125 gallon… take 3 …

trvrstnk4837

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Hey guys I’m just getting back into the hobby and out of my past tanks only one was a saltwater tank and I was using a big HOB filter lol so please don’t mind any stupid thoughts you see my type here

Id appreciate any advice especially if you guys see something I’m doing that is a disaster waiting to happen lol

So since I was giving some thought to setting a tank up I was stopping by LFSs when I saw an old steel stand leaning on the back wall with some bubbling paint and surface rust…. Walked out with it for $10 :)

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i brushed it all down and sprayed a few layers on it… I have an anode I can put on as well to fight future rust

I splurged a bit and bought a tank brand new it’s an aqueon 125 gallon with the bottom pre-drilled and the black plastic …. Towers? Lol on the back for the sump also just put on some black vinyl for the background

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For the sump it’s a 60 gallon breeder the first section is about 20” long there’s 2 clip on filter sock holders and I can also put a protein skimmer in here and maybe the extra tick I didn’t use in the aqua scape the first baffle is afew inches off the bottom then there’s 11” for the refugium followed by a 7” tall baffle that’s on the bottom with another baffle that’s off the ground right behind it …. I glued some pieces of tubing in between those 2 so I can place some egg crate right there to hold a sponge or like carbon bag …. Past there i


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The Aquascape is really just a long PVC Y shape covered in rock lol I smashed up most of the rock and super glued/epoxied in around the pvc but I didn’t want to pack it in too tightly there’s still spots for smaller fish to swim through the rock and it shouldnt block flow to badly

it’s not the prettiest thing out there but I’m happy with it…. It’s a habit first and I really wanted to leave a lot of the water collum open for swimming especially since I’m not sure exactly how I’m guna stock it

for critters I’d definitely like to get one of the smaller morays like a yellow head, jeweled, golden tail ECT. I want some fast growing soft corrals on this rock and maybe even on the back wall

as far as other fish I’ll play it by ear (any experience anyone has with an eel and tank mates would be awesomethere’s a pretty convict tang at my LFS I’d like to have if it’s still around and I really like groupers but pretty sure there aren’t really any that won’t out grow this tank … any good alternatives?

Thanks for taking a look
 
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trvrstnk4837

trvrstnk4837

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Still in the process of collecting everything just snagged a 200 gallon box of reef crystal salt a 4 stage RODI filter and 60 lb of wet sand

still need some trash cans and a dolly for water

powerheads ( would 2 2000 gph units work for soft corals ?)

a heater I wanna do some research but I’m thinking just one of the glass rod ones will do for now

refractometer

I think that will do to get the cycle going then I’ll go from there
 
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trvrstnk4837

trvrstnk4837

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Just did some shopping, got two Brutes filling up right now and got everything in I need to get water in and the cycle going….. when ever my RO filter actually makes 150 gallons that is lol

bought this for the cycle
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thinking of just adding a fish right away, but I need to go get 2 more bottles cuz I’m a small brain and didn’t read the whole bottle on the front it says “treats 80 gallons” but on the back it explains that for a new system it only does 40… ugh lol
 

Dieing for a Drink

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Very Cool..Sounds like a Great Project...Im sure you will make a eal very happy...Take Your time and Keep on Doing it right and Its fantastic you are reusing things that would just take up space.. forgotten about
 
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trvrstnk4837

trvrstnk4837

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Very Cool..Sounds like a Great Project...Im sure you will make a eal very happy...Take Your time and Keep on Doing it right and Its fantastic you are reusing things that would just take up space.. forgotten about

Just put him in!

right now it seems like he’d rather be in between the rock and pipe because it’s tighter but he’ll grow into the pipe I’d imagine

and he’s got a buddy, he’s a yellow head and his friend is a v-tail grouper

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From a HOB filter to a proper system! Looking good my friend!

I think if want to do soft corals - a concern would be lighting. I didn’t see anything about lighting, but many soft corals are lower light, but I still think that’s important to be aware of.


black plastic …. Towers
Lol - internal over flows - looks great by the way!
For me I will NEVER run a heater with out a separate heater controller. I’ve cooked two tanks over the years and it’s heart breaking. I like the InkBird heater controller. The new one is wireless with an app, and you can track remotely- cool thing also it will send notification if it looses power- essentially letting you know if there’s a power outage when you’re not home. They run about $60 from the stores- but I was lucky and found my last one (a new one ) on eBay for $35.

as far as fish- I have never kept an eel, or a grouper. But I believe both can eat your other fish if they can fit in their mouth and May outgrow your tank eventually.

but super cool fish! I’ll be following along to see the progress.

Take care my friend and happy reefing!
 
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trvrstnk4837

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From a HOB filter to a proper system! Looking good my friend!

I think if want to do soft corals - a concern would be lighting. I didn’t see anything about lighting, but many soft corals are lower light, but I still think that’s important to be aware of.



Lol - internal over flows - looks great by the way!

For me I will NEVER run a heater with out a separate heater controller. I’ve cooked two tanks over the years and it’s heart breaking. I like the InkBird heater controller. The new one is wireless with an app, and you can track remotely- cool thing also it will send notification if it looses power- essentially letting you know if there’s a power outage when you’re not home. They run about $60 from the stores- but I was lucky and found my last one (a new one ) on eBay for $35.

as far as fish- I have never kept an eel, or a grouper. But I believe both can eat your other fish if they can fit in their mouth and May outgrow your tank eventually.

but super cool fish! I’ll be following along to see the progress.

Take care my friend and happy reefing!

Yeah not sure what light I’m getting yet, I shouldn’t need much so I’m tempted to just get some Amazon special LED but I may just spend more for something else

I ended up just grabbing two Ehiem Jagers and put them in the sump, my plan is to toss them on their 1 year anniversary lol, unless I replace them with something else first, thanks I’ll look into that one I haven’t really looked into the higher end heating systems yet because I had so much else to look into and budget

this particular eel gets about 2’,6” er so so he’d be fine even if I didn’t upgrade, not so sure about the grouper most sites say 100 gallons but I’ll feel it out
 
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trvrstnk4837

trvrstnk4837

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Some updates, I got a Fluval marine LED it’s 48” but it covers all the rock where I’ll have my softies and gives a dark corner on the sides of the overflows …. The Grouper appreciates it, I like the app that works with the light I was able to hop right on and set my times with sunrise and sunset so the light doesn’t change instantly, for whatever reason my phones camera makes the light a lot more blue then it looks to the eye

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I installed a Red Sea reef mat 1200 (this was supposed to be a budget build :( lol) I barely fits vertically and will be a bit of a pain to change the rolls …. But still better then socks especially with the frequent feeding for the Anthias and the messy feeding of the eel

Right now the full stock list is

Yellow Head Eel
V tail Grouper
Convict Tang
Square Anthias male + female
Huge Brittle star
 
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trvrstnk4837

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Do you guys think this light will do the job? I have the blue and red LEDs on but not the white

seems like it would have enough power I would like to mount it lower because it’s lighting the whole sump
 
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trvrstnk4837

trvrstnk4837

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Not a great day today, woke up and my moray had eaten my female Anthias and killed the male

I should have know better especially since I was warned about this species in particular, I’ve enjoyed aggressive FW fish in the past like Dovii but this tank just isn’t for me

I called off of work, broke down the aquascape and got my other fish out and off to my LFS and was lucky enough to find someone who wanted my eel and claimed he would be putting him by him self

grabbed some more epoxy, drained a good bit of water and redid the scale this time with out the PVC (I’m not super happy with it but didn’t want to let any of it dry out) water is still pretty cloudy and I’m about do for a nap lol

I’m guna re-stock with some community reef-safe fish the only thing I still have is my big brittle star
 
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trvrstnk4837

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In the past 2 weeks I picked up some new fishes I currently have 2 clowns, yellow corrosion wrasse and a starry night blenny

plus the brittle star, a cleaner shrimp and a sea cucumber that came on a Xenia rock

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A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 66 37.3%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 59 33.3%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 14.1%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 27 15.3%
  • Other.

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