My cheap 125

Gtinnel

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My tank is a cheap 125g rimmed reef ready tank that I bought used about 3 years ago. I diy almost everything that I can and I figured I would do this build as cheaply as possible. Having been in the hobby for a little over a decade starting about 20 years ago, I was aware that this hobby can be very frustrating at times, so I didn't want to spend a fortune in case I don't stick with it.
So I started with building my own stand.
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Here it is mostly finished without the doors, and some of the electrical hanging out the front while trying figure out where to put the controller box for my jebao gyre pump
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Here is my tank after about 2 years and I can honestly say I'm happier with this tank than any I have had in the past
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Also, at around the 2 year mark I finally gave in and bought into an Apex controller, with a trident and dos. One of my biggest regrets with my current tank is that I didn't buy it sooner. The system is well worth the cost. I no longer have room under my stand so I had to build a controller box to sit beside the tank. It isn't finished yet, but it will ultimately be skinned with the same pallet wood as the stand is.
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I'm now changing my stance on trying to buy the cheapest equipment possible. I would love to upgrade to a custom built tank in the 300g range but the only reasonable location for the tank is where my 125 is and I really don't want to have to transfer everything over to a new tank quickly. I'd be much more comfortable setting up a new tank and letting it mature for a while before transferring corals. Idk maybe someday I'll figure something out and can start a build thread for a much bigger tank.
 
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Gtinnel

Gtinnel

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It really sucks when you get a fish through quarantine and after you add it to the display it ends up dieing. I had a one spot foxface that was in quarantine for around a month with copper. I then moved it to the display where it was doing fine for several weeks. A few days ago it started acting odd and staying in one spot. Two days ago I moved it back to qt in case it was getting bullied. Today it died in qt.
Before anyone asks I was not properly qting my fish. I put them through copper but not any other medicine like prazi. I guess this is a lesson learned and all new fish will go through prazi as well.
 

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I got a notification today that my order of 5 of the new Noopsyche K7 V3 lights has now shipped. Thanks @noopsyche for your amazing sale price last month.
Hi,Gtinnel
thank you for your support ;) Looking forward to your update in your great thread!;Happy
 
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Gtinnel

Gtinnel

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So it's been a long time since I cleaned my glass, and I mean a long time. As in I haven't cleaned my front glass in several months. When I went to use my algea scraper I realized my birdsnest has grown large enough that the magnetic scraper won't fit between it and the glass. I guess it's time to start trimming, unfortunately I'll probably have to throw the trimmed pieces away.
20211013_191017.jpg
 
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Gtinnel

Gtinnel

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Well today I think I'm going to move some of my sps corals off of my frag rack... hopefully to make room for some more. I also took pics of my sps so I can write down names of them because I'm having a hard time remembering which ones are what.
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Gtinnel

Gtinnel

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So I installed my new Noopsyche lights yesterday. I did a diy method where I hung them from a piece of extruded t slot aluminum. So far I really like the lights, but part of the bracket I bought to use for mounting them to the bar are breaking. I think it's because of the way I've installed them.
20211027_172445.jpg
 
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Gtinnel

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I also think 2 more lights so it's nearly a continous row of lights would look good. And help with some shadowing. It doesn't show in the pictures but there are two shadows on the back wall that are bugging me.
 

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I also think 2 more lights so it's nearly a continous row of lights would look good. And help with some shadowing. It doesn't show in the pictures but there are two shadows on the back wall that are bugging me.
What if you raised the lights a couple of inches to spread the light out some and eliminate the shadows? What's your par on the sand bed? I'm just curious because with 5 lights running you're still pushing about 300 watts of LEDs if you're running only 100% blue (which I'm guessing you're not). Add 2 more at approximately 120-160 watts more... That's a lot of light power. How are your corals liking it?
 
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What if you raised the lights a couple of inches to spread the light out some and eliminate the shadows? What's your par on the sand bed? I'm just curious because with 5 lights running you're still pushing about 300 watts of LEDs if you're running only 100% blue (which I'm guessing you're not). Add 2 more at approximately 120-160 watts more... That's a lot of light power. How are your corals liking it?
Right now I'm still running the lights fairly dim and I planned on checking the par but I haven't yet. I'll probably do it tomorrow. I picked that height based upon the angle of the light to where there shouldn't be too much light spill over the top of the tank. I don't think being able to get ample par on the sandbed will be an issue if I do decide to raise the lights.

There are several corals that the color has improved, ecspecially a toadstool that the coral has a green tint to it. I've never seen it green before. I don't think it's fair to compare how the corals are doing until I get it up to a comparable intensity to my old lights. I do have a duncan that is not happy right now, but it does that occasionally and I don't think the light has anything to do with it
 
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Gtinnel

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So with my new Noopsyche lights I had issues with hanging the lights from the plastic bracket, which they call a paw (or claw). I had an issue with the paw cracking in the middle to where my lights were close to falling from my rail. I added a second rail spaced apart so I can mount the lights from the 4 holes in them directly. I'm much happier with the way they are mounted now.
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Overall I'm very happy with the lights. I'm considering adding another 1 or 2 to the tank, although probably overkill since I already have 5 and was told that I should only need 3.
 
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Gtinnel

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I love the skid wood skin on your stand. Also, I really like the look of the doors. Gives me some ideas ;)
Ironically I don't like the rustic pallet wood that my tank is skinned with. My wife is going through a rustic phase and liked the look, so that what we went with. It does have the advantage of being cheap and the construction doesn't have to be perfect.
 

tbrown

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So with my new Noopsyche lights I had issues with hanging the lights from the plastic bracket, which they call a paw (or claw). I had an issue with the paw cracking in the middle to where my lights were close to falling from my rail. I added a second rail spaced apart so I can mount the lights from the 4 holes in them directly. I'm much happier with the way they are mounted now.
20211106_001114.jpg
20211106_001126.jpg

Overall I'm very happy with the lights. I'm considering adding another 1 or 2 to the tank, although probably overkill since I already have 5 and was told that I should only need 3.
If you decide to add another 1 or 2, just dim the rest. It'll give way more in the way of blending and shadow reduction for sure.
 
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Gtinnel

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If you decide to add another 1 or 2, just dim the rest. It'll give way more in the way of blending and shadow reduction for sure.
Worried about shadowing is the exact reason I went with 5 instead of 3. Honestly if I keep them spaced apart per Noopsyches reccomendation then I can probably only fit 1 more unless I decide to turn them 90°, which I'm not in favor of.
 
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Gtinnel

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I just added some new corals from Battlecorals that Adam was generous enough to give me for free because I bumped his Halloween sales thread....a lot.
I also won a a free Noopsyche lights so I will be adding a 6th light to my tank once I get it in.

I've also bought an Orphek lens kit and I've been playing with taking pictures. Here's the favorite one that I've taken.
20211116_212854_remastered~3.jpg
 

tbrown

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I just added some new corals from Battlecorals that Adam was generous enough to give me for free because I bumped his Halloween sales thread....a lot.
I also won a a free Noopsyche lights so I will be adding a 6th light to my tank once I get it in.

I've also bought an Orphek lens kit and I've been playing with taking pictures. Here's the favorite one that I've taken.
20211116_212854_remastered~3.jpg
Nice!
 
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Gtinnel

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The only time I ever update this is when it gains me an entry into a drawing. Well there is another drawing so here's an update.

A few days ago I finally removed a big birdsnest colony that was taking up too much space in tank, so that I had room for more corals.

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This was the biggest whole piece I got out, but still only about half of what I removed.

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These are what went in its place. Please excuse the blue without a filter. I hadn't planned on sharing this pic when I took it. I was only taking it to write the names of each coral on the picture so I could remember which one was which.
 

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