Jvesche20
Valuable Member
Hello everyone,
This is my 125-gallon build. So I started to get into saltwater during the summer of this year. I lived in Florida for 2 years and while I lived there I got my scuba diving license. During these 2 years, I went scuba diving everywhere in Florida and my favorite spot was in Hawaii. After seeing yellow tangs and some butterfly fish I knew that I wanted to have those fish. I wanted to start this build much sooner but I knew that I would be moving to Michigan soon so there was no sense in starting a tank just to take it down in a year or so. During this year I thought about this and talked to some people and friends. They told me not to do it because it will cost too much and take too much time. Here I am now to show them they were wrong.
I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a brand new tank so I went on craigslist and found a 100-gallon tank. I went to this guys house and saw his tank. Now his ad said it was 120 gallons and I didn't bother to measure it because I didn't know better. Let me tell you this tank is super rough. I drove pretty far and felt pressured to buy the tank. I bought it and when I got home I realized this tank was not going to work for me. The thing was chipped on the sides, missing the trim. The best part is that the tank was only 100 gallons. So this guy false advertised this tank and I got ripped off. I cleaned up the tank and ended up selling it.
A week later I found this tank
I didn't like the wood looking trim so I ended up painting it.
My tank is 6 ft long so it was super hard to get into my basement. Not only that but its super heavy. Trying to get this thing downstairs without breaking it was super difficult but I somehow managed. I have a stand that was also the same color as the trim so I stained that black. I placed my tank on the stand and started to fill up my tank with tap water. I didn't know to use a RODI unit at the time. I then added 3 black box led lights
Next was the rock.
when I got this tank it came with a sump but later finding that the sump was only like 20 gallons I had to build my own sump. I had a 45-gallon tank that I wasn't using and that's what I made my sump out of. The only problem is that it wouldn't fit under my tank. I had to place it on the side of my tank. I built this sump without thinking I would want or need a refuge.
I ditched the filter socks. Next, I added black sand. I thought the black was different because I saw a lot of tanks with the white sand and the black just looked awesome under the lights. I let my tank cycle for a month then I added some fish. My first fish was a pair of clowns
My clownfish loved to get sucked into my overflow box. This happened many times but they learned to stay away.
I ended up adding a lobster later on that I got online. I had a few shrimp but the website claimed that this lobster was reef safe and wouldn't bother the shrimp. I believed it and later found out that this was a lie. He ended up eating all my shrimp and I decided to get rid of him.
So now my tank is suffering from hair algae and this is when I got a rodi unit. I went to my lfs and got a cheap $100 unit. So fast forward a few months down the road after having success with my tank. When I built my sump my I must've not had everything leveled correctly because one of the glass panels came off. I tore out my sump and made it so I could add a refuge. Ignore how dirty my skimmer is, I gotta clean it when I get home.
I added a gfo reactor to help get rid of my phosphates. Let's go a few months ahead and I decided to go to Petco on the way home from class and made the mistake of buying a fish from them. Let's just say I will never buy a fish from them again, I'll stick with my LFS. The fish ended up having ich and infected my entire tank. I didn't have a QT to place my fish in so I made my own out of a tub that I got from the store. I ended up finding a guy who was selling a 55-gallon tank for $20 and when I got to his house he ended up giving it to me for free! During this time I had 3 fish that didn't make it and the ich got the best of them. I finally waited out this disease and cured my fish and back into the tank they went! Heres some pics of my corals and anemones.
I have an anemone that's about 12" that has a clown hosting. Heres a picture from a few months ago. The only thing missing is my Duncan.
My fish are doing great, I added a snowflake eel and a cleaner shrimp. Currently fighting hair algae but I didn't have a big CUC and I had no fish in my tank for over 2 months because I was letting my tank fallow so its only time that will remove this algae. I know this has nothing to do with my build but I still wanna share it. I love this hobby and I love the ocean so I'm in the process of getting a sleeve right now that's ocean themed. Heres a picture of what inspired me
Heres my progress. I get more work done on Friday.
Anyways back to reefing. In the future when I finish school I plan on getting a 400 gal tank when I move. Currently living with my parents as I get through school. I would love to go bigger right now but I hit the max size that will fit down the stairs into my basement. By the summertime, I want to start adding more sps and upgrading my RODI unit along with some of my equipment.
Thanks for reading hope you liked my build!
This is my 125-gallon build. So I started to get into saltwater during the summer of this year. I lived in Florida for 2 years and while I lived there I got my scuba diving license. During these 2 years, I went scuba diving everywhere in Florida and my favorite spot was in Hawaii. After seeing yellow tangs and some butterfly fish I knew that I wanted to have those fish. I wanted to start this build much sooner but I knew that I would be moving to Michigan soon so there was no sense in starting a tank just to take it down in a year or so. During this year I thought about this and talked to some people and friends. They told me not to do it because it will cost too much and take too much time. Here I am now to show them they were wrong.
I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a brand new tank so I went on craigslist and found a 100-gallon tank. I went to this guys house and saw his tank. Now his ad said it was 120 gallons and I didn't bother to measure it because I didn't know better. Let me tell you this tank is super rough. I drove pretty far and felt pressured to buy the tank. I bought it and when I got home I realized this tank was not going to work for me. The thing was chipped on the sides, missing the trim. The best part is that the tank was only 100 gallons. So this guy false advertised this tank and I got ripped off. I cleaned up the tank and ended up selling it.
A week later I found this tank
I didn't like the wood looking trim so I ended up painting it.
My tank is 6 ft long so it was super hard to get into my basement. Not only that but its super heavy. Trying to get this thing downstairs without breaking it was super difficult but I somehow managed. I have a stand that was also the same color as the trim so I stained that black. I placed my tank on the stand and started to fill up my tank with tap water. I didn't know to use a RODI unit at the time. I then added 3 black box led lights
Next was the rock.
when I got this tank it came with a sump but later finding that the sump was only like 20 gallons I had to build my own sump. I had a 45-gallon tank that I wasn't using and that's what I made my sump out of. The only problem is that it wouldn't fit under my tank. I had to place it on the side of my tank. I built this sump without thinking I would want or need a refuge.
I ditched the filter socks. Next, I added black sand. I thought the black was different because I saw a lot of tanks with the white sand and the black just looked awesome under the lights. I let my tank cycle for a month then I added some fish. My first fish was a pair of clowns
My clownfish loved to get sucked into my overflow box. This happened many times but they learned to stay away.
I ended up adding a lobster later on that I got online. I had a few shrimp but the website claimed that this lobster was reef safe and wouldn't bother the shrimp. I believed it and later found out that this was a lie. He ended up eating all my shrimp and I decided to get rid of him.
So now my tank is suffering from hair algae and this is when I got a rodi unit. I went to my lfs and got a cheap $100 unit. So fast forward a few months down the road after having success with my tank. When I built my sump my I must've not had everything leveled correctly because one of the glass panels came off. I tore out my sump and made it so I could add a refuge. Ignore how dirty my skimmer is, I gotta clean it when I get home.
I added a gfo reactor to help get rid of my phosphates. Let's go a few months ahead and I decided to go to Petco on the way home from class and made the mistake of buying a fish from them. Let's just say I will never buy a fish from them again, I'll stick with my LFS. The fish ended up having ich and infected my entire tank. I didn't have a QT to place my fish in so I made my own out of a tub that I got from the store. I ended up finding a guy who was selling a 55-gallon tank for $20 and when I got to his house he ended up giving it to me for free! During this time I had 3 fish that didn't make it and the ich got the best of them. I finally waited out this disease and cured my fish and back into the tank they went! Heres some pics of my corals and anemones.
I have an anemone that's about 12" that has a clown hosting. Heres a picture from a few months ago. The only thing missing is my Duncan.
My fish are doing great, I added a snowflake eel and a cleaner shrimp. Currently fighting hair algae but I didn't have a big CUC and I had no fish in my tank for over 2 months because I was letting my tank fallow so its only time that will remove this algae. I know this has nothing to do with my build but I still wanna share it. I love this hobby and I love the ocean so I'm in the process of getting a sleeve right now that's ocean themed. Heres a picture of what inspired me
Heres my progress. I get more work done on Friday.
Anyways back to reefing. In the future when I finish school I plan on getting a 400 gal tank when I move. Currently living with my parents as I get through school. I would love to go bigger right now but I hit the max size that will fit down the stairs into my basement. By the summertime, I want to start adding more sps and upgrading my RODI unit along with some of my equipment.
Thanks for reading hope you liked my build!
