Mike S's 120 Build

[Mike S]

Hello,

After a long absence (15 years) from the hobie, I'm jumping back in with both feet. My kids (3 and 5) have been asking for an aquarium for a few months. A few weeks ago someone gave me a 55-gallon tank and I started thinking about what I'd want to put in it. I initially thought about an african chiclid tank, but after a few days of poking around on the internet the reef bug got me again. The 55 gallon tank was looking small so I started looking at craigslist for something a little bigger. By the following weekend I had found a 120 gallon (48x24x24) Oceanic reef ready tank in very good shape along with a 2X250 watt MH and 2X96 PC light fixture. A few days later I ordered a RO/DI system, a Bubble Magus NAC7 skimmer, and a Eheim 1260 return pump. This weekend I put in an order for 80 pounds of Pukani dry rock and found a used Vortech MP40 here. I'm going to keep my eye open for another one and maybe get another powerhead or two to hold me over. Boy this 55 gallon gift got expensive real quick. :bigsmile:

The tank is going to be setup in our finished basement which will hopefully help control the temperature. Its pretty chilly in the summer and stays right around 72 all winter. I have a small utility room right behind where it will be situated and I'm planning on plumbing everything back into there for ease of access. I have a 29 gallon high tank that I'm building a sump out of. The skimmer will sit in that. I'm also planning on another tank to act as a refuge. My furnace and hotwater heater are in this room and are getting replaced this week. Once that's done I'm going to get rolling on setting everything up this weekend. My rock should be here in a day or two and right now I'm trying to figure out if I should bleach it, cook it in a dilute muriatic acid bath, or both. Hopefully I can start cycling in the next week and then start figuring out what I plan to keep in there.

 

[nanokeeper]

Sounds like a great setup. Take lots of pics along the way.

 

[Mike S]

Things are starting to move along. I was debating on how much Pukani dry rock to order. I finally decided to start with 80#s and see if I needed more. BRS sent me a little extra and I ended up with 90#s getting delivered to my house on Wednesday. I spent yesterday morning trying out a few different rock arrangements and this is what I ended up with. I pretty satisfied with it, but if anyone has any suggestions, I appreciate them. I'm going to hold off on adding the substrate for a few weeks, but I did order 90 of Reefflakes.

I ended up using about 70 pounds of the Rock. It was nice to have the extra rock as it allowed me to pick an choose what went in the tank. I'm leaning towards using an old 55 gallon tank as a refuge and will probably just end up putting the excess rock in there. I also go the lights hung and installed a GFI outlet along with two extra outlets on that circuit for my equipment. My RO/DI is installed, I just need to figure out where I'm going to drain the waste water to. There is a pvc sewer pipe nearby that offers easy access. I just need to figure out if there is a way to tap the waste line into it and keep a good seal. Otherwise I'll just drain it to the outside. Hopefully I can get the plumbing done by the end of the weekend and can get everything wet.

 

[skinz78]

I like that scape! I'll be following along closely as I have the same tank!

 

[Mike S]

Takes a while to fill up a 120 gallon tank and 29 gallon sump when your RO/DI only puts out about 3 GPH. :squigglemouth: Anyway waiting for the tank to fill gave me enough time to finish up the plumbing. I wasn't able to pick up the glass dividers for the sump as the shop was closed all weekend, so I still need to do that and figure out what I'm going to use for a refuge. In the meantime the tank is up and running. Water is a little stinky which I guess is a good thing, but it is starting to clear up. Not sure if I have a ton of micro bubbles since I don't have the bubble trap in the sump yet or if the water is just cloudy. The skimmer is foaming like mad and overflowing, but from what I've read I should just let it go and give it a few days to break in. My ammonia was around 1 ppm last night and uh oh my phosphate read 1 ppm also. Not sure if I trust the test kit though since it only measures down to 0.05 ppm.

 

[skinz78]

Sounds like you are on the right track, you are correct about the skimmer. It can take a few days up to a few weeks to get broke in. Just let it keep doing it's thing.

 

[jerl77]

love the rock work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[thewackyreefer]

Looking good, Mike. I wish I would have looked at the Pukani dry rock when I set my tank up, I love the shapes.

 

[Mike S]

Thanks guys. I'm definitely very happy with the pukani rock. I'm going to pick up a piece of live rock or two later this week to help seed the tank and may rearrange the pile on the rightba little bit. I'm pretty happynwith the rockwork. I expected to be a little oc and keep rearranging it but this is what I came up on the second try lol.

I restested my phosphates and they weren't as bad this go around... 0.25. I still don't trust my ability to tell the color differences on that chart. Can anyone recommend a good phosphate test kit?

 

[skinz78]

There isn't a good phosphate test kit. They all suck LOL. I have a Hanna digital photometer and it isn't bad. The only real good way to check phospates is with a lab grade machine and I think it is a couple grand....

 

[Mike S]

Thanks I'll just forgo getting another test kit and put the money assize for something else. Gonna start working on a stocking list next.

 

[skinz78]

Yeah I just watch and if I have algae growing I know I have phosphates. If I don't see algae then all is well.

 

[Mike S]

I'm leaning toward a LPS and SPS dominated tank and have come up with a long list of potential fish:

Kole Tang

Mandarin

False Percula or Ocellaris Clown pair

McCosker’s Flasher Wrasse

Blue Spotted Jawfish or Yellow Watchman Gobby

Coral Beauty or Flame Angel

Midas Blenny, Bicolor Blenny, or Starry Blenny

Anthias

Flame Hawkfish

Pajama Cardinalfish pair

This is probably a little too much in terms of load so I'll cut it back. The mandarin would be a ways down the road after the tank has matured. Any problem keeping a wrasse with them? Will there be too much competition for food? Any other issues I should be aware of or suggestions?

 

[Mike S]

Looks like the Hawkfish and Cardinals might not work with shrimp or hermits. List just got a little shorter.

 

[Jaklos]

I like my bi color angle had both flame and coral beauty bicolor is very nice and doesn't nip a bit. Hawk won't work for inverts load sounds fine my 75 has 3 tangs and other fish doin fine. If I were to get anothr mandarin I'd loom at Ora psyc they are big n awesome. Load tank with pods after it cycles so fish don't nail them after u start stocking as for adding live rock I'd say nay if I had to do all over I woulda not don't live too many hitchhikers

 

[skinz78]

The Cardinals will be fine with inverts. I would nix the Angelfish and the Hawkfish though. They are hit or miss in a reef tank.

 

[Jaklos]

The Cardinals will be fine with inverts. I would nix the Angelfish and the Hawkfish though. They are hit or miss in a reef tank.

Agreed but my angle came from an established reef o 3 years I bought to hopefully control majano so far I've seen some nibbles but nothing to write home about

 

[Mike S]

I finally got my glass panes for my sump bubble trap and installed them. I'm going to leave the silicone cure for another day or two, before I bring the sump back online. I was originally thinking about building a sump out of acrylic, but for $40 for a 29 gallon high tank and $25 in glass I was able to do if for less than half of what it would have cost me.

While I was traveling for work the other day, I stopped in a LFS that I used to buy my stuff from way back when I had my last tank. I was happy to see that they were still there and there livestock was even better than it used to be. Its a bit of a hike to get there, but there stuff is head and shoulders above the shops in my immediate area.

While I was there I watched some firefish gobys for a while and might just end up with a few of them. I also saw another fish that I was interested in. They had it in their display tank and I never bothered to ask what it was. It was bugging me on the way home because I thought I saw it somewhere in a thread. Then I remembered that I saw it is in skinz's build thread

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.ne...8976_100000129120650_1638783_1084324579_n.jpg

Your tank is awesome btw. What can you tell me about this guy?

 

[Mike S]

I installed the bubble trap in my sump this past weekend and built a stand for my skimmer. The skimmer is still putting out a lot of white foam even with it set in only 7" of water and it set wide open. I ended up picking up a few piece of rubble rock from a LFS to help seed the tank.

My ammonia has been pretty level, but the nitrite and nitrate seems to be increasing. I'm going to get a few pieces of shrimp and put them in there this weekend and hopefully get the refuge piping taken care of. Starting to look at controllers but resisting the urge to drop the $$$ until after the holidays. :angel: The Reef Angel controller seems pretty interesting and affordable. By the time I'd buy a few timers, and ph meter, and some float switches I'm already up to the price of the Reef Angel. From what I've read the coding doesn't look too tough.

A few updated picks:

 

[cparka23]

If I may chime in, the fish in your photo link is a female Lamarck's angelfish. It's in a group of angelfish called swallowtails. They're very passive and very reef safe. The male and female Lamarck's look a bit different from each other, and the difference is more pronounced in other swallowtails. You might also look up the male bellus angel, which is similar to the Lamarck's but yellow instead of black.

Nice build so far, and the rockwork looks great. I'm tempted to set up another tank with some of that rock, myself.