chipmunkofdoom2
Reefing newb
Hey all. I know you're probably all getting sick of me, haha, but I haven't felt this way about my tank since I first set it up and I'm desperately looking to upgrade it to the tank I once hoped it would be.
I currently only have the crappy Whisper HOB filter my tank came with as filtration, and while this has worked for a fish only setup, I'm no longer interested in just fish and rock. Excuse me for sounding Dr. Seussish, but I'm looking to make the jump into a sump.
The first problem is my stand... I'm still pondering how it's holding up my diplay tank as it is, not even thinking of the 10 gallon sump I'm hoping to add. The first thing I need is a new stand, which I plan on building. I'm going to leave plenty of space for a nice 10 gallon sump underneath.
Having taken care of that, up comes my second problem.. moving the tank. I'm going to have to at least move all the rock and most of the water out of the tank before I move it off the old stand and on to the new.
Logistically I'm thinking I'll do something like this. I'll drain most of the water into a Rubbermaid container and then I'll put my rock in there as well. I'd like to leave an inch or so of water on top of the gravel and leave my clown and hermits/snails in there because I did a search and most of you seem to be of the opinion that it's best to move the fish as little as possible. If you guys think that would be too much weight and I'd be better off draining it all, I'm probalby going to swap out the gravel type substrate I have for some quality aragonite sand since that's been an eyesore of mine for a while... I'm just worried about how much this is going to stress my clown.. he's been with me since the beginning and I don't want to lose him now.
My plan after I have the new tank on the new stand (and possibly the new sand in the tank) is to fill it back up with the water and continue using my filter that I currently have. I don't want to stress the system even more by trying to implement a sump and disposing of all the substrate in one go. Then I'll start working on the sump and implement that about a month later or so, after things have settled down a little.
I know that many reefers swear by sumps, and I'm not knocking them, but will this trouble be worth it? I have no problem going through the trouble if it is. I'm just torn..I know the filter I have blows and I know I should upgrade the stand and I know I'd like a sump just because of all the good things I've been reading, but at the same time, I'm extremely lazy, haha.
I would really love any input and guidance you guys could offer. Thanks so much.
I currently only have the crappy Whisper HOB filter my tank came with as filtration, and while this has worked for a fish only setup, I'm no longer interested in just fish and rock. Excuse me for sounding Dr. Seussish, but I'm looking to make the jump into a sump.
The first problem is my stand... I'm still pondering how it's holding up my diplay tank as it is, not even thinking of the 10 gallon sump I'm hoping to add. The first thing I need is a new stand, which I plan on building. I'm going to leave plenty of space for a nice 10 gallon sump underneath.
Having taken care of that, up comes my second problem.. moving the tank. I'm going to have to at least move all the rock and most of the water out of the tank before I move it off the old stand and on to the new.
Logistically I'm thinking I'll do something like this. I'll drain most of the water into a Rubbermaid container and then I'll put my rock in there as well. I'd like to leave an inch or so of water on top of the gravel and leave my clown and hermits/snails in there because I did a search and most of you seem to be of the opinion that it's best to move the fish as little as possible. If you guys think that would be too much weight and I'd be better off draining it all, I'm probalby going to swap out the gravel type substrate I have for some quality aragonite sand since that's been an eyesore of mine for a while... I'm just worried about how much this is going to stress my clown.. he's been with me since the beginning and I don't want to lose him now.
My plan after I have the new tank on the new stand (and possibly the new sand in the tank) is to fill it back up with the water and continue using my filter that I currently have. I don't want to stress the system even more by trying to implement a sump and disposing of all the substrate in one go. Then I'll start working on the sump and implement that about a month later or so, after things have settled down a little.
I know that many reefers swear by sumps, and I'm not knocking them, but will this trouble be worth it? I have no problem going through the trouble if it is. I'm just torn..I know the filter I have blows and I know I should upgrade the stand and I know I'd like a sump just because of all the good things I've been reading, but at the same time, I'm extremely lazy, haha.
I would really love any input and guidance you guys could offer. Thanks so much.