125g Predator

aws2266

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Was in the hobby for about 3 years with a FOWLR when my wife and I had twins. Not much time for anything when you've got two newborns. Jump ahead 15 years and I'm back with a 55 gallon that I plan on making into a reef tank. I found a cheap tank and stand on CL, cleaned it up and now I'm two months in.

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I'm running a fluval 407 with current USA lights and an eflux powerhead. This is a very basic setup at the moment. In the next several months I plan on adding two more powerheads, another strip of the of leds, and a hang on refugium.

Livestock at the moment is as follows
1 black and white ocellaris clownfish
3 green chromis
1 sand sifting starfish
1 cleaner shirmp
1 emerald crab
goniopora coral
various snails and crabs for my cleaner crew.

Before anyone gives me hell for the coral it was attached to some free live rock I got. Had no clue it was there until I put the rock in the tank, and then it wasn't until last week we took a photo in to help identify it.

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Here's a cool video my wife took.
My Reef Tank

That's it for now. I'll be posting updates as I add more and eventually buy my first coral
 

lapin

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Nice
 
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aws2266

aws2266

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Setting up this 55 gallon has been a great family experience. My sons have been helping me from the beginning. I couldn't imagine doing all this when they were little. They were terrors as children. Here's a video of them after they destroyed their room, and a few photos of them helping me setup the aquarium now.

Room Destructors

Here's some pics of them helping me.

This is Ethan mixing saltwater
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Here they both are cleaning some dry rock
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Here they are doing some testing for me.
Ethan is on the left and Dylan the right and
Echo sitting next to them.
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aws2266

aws2266

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So things have changed. I've decided to buy a bigger tank(90gal) and use that as a reef and this is going to be a FOWLR. Hopefully in a month I'll be posting about the transition.
 
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aws2266

aws2266

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Here it is. I put a $200 deposit down last weekend. It'll be the end of October until I can bring home. Oh and it's a 120g not a 90g. I am beyond excited. Biggest tank I've had was a 75gal 15 years go. This is a huge step. Can't wait to share more when I get it.

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Yates273

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Awesome tank I am also in the process of building my 120. Perfect footprint. If I may suggest I have same tank. Utilize the 2 stock holes for your drains. (Herbie style ) and put the returns over the top or drill and through the back. Will be much easier to tune and you will have an emergency drain. Looking forward to see your progress
 
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aws2266

aws2266

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Awesome tank I am also in the process of building my 120. Perfect footprint. If I may suggest I have same tank. Utilize the 2 stock holes for your drains. (Herbie style ) and put the returns over the top or drill and through the back. Will be much easier to tune and you will have an emergency drain. Looking forward to see your progress

That's the plan. I did consider just doing a durso for a hot minute but am going Herbie as you suggested. I pick it up this week. Can't wait to start cleaning and getting it ready. The hope is to have water in it by christmas.
 
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aws2266

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I started a new build thread for my 120g. It's in my dining room with sand in it. The only things left I need to get are a return pump and more rock. Should have both of those this weekend.

 
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aws2266

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It has been a busy couple of months. Where does the time go? My 55g soon to be reef tank has been changed into a predator tank. On Dec 31st I moved the inhabitants into my 120g and semi tore down the 55g. Had to remove all the rocks to get everyone out. The pistol shrimp and goby were only coming out if everything was gone. While I had everyone out I decided to switch the background from some plastic crap to black paint. Was easy enough to do. Then I added my humu trigger. He came from a 30g and loves all the space he has. Added a neon dottyback and dragon wrasse over the last few weeks. Everyone is getting along swimmingly. The plan is to get a bigger tank when these guys start getting bigger. Already working on that....well put the bug in my wife's ear. I want to put her china cabinet in storage and put a 150g there. It's gonna take some time to talk her into it but I will prevail. Here are some pics.

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aws2266

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It's been a while since I posted on this build thread. The tank has been doing well, I did lose the neon dottyback. Pretty sure the trigger got tired of his crap and offed him. He's an aggressive little punk. The dragon wrasse is doing well. Both are getting big so it's time for an upgrade!
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I found a cheap but dirty 125 gallon tank and stand for $370 at my LFS.

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Let it sit in a vinigar bath for a couple days and with a little elbow grease, it came clean. I also stained the stand blank.
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Here it sits in my dining room ready to start plumbing it this week. It also needs a good wipe-down.
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I've got two aqueon overflow kits coming, seemed easier just to buy those than make the kits from scratch. I'm going to start rinsing my sand and rock this week. I'm also going to reinforce the floor a bit. This is a better spot than I originally envisioned. This tank is sitting perpendicular to the joists, rather than parallel like the tank on the left. I'm going to get one floor jack and a 4x4 to run across the joists on the front side of the aquarium. Figure that should handle the extra weight. If all goes according to plan I should be getting it wet around the first of July.

Looking for some stocking ideas. What would you put in here with a dragon wrasse and Trigger?
 
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aws2266

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Things are starting to move right along. Got the plumbing dry-fitted and it looks good, still need to make a few minor adjustments. Wasn't nearly the pain I thought it was going to be. This weekend I'll hopefully be gluing and adding tube clamps. I'm hoping to get it wet over the 4th of July but I'm not sure. I need to rinse the sand and rock this week and it looks like it's going to rain the entire time. So we'll see. Other than that all I need is the glass top, return pump, and heater. I should be picking those up next week.

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Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

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