B A's 120 build

[alten78]

Hello All!

15 years in the hobby and I've never created a build thread but I thoroughly enjoy reading others, taking ideas here and there to add to my own one day - and that day is here...sorta.

A few months ago we had the pleasure of finding a pinhole water leak in our kitchen from the pipes freezing over the winter, amazing what 6 months of dripping will do before it rears its ugly head! The silver lining of it was, basically the entire house is getting refreshed - new counter tops, flooring, sink, painted walls, etc. The downside being that we haven't had a kitchen since early July and washing dishes in the bathtub stinks!

With new flooring going in throughout the house, I managed to talk the wife into letting me upgrade the 75 to a 120 as it was a perfect opportunity to actually get it done since the 75 has been moved into another room. I just don't have room for anything bigger than a 4 foot tank so a 120 is about as big as I can get. As luck or divine intervention would have it, a 120 recently went up for sale somewhat locally. We are still about at least an entire week out from floor being laid which is fine considering I haven't attempted to build a stand yet and my plans on how I want to design this tank are almost completely up in the air right now.

So here is all the work that been done thus far - picked up the new to me tank

 

[alten78]

The 75 is a mess, was running pretty well and on cruise control until I had to move it. The original restoration company said the job would take at most 2 weeks, took me 4 hours to move it from one room to another without breaking all my pretty sticks and I didn't bother fully setting everything up just to tear it down again...little did I know that company was awful and had to call another just to have the project be 2+ months. How it sits today, gonna have to clean it up and do some work to get it back to being decent.

 

[Jackony]

And it begins...

 

[alten78]

Not a whole lot new as the house is still coming along ever so slowly but it gave me an opportunity to at least start the stand.

Went with the typical tried and true over built 2x4 stand. I've built stands in the past but this was the first time I got to use my Kreg jig, holy smoke does it make things so much easier and strong!

Hopefully I'll get to skin it in the next few days and figure out a wiring section.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Looking good so far!

 

[Jackony]

I have the same tank placement. In a corner, back and right side to the wall. Feel free to ask any questions that come up regarding. Can’t say I’m an expert, but overcame a few issues in my 7 years in the hobby.

 

[alten78]

I have the same tank placement. In a corner, back and right side to the wall. Feel free to ask any questions that come up regarding. Can’t say I’m an expert, but overcame a few issues in my 7 years in the hobby.

Thankfully this isn't the final resting place. The new floor was going down so I had to move it into the laundry room, definitely not a good spot for it! The floor is in now so as soon as I get the stand finished and floorboards down, i'll move it where it belongs - in an open space in the living room.

 

[alten78]

Talk about a slow build when I really need to get this thing moving! Thankfully life has slowed down a bit and I've had a moment or two to get some work done.

This is a very basic build and keeping things as simple as possible but still trying to plan accordingly, as such, I haven't cataloged much in terms of pictures or in depth detail... don't want to bore everyone!

The stand is not nearly as fancy as my current 75 but I think is still pretty good quality if I say so myself. I still need to find a router for the top rail and I decided to use the left side for equipment. I don't have the tools to make my own doors do I'm waiting on them to be built by one of my dad's friends. It's hard to tell by the pictures but it's stained in General Finishes Java gel which goes along with the test of the decor in the house. I love the stuff, refinished my kitchen cabinets and railings with it, topped off with their high performance clear coat.

Since I decided to go back to halides, I rebuilt my canopy to float above the tank to minimize on the heat transfer. Now that we are in the cooler months in Ohio, the heat issue wouldn't be a problem since I keep the house cold but come summer, that's another story. Just waiting on the paint to dry then I'll add a few corner edge metal brackets to where the pendants will sit. This way if I need to take a light out for any reason it simply lifts out.

A few pics, one my avatar 14 years later helping (forcefully) while I leak test the tank.

 

[sergebmw2]

Following along. I have a 120 falling iam starting to build as well. What did you use to skin the stand ?

 

[alten78]

Following along. I have a 120 falling iam starting to build as well. What did you use to skin the stand ?

1x4 and 1x6 poplar, 3/4" oak ply on the non door side, 1/2" pine ply on the bottom and back that I already had laying around.

 

[Jackony]

Looks good. Very similar to my stand and tank, placing it in a corner- back and right sides against the wall? What are you doing for an overflow?

 

[alten78]

Looks good. Very similar to my stand and tank, placing it in a corner- back and right sides against the wall? What are you doing for an overflow?

Thanks! Now that the restoration project is complete and the floor is laid, it'll go back into the dining/family room in a more open space. I'm doing a Herbie overflow, because the tank only has two holes and I didn't want to drill a 3rd, I'll be coming over the back for the return. I did it with the 75 a few years ago and couldn't believe how quiet it is. The only difference now is that I'll implement a 3 part manifold.

 

[alten78]

The wife has been on a tear when it comes to small projects and asked to help with hanging the canopy, so I gave her measurements and an idea that I had and she was off. She made a nice bracket out of black pipe but the measurements were a bit off, hanging it with the chains I grabbed isn't exactly as even as I'd like and there is going to be a bit less space between the water level and the lights... it'll still work but I may still swap out some wire at some point.

 

[Jackony]

I have a canopy as well- not too uncommon. I ended hanging mine from the ceiling and rigging a pulley system so I can raise and lower it as needed for things.

Cool set up, keep it up!

 

[alten78]

A canopy is not too uncommon? You don't say! LOL

As much dismay as it may be to the wife, I'm going to have to change it and hang it from the ceiling.

 

[alten78]

Some progress being made, removed the cabinet and fixed the wall, rebuilt the black pipe and hung the canopy, and finally got the tank and stand into the house.

One thing I didn't account for since this setup is about 9 inches taller than the last, the lights are pretty blinding when sitting down. I wanted to keep the canopy fairly shallow while hiding the pendants but I'm going to have to move them deeper.

 

[alten78]

Getting some more work done, can't really see it but the rail is on the stand, all plumbing except for one of the drain pipes. Getting the sump out of the 75g was a pita but had to be done to get the plumbing in.

Waiting on new rodi filters to come in to get water started, then I'll redo my rockwork, and transfer fish and coral...

 

[alten78]

Varios 4 will run the return and manifold, so far I'm only running TLF reactors for carbon and a DIY chaeto, Bubble Magus for 2 part, Vertex Omega 150 (may upgrade at some point), and Apex jr pretty much rounds out the equipment list.

 

[alten78]

Woke up early today with some extra motivation to get work done on the tank, before I knew it I decided today was the day to make all the transfers...12 hours later all its almost complete!

Finished the electrical panel, made some arches and caves like structures with emarco 400, but still have several small things to finish. Waiting on doors to be made still so I'll need top find a way to keep the 3 year old out of the stand.

It was one long day to say the least, I took a number of big rocks and smashed them to pieces to make said arches. I start beating a rock on the garage floor and thankfully I kept going because all of a sudden there is my purple dottyback lifeless on the ground (the rocks had been sitting out for at least 5 minutes while I yelled at my Browns), snatched him up and quickly got him back to the tank, didn't look good at all but thankfully a few hours later I see him darting around. Few minutes later I go back out to work on the rocks, look down and there's my blood red shrimp like what the heck mate? Into the tank she went...oy!

I'll start mounting coral tomorrow but I decided to go for more of a minimilistic aquascape, hard to see with the tank being cloudy still and a few rocks I'll remove after I dremel the acros off of them.

 

[alten78]

Like i mentioned before, my initial plan was to go for more of a minimalistic acquascape approach and create a number of arches to provide better flow versus big piles of rock. Still needed enough rock for coral and I didn't realize the size of a few of the colonies so it's more than i originally wanted but I think it still came out alright.

Thankfully the bacterial bloom is starting to pass and is much more clear. I also realized that the flow i had for the 75 is nowhere near what i need for this so i'm looking for a gyre 250 to go along with my 150 or possibly two 250's and sell off the 150, either way i'd like to get the advanced controller to run both which from what i can see the 250 already comes with.

Not the greatest picture but thankful the sun came out for the first time in what seems like a month so this was the only angle i couldve gotten a pic without a ton of glare.