Reviving my 120gal

[jvandy]

Hey everyone. I've had a standard 120 gallon since 2016 and never really had much in it. I would also get busy with work or taking my son to all his practices and games and never gave it the time it needed to be successful. So for the last 1.5-2 years I may have done a total of 5 water changes if that. The tank only what is now a small patch of GSP and a small zoa. It also has a few crabs and snails left as well. I would really like to get this back up and going like it should be. There was a bunch of coralline algae all over the glass and I cleaned it some before the picture.

The current setup and equipment I have is:
Tank - Standard 120 gallon tank with an overflow in each corner
Sump - Adhi Berlin Model 45
Lights - ReefBreeders Photon
Flow - IceCap Gyre 2k only 1 side works on it
Skimmer - Skimz 201
DOS Pump - 2 BRS dosing pumps
Controller - Apex Classic
Return Pump - Fluval 14337
RODI - BRS 4 Stage
Heater - 500W Finnex Deluxe Titanium Heating Tube

In order to make this work for me and have it be a success I'm going to be upgrading or adding some equipment. If you could respond with what you like & why I would appreciate it. Also please let me know if you think I should add something I have not thought of. I would like to stay within the same ecosystem of products if possible. However I'm not apposed to having different brands equipment. All of this also depends on pricing and staying within budget or I maybe on the outside looking in lol.

ATO - I know I need to add an ATO. I would like to set up AWC but with my setup I don't think I can make it work. Please let me know what you like.

Controller - I am also going to upgrade my controller. I'm not sure if I will grade to another Apex or GHL. I like the UI of the Apex and the ease of programming. I have only read about the bad UI & programming of GHL but I do like the fact that they have more automated testing which is appealing to me. If I stick with Apex I will be getting a Trident & DOS pumps. If I go with GHL I will add the ION Director & KH Director.

Flow - I need to either see if I can repair the IceCap or go with something else. I've been reading up on the Vortech MP40 and those seem to be nice from what I'm reading.

Lighting - I'm not sure what to go with here. I've read a little bit about the ReefBreeders Photon V2, Radion XR15 Pro, Neptune Sky. Here is where I could use the most input and advice on.

Skimmer - There is nothing wrong with the current one so I will be leaving this.

Return Pump - Again this works fine, I don't see a reason to change it at this time.

 

[Sean Clark]

Looking good!

 

[Sean Clark]

You have a great starting point equipment wise. I think all you really need is some motivation to get it done. You don't need to upgrade anything to get started.

 

[griffinsreef]

Very nice! Cant wait to see it stocked up!

 

[jvandy]

Very nice! Cant wait to see it stocked up!

Yea me to too. Hopefully in a couple of weeks I can get to the lfs to pick some stuff up.

I’ve been cleaning the glass and changed the aquascape a little on the right side.

 

[jvandy]

I spent yesterday cleaning the skimmer, return pump, heater and completely drained sump to not only clean in really well but also for the first water change in a very long time.

I almost had a disaster when disconnecting the plumbing from the sump I must have knocked loose the fittings to the overflows because they started leaking fast. Luckily I had a wetvac to suck all the water out of the overflows.

Here are a few pictures.

 

[jvandy]

Good thing I don't have any livestock really. I noticed the drain line had a slow leak tonight. I took it apart and removed the bulkhead and cleaned it. I went to connect everything back up and snapped the pipe when tightening it to the bulkhead, therefore I can't use the one overflow. Now I'm considering redoing all of the plumbing.

 

[Sean Clark]

What would you change about the plumbing if you decide to redo it?

 

[jvandy]

What would you change about the plumbing if you decide to redo it?

I would move the union connections higher so its not so close to the sump to make doing maintenance a little easier to disconnect things if needed. If you look at the picture of the sump, the left pipe with the 2 - 45's is the one I snapped in the bulkhead. So I'm thinking maybe if I move the union fitting in between the 45's that would be better? Is there any benefit to having the one drain line and return line go through a bulkhead fitting on the sump?

 

[Sean Clark]

I would move the union connections higher so its not so close to the sump to make doing maintenance a little easier to disconnect things if needed. If you look at the picture of the sump, the left pipe with the 2 - 45's is the one I snapped in the bulkhead. So I'm thinking maybe if I move the union fitting in between the 45's that would be better? Is there any benefit to having the one drain line and return line go through a bulkhead fitting on the sump?

I see what you mean about making maintenance easier if you need to seperate that union. Sounds smart to me. Are bulkheads beneficial when going into the sump? I think so, they add a level of support and keep everything tidy. I would want all of the returns pipes in bulkheads if I could. Having one with and one without seams odd. Either way it wont impact performance at all. I personally like bulkheads.

 

[jvandy]

So it’s a dual overflow tank. Each overflow is the same. Each drain is plumbed to the left side of the tank. Each drain line goes into 1 filter sock. There is only 1 bulkhead on that side of the sump. Not sure why each drain was plumbed separately.

 

[jvandy]

Earlier this week I fixed the drain line. Luckily I had an extra bulkhead with a barb fitting. I went to Home Depot and bought a piece of flexible pool/spa tubing and made that work.

After all that and making sure there were no more issues I took my son to the lfs to pick out a couple fish. This is the first time this tank has seen fish in over a year. So we purchased 2 clowns & 1 diamond goby. It looks like the patch of GSP and the few heads of the zoa I have are turning around as well. I'll get some pictures of those for my next update.

I ordered an Apex ATK and that should be here in a couple days.

 

[jvandy]

Well the Atk wound up being in back order so I don’t have that. I’ve been testing Cal, dkH, Mg so I can get ready to add coral however I’m having an issue with keeping my numbers up. I did dose 3 tablespoons of baking soda yesterday and did a 10% water change an hour before testing.

1/30. 2/5. 2/6
Cal - 410. 499. 438
dkH - 7.5. 7.7. 10.3
Mg - 1100. N/A. 840