Poor Tank Placement and general Questions

[ChristopherDido]

Hi all,

Very new to the reef hobby.  Been on a few forums reading and lurking decided to join this one as my tank is a 28g JBJ Nanocube Professional series.  I bought my tank from my LFS they had it setup for 6 weeks before I bought it, the LFS said that doing it this way was the best way to ensure success, as it was already "cycled," they broke down the tank, giving me all the water all the rock and sand in there and sent me on my way (pretty sure I overpaid now :-( but I love my tank so whatever.)  I got home and set it up in what I thought was a beautiful place in my living room.  It's been their since beginning of April, so I'd say tank is about 3 months old given the time at LFS and my House.

So as title suggests, here's my main question:

I did not do enough research before setting up my tank and put it way to close to a window and am having trouble controlling temperature (its gotten up to about 81 degrees)  I am needing to move my tank. My question is how to do it best? Tank is cycled, it's inhabitants are 2 clowns, cleaner shrimp, lawnmower blenny, 11 different frags (Rhodactis Mushroom, Torch Coral, Candy Cane, Green Star Polyps, Ultra Ricordea I think its a Florida, Green Palythoa Grandis, Pulsing Xenia, Birds Nest, Acan, Not sure what type of Zoa but its small, and what I think is a Palythoa brownish one.)  and some waving hand xenia that came on the live rock when I bought the setup, and what I feel is a sufficient cleanup crew.  I tried searching the forum before posting. Hoping I can get some advice here, as I don't want to lose anything or cause major problems with the setup.  

 

Here are my thoughts on the move, help me if you have done something similar:

- I'm doing a water change today, so I was gonna tank out 5 gallons and discard then pull out another 5 gallons in a bucket (hoping to get the weight down) and remove the liverock but leave enough water for the fish and corals to stay underwater while we move the tank.  Should I pull out another 5 gallons to be sure?

- Was thinking I would use hardwood floor gliders under the tankstand and just slide it to it's new location.  Is the stand that comes with this tank sturdy enough to pull this off?

Thanks in advance for your input.

 

Now quick couple questions from the noob.  

- My LFS places tell me not to buy test kits, they say just keep bringing water to them to test.  Is this a good Idea?  I'm there every week to get SW from them and so far it has been working out fine.  If not, what test kits should I buy?  

- How does one test for sufficient water flow?  

- I don't have a QT, is this setting me up for disaster?  How should I set one up, it will not be used often as we only really plan on buying a few other items and letting the tank grow in.

 

I'm sure I'll have more Qs but these are all bugging me right now.

 

Thanks and here's a FTS from yesterday. 

[JDSquared]

I can't tell where your live rock ends and the backing begins. Or is that a giant wall of live rock?

 

I'm new to reefs but not to moving so don't be surprised of someone with more knowledge contradicts me. Water is heavy. Really heavy. Move as much as you can without moving rock or corals. 12 to 15 gallons maybe?  Then move the tank off the stand. Place the stand where you want it. Then place the tank back on the stand. If the tank is too heavy start removing rock.

 

The rock will be fine but I think any disturbance to your fish and coral is bad so any thing you don't remove is better. Including water! Remove enough to be able to carry the tank without a lot of turbulence.

 

As for testing, if you don't understand what your looking for and what your end goal parameters are, let your store do it. But ask. Every result ask where it is. Where it should be. Keep your own records on what the results are so that you see the changes in your tank. And the effects. And learn.

 

Other than that your tank looks healthy. I'd like to watch it mature.

[ChristopherDido]

JDSquared

2 minutes ago, JDSquared said:

I can't tell where your live rock ends and the backing begins. Or is that a giant wall of live rock?

 

Yes, that is a Live Rock wall, my local LFS Store makes them, I think it looks amazing and gives plenty of places to place corals.  I do have a few corals high up on the rocks, if I drain out that much they will be out of the water, is that a problem?  I was wanting to change the rockscape up a bit anyway, not fully happy with it or confident in its stability and would like to separate my acan from the ricordea so they don't get into a scuffle.  

[Weetabix7]

Rock walls can be pretty cool. 

 

With the corals that are high up, just put them in a container with some tankwater while you do the move. 

And yes, you can move them. 

[steelwrap]

I have wood floors so I just took out a bucket of water and slowly and carefully slid mine across living room when I had to move mine to make space for new tank

[ChristopherDido]

Thank you very much for some input. I'm just nervous starting a cycle or something after moving and making sure it's successful.  Waiting till my wife gets home then will do the pulling of water from the tank Thinking I'm gonna just fill up the two 5 Gallons buckets I have after discarding the 5 gallons I was planning to replace and then we can move it together.  I'll update on how the move goes.  I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions, such as what is this growing in my live rock?

 

[Drewbedo]

I've moved a tank from work to home, set it up and the same thing I didn't like it, then moved it from one room to another inside the house.  Mine was only 10 gallons so I used (2) 5 gallon buckets and did rock and partial water in one and livestock and partial water in the other.  My crushed coral bed was only about 1.5" deep so I left that plus about and additional 1" of water in the tank for the CUC.  The entire move wasn't bad at all but the more you can get out of the tank the easier it is to move and the less stress on your tank, the last thing you want is rock moving around in a glass tank.

[Nixperience]

I would drain the tank down to about 2" of water left and put corals and fish in the buckets of water while you move it all. Then put it all back. 

[1891Bro]

You're talking about still having 80ish pounds of water plus the sand and rock and weight of the tank. Gonna be heavy. 

Since you only have the two buckets why not go for a 10 gallon WC so you can dump more water then most of the rest will fit in the buckets with rock and livestock?Make things easier. 

[docshipwreck]

figure 8.5 pounds per gallon of saltwater roughly...

 

Invest in a few home depot/lowes/wherever 5 gallons bucks and lids a while. Everyone has some awesome suggestions and I guess depends on your fish catching ability and how much you want to grunt across your room. I'm sure the slider things would help a ton!!

 

As far as testing its weird they're encouraging you to constantly bring water in. Are they charging? they'd make money off selling you test kits which is even weirder. 

 

Id at least want to be able to test at home for the basics plus some extra elements with all those corals. I know opinions will vary greatly with test kits but I'm in process of trying to replace all mine with salifert kits. 

[ChristopherDido]

Ok so we just finished moving the tank. Thanks for all the input! Took about 2 hours total, removing and putting everything back in. Drained it down to about 4 inches of water after liverock and all corals removed. We then slid the tank, pushing from the bottom across the room. Had one minor snafu where a Coral I was taking out broke off the plug it was on. I ended up just attaching it to rock with no plug, I think it looks better anyway now, lol, it was the birds nest. Tank has already cleared up after 30 minutes and I only lost about a degree or so on the temp. Most corals except my Green Star Polyps opened back up already. Everyone else seems to be doing fine. 

 

Should I feed them again tonight? I did last night, but wondering if it will help with the fishes stress from the move.

 

Here's the tank in its new location with a bit different rock setup, which is how it will remain. Our little pup loves to look at the inverts.

[zohar78]

does the fish shop sell the rock wall?

 

[Clown79]

A tank should never be moved partially full. This put stress on the structure of it and is actually very heavy. 8.5 lbs per gallon.

 

I'd only leave 2" of water in it and not disturb the sand as much as possible.

 

If it were me, i'd drain water into buckets, put rocks, corals, and fish in it thrn move the tank.

 

Replace and refill.

 

This shouldn't cause a cycle. Many ppl move their tanks when moving or upgrading with 0 issue. Did you have a cycle when you moved it to your house?

 

 

I prefer testing my own tanks. I think its essential as not having kits means if you need to test due to an issue, you have to wait to go to the lfs.

Its also best to have full control of your tank.

 

I also prefer making my own water, you have more control over salt used, parameters, salinity.

 

I have a tank next to a window. I have a blackout curtain which stays closed and the window is never opened more than a crack. Never been a major issue. 81 won't do any harm, above 83 gets too high.

[ChristopherDido]

1 hour ago, docshipwreck said:

As far as testing its weird they're encouraging you to constantly bring water in. Are they charging? they'd make money off selling you test kits which is even weirder. 

 

Id at least want to be able to test at home for the basics plus some extra elements with all those corals. I know opinions will vary greatly with test kits but I'm in process of trying to replace all mine with salifert kits. 

Docshipwreck honestly I'm not sure why they've told me that either, but both LFS stores that I've been to in my area said the same thing. You'd think they'd want to sell me more stuff, right! Lol

 

I'll look into salifert, as of now I'm gonna take some water in the morning and have it checked to make sure nothing went out of whack during the move. 

 

Thanks for your insight, did not know that a gallon of water weighed 8.5lbs, I just knew 5 gallons weighed a crap ton! 

2 minutes ago, zohar78 said:

does the fish shop sell the rock wall?

 

Zohar, yep the LFS here does, they do them custom sized too I do believe. The name is Gateway Aquatics in St. Louis, and they do shipping to :-)

[Clown79]

They sell ammonia badges you can keep in the tank. Thats the most concerning thing.

 

With corals you want to test the tank weekly for alk, ca, mag, nitrate, and phosphate. You may need to test more as more coral gets added to determine consumption of alk and ca.

 

I feed my fish every day.

[ChristopherDido]

3 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

I have a tank next to a window. I have a blackout curtain which stays closed and the window is never opened more than a crack. Never been a major issue. 81 won't do any harm, above 83 gets too high.

Clown79 we have blackout curtains on that window, but we are also in a very old house 125+years old, so yeah. With it getting up that high and summer not even here yet I was very concerned. Good to know that 83 is the limit.

[Clown79]

Ac helps a lot or running a fan.

 

The tank having a lid will cause issues with temp control. Its a good idea opening up any feeding doors etc.

[ChristopherDido]

12 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

Ac helps a lot or running a fan.

 

The tank having a lid will cause issues with temp control. Its a good idea opening up any feeding doors etc.

Could my Blenny jump out through the feeding door if I did that? I've heard they can be jumpers.

[Nixperience]

6 minutes ago, ChristopherDido said:

Could my Blenny jump out through the feeding door if I did that? I've heard they can be jumpers.

Blennies can jump if startled, but I think algae blennies are less prone than other kinds like Midas blennies. Glad the move worked out. Tank looks good. Doesn't look like you have a powerhead in the tank, just the 2 return lines? If so, I would get a powerhead on one of the side walls in the middle of the tank or you are going to get poor flow down near the sandbed and end up with algae problems. 

[ChristopherDido]

3 minutes ago, Nixperience said:

Blennies can jump if startled, but I think algae blennies are less prone than other kinds like Midas blennies. Glad the move worked out. Tank looks good. Doesn't look like you have a powerhead in the tank, just the 2 return lines? If so, I would get a powerhead on one of the side walls in the middle of the tank or you are going to get poor flow down near the sandbed and end up with algae problems. 

Hmmm... I hadn't really thought about adding a powerhead on there. I'll have to do some more research on what I should get. It's only a JBJ 28g Nanocube, so I'm afraid of getting into too much flow in the tank. Anyone got a good suggestion for a powerhead, that won't break my bank? :-)

[Nixperience]

Jebao Rw-4 or pp-4 are about $60-70 on amazon and should be most versatile and economical. 

[zohar78]

https://www.amazon.com/Jebao-PP-4-530-1000-Wavemaker-Controller/dp/B0192HNEEA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495370626&sr=8-1&keywords=jebao+pp4    they are 50 right now on amazon..

 

Also you have the hydor aqamai kps which is about 2x the price of the jebao, but offers a good bit more control over the pump. Plus it seems the hydor brand overall is built better than the jebao.     Ive been researching powerheads myself for 32g biocube, and there is quite a bit of people saying their jebao broke within a year. 

 

One thing that is nice aobut both of these is they both allow you to change the speed of the flow. these two are the cheapest I have found that allow the ability. Almost all the others either the pump or the wavemaker cost more for the flow control.   

 

[Nixperience]

11 minutes ago, zohar78 said:

https://www.amazon.com/Jebao-PP-4-530-1000-Wavemaker-Controller/dp/B0192HNEEA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495370626&sr=8-1&keywords=jebao+pp4    they are 50 right now on amazon..

 

Also you have the hydor aqamai kps which is about 2x the price of the jebao, but offers a good bit more control over the pump. Plus it seems the hydor brand overall is built better than the jebao.     Ive been researching powerheads myself for 32g biocube, and there is quite a bit of people saying their jebao broke within a year. 

 

One thing that is nice aobut both of these is they both allow you to change the speed of the flow. these two are the cheapest I have found that allow the ability. Almost all the others either the pump or the wavemaker cost more for the flow control.   

 

Agree. If you're willing to spend a little more, go with the aqamai. Jebao is a temporary filler and shouldn't be expected to last long for that price. When my jebao dies, it will be replaced with either another ecotech mp10 or the aqamai. 

[Clown79]

In a 28, adding a powerhead is essential. You will have a lack of flow without it.

 

For example i have 2 tanks

 

10g Im has a retutn pump of 175gph plus a jebao sw-2

 

15g has hob filter with 265gph and jebao sw-2

 

 

With corals you want 20-30x turnover and 40x plus with sps

[fishfreak0114]

I've been using my jebao wp-25 for over two years and it's still going strong in my bc29.  It definitely produces enough flow.  I haven't even been able to clean it properly because I've never figured out how to remove the front piece to clean the inside, so I just vinegar soak it every few months and it runs fine.  On else mode I believe it's called, it makes a nice varied flow.