times) maybe a 100 dollar canister filter and a 200 dollar skimmer yeah thats not including the 150 on probable livestock, it ads up quick doesnt it

 

[macpegg]

I need my 6ft long tank drilling, i dare not do it. i don`t know if i could even trust anyone to... just incase the screwed up!.

 

[john27]

Hi,
Why dont you ask Mostlymarines to drill your tank, they are close to peterlee.

john.

 

[Ethos]

Hmhmh, paying money ruins the fun of it.
I wish petco gave me a free-for-all certificite so I could spend all the money I wanted, throught them of course.
I'd special order a 300G through them....teeheehee

 

[crazyelece]

Yes, you can setup a 125 for around $1000, you just can't do it over night. You can find tanks used usually for around $1 a gal, if you look very hard you may even find one cheaper as a 125 is a very common size and easily found. You don't need to get it drilled and anyone who says different has had a bad experience that can be avoided. Watch in your local area and join a local reef or fish club. All you really need to worry about cost wise is your live rock, compared to that everything else is cheap. The cheapest way to get live rock is to use two thirds lace rock for the base rock and then seed it with a third good quality live rock on the top. You can usually find it for anywhere from $1.50-2.00 a pound if you can get it used from a local reefer. I set my 120 up for a little over $2000, but some things I couldn't wait to find used and some items I didn't want to skimp on.

 

[superman]

You don't need to get it drilled and anyone who says different has had a bad experience that can be avoided.

What are you referring to, having a sump with a siphon overflow is ok?

 

[andywg]

You don't need to drill a tank, but it is the best option. Overflows have too much that can go wrong, and there are far more horror stories of sumps flooding or draining from syphons than from drilled holes.

Basically, if it is possible that something can go wrong, no matter how unlikely, you can almost guarantee it will. And it won't be while you're there to see and catch it either...

 

[crazyelece]

Yes a siphon overflow to a sump is ok. Most of the tanks running have been setup this way. It is also the cheapest solution to save money. All you have to do is plan. If my siphon breaks my tank will not flood and my pump will not run dry. I have my sump set with a float switch so if the water gets too low it shuts the pump off. The only benefit to drilling is that you do not have to rely on a siphon, but with proper maintence procedures and visually inspecting everything (which you should do either way) you should be able to detect if there is an issue arising with the siphon.

I know that this isn't the popular opinion these days, but just because its the older way to do it doesn't make it any less operable.

 

[superman]

no amount of check valves, float valves, back up power, visual checks and good maintenace can assure that a siphon overflow will not fail and cost the owner thousands of dollars in water damage repairs and livestock loss.

A local hobbyist came home after a weekend vacation only to find that his power had gone off for only a few minutes, his siphon somehow got an air bubble in it (this is the theory) and didn't restart. His 55 gallon sump (on his 125 gallon show tank) overflowed the show tank onto his beautiful hardwood floors, and proceeded to leak into his basement wrecking his entire entertainment system, power tools and basement was a soggy mess from floor to ceiling. None of this was covered by his insurance (and in most cases insurance does NOT cover aquaium "problems")

If anyone has spilled even 5 gallons of water onto a floor, it is hard to imagine the damage that 50+ gallons of water can cause. Moral of the story, only use siphon overflows if you can afford the total loss of all your livestock and and the cost of recovery. It doesn't take very long for a siphon overflow to wreck a beautiful aquarium and home. I have helped clean up 3 different "siphon overflow disasters" In my opinion they are a great cheap way to wreck everything, including your zeal for this wonderful hobby.

I know that there are people that have had "years of trouble free siphon overflow use" but all it takes is one minor glitch...
It is so very easy to either buy a drilled tank, get the tank drilled, or drill it yourself that it is ashame that so many people have been turned away from the hobby because of such avoidable disasters. "If the tank isn't drilled, then forget about using a sump" is what I usually tell people.

 

[Mr Miagi]

For the sake of $30 get the tank drilled and put in a durso. So much easier, and so mush nicer to deal with. The money spent on drilling far outways the cost of replacing carpet, electricals, furniture and not to mention your set-up and live stock. $30 or $5000+?

I agree completly with superman. Drilling a tank is easy. The LFS wouldnt give you your tank back in peaces if something did go wrong. They would have to replace it. Not you. Unless they had some kind of dislcalaimer. But a quality tank builder knows what they are doing.

If i didnt buy my tank second hand, i woud have got my new tank drilled with 2 holes, for a durso-overflow, and leading to a large sump/fuge.

 

[Tiggs]

if the syphon fails surley the only water that gets pumped back to the tank is that from the return pump chamber in the sump? not the whole sump?

as long as the tank can handle the xtra volume from the return chamber whats the problem? sounds like a poor sump design otherwise.

T

 

[andywg]

The sump will empty everything that will flow to near the sump return pump. Most people have a sump large enough to make it so that if the display could handle it all returning, the level of the tank normally would be so low as to not make it worth having the sump.

Drilling is such an easy solution, and with the durso it keeps the tank next to silent. I would never consider an overflow, far too risky for my liking...

 

[superman]

if the syphon fails surley the only water that gets pumped back to the tank is that from the return pump chamber in the sump? not the whole sump?

as long as the tank can handle the xtra volume from the return chamber whats the problem? sounds like a poor sump design otherwise.

T

I never make the "pump chamber" on any of my tanks small, because if you are away from the tank for a couple of days then your pump chamber will go dry because of evaporation. For example on my 220 gallon I have 80 gallons of sump/refugium, about 40 gallons of that is water that the sump pump is connected directly to, no problems with topping off the tank, I could in theory leave the tank for over a week and it would be fine.
DRILL IT!