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Innovative Marine Aquariums

1/6/05 Upgrading your aquarium


Christopher Marks

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Christopher Marks

Admit it, you want to upgrade your aquarium. We've probably all thought of doing it before, or already have done it. This hot topic discussion is all about upgrading to a different aquarium. More space, better dimensions, a custom installation, or just better equipment. There are many reasons for upgrading to a new aquarium.

 

What did you upgrade to, and how did you do it? What would you love to upgrade to? Share your experiences and goals for upgrading here.

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I'm in the midst of up-gradeing from my 5gal to a 7gal minibow. I know.. I know.. Not a big change. If i had it my way, I'd be upgradeing to a 28gal bowfront... but a 5 gallon is hard enough to move 4 times a year (i'm in college)

 

reasons I am upgradeing:

 

 

1. more volume.. I know not alot.. but a little

2. glass vs acrylic.... my acrylic is getting quite scratched

3. i need a new hood for my old tank anyway because it's falling appart, so i might as well make a new one for a new tank.

4. I love the look of the mini-bow, and I already have the tank.

 

Mostly... I just need a change :) a fresh start...

 

The move will be pretty easy because all i need is a few more pounds of liverock. I'm useing my same lighting (70watt MH and 13watt actinic) but I'm adding one more 13watt actinic.

 

If anyone has seen my 5 gallon, I'm doing the same colors for the background, except more black, less blue.

 

I might add another neon goby or a clown goby to the new set-up. I'll have pics in probably 2 weeks!

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i have a nono cube DX. its cool and all, actually i love it, but because it is a small tank, my water changes almost daily! now im addicted and want to get a 20L with a 150 MH. and thats my new years resolution, to get a bigger tank!!!

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i went from a single 20H to two 20H's, and now i have a 40 breeder. it has the perfect dimensions, is large enough to keep most of the fish i want, and is small enough to move around every year till i finish grad school. then i'm upgrading to a 75 or 90.

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2.5G->7G MiniBow: I was running out of room propogating Capnella and Xenia and I was given a Yellow Watchman Goby from a coworker so a larger tank was in order.

 

10G->29G: 10G was a xenia and GSP jungle and then the SPS bug hit me. I realized that the 10G wouldn't be able to hold everything so I upgraded to a 29G for more room and to be able to have a couple fish. Still have the tank today however I just purchased a 58G RR so it will be moving into that soon enough.

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5 gal MB to 10gal AGA with a external overflow wich is the sump. (See CJerome's new posts on his tank, except overflow box is entire length and depth of the tank adds approx 2.5 gal) 2 MJ600 on wave time. Still need to install faux sandbed then will be complete. UTR protien skimmer in the rear, still looking to also install auto top off. 96w Power quad for light. I call it my Nano Rectalgular Box.

 

It Will replace my office tank in a coupple of months after I get the 65 gal wide going for the house.

 

In it I will be going all T5 Sunlight Supply Tek Lights, already bought(Live in deep south Texas, it is always hot), external overflow to sump, ocean motions little squirt from a external pump,mak4. Custom hood and stand.

 

Hopefully does't take forever to get going.

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ah yes, i myself am in the midsts of an upgrade....and quite a drastic one at that. i have ditched the 5g eclipse hex (due to it's large amount of scratches and uncontrollability of the hair algae) and i am upgrading to a 7g custom cube. i'm building the tank right now, and i'm getting ready to go to that fish place next week to pick up the remaining supplys to get this project rolling.

 

reasons for the upgrade:

 

the hex was a pain to see around

glass vs. acrylic

upgrading filter from a hot magnum to a refugarium

turning a 20L (which is my tank at the moment cause the hex somehow started to leak before i had the cube built) into a QT tank, refugarium and frag tank combo

scwd flow system

 

basically i'm making my life a little easier by adding better filtration, and giving a little more room to work with.

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the tank bug changes for me i go bigger and smaller. i started with a 10 then got a 5 then an 8 now i have a nano cube since i got it for free. i want something bigger but without any funds that is kinda tough. maybe with the new year will bring new money

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I got plans for a 90g softy/lps reef in the backburner. I'll probably upgrade in a year. Although I might just make it a 90g fowlr and plumb my 15g into it.... either way sounds good.

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i dunno why but instead of upgrading tanks, i tend to start new ones. for example, i have my eclipse 12....wanted some new corals, so i bought a eclipse6....wanted a place to grow out zoo frags so now i started a ten....wanted something more just cuz i got bored... so i'm setting up a 5.5 aga. best thing is that i have ZERO dollars for these new tanks but i'll still be doing them! lol.

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I will be upgrading from my 20L to a 60 gallon reef tank. I will be ordering a second 250W MH pendant for it. It will place me with 2 250W MH over a 60 gallon. I will be placing some where around 60 to 70 pounds of LR in there as well. This will take place some time next month, if all goes well.

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current tank is a 20 gallon with 2x65 watt pcs. plan to upgrade to a 40 gallon breeder with 20 gallon sump/refugium and 250w mh with an internal overflow and manifold return. the reason i am upgrading is so i can have more space for more corals. also plan to upgrade my protein skimmer and pump.

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I'm building a 24" cube monkey. Why would you want a corner overflow rather than one in the center back? It may be something I should consider.

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I upgraded from a 72g bowfront =] to a 18gal via aqua reef =]. I did this because of lack of time to care for the 72g with 3 children 3 and under in age. In a couple years when I can build a new house I will setup a 180g in the wall reef and a 400g fw stingray tank.

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wannabeafarmer

Upgrading from a 50 gal F.O. to a 10 Gallon AGA drilled (diy) reef with sump and refugium (diy). 6x13w pc lights (diy). Gonna be mushrooms and softies

 

Why?

 

Uhhh...Why not?

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I knew if i started out with a nano I would want to upgrade VERY soon, so I decided to go with a 50g breeder. The only problem is I will want a 100g tank no to long from now :P

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I upgraded from a 125 with corner overflows, 8 96watt pc and 100g sump with Clowns, wrasses, butterfiles, carpet ane. brains, leathers, mushrooms and a Maxima clam to a JBJ Nano Cube with a mated pair of clowns and some polyps.

 

Why smaller? No time to care for so much with training schedule for bike racing and a 2 year old who needs to see her father more than an hour a day.

 

Strange how upgrade means different things to different people isn't it?

 

Jeffrey Spahn

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i started with 36g, 54 and 75 g all at the same time until i got tired of doing maintenance on all the tanks so upgraded to 125g until almnost a year later i decided to get a nano tank in addition. anyways lesson learned- always go for the big one, and another thing i ended up spending a lot of $$ upgrading my equipment so get the equipment that will be beneficial for the tank

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Pinrod Urkish

I started with a 3 gal nano, then moved to a 10g. NExt thing you know i'm staring at my 55g fresh set up and noticed that i had all the tools needed for a FOWLER, set the whole thing up for less than the cost of a couple anemones.

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10" Red Devil

Well I am probably the complete opposite from everyone else. I downgraded from a 60 to a 10 custom acrylic (built for me by a local fish store, with a custom overflow), then realizing the 10 was not built to last, I then bought a Tru-Vu 10 gallon, and then finally I bought a 20 long.

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petetheglassblowwer

I moved my 30hex into a 10gal with a 15sump last year and let my dad have the hex(It was to expensive to light !)Then this month i moved it all into a 40gal 48"Long with 220w CF 's

I think i am happy with the 40 as my tank for a year or two,but if i had all that money i spent on finding the tank i like!I'ed have alot more corals and things!!!wish i had all the money in the world to make up for it!@

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Carl_in_Florida

I went from an eclipse 6 to a 10 gallon and used the eclipse into a fuge. Really glad did it. I wanted to upgrade the lighting and give a little more room for the fish. I also wanted to go from a plastic tank.

 

 

Carl

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