Mat’s reef tank, eventually

[Mathew0]

So, this is my 1st foray into saltwater. We got this aqueon 125 gal and stand from Petsmart for about $200. Couldn’t pass it up.
i just bought a sump for a whopping 15 bucks, it’s in great condition. However, I wasn’t expecting to find an affordable sump, and I’m not really ready. I’d like to put it in asap, tho, as all my research says waiting until the tank is rolling will make it all the more difficult.
As you can see, the sump is just a box, and the tank was not designed for this. (As I become more active here, you’ll see that I do a lot of things with items that weren’t designed for it).
I’d like anyones advice on overflow boxes, drilled seems to be the best solution, and also what to put in the sump. Unfortunately, my research has not culminated in any solid do’s and don’ts.

 

[Thunder_reef]

Well, there’s plenty of info out there about drilling your tank, but it looks like the sump is too big to fit in the stand with that center shelf. You could but the sump out side of your stand. Good luck!! It looks like a nice tank.

 

[Mathew0]

So, this is my 1st foray into saltwater. We got this aqueon 125 gal and stand from Petsmart for about $200. Couldn’t pass it up.
i just bought a sump for a whopping 15 bucks, it’s in great condition. However, I wasn’t expecting to find an affordable sump, and I’m not really ready. I’d like to put it in asap, tho, as all my research says waiting until the tank is rolling will make it all the more difficult.
As you can see, the sump is just a box, and the tank was not designed for this. (As I become more active here, you’ll see that I do a lot of things with items that weren’t designed for it).
I’d like anyones advice on overflow boxes, drilled seems to be the best solution, and also what to put in the sump. Unfortunately, my research has not culminated in any solid do’s and don’ts.

Well, there’s plenty of info out there about drilling your tank, but it looks like the sump is too big to fit in the stand with that center shelf. You could but the sump out side of your stand. Good luck!! It looks like a nice tank.

Yeah, some augmentation of the cabinet will have to be done as well.

 

[Mathew0]

Well, I have drilled the tank (real nailbiter), augmented the stand to accommodate the sump, plumbed in the overflow, and I'm ready to put the water and rocks back into it. I read ALOT about if it is ok to drill a tank that has water in it. I would strongly advise NOT drilling a tank with anything in it. Ground glass and little shards get everywhere.
If anyone has an suggestions on how to set up the sump, I'd be really happy for the input. I have done a ton of research, and haven't found and really good advice on what to put in the sump. This is what I'm thinking:

 

[Mathew0]

Finally finished everything and put in a trio of Pajama cardinals

 

[Mathew0]

Forgot to mention, for the stand, I removed 1 wall and the shelf. Then I screwed and bracketed in a support that I fabricated from some leftover steel angle-iron we had at work. I took 3 pieces and welded them into a 3-sided square. I spray painted it black to match the stand and then sprayed it with polyurethane for further waterproofing. I installed it at a 45 degree angle so front and back legs are not lined up. The sump slides in quite nicely this way.
For the overflow, I used an Eshoppes Eclipse Lg. I made a bean animal by leaving 1 hole completely open, the next with vertical pipe and 2 90 deg elbows with a hole for air (Herbie?), and the 3rd is an open vertical pipe for emergency.

 

[Mathew0]

We’ve had the PJs in for over a week. We’re getting the start of some Dinos, so I got a handful of snails, 2 hermits, an Emerald, and a Tuxedo urchin.
LFS is having a moving sale, so we picked up our first set of corals. We got 4 Zoa frags (including Lesley’s fav a Rosta), a favia, neon candy cane, orange crush ricordea, neon green hammer, purple frog spawn, purple gorgonian, green star polyp, and a cabbage leather. The leather ended up actually being 4 frags. When I dipped it they all fell apart. So, it’s really 2 cabbage leathers(sm & lg), a branching leather, and a polytheo. I’m hoping their placements work out. The LFS did not have a par meter available to rent, and going by eye is pointless. I’ll do par mapping as soon as I can.

 

[Mathew0]

I believe we have reached a milestone.
We have massive colonies of copepods eating the film algae off the glass. They’ve pretty much cleared front pane.
we had a small outbreak of Dinos, but that’s mostly cleared up.
Also, I finished my water storage setup. I have 2 plastic 55 gal drums; 1 for freshwater, 1 for salt. I ran RO lines to them both and both have float valves and ball valves to stop the flow. I’ll upload pics soon.

 

[Mathew0]

Pics of water storage

 

[Mathew0]

So I thought I’d give an update. Got a few more corals, things are looking good. Except the Dino’s are still coving just about everything. Might get more cuc. My new fireworks cloves in the top center haven’t been opening and got covered by Dinos. I used a soft paintbrush Toto clean them off, but they’re still pretty closed up. Here are some pics with the white turned all the way up

 

[Mathew0]

 

[Mathew0]

 

[Mathew0]

 

[d2mini]

Looking good. Nice ingenuity with getting everything together and at a steal.
I love foxfaces! Especially the Magnificent.

 

[Mathew0]

I got a new skimmer and 2 more friends.

 

[Mathew0]

I also solved my 2 gal/day top off issue with a highly discounted dosing pump. Took a while to program in hourly top offs, but it’s been working quite well.

 

[Mathew0]

This is a growing mess I have yet to find an answer for. I’d like to reduce the tangle and label everything. Any input is greatly appreciated.

 

[Mathew0]

I also got a Hydra 52 and added it to the right side of the tank. I slid the Prime 16s over. It’s much better coverage for the lighting. The Hydra doesn’t have a controller, so it’s stuck on full spectrum, but it still works great. I realized, after putting my lights on white only for some coral pics, that what I was thinking was Dino’s, was actually green algae. It just looks brown under blue light. It exploded all over. I pulled/sucked a whole bunch out, then I peroxide dipped a bunch of corals that aren’t glued down. It’s looking much better now.

 

[Mathew0]

So...I've got a chance to get a 220 gallon free. I'll need to drill and do all the same things I did for the 125.
My question is, do you all think that sump is going to be big enough for a 220 gallon tank?

 

[Mathew0]

here is the new tank.
Gonna take this one slow and take alot of updates on the build.