Tony’s dream 125G – Finally!

[Tbyram]

It has been a little over 1 year since I setup my first saltwater tank and I’m finally going to try to document the build and all the changes. I’m sure it will take a bit for me to catch up so please be patient. So here we go.

I have always wanted a saltwater aquarium. However, my job was so demanding that I knew I couldn’t take care of it. I’m an Electrical Engineer by degree and have been working for a large healthcare organization for the last 20+ years. For about 8 years I traveled every week Monday through Thursday so I didn’t have time for much on the weekends except for my kids events and the honey do list. About 2 years ago my role changed and I now work from home and only travel sporadically. So now I felt I could take on the responsibility of an aquarium.

First thing I did was start reading and researching the web. I found Reef2Reef.com and read and read and read. This place is a wealth of knowledge, albeit sometimes conflicting. J So in Feb 2017 I decided to begin the process of building my tank. For my catch-up posts I will try to document the Month/Year at the top to let you know about when the things occurred until I get caught up and the thread timestamp will do.

 

[Reefer Deez]

Sounds awesome! I can’t wait to see the progress!

 

[Tbyram]

Jan/Feb 2017

People always said bigger is better. I had the money to spend so I decided to go with a 125G tank. I found there are 2 LFS in the Birmingham, AL area and one sells tanks and nice stands that are unfinished. This allowed me to stain the stand to match my living room furniture so I could place the 6 ft long tank on the wall where the sofa table once stood. I purchased the stand, tank, sump, live sand, T5 lights, pump, refractometer, and API test kit from one store. I found Life rock at the other LFS in the area so got it. I started with the Life rock to try to prevent some of the unwanted stuff that Live rock comes with but over the year I realized through reading that it takes much longer for the tank to mature with manmade rock. Next I went to BulkReefSupply.com and purchased an RODI system, new Apex controller with WAV maker, salt, SMART ATO, filter sock holder and socks, and a Hanna ALK checker.

This is what the stand and tank looked like when purchased (although this is a smaller tank….didn’t have a before picture of my actual one before stained).

Here is the stand after staining it and setting up in the living room. Plumbing put it and sand put in. I put water in first before sand so had to wait a day or so to clear up.

Here it is after clearing up and aquascaped .

Now I was cycling my tank.

 

[Tbyram]

A few more pictures of the initial build and plumbing.

 

[Tbyram]

March 2017

It seemed like I couldn’t get enough of all the BRS TV videos and other posts. I was going out to BRS to buy something else I thought I would need every week or so. I bought a Vertex Omega 150 Skimmer, then a CO2 scrubber to try to help my PH rise, then a carbon reactor, then Dosing 2 part solution. I didn’t even have fish yet but I was dropping the dough.

I finally purchased some fish….two clowns (Aubie and Raven). They were captive bred so the LFS said I didn’t need to quarantine…..so in they went. So excited. I also added the CUC…some scarlet shrimp, and various snails.

I also setup a small 29G tank in my home office and purchased a couple of Cardinals (Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum) and they went into QT for 4 weeks.

 

[revhtree]

Very nice!

 

[Tbyram]

April 2017

Now it was time to add some corals. I got a small hammer coral, a small torch, a fungia/plate coral, and late in April a green monti, Acan Lord, and zoa frag. I also was able to get a Blue Damsel and a Fiji Yellow Tail Damsel.

 

[mattgsa]

Your tank is coming a long nicely.

 

[Tbyram]

May 2017

I was doing well with the QT and trying to be patient. I was letting the fish stay in there for 4 weeks. Doing water changes on the QT tank every 3 days since it didn’t really have much bio-filtration (bare bottom). After the cardinals moved I tried a Royal Gramma. Unfortunately he didn’t make it. I think there was fin rot. I think I got a little lazy on the water changes and maybe overfeeding....not sure. I learned my lesson from this experience.

I was also still spending $$$. I bought 3 Kessil 360WE Tuna Blue LED lights and installed them. And I got an Open Brain coral, and birds nest.

Here he is having a little bit of Krill for dinner.

Here is a zoomed out screen shot of the tank at this time.

 

[Tbyram]

June 2017

So June I tried to slow down a bit….but it was so hard. I kept reading how I needed to take it slower to be successful. I was trying to do all the right things.

I also read a bunch about the bio-balls I was running from the original sump being nitrate factories so I took them out. The original sump I had just wasn’t large enough for the setup I wanted. I was also thinking I needed to add a refugium so back to BRS to get a Skimz UP39 Sumpro sump. I think I was going into the “uglies” and was getting some diatoms, a little algae, and such so I also added a GFO reactor and some additional marine pure blocks to the sump at this time.

Using a garbage can for the ATO water.

Another full view pic.

 

[Tbyram]

July 2017


Setup the refugium and got the Kessil H380 grow light. Also added a purple cup coral, another fungia/plate coral, a lether, orange encrusting monti, and a duncan. Some things are starting to grow…some aren’t. I also tried to put an Acro in there and it died within a week or so.

 

[Tbyram]

August 2017

August I added a fire fish and a blue spotted goby to QT. I also lost Tweedle-dum (Cardinal). He was fine one minute and then just freaked out and darting around, then was dead.

 

[Tbyram]

September 2017

So September was slow but I tried to put some sand sifting stars into the tank….not knowing that the tank was way too young for them to have enough food. They eventually died. I then tried some Nassarius Snails. Unfortunately one of them came in with a demon hitchhiker ---- Aptasia. To this day I am still killing them each week with Aptaisia-X.

The firefish and goby made it to the DT.

 

[Tbyram]

October 2017

So my cat loved looking at the tank. We were putting a chair up next to it for a while but then I decided to build Dixie a little perch.

Also added a Goni

Then I decided to do some aquascaping on the QT tank since I had slowed on the fish adding. I also had to take the firefish out of the DT since he was just being picked on too much. Officially I guess I made my QT into a small DT in my home office.

Finally a full view picture. Did some updated aquascaping in the DT...added more Life rock and some arches.

 

[Tbyram]

Nov 2017

Got a new ATO reservoir - 10 Gal. Will last about a week which is wonderful....and nicer looking than the trash can.

Also purchased the Dr. Bridge KH Guardian Monitor. It came with the AIM module that allowed me to connect it to the APEX to monitor my ALK automatically.

Goby made it out of QT and loves the DT.

Other random pics from this time period.

 

[Tbyram]

Feb 2018

Got to participate in my first LIVE Sale on R2R with WorldWideCorals.
Here are the little guys I purchased.

Also purchased a long-nose butterfly. Unfortunately he didn't make it out of QT.

 

[Tbyram]

March 2018

So I did some DIY building to redo my RODI system.

So here is the overview picture:
2 35 gallon tanks from Tractor Supply Company. Top is for RODI water and bottom for Saltwater.

So I have my RODI system pumping water through PVCs from my Washer room over the garage to this section.

This is a pic of the splitting water from washer hookup.

Small hole in wall comes out to garage which then goes up the wall and over to the other side.

That goes to the RODI system. Added a booster pump as well as the pressure was low from the split and also even lower when washer is running.

Now to the tanks. I have a pipe from RODI water tank on top that will gravity feed saltwater tank on bottom. I can also pull top off water off side pipe.
I can also turn on the pump which will pull water from bottom of saltwater tank and feed back into the top back of the tank to help mix water. (I also have a small powerhead and heater in tank).
Lastly I can close the top recirculating valve and connect my hose to the other pipe mid way up and it will pump the mixed saltwater back into my tank.
This was so much better than buckets (which I did initially and then a pump form Brute cans before this).

Lastly I use a remote controlled plug that was used for Christmas lights to turn on/off the pump while I'm in the house when the levels reach the appropriate spot.

 

[Salty.Reefer]

March 2017

I also setup a small 29G tank in my home office and purchased a couple of Cardinals (Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum) and they went into QT for 4 weeks.

Nice tank! My Blue/Green Chromis are also tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum. My GF says the bigger one is tweedle-dum because I am bigger than her so it gets to be the dumb one haha

 

[Clayton Jessup]

The tank looks really nice , how do you like the size and overall foot print of the 125g ? I ask cuz I am thinking of getting this same size ..

 

[Tbyram]

The tank looks really nice , how do you like the size and overall foot print of the 125g ? I ask cuz I am thinking of getting this same size ..

I love mine. Easy to clean to as it isn’t too deep.