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.
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
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
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.
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.
So I started with building my own stand.
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
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
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.
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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