EngineMonkeys 120

EngineMonkey · 2026-10-24T20:16:41-0400

This hobby has been quite the journey the past several years balanced by a lil life. I started with a 13 AIO, moved and transferred into a 40Breeder instead of moving my tank over. I bought a Melanurus Wrasse with the idea of upgrading in the near future. Here I am documenting that upgrade.

I’ve already learned many lessons and I’d say it’s going smoothly thus far.

120G with a stand, sump, and all equipment to get it running for 400? Who could say no.

Equipment that came with it.
Eschopps sump
Axion 160 skimmer
Sicce 3.0 return pumps x 2
Maxspect Razor 300W.

EngineMonkey · 2026-10-24T20:20:53-0400

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I’m terrible at documenting progress but here I have the initial water from a water change placed in the tank with some rock from the old tank starting the whole process as I worked on the rockscape for the next week or so….. can’t say I’m completely satisfied or done though.

Fish Fan · 2026-10-24T20:21:36-0400

Sounds like a great score with the 120; good luck with your build!

EngineMonkey · 2026-10-24T20:27:30-0400

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Satisfied with the rockscape on the right as I wait for some Colossal Pukani from TBS to arrive. Big mistake was realized here. The tank is up against the wall and I have horrible wallpaper behind it. More than a few cuss words were used as I figured out how to clean the outside of the rear glass wall and placing a black background up.

EngineMonkey · 2026-10-24T20:30:39-0400

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The Pukani arrived…. Unfortunately I wasn’t sure about not being able to clean the rear left wall and was concerned about spots that had very little flow. I did love this setup though.

EngineMonkey · 2026-10-24T20:41:39-0400

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Where we’re at currently. Added a Nero 7, Waiting on another one to show up this week. Replaced the lighting after discovering low Par for SPS. I picked up two ReeFi 2.1 pros. Getting the settings dialed in has been tricky (realized the right one is ramping up sooner in the mornings). And then I cleaned up the rockscape a bit. I’m still trying to figure out the center. I go back and forth between two islands, doing a blastomussa garden, or creating some sort of shelf to create more areas for coral.

Current stock list
2x clowns
Royal Gramma
Dwarf red rooster Waspfish
Tomini Tang
Mandarin
Pistol Shrimp
Reef cleaners order x 3 minus all of the smaller snails
And a fat Melanurus Wrasse.