I've been meaning to put a build thread together for a while now. Since we've started and have some time under our belts now, I'll just share the story of our build from when we started up until the present through a few posts.
So, before starting down this road, I had a 75 gallon tank with a Chinese Water Dragon that I thought was the coolest thing ever. After a few years, I came home one day to him face down in the water and honestly over having a reptile. Problem was I had this tank that I didn't want to just unload so I decided to delve into having a fish tank like I did when I was a kid. I looked and looked at freshwater fish and all of them just seemed so boring and bland. I started digging online for more interesting fish and ended up browsing through reef central, youtube and who knows what other sites back then. After about a week and a half of reading everything I could, I decided to start a saltwater tank with a DIY sump I made out of a black rubbermaid and other supplies from hardware stores to try and cut the costs as much as I could. I tried my hand at corals, but 10 years ago, I was in my mid 20's and preferred to have a social life as opposed to practicing good reef tank husbandry. Eventually all of my corals died but I managed to keep my $60 yellow tang alive for a while with a blue hippo tang and a plain old nemo.
When I bought my house a few years later, my tank sat at my parents mostly ignored unless my dad felt bad and threw some food in for an absolute tank of a clownfish I had left. He was dang near invincible. The time had come, my tank was being evicted and I got to move it to my house. (I stupidly added a maroon clown in with him and he beat the snot out of the maroon until it had almost died and I took it back to the LFS) He lasted another 2 months before finally passing and at the time, I spent the week at my other half’s place and would come home on the weekends to take care of my limited responsibilities at home. The tank stayed up and running but had gotten to the point that you couldn't see in through the algae. I didn't feel like dealing with cleaning everything up and storing it all, so I kept the tank topped off and the filter running.
When my other half and I got together, she had tons of questions about the science experiment in my living room which I always shrugged off and would avoid directly addressing because I knew it would turn into a “cleaning out the tank” weekend adventure. Then, one day she put me on blast. I hemmed and hawed and eventually gave in to cleaning everything up just so I could annoy her with the smell of a canister filter that hadn't run in a few months. (she did not appreciate the smell that filled the room after I turned that thing on but god, it was funny) We cleaned the tank up and let it cycle before adding 2 emo nemo's and a blue velvet damsel to the tank.
Fast forward to the end of summer 2022, we’ve combined houses and she decides that she wants to grow coral in addition to the two clownfish and damsel. She spent a lot of her childhood diving off the pacific coast with her dad where they would play with urchins and other sea creatures and enjoyed it. We went back and forth on it for a few weeks, I explained I had tried it before and that it was expensive but didn't want to do it again (while knowing full well that I have an addictive personality and would dive in headfirst if it was encouraged) In what I thought would be a genius move, told her that the 75 gallon tank wasn't big enough and the only way I would consider it was if we had a bigger tank. More water = more stability = less risk of a catastrophic tank grenade. And this is where my plan for opposition failed me.
[Original tank after deciding to move forward with reef]
A few hours later, she comes to me and nonchalantly tells me that she needs me and my truck to go pick something up. She had spent the last few hours scouring facebook marketplace and procured a 125g tank with a stand for $100 that was 5 minutes away.
Oof, I guess we're really doing this…
We got the tank home and put it together and I checked out the stand for what kind of sump I could run underneath and I found my final out. (or so I thought) I would have to destroy the structural integrity of the stand in order to fit any decent sized sump under the tank. My only solution is to drill holes in the floor and plumb it to the basement. I had done it, I thwarted the efforts to build a reef tank until I got up off the floor and was met with her looking excited at me and saying, “That’s a great idea!” And that is how this all started.
Here is the tank she found:
My only regret is not drilling the tank before moving forward with the build. I figure eventually, I’d like to have an even bigger tank so I will deal with the set-up I'm using for now.
[125g Tank cleaned up and in the house]
I decided to use a DIY weir/overflow design. I had a Tom's Aqualifter pump laying around and knew that the tank would overflow if we didn't have a way to start the siphon back up in the event of a power loss. I had used this design on the 75 gallon tank with my DIY sump before switching to the canister filter I eventually installed. I had also had to clean up a carpet soaked with saltwater from using a rudimentary design with no way to start the siphon without filling the vent pipe and capping it off before opening the ball valve below tank level.
So far, the only failure I've had with this design is the availability of the Tom's Aqualifter pumps any more. Both times water has ended up on the floor, its been entirely my fault. I used an outdoor drain weir from Lowes and a section of 3" PVC for the overflow. Drilled a hole for the aqualifter in the top of the contraption to auto-start in case of a power failure and ran the plumbing to the basement.
Over the next few days, we filled a brute trash can up with rodi and filled the system with sand, new dry rock and fresh salt water.
We moved the clowns and damsel over with all my old live rock with the hope that everything would be fine going to such a big tank with well seasoned live rock that already supported them. Everything went smooth and we eventually added a convict and powder blue tang to the mix with a handful of less expensive corals and an anemone.
Cue first setback and lesson on outlook... Along with the tangs came fish disease, a Sebae Anemone and a not fun time.
She didn't like the fact that the clownfish seemed to like swimming by the overflow at night and insisted on getting them an anemone to host. I had only tried it once in the past. A bubble tip shrunk and disappeared in my tank then showed up months later shriveled up beyond recognition. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but now know that anemones are best suited in well established tanks, not new tanks with some seasoned rocks.
[Old black box and 2/3 smatfarm LED fixtures I wanted to try for the cost]
After a few days, the Sebae would put its foot down then randomly start floating around looking for its spot. It never found its spot and would end up upside down on the sand constantly. The clowns wanted nothing to do with it. It was just this floating terrorist we ended up putting in a colander to keep it from floating around and possibly getting caught in a powerhead. Over the course of a few months it shrunk to the point I pulled it out of the tank and got rid of it.
Both tangs ended up in a hospital tank being treated for a bacterial infection that left the convicts mouth hanging open.
After a few weeks, they made their way back into the display tank where I learned how much of an a**hole my blue velvet damsel was. He was about 2" long and just terrorized both tangs to the point they got ick. I didn't have a great way of keeping the hospital tank ammonia free and had to rush them back into the display because they were both breathing fast and ended up not making it through the next few nights. So our $9 fish killed $200 worth of fish... what a way to learn a few lessons. Needless to say, the blue velvet damsel now lives in the sump.
I'll try and post more of our journey soon
So, before starting down this road, I had a 75 gallon tank with a Chinese Water Dragon that I thought was the coolest thing ever. After a few years, I came home one day to him face down in the water and honestly over having a reptile. Problem was I had this tank that I didn't want to just unload so I decided to delve into having a fish tank like I did when I was a kid. I looked and looked at freshwater fish and all of them just seemed so boring and bland. I started digging online for more interesting fish and ended up browsing through reef central, youtube and who knows what other sites back then. After about a week and a half of reading everything I could, I decided to start a saltwater tank with a DIY sump I made out of a black rubbermaid and other supplies from hardware stores to try and cut the costs as much as I could. I tried my hand at corals, but 10 years ago, I was in my mid 20's and preferred to have a social life as opposed to practicing good reef tank husbandry. Eventually all of my corals died but I managed to keep my $60 yellow tang alive for a while with a blue hippo tang and a plain old nemo.
When I bought my house a few years later, my tank sat at my parents mostly ignored unless my dad felt bad and threw some food in for an absolute tank of a clownfish I had left. He was dang near invincible. The time had come, my tank was being evicted and I got to move it to my house. (I stupidly added a maroon clown in with him and he beat the snot out of the maroon until it had almost died and I took it back to the LFS) He lasted another 2 months before finally passing and at the time, I spent the week at my other half’s place and would come home on the weekends to take care of my limited responsibilities at home. The tank stayed up and running but had gotten to the point that you couldn't see in through the algae. I didn't feel like dealing with cleaning everything up and storing it all, so I kept the tank topped off and the filter running.
When my other half and I got together, she had tons of questions about the science experiment in my living room which I always shrugged off and would avoid directly addressing because I knew it would turn into a “cleaning out the tank” weekend adventure. Then, one day she put me on blast. I hemmed and hawed and eventually gave in to cleaning everything up just so I could annoy her with the smell of a canister filter that hadn't run in a few months. (she did not appreciate the smell that filled the room after I turned that thing on but god, it was funny) We cleaned the tank up and let it cycle before adding 2 emo nemo's and a blue velvet damsel to the tank.
Fast forward to the end of summer 2022, we’ve combined houses and she decides that she wants to grow coral in addition to the two clownfish and damsel. She spent a lot of her childhood diving off the pacific coast with her dad where they would play with urchins and other sea creatures and enjoyed it. We went back and forth on it for a few weeks, I explained I had tried it before and that it was expensive but didn't want to do it again (while knowing full well that I have an addictive personality and would dive in headfirst if it was encouraged) In what I thought would be a genius move, told her that the 75 gallon tank wasn't big enough and the only way I would consider it was if we had a bigger tank. More water = more stability = less risk of a catastrophic tank grenade. And this is where my plan for opposition failed me.
[Original tank after deciding to move forward with reef]
A few hours later, she comes to me and nonchalantly tells me that she needs me and my truck to go pick something up. She had spent the last few hours scouring facebook marketplace and procured a 125g tank with a stand for $100 that was 5 minutes away.
Oof, I guess we're really doing this…
We got the tank home and put it together and I checked out the stand for what kind of sump I could run underneath and I found my final out. (or so I thought) I would have to destroy the structural integrity of the stand in order to fit any decent sized sump under the tank. My only solution is to drill holes in the floor and plumb it to the basement. I had done it, I thwarted the efforts to build a reef tank until I got up off the floor and was met with her looking excited at me and saying, “That’s a great idea!” And that is how this all started.
Here is the tank she found:
My only regret is not drilling the tank before moving forward with the build. I figure eventually, I’d like to have an even bigger tank so I will deal with the set-up I'm using for now.
[125g Tank cleaned up and in the house]
I decided to use a DIY weir/overflow design. I had a Tom's Aqualifter pump laying around and knew that the tank would overflow if we didn't have a way to start the siphon back up in the event of a power loss. I had used this design on the 75 gallon tank with my DIY sump before switching to the canister filter I eventually installed. I had also had to clean up a carpet soaked with saltwater from using a rudimentary design with no way to start the siphon without filling the vent pipe and capping it off before opening the ball valve below tank level.
So far, the only failure I've had with this design is the availability of the Tom's Aqualifter pumps any more. Both times water has ended up on the floor, its been entirely my fault. I used an outdoor drain weir from Lowes and a section of 3" PVC for the overflow. Drilled a hole for the aqualifter in the top of the contraption to auto-start in case of a power failure and ran the plumbing to the basement.
Over the next few days, we filled a brute trash can up with rodi and filled the system with sand, new dry rock and fresh salt water.
We moved the clowns and damsel over with all my old live rock with the hope that everything would be fine going to such a big tank with well seasoned live rock that already supported them. Everything went smooth and we eventually added a convict and powder blue tang to the mix with a handful of less expensive corals and an anemone.
Cue first setback and lesson on outlook... Along with the tangs came fish disease, a Sebae Anemone and a not fun time.
She didn't like the fact that the clownfish seemed to like swimming by the overflow at night and insisted on getting them an anemone to host. I had only tried it once in the past. A bubble tip shrunk and disappeared in my tank then showed up months later shriveled up beyond recognition. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but now know that anemones are best suited in well established tanks, not new tanks with some seasoned rocks.
[Old black box and 2/3 smatfarm LED fixtures I wanted to try for the cost]
After a few days, the Sebae would put its foot down then randomly start floating around looking for its spot. It never found its spot and would end up upside down on the sand constantly. The clowns wanted nothing to do with it. It was just this floating terrorist we ended up putting in a colander to keep it from floating around and possibly getting caught in a powerhead. Over the course of a few months it shrunk to the point I pulled it out of the tank and got rid of it.
Both tangs ended up in a hospital tank being treated for a bacterial infection that left the convicts mouth hanging open.
After a few weeks, they made their way back into the display tank where I learned how much of an a**hole my blue velvet damsel was. He was about 2" long and just terrorized both tangs to the point they got ick. I didn't have a great way of keeping the hospital tank ammonia free and had to rush them back into the display because they were both breathing fast and ended up not making it through the next few nights. So our $9 fish killed $200 worth of fish... what a way to learn a few lessons. Needless to say, the blue velvet damsel now lives in the sump.
I'll try and post more of our journey soon
