Made the upgrade. 25gal to 220gal

mumra

mumra

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I'm going to be moving everything from my 25gal to a new (to me) Waterbox 220.6 pro that I got from another member. I was hoping to do this much later but he pm'd me with a offer that I couldn't refuse.

Is there anything that I should be careful of when doing this? So far my main concern is not bringing this brown algae (dinos maybe) over with it. Whatever it is it seems to bloom when I start dosing Reef Roids. I've been able to keep it down by not dosing but not eliminate it completely. I've tried emrald crabs but for some reason they die within a week or so.

Tips? Advice? 1000002129.jpg1000002115.jpg

Pics below:
 
I Expect mini cycle and also that brown stuff will come into your new tank unless you eradicate it before introducing to new tank.

If I were you, i will keep the small one going while waiting for the new tank to settle somewhat before adding your livestock to it. Going from 20 to 170ish gallon, You are going to go thru alots of issues. Expect up and down until you can get your tank to settle.
 
Tested today. Phosphates were 0 and Nitrates were 20. Alkalinity was at about 8. Not 100% sure I didn't have an extra drop when adding the chem

Should I dose Microbacter7? I have some leftovers.idk
 
PS, there turned out to be some green star polyps in the sand that started looking Ok after I turned a light on. It's small but alive. For whatever that's worth.
 
Those numbers are not bad. But you will want some phosphate to register as well. Also to validated your test, you need to test at the same time to see where your nutrients are. Unless you can verify that those numbers are collect from multiple tests, you really are just speculating. Granted no hobby tester is as accurate, I find them to be acceptable as long as the tests are done at the same time always. Giving you the that 24hr windows to keep your parameters stable.

Idk the previews owner and how it was running but, I wont have used old sand. At least wash them thoughtly before adding back. Old sand and old rock can tribute to nutrients spikes and can last as long as those rocks and sands are leaching. But thats what ive seen from those who take over others tanks. It's usally never in good shape. So you are starting with battles and i see this alot with those coming into hobby.

YOur GSP and other corals will live longer in larger system tahn is in a smaller system. I think your corals will die slower than that of smaller tank even all the things are the same in both tanks. Larger tank will make your coral grow faster and make your fishes to get larger as well due to its atmosphere pressure from such valume of water making it easier and harder at the same time. You went the larger way. :)
 
If it matters, he had about 8-10 fish and other than the small piexe of GAP there wasn't any coral. But I'll keep testing to make sure. I added a few Hermit crabs and Snails last night just to see how it goes.
 
I think you got pretty clean setup in that case. Must been in the hobby not too long~

I would try to bring in much of microfauna and little critters to get your biological filter going. So pods and phyto, some easy corals from someone with good water chemistry. I would dump the water and plugs into the system so you get more varieties of microfauna etc. That’s how I got my tank going.

Adding adequate size CUC is one way to get your system going. In your case, few isn’t enough to have them become part of your filtration.
 
I've got some brown/gold palys along with a tiny bit of anthelia left on some live rock in my 25gal. I can move those over and I assume acclimate just like any new corals. Hell, I think I could douse the anthelia in fuel and light it on fire first and it wouldn't die lol. Kidding of course 😉

How much CUC would you think that I need? I wouldn't want them to starve.
 
Coral accumulation is a thing of the past. Dip if needed but I would put them into the tank since I assume you trust your nano. Start at low level and move to permanent place when ready.

I perosnallly think CUC are the heart of the tank. They spend all day long eating wastes in the cracks and craves. Processing leftovers and decaying matters. Feed good and let your cuc do their thing.

I replenish my CUC about twice a year. You can count the shells of dead cuc if that helps you to see how much your tank need.

Off my head on my 24Gal, I have 4 Mexican 4 margarita 4 other large snails that can flip themselves. Big urchins, 1 emerald crab, 10 bumble bee, maybe 20 hermit. Fire shrimp, snails that only come out from the sand when feeding, tons of pods~

On my 15Gal, I have 2 of each large snails and small urchins and maybe 5 bumble bee snails. Cleaner shrimp. I will add more as my intake goes up and have more fishes added.
 
I think I've been pretty lucky with my cuc in the 25gal. I've only lost a few Hermit crabs and 3 Snails over the last 1.5yr. But for some reason I can't an emrald crab for more than a week.

I do trust my 25 except this little brown stuff I have on a couple of rocks. It seems to pop when i dose reef roids so I stopped a few weeks ago. It's pretty tough stuff. I can scrub or scratch it off. I'll get a pic tomorrow when I'm home and the lights are up.
 
PS. I've been watching some videos and some say that I shouldn't turn on my protein skimmer and turn the lights down to appox 50% of what I would normally run. Is this a good idea?

I had the skimmer running and after the 2nd or 3rd day it was full. Since last Wednesday not much and I haven't needed to empty it.
 
I wonder if that brown stuff that has bubble is dinoflagellates. I had to deal with it myself in my 24. Usually due to imbalance of nitrate and phosphate. Took few week of extra feedings. UV helps some.

CUC meant to be replaced often. But some cuc will survive for longtime and some even become bully as they get bigger. I think it’s cool. I have to put empty shells in time to time for snails to replace em. It’s necessary and it’s fun to see them changes out the next day in a clean white shells. I do this about every 3 month or so. I drop dozen of empty shells in all sizes in one corner and leave it for few days.

Are you asking about your 220Gal? I don’t what you have in it but I would keep the skimmer running so it helps with aeration and processing old decaying matters and do few big water changes and test regularly. Lie you were going to do, put some corals in and get the tank’s biological system up.

Your light depends on what your livestock is. Fishes don’t need intense lights to live and you really only going to elevate algae grow if your light is too intense and nothing is covering your rocks and sands.

What light are you planning to use?
 
I would move your livestock from 20 to 220 slowly. But first, I would put large piece of livestock from your nano into the 220 and wait a few week and start adding rest in it.

I am under impression many of us don’t feed the tank adequately. Probably reason your emerald crabs keeps dieing. I have same issue of under feeding and thinking I’m feeding too much.

I’m still raising my feeding on top of supplying liquid no3 and po4. (Currently messing with ammonia dosing instead no3).
 
I don’t know how long the 220 was running but it might be already matured and you just need to tweak a little to get it thriving. In that case, just make sure your big 3 is stable and go from there. No3 po4 and Alkalinity.
 
project1004 said:
I don’t know how long the 220 was running but it might be already matured and you just need to tweak a little to get it thriving. In that case, just make sure your big 3 is stable and go from there. No3 po4 and Alkalinity.
Click to expand...
He said appox 2 years. I did find a receipt in one of the boxes of stuff that he gave me that was dated May 2022 for a pump or something iirc. So it seems legit. Plus he is a super nice guy and has gotten back to me quickly when I had questions about some of the equipment he gave me.
 
I think your tank is matured at this point. Usually running a Fwolr tank tend to have higher nitrate and phosphate due to heavy feedings. But 10 fishes in 220 is very little perhaps why you didn’t see any phosphate registered? That’s a wow factor. Was he running like reactors or gfo?

You probably have few ups and down (we all do), but I think you got a great deal~.
 
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