I have sold some of the koi in my office pond allowing me to transition the four that inhabited this tank to the 150 Gallon tank. This was one of my long-term goals so that I can convert the 75 Gallon tank to saltwater. The physical conversion started on Monday 2/23 and was completed on Tuesday 2/24/2009. The goal was for a 3-day cycle using 15 lbs of cured live rock and 40 lbs of Ocean Direct™ Caribbean Live Sand. I also used Saltwater Biozyme and Stability to ensure the fastest cycle time. Keeping in mind that only bad things happen fast, I will only add livestock once I have evidence that a cycle occurred and even then I will add very cautiously.

The main physical conversion consisted of plumbing the Top Fathom Skimmer back into the pump (as pictures below). In an effort to make this easily removable without getting drenched, I added 2 ball valves on the output – one before and one after the union. Since plumbing is not my best skill, this took quite a while longer than I had anticipated.