Out with the Africans and in with the reef!

So I will be moving to a new house hear in the near future and I have decided to turn my 125g (tall) Malawi tank into a reef tank. I would first like to say that I will always love African Cichlids and I hate the thought of getting rid of some of the original fish from my first 30g that got me into the hobby, so luckily my friend is going to take them off my hands for me so that I can still see them. After just moving back from Ellensburg weeks ago and managing to move my 150g Frontosa tank and 36g reef back with me without losing any livestock or crashing my SW system, I feel like I've moved enough fully stocked tanks for 1 month! For those of you who are wondering how I accomplished moving my tanks successfully across a 2hr+ trip down i90 (and I know there's a few of you out there ) here's how I did it: I emptied most of my saltwater into 4 10g buckets (w/ lids), I loaded up 3 of the buckets with my live rock and the 4th with all my corals and larger rocks w/ corals attached, then bagged my fish and shrimp. I left enough water to barely cover my sand and called it good; I didn't save any of the water from the 150g bc I knew that it would be going right next to my 125g Malawi so I emptied half the water from that into the 150 so that I could put my Frontosa back into cycled water, unfortunately it won't be that easy when I move the 150 to my new house!

Ok, so now that I've strayed away from saltwater discussion enough, here's my plans for the 125g reef. First I'll move the cleaned empty tank to the new place, fill it with sand, and start cycling the 120+ lbs of "dead" live rock that I recently acquired (I'll also throw in a few big pieces of live rock from my existing tank during this process), that rock mixed with the 45-50lbs I already have in my existing tank should be enough rock. Luckily I'll be able to leave my existing tank up and running at the house I'm at now until the new setup is ready. After the cycling process is complete, I will start moving everything over piece by piece. As far as equipment, refugium, etc.. I have a 40 gallon breeder that will be going underneath for my refugium with a cpr 100 overflow, I will be running an AquaC EV- 180 skimmer, turbo twist uv sterilizer, an RO unit (might add a DI to the unit later on), and a TLF phosban reactor. As far as lighting, I currently have 2 24" 2 bulb T5HO's fixtures and 1 48" 4 bulb T5HO fixture, however, I am considering selling those and building an LED fixture if my funds will allow it (thoughts?).

I'm very excited to get this tank up and running, I've wanted a large reef system pretty much since the first week that I set up my current reef lol (almost 3 years ago). I will be moving within the next couple weeks so this project will begin in the very near future. I will do my best to post pics to this thread as I go and share my experience with all of you. All comments and suggestions are welcome!

Looking forward to seeing pics. Since I jumped into saltwater just in the past week, my new saltwater friends are already talking about "when" I convert my 150 to saltwater:) I'm surprised it has taken you this long:)

Yeah I've been going to school in Ellensburg for the last 3 years or it probably would have happened a lot sooner lol

Sweet, another WILDCAT on the forumn! Your description of moving your fish bring back fond memories of moving back and forth across the mountains, and all around Ellensburg...... I didn't have africans or SW, but my CA/ SA fish sure did love that pure central wa water. Good luck with the new adventure. Looking forward to seeing some pictures.

Leds are nice but I will always be partial to metal halides. Hey have a better depth penetration for tanks 24" and taller. Building leds for deep tanks can get pretty pricy considering 3w CREE is the lowest you will want to go. And when you make the frame go with aluminum and stainless

Been really busy lately and this build has been going a lot slower than I wanted. Here's a quick update:

Almost got all the Africans cleared out of my 125G (tall), it's almost ready to become a reef. All my rock has been cycling in a tub for a few weeks, I raised the calcium up and added some rock with coraline from my existing tank to hopefully get some spread. I drilled through a few pieces of the larger rock because I'm planning on stacking a few "mountains" connected to a center overhang with PVC pipe. I also picked up an 120w Dim-able LED for my 36g Bowfront last month (I'll be getting 2 more to have 3 total over the new reef). I've been slowly acclimating my corals to the light by using my T5's during the day and the LED for the rest, and have been slowing increasing LED time and decreasing T5. The light started at 16" above the tank and is now down to about 12". Corals stayed closed up when under the LED at first but are now starting to love it. The color is AMAZING under LED vs the T5!

I will post some pics later when I have time!

How are the calvus and other little guys?

The calvus and julies are doing great, they are in my 150 with my comps and fronts, I could never get rid of my tang tank! The pundamillia are starting to show some color but not super intense yet, they are in a 75 gal with some kyoga flamebacks, thicks skins and dayglow

Hi Frontosa Dude.

You live in my neck of the woods (Kent). Fish geeks (as my wife calls me) will always be fish geeks, whether it's freshwater, saltwater or anywhere in between. We tend to ebb and flow between fresh and saltwater depending on the mood and season.

I'm more into my freshwater phase now because of my busy schedule, but if you're looking for livestock and corals, I have a few contacts that still frag their livestock.