Mits

Oh, and the thermostat has been relocated so it's not an issue.

Having a larger stand is wonderful, in that you have room for a bigger sump and space around the tank to put things down. In fact, I prefer it. If you are going to go with the 90g, I'd put a couple of Vortechs on the tank for flow and save yourself a lot of plumbing and electrical consumption. If the tank isn't drilled, put a single overflow in the corner, and drill it for a 1.5" drain and a 1" return. You could use a 1" drain and 3/4" return, but the larger size makes more sense to me. If you need a corner overflow, I know a guy that makes 'em. Link!

For the sump layout, I'd suggest you copy the Model F on my site; it is easily the most copied sump on the web from what I've seen in my travels. It's a good layout that allows for flexibility.

Thanks Melev! I'm way ahead of you on the overflow, I already looked at your site. What's the ballpark for that sort of thing? Can you run the vortechs on a wavemaker? I can get another power strip for my RKL and run the wavemaker function, that is if vortechs won't break the bank. I've never priced them out. I love the idea of a frag tank sitting next to it on the same stand.

And looking at the Model F, is there a workaround for the refugium's teeth? The tank is glass, and I was planning on having glass cut for the baffles and using silicone. I'd imagine nobody will cut teeth into glass, and the last time I tried to silicone acrylic to glass it failed.

Hey Mits! For the teeth you could try something like this:
http://www.aquacave.com/detail.aspx?ID=90

The overflow is usually around $60 shipped, but without specifics that is purely a guesstimate.

If you don't want to order those teeth online, you can use eggcrate instead.

Vortech pumps are expensive up front, but the lack of power consumption and a number of other benefits is why I use the exclusively. Here's a review I wrote about them on Melev's Reef: http://www.melevsreef.com/review_vortech.html

Here's another part of it that concerns me: moving from a 55 to a 90. I want to transfer the current 55 into the sump, and while I'm adding baffles and such I plan on using my current sump on the 90. I'd like to use some black sand to do a shallow bed in the display with a DSB made of my current aragonite sand in the sump. So I'll have sand ready to go, and I will have the water difference ready as well. I'll drain some of the water from the current tank to the new one, but all of the rock will move. What should that transition look like? Will there be a 2nd cycle? Has anyone tried this before?

If you drain some of the tank water into a trashcan or aquarium, move the rock into that water so it stays submerged as much as possible. Limiting how long the rock is exposed to air will avoid sponge die-off and cycling.

If you want to reuse the sand, it needs to be rinsed carefully so that it is nice and clean, without any waste. That will avoid any cycle from the sand. I've been told the black sand isn't aragonite, but rather silica (glass). It looks nice but won't do anything beneficial for our tank's filtration.

You might want to read this over: http://www.reefaddicts.com/content.p...quarium-Stands

As well as this: http://www.melevsreef.com/rinsing_sand.html

And finally this: http://www.melevsreef.com/moving_a_tank.html

Keep asking questions, we're here to help.

Thanks for the links, I'll read them soon (midnight now and I actually plan on going to bed!) and hope that I can get it figured out. I planned on using the DSB in the fuge out of aragonite to make up for what is in the display. Thanks for all of the answers!

Sure, happy to help. Others will chime in as well. Just read those links when you have time. None are super long, but all three have some good facts to consider before you proceed.

And hopefully soon, Ed will change those links to a color you can actually see.

That was good info, thank you. I actually got a 24x24x20 frag tank tonight for just a few frags. It was a DIY but it has everything I need, just in need of a little tlc. I got this for 3 la lakers scroll frags and 2 purple branching monti frags. I also got 2 chalices and what he called an orange crush acan in the trade. I'm going to strip off the top trim and silicone and add some new trim. I have to find some ideas for a stand/canopy that will accomodate both this and a 90 side by side.

I'm now adding wood trim to the top and bottom of the tank to protech from slicing up my hands on it...again. I love projects though, so this is fun. I decided that I will build 2 seperate stands that will sit side by side and look like one, just not quite done with dreaming it up yet. I know it will be black with nickel trim, but not much else. With this idea I can put the frag tank in the system, plumb it into the existing sump, transfer all of my fish and coral over, then take apart my 55 and put the rest of the rock in a submerged container to have it ready to build my new aquascape. I'll then get the 55 out, slide the new tank and stand in, and start my aquascape with the previously mentioned rock. As for the 90 that I have yet to pick up, I hope that it isn't tempered on the bottom for drilling. I read that many 90g tanks don't temper the bottom, is there an easy way to tell besides polarized sunglasses?

Usually the tank will have a label affixed to the plastic trim on the underside that states if it is tempered or not. Calling the mfg is the only other option.