125 or 150 or ????? (kinda long, sorry)

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

I currently have a standard 125LRR. It is against a wall in the bonus room. (junk room)
We want to put it in the wall between the Living room and dining room so it is viewable from both rooms. Because the tank has quite a few scratches, I'm thinking of getting a new tank. I figured it would be easier to transfer directly to another tank than put everything in tubs.

I'm not happy with the 18" width of the 125 I have now. If I go to a 150 the width would be 24". Much easier to aqua scape with 2 sided viewing. (Nothing can lean against the glass )

NOW, the price on a 150 isn't much less than a 180, lol so that is a possibility too:)

Question #1 Either way, is there a way to save and reuse my current sand bed? I finally have all of the good stuff and I like it. I know my LR will reseed a new sand bed but I don't want to wait for that if I don't have to. Plus that is alot of sand to buy again.

Question #2 What is the best magnet for cleaning the glass? I have mag floats but heard that the mangroves(?) are better / stronger. I have tons of Coraline algae on the back of my tank now but with the new tank i can't have any. LOTS of glass to clean.

Question #3 Anyone know where I can get a 125 -150-or 180 tank with the overflows at each end instead of on the back?

I will stay with the 125 and just deal with 18'' width if I have to. It's just a pain to aqua scape and balance the rock so it doesn't touch the glass. I suppose i could always drill the rock and use acrylic rods to fuse it all together. That way I can do awesome aquascaping and not worry about any of the rocks falling. If I go that route I can just have one central overflow in the middle of the tank and fuse the rock around it so you don't see the overflow at all.

What do ya think? Since I'm in the planning stage now is the time to give me suggestions. I need all the help i can get since I'm quick to jump in, and slow to swim.

Thanks all,
Angie

[dakar]

[quote="angieg1123"]I currently have a standard 125LRR. It is against a wall in the bonus room. (junk room)
We want to put it in the wall between the Living room and dining room so it is viewable from both rooms. Because the tank has quite a few scratches, I'm thinking of getting a new tank. I figured it would be easier to transfer directly to another tank than put everything in tubs.

I'm not happy with the 18" width of the 125 I have now. If I go to a 150 the width would be 24". Much easier to aqua scape with 2 sided viewing. (Nothing can lean against the glass )

NOW, the price on a 150 isn't much less than a 180, lol so that is a possibility too:)

180 dimensions are gonna be 72x24x24, ours is still empty but that will be remedied this week. But it's a monster, can't wait to get her going. She's undrilled and I'm too chicken to drill this one myself, so I'm going to make some more overflow (wier) boxes and hide them behind black acrylic that will only estend down about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way down to the bottom, you might be able to get away with the same thing on the sides with no trouble. the 24" deep will be simple to work with if you can access both sides.

Question #1 Either way, is there a way to save and reuse my current sand bed? I finally have all of the good stuff and I like it. I know my LR will reseed a new sand bed but I don't want to wait for that if I don't have to. Plus that is alot of sand to buy again.

How about starting with a new sandbed, but scrape off the the top inch or two of the old sandbed and put that on top of the new, to get all the benificial critters and such into your new tank, that will help seed the new sandbed with lots of good stuff, a super jump start with an esxtablished layer. Depending on how deep your existing bed is you may not want to scrape too deep unless the tank is already devoid of critters, the anerobic bateria may expel some really nasty gases (hydrogen sulfide i think is the primary)</color>.

Question #2 What is the best magnet for cleaning the glass? I have mag floats but heard that the mangroves(?) are better / stronger. I have tons of Coraline algae on the back of my tank now but with the new tank i can't have any. LOTS of glass to clean.

[color=cyan]Heard about a product called the pirana, guess its a mag float with a steel blade or soemthing in there, haven't found one myself but it's 'sposed to be ome of the best ones out there for coraline and tough stuff.

Question #3 Anyone know where I can get a 125 -150-or 180 tank with the overflows at each end instead of on the back?

never seen one done that way from the factory, however I have seen a 350 that was drilled on the sides (custom), the cabinet/canaopy were sorta combined so the overflows were on the sides of the tank, plumbing is in the cabinet and looked very clean, viewable from front and back and with painting the sides you couldn't tell where the plubming was. Kinda hard to explain, guess I could draw a picture that would explain it better.

I will stay with the 125 and just deal with 18'' width if I have to. It's just a pain to aqua scape and balance the rock so it doesn't touch the glass. I suppose i could always drill the rock and use acrylic rods to fuse it all together. That way I can do awesome aquascaping and not worry about any of the rocks falling. If I go that route I can just have one central overflow in the middle of the tank and fuse the rock around it so you don't see the overflow at all.

What do ya think? Since I'm in the planning stage now is the time to give me suggestions. I need all the help i can get since I'm quick to jump in, and slow to swim.

Hahaha, sounds like my favorite explanation for he way to do things, "jump in with both feet, when find the water is over your head, learn your way out.

Don't know if this was much help, but sounds like the planning stages if a big project, so I might was well help muddy the waters even more while I can. :)

Dave

[Reptoreef]

The blue is blending into the background too well... we definitely need more contrast.

[dakar]

hmmm I selected that color manually from the pull-down... looks good on the laptop... I'll check it from a desktop machine tommorrow, maybe need to change it a bit.

Back to the topic... Angie how's the new tank planning coming? Think 180 maybe a too small, myabe a 300 would fill that space better :P

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

lol, I don't want that big of a tank. I don't want a 180, but it will do. Then that's it, maybe, I think. WELL it should be......unless........no hubby will kill me. BUT...........I will have an empty 125RR. No I won't. I may as well use the 125 for my new sump and fugue. That would be an awesome sump. OR I could spend the $60.00 for a 55 g for the new sump and save the 125 for future use. yup that's the best plan I think. He he he, can you tell I am totally undecided? We've been planning this since we bought our house in June. Not sure when we will actually get around to starting the project. (all we've done so far is move the wall) I'm not working because of my illness, but I'm hoping I will go back soon. Then we can afford to move ahead with everything. Until then I have plenty of time to finalize all of the plans. This is my dream tank, so nothing will be done until I'm 100% satisfied with all of the plans.

I'm tired of moving tanks. I moved my 55 two times in 2003. Then I upgraded to the 125 in Dec or Jan (lost almost everything). Now up to the 180. Too much work. Too much money. We own our house now so no more after this!!!! :smt112

Dan (my hubby) and I have the perfect relationship. I DREAM IT, he builds it and makes all of my babbling actually work the way I want it to. (or the way it's supposed to)

I'll try to sketch a pic of what it's going to look like and post it Monday.

G'night,

Angie

[dakar]

Where you finding a 55g for $60?

[Reef_Angel]

Funny you should say that about the text. I just pm'd him at work and said the same thing. It needs to be brighter! I had to highlight all that on my desktop machine in order to read it. I think a creamy bright yellow would be nice. Other suggestions. Let's get this color issue wrapped up. This blue is to muddy.

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

They have them at aquatic world in Oconomowoc. The glass isn't very thick so I wouldn't use it for anything other than my sump. It is their economy line tank.

[dakar]

That's what I need it for is a sump, Just don't feel like building another acrylic one for the new thank. Cheapest I've found yet was $100, guess i need to look around a bit more.

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

http://www.aquaticworld.net/stands_aquariums.asp

GREAT LAKES TANKS - Economy Line - Good Deals!
#762205 55 BLACK TANK (SUPER DEAL!) (48x12x20'') SALE $59.99

When you go there you have to tell them you saw it on the Internet for this price. The in store price is a little higher.

I'm the queen of cheap so I almost always find things cheaper than others. My MH system (3 - 250w incl, ballasts, spider reflectors, quick disconnects, sockets, and all 3 20K bulbs) only cost me $ 354.99 and that included shipping the super heavy ballasts. Plus when one of the bulbs went out after 1 month, they replaced it overnight, no questions asked!!.


Hope that link helps you out.
Angie

[Reptoreef]

Consider rubbermades from Wallmart... mine works just as well as any tank and costs mu=ch less as well as far more durable.

[Sea~Horse~Whisperer]

Hi Jason. How do you get the baffles to stay in place in the rubber maid tubs? I have tried to silicone them in place but it doesn't stay in place. Any suggestions?

Thank you

[Reptoreef]

How about a simple diagram and where you're having troubles... that would really explain a lot.

[dakar]

I think the real question would have to be what material are you using for baffles? Since silicone will not adhere to acrylic/plexi very well or for very long. Not sure how Weld-on would react with whatever the tubs are made of, some polythisorthat kind of plastic, so it might work. Bungee cords to keep the sides from deflecting too much under pressure and pulling your joints free?

Really just thinking through my fingertips here.