converting 75gal cichlid tank.

[twelvejewelz]

i have a 75 gallon cichlid tank here:


i love it and think its beautiful but its just not a reef.. with this said ive been contemplating converting the 75 gallon into a reef tank(corlals,LR, and fish). ive also been thinking of just getting a 30 gallon biocube and keeping the cichlid tank because i like the look of a "mini" reef like that but i also enjoy the cichlids. would i essentially be spending the same amount of money converting the 75 as i would if i bought a seperate biocube with everything ??i have the 75galon tank,stand,heater which is all id really be able to use, id have to buy a skimmer,livesand another tank for a fuge,fish,coral,liverock,. so what would you do ?and what would the price difference be?thanks everyone .

[dileggi]

I'm not sure of the expense in converting the cichild tank. I also have a 75g cichlid tank. I was thinking on converting it, but decided against it and purchased the BioCube, 29g. The BioCube has been running since Sept 07. Now, my problem is that I'm so hooked on the reef, that I'm thinking of changing the cichlid tank over anyway!

My only point was, if you get the biocube, you may have the same problem I have, which is after spending the money on the biocube thinking it was cheaper, I'm now thinking of spending even more because I want to switch over the tank more now than I did before! LOL!

As for the expense of the BioCube, I believe with everything said and done, this far, I've probably spend about 1K, which includes the price of the tank and stand too! I'm interested in the replies you get from the more experienced.

Good luck!

[splateee]

I converted our 240 gallon chiclid tank to a FOWLR. It looked just like yours with the same rock. You can use some of the existing rock you have now and add some live rock. I just combined the 2 reef tanks i had exisiting already to the 240 gallon, so i had alot of the live rock and equipment.

If i were to do it again though i would have bought a new tank and set it from scratch. I really liked the chichlid tank and miss it. I would just go with a new tank from the start.

Good luck

[twelvejewelz]

basically a complete biocube will cost about 1400$ including livestock. now for me to convert the 75gallon lights-500$ , liverock and livesand- 400, protein skimmer sump/refugium/light-400$, misc items-200-400$ , it seems to be roughly the same price and everyone alwas says bigger is better right? well i reall only have room for 1 75 gallon tank and possibly the BC . i gues im just gona convert it hmmm. ugh lol

[chillman]

just make sure you never treated your tank with copper for any sick fish, is this would cause problems in a reef tank.

[reefergeorge]

I changed my malawi 75 to fowlr. But I wanted a sump so I went to the store to get an overflow box, and came home with a new 90 rr for the same price of the 75 plus overflow..
I would get a whole new setup, and when you want to change the 75 to reef. Buy a new rr tank, and sell the 75.